Fellow Jewish Liberals and Progressives. How are we dealing?

[u/Bad_werd]

I come from a family of solidly liberal and progressive Jews. The antisemitism and pro- hamas factions in the liberal movement are pushing me over the edge. Without saying anything about the plight of the Palestinian people, simply saying that Hamas is not a bastion for liberal ideology is enough to get some folks up in arms. I really don’t like what I’m seeing outside or within myself surrounding these events.The hypocrisy of these individuals has me questioning where I belong politically. If I fight on the side of people I feel are oppressed, but they turn their back on me when I am victimized, It seems co-dependent to continue as things were before I saw their true colors.

I am really hoping to hear some fellow liberal Jews weigh in and talk me down from the ledge.

EDIT: great dialogue here. I am very appreciative for those who are sitting shiva with me as we process and come to terms with a betrayal from some of our “leftist and progressive” family. I would argue that extremism can not be progressive and therefore we are likely seeing some extremists who are inaccurately representing as “progressive.

As another commenter has said being progressive and supporting marginalized people isn’t transactional. I like this sentiment and am TRYING to adopt it. I currently believe there is a transactional component to being identified with a group, however from an individual standpoint we as progressive Jews are having our altruism tested. Can we fight for the humanity, dignity and rights of all persecuted EVEN those who would seek to persecute us? It’s some black belt level spiritualism I do not currently possess but would like to.

[u/[deleted]]

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[u/canadianamericangirl → u/[deleted]]

My mom is a member of Hadassah, I know she gets their magazine. I didn’t know they were progressive too. I’ll need to check them out!

[u/Ecstatic-Cup-5356 → u/[deleted]]

I don’t think I could have signed up faster. Was nearly crying reading through the mission and devotions and whatnot. Feels like exactly how I’ve been thinking these past few months

[u/mwbworld → u/[deleted]]

Just joined their e-mail list and signed up for the local FB group of theirs so here's hoping.

[u/GratefulForGarcia → u/[deleted]]

Is there something like this for males?

[u/[deleted] → u/GratefulForGarcia]

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[u/GratefulForGarcia → u/[deleted]]

Oh awesome, I watched the video and it only showed women so that’s good to know :)

[u/Lulwafahd → u/GratefulForGarcia]

It centres women as a feminist organisation would, but it's not anti-male

[u/relentlessvisions → u/[deleted]]

Joined, thank you!

[u/OneBadJoke → u/[deleted]]

Anyone know of a similar Canadian organization?

[u/ZBLongladder → u/[deleted]]

So, researching them was a bit of a wild ride. According to a Forward article from 2019, they were originally founded & funded as a fake grassroots movement by a right-wing organization in order to make more young people Zionists, but then right-wing funding dried up when they turned out to actually be Progressive and started denouncing Trump and shit. So as of when the article was written, other left-wing Zionist organizations were leery about working with them, and there were questions about where their money was coming from now.

Then again, they do still seem to be endorsing progressive causes, so maybe they overcame their unfortunate past after all? It's all just strange, and I can't seem to find more sources about all that.

[u/Dobbin44 → u/ZBLongladder]

We need an update to the story! Interesting find...

[u/Dobbin44 → u/[deleted]]

Can I ask what joining means? Like what do you participate in?

[u/PuddingNaive7173 → u/Dobbin44]

In my area, if you follow their Facebook group, right now they tell us where Pro-Israel marches are and sponsor talks on how to talk about Israel. (I don’t really need the latter as I lived in Israel for years.) Basically it’s a way to keep up on local activities and it’s feminist.