Reflective Judaism

Ahavat Tzion

Published by

Rabbi Jeremy Sher

on

Ahavat Tzion, a term that was suggested to me in a Facebook group where Zionists converse with Jewish non- and anti-Zionists, means “love of Zion” in Hebrew. It is a part of Judaism, and it just means hoping for a just, peaceful Jewish presence in Zion. It is not the same as Zionism, a word whose meaning has been hotly debated — perhaps so hotly debated that it has lost any meaning, but that most Zionists, most non-Zionists, and most anti-Zionists seem to agree is a belief that a Jewish presence in Zion must be a Jewish ethnostate that privileges Jews over non-Jews. Ahavat Tzion, by contrast, is simply a belief in the Jewish connection to Zion, a belief that Jews are from Zion, and for me a hope that Jews might one day be present in Zion in a safe, peaceful, and just way. Ahavat Tzion does not have any dogma about the form that such a Jewish presence in Zion should take.

Core Principles

We agree that Israel’s destruction of Gaza meets the definition of genocide, and we are horrified that Jews could ever support these atrocities for any reason. Our horror causes us to look inward and understand we need a concept of Judaism that can never again be used to justify genocide.

We may have varying relationships with the Z-word (Zionism or Zion). Whether we think Zionism was flawed from the start or whether we had high hopes for it, in any case we all agree that by 2024 it had gone horribly wrong and had produced a genocide, an outcome that none of us can accept.

We must look at how it went wrong in order to prevent this from happening again. We need to look at this through historical, political, textual, halakhic, theological, kabbalistic, and other lenses.

The Gaza genocide is a major turning point in Jewish history, as much as the genocides we’ve suffered. With this event, for the first time in recorded history, Jews have become perpetrators of genocide — not even 100 years after the Holocaust.

Trauma response plays a role in how this happened, but does not tell the full story. Jews who favor genocide are quoting Torah, and we know Torah speaks of and even commands genocide in certain places. We recognize in humility that Judaism has been part of the problem, and we accept the need for Judaism to change.

We must reflect on how Judaism must change so that it can never again be used to justify genocide.

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