For many years, I have been a chief executive in mainstream American Jewish organisations devoted to fighting for social justice and equality. I have played a leading role on such issues as immigrant rights, criminal justice reform, voting rights and same sex marriage. I have fought aginst racism, antisemitism, homophobia and xenophobia. Like many of you, I am deeply committed to creating a fairer and more inclusive society. 

However, I and many other American Jews have become deeply concerned about the rise of a dangerous ideology, sometimes called “wokism”, “Critical Race Theory” or “Critical Social Justice”. It first emerged in the academy, then in progressive circles, then in mainstream American institutions and now in Jewish life. 

As we have seen at the American School London (ASL) – which was downgraded by Ofsted because of its focus on identity politics at the expense of the curriculum – the ideology upholds an oppressor-versus-oppressed binary. It insists that there is only one way to look at the social problems we face, and those who disagree must be silenced. At ASL, this led to a furious letter from parents complaining that the school had used the Holocaust simply to promote “woke” Jewish role models who had no connection to it.

Critical Social Justice is antithetical to the Jewish value of “makhloket l’shem shamayim”, or debating for a higher purpose. It fosters “cancel culture” and undercuts viewpoint diversity. It claims to provide a solution to racial tensions but exacerbates them. By insisting that there is only one permissible explanation for disparity among groups – systemic oppression – it makes solving these social problems much harder. 

Critical Social Justice is not merely a point-of-view. It is what the writer Wesley Yang calls “the successor ideology”. It aspires to replace classical liberal principles and Enlightenment values with a worldview that tells us precisely what we must think about many of the most pressing issues of the day. And so far, it is having its way.  

Moreover, as we saw during the war in Gaza last May, it fuels antisemitism and anti-Zionism. It claims authority regarding exactly who has “privilege” and “power”, which leads to accusations of “Jewish privilege”. By declaring Jews “white”, it denies the right of the Jewish people to define their own story, and erases Jewish identity. Because Jews are defined as white, they don’t qualify as a protected minority and claims of antisemitism are dismissed or condemned. Some even allege Jewish complicity in “white supremacy”. Israel is seen as the perennial victimiser and Palestinians the perennial victims. It foments tensions, pitting minority groups against one another.

Just as British Jews who lived through the rise of Jeremy Corbyn warned American Jews of the potential for similar developments in the US (a concern that has not abated), it is now our turn. We warn British Jews of the perils of an ideology that has found its way into our institutions and is making its way into yours. 

Critical Social Justice ideology will fortify “Corbynism” on both sides of the pond. I urge you to push back against this ideology in your politics, in your schools, in your institutions and in your synagogues. I urge you to push back, before the price of doing so becomes too high.  

If the growth of this ideology in the UK follows that in the US, it will not take long for it to insinuate itself into Jewish organisational life, schools and synagogues. Like a Trojan horse, Critical Social Justice draws on the language of civil rights to appeal to our noble impulses. It uses terms that strike a familiar note, like “equity” and “justice”, but which, in this alternative ideological universe, mean something entirely different. By claiming to represent the authentic voices of the marginalised, the ideology short circuits the normal deliberative process in Jewish organisational life. Many well-meaning people simply fall in line. 

Sadly, a number of “mainstream” Jewish voices in the U.S. now speak of the Jewish community’s complicity in “whiteness” or “white supremacy”, not realising that they are enabling antisemitism. They teach Jewish children that they are members of a white, dominant, oppressive class.

This ideology has migrated across the Atlantic. It may be still in its early stages. It may seem confined to the margins and not a threat, but, unopposed, it will enter the mainstream. 

Now is the time for British Jews to stand firm on Enlightenment values of free expression and open discourse. This is the time to stand against an illiberal and dangerous ideology that will make British society not only less hospitable to Jews, but hostile to democratic norms. This is the time for unflappable moral and intellectual clarity. 

As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks once said: “the battle for freedom is never finally won, but must be fought in every generation.”

David Bernstein (@DavidLBernstein) is founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, JILV.org