American Jewry, Zionism, and the State of Israel
Sermon, August 20, 2004
Rabbi Bruce Kadden
In 1885, a group of Reform rabbis gathered in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania to set forth a series of principles. Known as the Pittsburgh
Platform, it became the guiding document of what was called Classical Reform
Judaism.
Among its points was this: “We consider ourselves no
longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore, expect neither a
return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the
restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state.”
Thus, when Theodor Herzl began his quest for a Jewish
homeland in the land of Israel toward the end of the 19th century, he
received little support from the American Jewish community and at times was
faced with outright antagonism. However, over the course of time, the American
Jewish community did an about face on this issue, and eventually offered crucial
support to Zionism and to the creation of the state of Israel.
As I continue my series of sermons celebrating 350 years of
American Jewry, I turn this evening to looking at how American Jews responded to
Zionism and Israel.
We have already seen that Reform Judaism, which dominated
the American scene in the late 19th century, flatly rejected
Zionism. For these Jews, Judaism was a religion, not a culture or nation. They
were Jewish by religion and American by nationality.
Although they were well established as Americans, they were
still quite insecure. Last week, we saw how disturbed they were by the initial
influx of Eastern European Jews, with whom they did not want to be identified.
They also felt that any sympathy toward the movement to establish a Jewish
homeland in Palestine, would lead others to question their loyalty to America.
On a psychological level, endorsing Zionism called into question their existence
as American Jews. If Zionism taught that the land of Israel was the Jewish
homeland, then what were they doing in America?
Opposition to Zionism was forcefully stated in a resolution
of the CCAR, the Reform rabbinic body, in 1897. We “totally disapprove of any
attempt for the establishment of a Jewish state…Such attempts do not benefit,
but infinitely harm our Jewish brethren where they are still persecuted, by
confirming the assertion of their enemies that the Jews are foreigners in the
countries in which they are at home” the rabbis argued.
A year later, the UAHC, representing all Reform
congregations, agreed. “We are unalterably opposed to political Zionism. The
Jews are not a nation, but a religious community.” The land of Israel was
called “a holy memory,” but “not our hope of the future.” The resolution
concluded that Judaism’s mission was “spiritual, not political. Its aim is not
to establish a state, but to spread the truths of religion and humanity
throughout the world.”
The opposition to Zionism among American Jews, even
American Reform Jews, was not universal. Rabbi Bernhard Felsenthal of Chicago,
for example believed that Zionism was the best response to persecution. Rabbi
Judah Magnes, who would one day become Hebrew University’s first chancellor, was
a strong supporter of Zionism in the early 20th century. And Stephen
S. Wise was an outspoken advocate of a Jewish state.
These Jewish leaders were not Zionists in the sense that
they were committed to making aliyah and living in the land of Israel. Rather,
they offered crucial support for Herzl and those working to create a Jewish
state, utilized their political connections to nurture American support, and
help raise desperately needed financial resources for Jewish communities of
Palestine.
Louis Brandeis, for example, who served on the United
States Supreme Court, did not believe that all Jews should return to Zion.
Rather, he believed that the creation of a Jewish state would enhance pride in
Jews throughout the world. Under his leadership, membership in the Zionist
Organization in America grew from 12,000 to 186,000 members between 1912 and
1917.
Another Zionist leader was Henrietta Szold. She grew up in
Baltimore, and as a young adult help organize a night school for the many
Eastern European Jewish immigrants who descended upon the city in the 1880s. In
1903 she moved to New York and began meeting with a group of women called the
Hadassah Study Circle. They would read and discuss essays and academic papers
on Judaism and Zionism.
After Szold and her mother visited Palestine, they set
about converting their study circle into an organization that would provide
tangible support for the Jews settling in Palestine. Thus, in 1912,
Hadassah—the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, was founded, with Szold as
its first President. Hadassah would become the largest and most influential
American Zionist organization, eventually providing the financial support for
the creation of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Szold herself settled in
Palestine in the 1920s, founding Youth Aliyah to rescue Jewish children from
Europe.
Meanwhile, the efforts of Szold, Brandeis and others were
having their effect on Reform Jewish leaders who were re-evaluating their
anti-Zionism stance. As news of the worsening plight of the Jews of Eastern
Europe reached American shores in the 1930s, Reform Judaism changed its
position.
In 1935, the CCAR passed a resolution taking no official
stand on Zionism, but supporting “the upbuilding of Palestine, and in the
economic, cultural, and particularly spiritual tasks confronting the growing and
evolving Jewish community there.” Two years later, the UAHC called upon “all
Jews, irrespective of ideological differences, to unite in the activities
leading to the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine” and to provide
“financial and moral support to the work of rebuilding Palestine.”
As Reform Judaism firmly
established itself in the Zionist camp, a small, but vocal, minority of Reform
leaders created the American Council for Judaism, which not only opposed
Zionism, but many of the other changes that Reform Judaism would undergo in the
mid-20th century.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the American Zionist movement
worked on many levels. First and foremost, it developed support for Jewish
communities of Palestine among American Jewry. It also developed political
support for the creation of a Jewish state. This effort culminated in May, 1942
when 600 Zionist leaders met at the Biltmore Hotel in New York and approved what
became known as the Biltmore Program. This document supported the creation of a
“Jewish military force under its own flag” as well as for unlimited Jewish
immigration to Palestine. Finally, it called for the creation of an independent
Jewish state.
Zionist leaders also attempted to exert their influence on
American government policy. This was no easy task, since the State Department
had consistently opposed Zionism, at times quite strongly. And although
President Franklin Roosevelt had strongly defended “Jewish political rights and
social values” during his administration, he was ambivalent toward Zionism and
immigration to Palestine.
So while Jewish leaders deeply mourned the passing of
Roosevelt in 1945, they saw it as an opportunity to exert more influence on the
White House under President Truman, who, as both a senator and vice president,
had been reluctant to take a stand on Zionism and the creation of a Jewish
state.
The end of World War II had brought the first realization
of the enormity of the devastation of European Jewry and the need to deal with
hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons. Truman initially
expressed his support for resettling “as many of the Jews into Palestine” as
possible, but soon backtracked to a more neutral position in the face of British
recalcitrance to change their policy severely limiting immigration.
Ultimately, however, Truman would prove to be a key
political advocate for a Jewish homeland. When the United Nations Special
Committee on Palestine recommended partitioning the land to create a Jewish and
an Arab state, Truman --despite opposition from some of his advisors-- offered
American support for the plan.
On November 29, 1947 the United Nations General Assembly
supported the partition plan by a vote of 33-13 with 10 abstentions. And six
months later, when Israel declared its independence in response to the Arab’s
continuing rejection of the plan and the British withdrawal from Palestine, the
United States became to first country to recognize the provisional government of
the Jewish state. Without the persistent advocacy of American Zionist leaders,
and the support of the broader American Jewish community, it is doubtful that
the United States would have supported the creation of Israel.
Once Israel was created, virtually all opposition to
Zionism disappeared. Support for the state included financial contributions and
political advocacy. The real love affair between American Jewry and Israel
emerged in response to the Six Day War and Israel’s spectacular victory.
American Judaism’s support for Israel has remained consistently strong
regardless of American or Israeli political leadership.
The only area in which American Zionism has faltered is its
inability to motivate significant numbers of American Jews to make aliyah.
Most American Jews are quite comfortable here, and while they support Israel in
many ways, would not seriously consider aliyah. While some American
leaders have tried to put aliyah at the center of the Zionist agenda, as
it is in many countries, most leaders recognize that it is unrealistic to expect
American Jews to move to Israel and that political and financial support is just
as important a piece of the Zionist agenda.
From this survey of American Jewry’s support for Zionism
and the creation of a Jewish state, we learn a number of lessons:
--it is all right to change your mind about something. The
American Jewish community, which at first strongly opposed Zionism, eventually
rejected this stance and wholeheartedly embraced Zionism.
--it is all right to shape an ideology to fit one’s
agenda. American Zionism emphasized political and financial support of Israel,
rather than aliyah, which was central to classical Zionist ideology.
--supporting Zionism and Israel does not undermine our
identity as an American Jews, but can serve to enhance it. We therefore should
continue in our political and financial support of Israel, proudly calling
ourselves Zionists. In so doing, we are continuing the tradition of Americans
such as Louis Brandeis, Stephen S. Wise and Henrietta Szold, who supported
Zionism, rallied American Jews to support the creation of the Jewish state.
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