When American values are Jewish values — the convention speech I’d give in response to Shabbos Kestenbaum
Shabbos Kestenbaum speaks at the Republican National Convention. Photo by Getty Images
Contributing Columnist Jay Michaelson July 18, 2024
Shabbos Alexander Kestenbaum, a campus provocateur with a record of inflammatory statements and actions, gave a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention. Here is a counterpoint I’d deliver at the Democratic one.
My name is Jay Michaelson. I am a proud American, the grandson of immigrants who came here with nothing. A proud Jew and a rabbi.
This has been a hard year to be Jewish. At times, my fellow American Jews have felt as though we had no political home. On Oct. 7, we witnessed the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, but many in our liberal and progressive communities were silent. Some were even supportive. This hurt us deeply. It made us feel like the alliances we had built for decades were not what we thought them to be.
And then came the response of the state of Israel, which many of us have loved since childhood. At first, we defended Israel’s right to defend itself and to secure the release of the hostages held by the theocratic terrorist organization Hamas. But as the war dragged on and Israel’s tactics seemed out of proportion to these goals, we found ourselves homeless again. Some said we could not question these actions and be good Jews. Political opportunists on the right exploited our pain to further their own agendas, stoking fears and using them as a weapon against institutions of higher learning. And, yes, many supporters of Palestine, whom we agreed with in many ways, tolerated overt antisemitism in their midst.
Where was dialogue? Where was balance?
Thankfully, the Biden-Harris administration has, in its words and actions, tried to find it. No, they have not pleased everyone. For some, they tilted too far in favor of Israel; for others, too far against it. But they have tried to embody what the vast majority of American Jews believe: that the state of Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself and that it must not use those rights as a pretext to inflict horrifying suffering on the people of Gaza.
They have insisted, as we insist, that extremist voices in Israel’s far right, who have openly called for ethnic cleansing, must not determine Israeli policy. They have worked for a ceasefire and a release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas. They have tried to balance the legitimate aspirations of two peoples who must share the land between the river and the sea.
Now, there are some who say that the only way to oppose antisemitism on the far left is to support America’s far right. The Republican National Convention platformed a right-wing Jewish agitator who once told a pro-Palestine student group, “If you guys love the intifada so much, have you considered blowing yourselves up, too?” A person who made a name, and lucrative reputation for himself, as an online and on-campus troll, jeering at protesters, inflaming tensions on campus, and undermining Jews who sought dialogue and constructive engagement.
This is not the Jewish way.
It is not the Jewish way to inflame anger, to use harmful speech or to distort the truth to suit one’s point of view. To be clear, antisemitism is real and it must never be accepted. It is never OK to target Jews or to traffic in bigoted language and actions. But legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza is not antisemitic. On the contrary, it is part of our country’s tradition of free speech and vigorous debate.
For that matter, it is also not the Jewish way to support mass deportations of immigrants, disrupting millions of lives without the due process of law.
It is not the Jewish way to deny science, whether of climate change or of modern medicine or of anything else.
And it is not the Jewish way to endorse Christian Nationalism and the embedding of fundamentalist Christian values into American law; to abandon public education; to oppose the autonomy of women to control their own bodies; to denigrate families that do not conform to a particular interpretation of the Bible.
On the contrary, the Torah teaches that we must not oppress the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. It teaches that we must protect the widow and the orphan, and take care of the most vulnerable. Our proud history and tradition value disagreement, debate, education, science, and the cultivation of the intellect.
American values are Jewish values when they align with these core principles. Indeed, the American dream was made possible for my grandparents by the separation of church and state, and by the opportunities they found here to be full, equal citizens of this country.
Had the “America First” and “Christian Nationalist” crowd been in power then, my grandparents would have been shunned, excluded, discriminated against — as indeed many Jews were.
And still are. As much as there is antisemitism on the far left, the antisemitism on the right — no longer limited to the far right — is more widespread. Only a few years ago, when the current Republican nominee for president was in the White House, he praised those who marched under the slogan “Jews will not replace us.” This year, his party has nominated a Holocaust denier to be the governor of North Carolina. And while former President Donald Trump has earned the favor of many Jews who care deeply about Israel, I believe those Jews have sold the birthright of American Judaism for the porridge of an undemocratic, intolerant version of Israel.
We must reclaim that birthright.
That birthright is contained in the freedoms enshrined in our founding documents — even if our country has struggled to live up to them. That birthright is reflected in the dreams of everyone in this country who works hard to better themselves and their families, even when the system seems stacked against them. And that birthright is embodied in Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “praying with their feet” to demand civil rights for all.
This birthright does not belong to Democrats or Republicans. It is not measured in clicks or likes. It is something we earn when we live up to our deepest moral commitments, when we reject fear-mongering and extremism, when we remember who we are as Americans. Only then do we merit the words so often used as a slogan but which really are more like a prayer: May God bless America.
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