What use are Jewish values?
JVL Introduction
“The current configuration of power in Israel has reduced Jewish history to a single narrative, which makes Jewish identity incompatible with Palestinian freedom,” says Joseph Grim Feinberg.
In that case, what business do Jews have asserting that “Jewish values” have any relevance to what’s going on today in Gaza, Palestine or indeed anywhere else? If there is a satisfactory answer, the author says, it has to be anchored in ideas from Jewish history, not “the unearned authority of Jewish identity.”
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This article was originally published by Mondoweiss on Sat 10 Aug 2024. Read the original here.
No one agrees on what ‘Jewish values are.’ That’s why they matter
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Let’s drop this Jewish values nonsense. There are people in all groups who do good and bad, and religious texts are often interpreted in good and bad ways. This is nothing to do with being Jewish. It’s about human and socialist values.
What an interesting and thoughtful article. I have no idea what Jewish values are, but I do know that an important strand of Jewish history and activism was fighting for the underdog.
Late in life I learned that the majority of South African Jews just kept their heads down and went on being white South Africans, but I have never forgotten that among those militant white opponents of South African apartheid, a startlingly disproportionate number were Jewish. Unless we believe Jews are better than anyone else, which I certainly don’t, I look for an explanation which lies in a history of escaping oppression, and making common cause with those others who are and have been oppressed.
I look too to past and present Jewish involvement in radical, working class and anti-racist politics generally – and conclude that these sites of resistance are a crucial part of our home, our history, our present and our future. And against the dominant and establishment story about who can stand up and speak for Jews, I include me and my radical friends.
I tend not to talk about ‘Jewish values’, but I fully support those of my friends who want to use the term as part of reclaiming our right to say – we are Jews and we support Palestinian rights.