The Movement for Progressive Judaism has launched its first publication – a collection of 40 essays on Israel and Zionism.
Edited by the movement’s chair, Dr Ed Kessler, and co-leads Rabbis Josh Levy and Charley Baginsky, Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel contains articles by 30 rabbis and ten lay activists.
It is intended to be the first in an annual series of books on a variety of subjects.
At the launch at Leo Baeck College’s new reading room in London, Dr Kessler emphasised the diversity within the volume. “We don’t only hold one view. We welcome the plurality of different viewpoints,” he said.
Alyth’s Rabbi Colin Eimer, who was a volunteer in Israel at the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, said: “I’ve not lost my love for Israel, but it has become infinitely more fraught.”
Referring to intra-communal tensions over Israel, he said he was glad to be semi-retired. Being a rabbi at the moment “feels like it’s a tug of war and you are trying to hold the two sides together”.
Another contributor, Rebecca Singerman-Knight, chair of communications for Arzenu, the political voice of the international Progressive Zionist movement, was one of the Board of Deputies’ members suspended last year over the letter in the Financial Times that was critical of Israeli actions in Gaza.
She said: “At a time when conversations about Israel have become deeply polarised, it feels particularly important that this is the first topic that the movement has chosen to address…
“I feel strongly that we must not shy away from these conversations and we must not turn our back on Israel. I believe that we need to unapologetically promote an understanding and connection to Israel that is fundamental to our Judaism but that it does not require silence and that critique does not mean betrayal.”
She added: “I believe we must reclaim the term ‘Zionism’ [and] not allow it to be defined by others. We must reassert that Zionism is pluralistic, moral and capable of holding complexity.”
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