When young Jews marry non-Jews they become more distant from Israel, and in time they will undermine the “backbone” of Israel support, the American Jewish organizations that mount the case for Israel. That’s a “tragedy,” says Steven Bayme of the American Jewish Committee.
Israel’s new Education Minister Rafi Peretz caused international uproar recently by supporting gay conversion therapy and suggesting that intermarriage is like a “2nd Holocaust”. Though the uproar over intermarriage was mostly outside Israel, for good reason – similar views about intermarriage have been expressed historically by the Israeli left.
A Jewish-Israeli actor and Muslim-Arab-Israeli TV host get married, and Israel is on fire about it. “The pain of assimilation worldwide is consuming the Jewish people,” Minister of Interior Arye Deri said. “It’s their own private affair. But, as a Jew, I have to tell you that I’m against such things because we must preserve the Jewish people.”
Isaac Herzog’s belief that intermarriage is a “plague” reflects Zionism’s inability to imagine a Judaism apart from Orthodoxy. Palestinians have already paid the price for Zionism. Israeli women are likely to be next. If Israelis want a way out of this labyrinth, they would have to dismantle the Zionist state.
Why is it OK for Senator Chuck Schumer to tell an Orthodox Jewish audience that he “worried” that his daughter had a non-Jewish boyfriend? America is too sophisticated for such prejudice, and Jews are too empowered to get away with such xenophobia.
Last week, in serving the rightwing Jewish elements of its constituency, Open Zion ran a really nutty piece by Andrew Apostolou opposing intermarriage, “because it undermines Jewish identity and so weakens the Jewish people.”
Jeffrey Goldberg is very effective: he intimidates people. He is personable and funny and well-connected…