The other day I wrote that no one at the Jewish Federations General Assembly said a critical word about Israel. Well here is a video from Rabbi Melissa Weintraub of Encounter at a panel at the assembly that is, if not critical of Israel, a breath of fresh air.
Weintraub begins this speech with a memory about going to see Alan Dershowitz when she was 19, many years ago, and her discomfort as he took apart a Palestinian questioner named Rami, and all the people in that long-ago audience rolling their eyes and fidgeting. It’s a great lesson to the Federation people (albeit with dismissible sweetness). Because this is the Jewish role: I too saw Dershowitz humiliate a Palestinian-American woman who stood up and talked about having to wait at checkpoints, after his speech at Brandeis 2 years back. Weintraub says Dershowitz is good at winning arguments– i.e., he’s mean-spirited and doesn’t care about Palestinian human rights.
Also notice Weintraub’s gentle explanation to the Jewish conference that young Jews are “rejecting protectionist messaging” about Israel. It’s like me walking away from Hillel at 19, she goes on. “They are actually walking away from the Jewish community altogether because of the way the Jewish community is and isn’t talking about Israel.” True.
