Introduction to Non-Zionism for the 21st Century

All beginnings are hard. Sometimes the endings too.

First, some definitions. Zionism, in its initial definition, referred to the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. There were lots of different types of Zionists, with lots of different reasons for wanting a Jewish state, and their own plans for what they would do with it, but the desire for a Levantine Jewish state per se, provided a simple, and nearly always accurate, way of defining who was and wasn’t a Zionist.

Similarly, an anti-Zionist was someone who opposed the creation of a Jewish state in the land of Israel. He might have opposed it because he was an Arab, or a Charedi, or a Communist, an assimilated Viennese intellectual, or an emotionally unstable pederast, but different anti-Zionists didn’t have to agree with each other, still less work with each other, to be easily identified as such.

Now, I’m far from the first person to point out that the meaning of both terms changed radically after the State of Israel became an established fact. Since 1948, Zionism refers to the ‘political formula’ of the State of Israel. In its most mild manifestation this means the basic attitude of patriotism typical of the ordinary Jewish Israeli, and of vicarious solidarity felt by the majority of Jews around the world. In its less healthy, but depressingly common, manifestation, Zionism has come to mean a self-parodic urge to explain why every single aspect of Israel is absolutely amazing, no matter how preposterous.

Are you amazed?

Anti-Zionism, by contrast, necessarily took on a darker aspect. It is one thing to oppose the creation of a state, another to call for its destruction. The unique religious genius of Satmar defused this problem by turning anti-Zionism into a harmless pastiche. Just turn up at a kinnus, say some tehilim, donate some money to mishpuchus in Eretz Yisrul, eat the kugel, and you are good to go. This obviously leaves something to be desired, but it is better than the other option, which is to chum about, either on the street, or over the internet, with literally the worst people on the earth. 

What I am interested in, however, is what the reality of a State of Israel means for a third position, namely just not being a Zionist. A century ago, this was by far and away the most common attitude. Most Jews, of different religious and ideological persuasions, weren’t Zionists, but they also didn’t actively oppose it. They just sat it out, convinced neither that they were obligated to enlist on this grand project, or to stand in its way.

The ability to be neutral about a given ideology, to look at it historically (or, the vulgar might say, objectively), typically depends on distance. It is hard for me, even if I try, to summon up emotional enthusiasm either for the House of Lancaster or the House of York, though if you really push me, I think I’ll plump for the former. However, if I was sitting in St Albans during the War of the Roses, besieged by one side or the other, detached neutrality would require an enormous act of the will. Either you want the soldiers ranked outside to scale the walls, or you don’t. 

I’m writing this at the end of a day when I went to the bomb shelter twice, and my children three times. The windows were closed tight most of the day because of the smoke from fires to the south and east of the town. I don’t mean to sound maudlin; it really wasn’t that bad. The unrelenting heat bothered me much more. I just mean to say that circumstances are so contrived as to force one to take an actual position about Zionism. The most common response of Jews, here and around the world, even from communities who had managed until now to stay relatively out of it, has been to double down on Zionism, often expressed in terms that are unbearably cringe, or really quite grotesque. A smaller, but not insignificant, portion have felt the call to liberate their Jewishness from the stench of a national dream gone sour. As a rule, they are the smarter ones; the type with a nose for which way the wind is blowing.

My goal here is to try and chart a middle road, to look at Zionism neither as a religious obligation nor a sin, but as a part of Jewish history, something that wasn’t inevitable, but cannot now be undone. The Substack will attempt to articulate what non-idealism towards Zionism looks like in practice and I’m not sure what that will mean in detail, in large part because I’m not quite certain it is even possible. If you’re a Jew or gentile interested in finding out, though, then please ….