At Beth El, a New Jersey Synagogue, a Deep Divide Over Israel

For those who believe that “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism,” as ADL national director Jonathan Greenblatt has argued, the inclusion of these types of incidents is clearly justified. The ADL and its supporters have raised the alarm about Jewish students who identify as Zionists being vilified on college campuses, and about protests against Israel’s occupation of Gaza that include chants like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a slogan many hear as a call for Israel’s destruction.

At Beth El’s event, titled “Going Gray: Understanding and Unraveling Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism,” a different perspective was presented. Once the room was full, the moderators, both from the WhatsApp group, handed out copies of a document titled “Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism.” Published in 2021 by a team of scholars in fields including Jewish studies and Holocaust history, it was created to help distinguish hatred of Jews from criticism of Israel. This distinction was missing both in popular discourse, scholars say, and in an influential definition of anti-Semitism associated with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which lists numerous examples of anti-Semitism linked to criticism of Israel. (These include “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, for example by asserting that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” and “applying double standards” to Israel, which is not expected of other states.) In recent years, many countries have adopted the IHRA definition, including the United States. at many colleges, it has encouraged efforts to punish pro-Palestinian speech.

The Jerusalem Declaration attempts to be more nuanced. Applying classic anti-Jewish stereotypes to Israel — such as suggesting that its leaders control the banking system with a hidden hand — is clearly anti-Semitic, he says, but other criticisms, including “opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism” and holding Israel to moral standards that are not required of other countries, might not be. “Hostility towards Israel could be an expression of anti-Semitic animosity, or a reaction to a violation of human rights, or even the emotion that a Palestinian feels because of his experience,” observe its authors.

At the Beth El event, moderators asked participants to indicate whether they considered certain expressions anti-Semitic. Among them was “From the River to the Sea”, which, according to the Jerusalem Declaration, can be used to express support for a binational state where Jews And Palestinians are granted equal rights. The meeting split into discussion groups – and quickly erupted in anger. An older man stood up and told the moderators that they should be ashamed of themselves for organizing such an event on a Jewish holiday. A woman had come out, informing the moderators that she found the discussion offensive. “It was very tense,” admitted Avi Smolen, one of the moderators. In his opinion, this discomfort highlighted the benefit of having such a session; several people “came out of nowhere” to thank him afterward, he said. David Mallach, a Beth El member who attended the event, was more critical. Sharing the Jerusalem Declaration but not the IHRA definition “created a Guinean conversation,” he told me. But Mallach doesn’t dispute that the event usefully highlighted a divide within the community. “It showed very clearly how deep the divisions within the synagogue were,” he said.

Cartoon by Carolita Johnson

Mallach has been a member of Beth El for thirty-seven years. Before retiring, he worked for the United Israel Appeal, an affiliate of the Jewish Federations of North America, which builds ties between synagogues and other Jewish groups. One day, over coffee in Maplewood, he recounted a split within the congregation sixteen years ago, sparked by a personality clash between the senior rabbi at the time, a woman, and the cantor, an older man. After the synagogue board voted to fire the cantor, many families loyal to him left. Mallach called this event “the great schism.” Since the exodus, Beth El’s membership has recovered and even increased, he said, but now another schism has formed.