When anti-Semitism is the wrong term

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

"ANTI-SEMITISM."
An accusation we hear a lot these days. Just last week, San Francisco's progressive icon, Rainbow Grocery, found itself so judged because employees in two of the co-op's largest departments voted to ban Israeli-made goods out of sympathy for Palestinians.

These are times of dramatically escalating violence in the Middle East, and tensions over where one stands in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are exquisitely sensitive among Jews and non-Jews alike. In that minefield charges of anti-Semitism are rife, in public life, on university campuses, even at home.

"Find me one Jewish family in the Bay Area where somebody under 50 hasn't been called an anti-Semite by someone over 50," said Rabbi Michael Lerner of Beyt Tikkun Temple in San Francisco. "I get this all the time from my congregants -- their families ostracize them if they dare say anything against Israel."

Is it possible for both Jews and non-Jews to be critical of Israel these days and not be anti-Semitic? I hope so. I pray so.

But Lerner, the conscience of leftist Jews in the Bay Area and editor of Tikkun magazine, says that is becoming more difficult. In fact, he cites "a new McCarthyism" taking hold among Jews.

"The surge of violence in Israel has dramatically escalated in the past eight months," he said. "The corresponding response has been a much deeper level of attack against anyone who dares to utter criticism."

LERNER SHOULD KNOW. Advocating a "progressive middle path," Lerner is horrified by the suicide bombings. He is also critical of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. He's gotten death threats from those who call him a self-hating Jew out to destroy Israel. True, there are a good number of others -- Jews and non-Jews -- who share his views. But not all voice their thoughts. I asked Lerner why, and he brought up the Holocaust.

It is said that as survivors, Jews have the world's longest memories. Jews never forget, and there is plenty to remember because of the Holocaust, the result of state-sponsored anti-Semitism of unimaginable scale. There has also been in the world a long history of questioning anti-Semitism. Those legacies have the effect of silencing criticism when Israel -- the political embodiment of Jewish survival -- commits less than admirable deeds.

The guilt driving this silence is entirely appropriate. Even the Catholic Church is trying to explain why it didn't do anything about Nazi atrocities. But Lerner maintains that guilt is "inappropriately manipulated" to shield Israel from criticism.

"They say Jews are not ever going to be wiped out again, so every Jew must stand with the state of Israel in its moment of danger," Lerner says.

THIS IS SAID as if Israel does not have the most powerful military force in the region and most of the world. But even Israel cannot stop the suicide bombings. Sadly, the bombings have only diverted attention on the Palestinian issue and impressed on Israelis that they must redouble their focus on the existence of Israel. Despite his criticisms, Lerner shares that Israeli obsession. That is why he opposes the Rainbow Grocery ban.

"They asked me to come support them. I can't."

Disinvestment, he says, delegitimizes Israel, threatens its existence while diverting the focus from the government's immoral actions.

"It's an economic boycott of the whole society," Lerner said. "And the economy is ordinary people. Those of us on the Zionist left are very much against this kind of tactic, even though we totally embrace what they were trying to do. To call them anti-Semitic is totally illegitimate."

Lerner said he'll keep plumbing the spiritual truths of Jewish tradition, including the notion that Judaism is not the state of Israel. I hope he makes inroads.