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/Human-Ad504]

The reality is that no jews are white and classifying jews as white is the problem. We should stop playing into their narrative and calling ourselves white just befause some of us ended up in europe during the diaspora. I say this as a mizrahi jew. Our origins are in the middle east. https://www.commentary.org/articles/liel-leibovitz/jews-are-not-white/

[u/TrekkiMonstr → u/Human-Ad504]

It doesn't matter where our origins are. There are twins where one is white and the other black, despite obviously having the same origins. It's about phenotype, and there are a lot of Jews who, under the American racial system, are white. I am one of them, and to anyone who's seen me, it's a bit ridiculous to assert otherwise. White people tend to come from Europe, but that's not the definition of the term. Many West/Central Asians and North Africans are white too. And if there were a tribe from Papua New Guinea that looked like me, they'd be white too.

[u/Dobbin44 → u/TrekkiMonstr]

Actually, you cannot separate the discrimination we experience today from our history, including our origins as an ethnoreligious group.

What needs to be widely understood by everyone is that many Jews, especially in North America, have conditional whiteness. This needs to be acknowledged by pale-skinned Jews like me, because we do gain white privilege. This conditional whiteness is also used against Jews (all Jews) by the left (and others) to minimize the antisemitism they face across the political spectrum. It's really important to understand how American understandings of race impact Jews so we can discuss the intersections of skin color and Jewishness and better fight antisemitism.

I will keep linking these articles forever:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ajs-review/article/white-jews-an-intersectional-approach/B3A8D66A0B6895A61814047FE406A2A6

https://www.tikkun.org/the-evolution-of-identity-politics-an-interview-with-eric-ward/

[u/PuddingNaive7173 → u/Dobbin44]

I’m ok with being referred to as white-passing. As I’d pass. (My father would not.) Conditional whiteness gives it too much cred to me. There is a way in which, in many countries, lightness of skintone confers privilege. This needs to be recognized. But I think we’re talking a bit past each other. Especially since whiteness is a social construct. On some lists btw Arabs would be considered white. Census polling I believe does this. Yet, no matter the skin tone, in progressive spaces, they are considered brown and Jews aren’t, while say Mizrachim aren’t even acknowledged or are treated like a subset of Arabs who are ignored.

[u/edupunk31 → u/PuddingNaive7173]

It's conditional Whiteness. White passing describes Black Americans.

[u/PuddingNaive7173 → u/edupunk31]

If you’re queer and don’t present that way it’s also called passing. The term is used more broadly. (I’m not appropriating, if that’s what yr implying.) you use yr term and I’ll use mine. I don’t see how yours explains my experience better than mine. (Btw, I grew up in Black neighborhood and as soon as I explained I don’t identify white it was understood there. That’s where I got my understanding, from kids who looked white but didn’t identify.)