Fringes: A Feminist Havurah statement on non-Zionism
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current thinking. If you have any questions or concerns, please
contact any of us using the emails at the bottom.
Elliott
Fringes: A Feminist Havurah
What do we mean when we say we are a "non-Zionist" havurah? Working
notes toward a statement.
Although our answer will continue to evolve and deepen, these points
capture our initial thinking
1. "As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, my country is
the whole world." Virginia Woolf
It is consonant with our identity as Feminists to refuse to pledge
allegiance to a nation state, and even moreso to refuse to connect our
spiritual expression to governments, militaries, and other apparatus
of control. As Feminists, our political goal is a fearless and
unblinking analysis of the truths of power relationships, whether
between women and men, white people and people of color, or Jews and
Arabs. To use Adrienne Rich's words, this "powerful, womanly lens"
brings into focus what has been missing from our spiritual practices,
necessitating this havurah in which space for multiple expressions of
gender is not separable from space for multiple expressions of
understanding of Jewish peoplehood.
2. "Zion by itself/is not enough." Adrienne Rich
We chose the name Fringes because we intend to open a space for those
on the margins, including but not limited to the three of us. One
important way we have been cut off has been our refusal to swear our
love for the State of Israel. In this new sacred space we are opening,
we understand Zionism to be one political strategy that Jews have used
to address issues of oppression and cultural expression. It is a
recent strategy, formed in response to historical events. It is not
the only strategy, was not understood to be so by some of the best
Jewish minds of our times, and is not the only answer from this point
forward.
While we expect and invite a wide range of opinions on this in our
community, we chose to define as non-Zionist because we feel strongly
that the founding of Israel as a Jewish state has been used to re-
write the meaning of too much of our liturgical lives. "Zion," for
example, has been used for thousands of years to invoke a time and
place of nearly messianic perfection, a time of peace and justice for
all peoples, when all the world lives in a state of unity. But too
often now in our synagogues and prayer spaces, the power and beauty
and yearning of our communal dream has been reduced to meaning only
the state of Israel, and even that only for its Jewish citizens.
By making a prayer space defined outside of the view that Zionism is
the only answer to the question of Jewish oppression, we hope to
unpack and recover some of the power of words like Zion or Jerusalem.
We want to proudly reclaim the history of Jewish universalism, and the
voices of the millions of Jews who have cried out for justice for all.
And we want this to be reflected and expressed in the words we use
when we pray. We don't know exactly what our liturgy will be or mean
as we raise this lens and these questions, but we know the struggle
will be worth the effort as we build honest voices for our prayers.
Rachel Adler says this about the "words of power" in liturgy: "Some
words wear out and become empty. For others, new contexts render their
power malign and not redemptive. Our present situation suggests,
however, that the passing of old words of power and the birth of new
ones is like the chevlei mashiach, the birth pangs portending the
messianic time; people of good will hope for its coming, but would
rather not be there before or after and not during the messy part."
3. "Separatism is the antithesis of cooperation and results in an
ingrown and clannish remoteness which leads to cultural stagnation.
Otherness thrives best when accompanied by active cooperation and
interaction with neighboring cultures and civilizations and achieves
an individuality which is of universal significance." Mordechai
Kaplan, Questions Jews Ask: Reconstructionist Answers, 1958
As Reconstructionist Jews, we find tremendous value in Kaplan's
understanding of living in two cultures. Because we know ourselves to
be grounded in our lives as Jews, as U.S. citizens, and as so many
other identities and relationships such as women, or, for three of us,
as dykes, we reject the false dichotomy of Jewish life into the
categories of Israel/Diaspora. While many communities of Jews within
Israel are creating Jewish meaning and culture of tremendous value to
us, we reject the notion that the only "authentic Jewish life" happens
there. Jewish life as we know it exists only because of the
religious, cultural, political, and intellectual innovations of Jewish
communities across the world, historically and today. Much of Zionism
as a political movement rejected this, insisting that Jews deny and
abandon their rich cultures, languages and histories in favor of a
single Israeli identity. Among many problems we have with this as
Feminists is the erasure of the diversity that sustains us, and the
equation of "Israeli" with a hyper-masculine aggression.
One clear example of the rejection of the Israel/Diaspora dichotomy in
favor of making Jewish meaning comes from Jeff Halper, activist in the
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, who to the question,
"What can American Jews do to support Israel?" answered, "Get a life.
Stop treating Israel like your synagogue." He expanded this to explain
that Israel is a nation with its own political, national struggles and
issues. While urging those of us listening to support those Israelis
struggling for the kinds of social justice we believe in, he also
warned that Israelis can not and should not be seen as carrying our
Jewish identity for us. "If you want a Jewish life," he said, "build
your own wherever you are."
By saying we are non-Zionist, we mean that we are building a Jewish
life where we are here and now, embracing fully our lives as Jews, as
Feminists, as residents of Philadelphia in 2007, whatever the
complexities and contradictions these different worlds embody. And by
consciously forming a havurah around these values, we mean to use the
complexities of our lives to build and inform a rich and shared Jewish
practice.
Nu, do I have to agree with all this to come?
In short, no. You should know that this is part of the underlying
ethic of this group, and be willing to live in this space for a few
hours each month. Every other synagogue and Jewish prayer space in
Philadelphia has Zionism in the center, and those of us who have
critical opinions, or who are non-Zionist or anti-Zionist, accommodate
ourselves to fit, or stay silent, or stop going. In this space, other
opinions are at our core. What this might mean on the surface may not
be very noticeable, since we're coming together to pray, not to debate
politics. We know, for example, that we'll be clear to use the phrase
"the people Israel" in the liturgy, to clearly distinguish between
that concept and the actual State of Israel, but this is not a rupture
from what our liturgy already says.
Our statement does mean that, like the Feminist analysis, the presence
of a non-Zionist analysis is a given in our intentional community.
What either of this might mean is open-ended and will be shaped in
many ways by the coming together of this thoughtful group of people,
but, as one example, we will never be saying a prayer for any nation
state.
If you are certain you cannot daven in a space not centered on
Zionism, then this havurah isn't for you. If you aren't sure how it
might feel, please come and visit. If you have more questions, feel
free to contact any of us to set up a discussion. You can find us at:
Elliott - batT...@msn.com
Otter - she...@msn.com
Hannah - Hann...@comcast.net