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Eli Rubenstein: Avi Lewis' wrongheaded defence of anti-Zionism

Anti-Zionist Jews hope to revive a Bundist ideology that history has proven to be a failure

As a synagogue leader for almost 40 years, I have encountered many different expressions of Jewish identity: religious and secular, spiritual and intellectual, Holocaust-centred  — and, of course, Zionist and anti-Zionist. Some of these descriptions I am comfortable with, except the last one: anti-Zionist.

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Let me begin with a story. In pre-war Poland, two close Jewish friends took very different paths in response to seemingly unending antisemitism. One became a fervent Zionist, believing the Jewish people needed their own country in their ancestral homeland.

Eli Rubenstein: Avi Lewis' wrongheaded defence of anti-Zionism Back to video

The other became an equally committed Bundist, believing Jews should remain in Poland, unite with Jewish workers and fight antisemitism through universal brotherhood. (The Bund took its name from a Yiddish word meaning “union” or “federation.”)

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

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Both men lost their families in the Holocaust and barely survived themselves. After the war, the Zionist moved to Israel, while the Bundist eventually settled in America.

Years later, the Bundist........

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