One of the most frustrating things about being a progressive Jew who belongs to an orthodox synagogue and sends my kids to a Jewish day school is the lack of voices in my community who are willing to speak out against Israel. I recognize how the indoctrination has been successful in teaching multiple generations of American Jews to hate …
One of the most frustrating things about being a progressive Jew who belongs to an orthodox synagogue and sends my kids to a Jewish day school is the lack of voices in my community who are willing to speak out against Israel. I recognize how the indoctrination has been successful in teaching multiple generations of American Jews to hate the Palestinians and I've tried to break that cycle with my own kids and pushing back against others in my community with very limited success outside my own house. Any suggestions on how best to combat this insular, backwards thinking and be able to promote pro-Palestinian voices to better educate folks who refuse to look past the incorrect concept that being anti-Israel is anti-Semitic?
Boy, I feel ya on this one, and wish I had an easy, turn-key answer for you. One of the best things I've found is to try and balance being knowledgeable about Palestinian liberation, Zionism, and the various subsets thereof, with not coming off as antagonistic, or indignant when I have those conversations with people. And, the optimist in me thinks it's partially just a matter of waiting - the whole conversation around Israel/Palestine is changing so quickly that I suspect that attitudes and opinions that once seemed totally off limits might soon be much more palatable. At least, I hope so. Good luck!
I definitely second this approach and have found it works in the long term. At the very least, it gets people to not reflexively spew hate in your general direction. The downside is that it can feel like an uphill battle.
I hear you. I'm not naive enough to think I'm going to get a lot of people to open their eyes, but if I can even help some folks make incremental progress, it's better than nothing.
While certainly not the main reason that I attend, I don't think removing myself from a place and allowing the groupthink to be even more insular is really the best option.
One of the most frustrating things about being a progressive Jew who belongs to an orthodox synagogue and sends my kids to a Jewish day school is the lack of voices in my community who are willing to speak out against Israel. I recognize how the indoctrination has been successful in teaching multiple generations of American Jews to hate the Palestinians and I've tried to break that cycle with my own kids and pushing back against others in my community with very limited success outside my own house. Any suggestions on how best to combat this insular, backwards thinking and be able to promote pro-Palestinian voices to better educate folks who refuse to look past the incorrect concept that being anti-Israel is anti-Semitic?
Boy, I feel ya on this one, and wish I had an easy, turn-key answer for you. One of the best things I've found is to try and balance being knowledgeable about Palestinian liberation, Zionism, and the various subsets thereof, with not coming off as antagonistic, or indignant when I have those conversations with people. And, the optimist in me thinks it's partially just a matter of waiting - the whole conversation around Israel/Palestine is changing so quickly that I suspect that attitudes and opinions that once seemed totally off limits might soon be much more palatable. At least, I hope so. Good luck!
I definitely second this approach and have found it works in the long term. At the very least, it gets people to not reflexively spew hate in your general direction. The downside is that it can feel like an uphill battle.
I hear you. I'm not naive enough to think I'm going to get a lot of people to open their eyes, but if I can even help some folks make incremental progress, it's better than nothing.
Thanks, man. I want to share your optimism. I'm definitely seeing some younger kids in my community willing to be more open-minded and that's great!
Yes, stop going to that synagogue. You can raise your children without groupthink and they will be better for it.
While certainly not the main reason that I attend, I don't think removing myself from a place and allowing the groupthink to be even more insular is really the best option.
As an alternative, you could bring some Palestinian refugees to the synagogue with you as a way to humanize them.