The disrespectful treatment of Rabbi Saul Berman at the Smol Emuni conference in New York highlights many problems that were part of the conference, most glaringly, that it was neither “Smol” (left-wing) nor “Emuni.” While there is a great need for voices in the Orthodox community to counterbalance the rising scourge of Kahanism and Ben Gvirism, the Smol Emuni conference has shown that a viable voice like that in our community has yet to rise.

Let us begin by talking about the “Smol” side of things. The conference would like to present a mirror image of the Israel Smol Emuni movement, a movement that has come to change the Israeli reality in which Orthodox Jews are to be found only on Israel’s political right and not on its political left. The way to see whether the American version of Smol Emuni reflects the Smol (left-wing politics) in Israel is to look at those politics. People like Yair Golan, Yair Lapid, Na’ama Lazimi, and Rabbi Gilad Kariv have come to the forefront of the Israeli left-wing parties. Knowing them well and admiring their courage and devotion to the Zionist cause, I can say this: those representatives of the Israeli “Smol” were not represented by the crowd at the Smol Emuni conference in New York.

The disrespectful walkout on Rabbi Saul Berman, the thundering applause deriding AIPAC, and the public approval of the reprehensible suggestion that Jews who came to the land of Israel were welcomed by Palestinians only to stab those Palestinians in the back in 1948 are things they would never accept. It goes without saying that Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann, and other icons of the Israeli left would never come close to such territory either.

Now let us talk about the Emuni side of the conference. The organizers’ website describes itself as “a community of Orthodox and observant Jews committed to justice, equality, and dignity for Jews and Palestinians. Rooted in Torah, we are building a courageous Orthodox Jewish voice for peace and to end the occupation.”

If you look at the Hebrew version of the Israel Smol Emuni site, you will see nothing about wanting to “end the occupation,” for a simple reason: there are more than 500,000 Jews living in the West Bank. As seen in the case of Gush Katif, unless shown otherwise, “an end to the occupation” would mean uprooting those half a million Jews, many of whom are Americans who made aliyah to places like Efrat and parts of East Jerusalem.

One can only advocate for an absolutist “end to the occupation” while locking oneself in an ivory tower that can pretend not to know about places like Efrat, Migdal Oz, Alon Shvut, Ramat Eshkol, Talpiot, and more. For Israelis, there is zero room for any Dati Le’umi or Orthodox organization to advocate for such an absolutist term that would uproot so many Jews from their homes. From a geographical and sociological distance that is more rooted in progressive circles and anti-Israel academia, it is much easier, and even rewarding, to say you want to “bring an end to the occupation.” In Orthodox life, where some of the most open-minded voices have studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion, such language is simply not possible.

Furthermore, the fact that a conference for an organization that would like to be a voice for “Orthodox and observant Jews” was held in B’nai Jeshurun, notably a non-Orthodox synagogue, should have been the first clue that this voice failed to capture any kind of place in the Orthodox community. If you could not secure a place even in the most liberal Orthodox space, you are probably not a voice in the Orthodox community and should not present yourself as such.

If you walk out on Rabbi Saul Berman, among the most liberal voices in the Orthodox community, while applauding an advisor to the PLO, you have not advanced your cause in the Orthodox community. The additional fact that the conference failed to speak about the unprecedented rise of antisemitism against American Jews, which is very much fueled by Palestinian nationalism, makes it hard to take the message of the conference seriously.

The fact that the Smol Emuni conference has not succeeded in becoming a recognized voice in the Orthodox community does not mean, however, that it has nothing of value to add to the discourse in the Orthodox community.

As my friend Rabbi Chaim Seidler has presented passionately, there is in fact a dire need to confront the rise of Ben Gvirism in the Orthodox community. There is a great need to stop the Har Hamor extremist takeover of so many Religious Zionist institutions. There is a need to address the desecration of God’s name and the defamation of all Jews brought about by the barbarism of the Hilltop Youth pogroms and their repeated attacks on innocent Palestinians.

We cannot normalize the Smotrich–Ben Gvir and Daniella Weiss rhetoric and the violent crassness that has come with it. There is a need to reclaim the soul of Religious Zionism and not leave it to the masked thugs graffitiing churches in Israel, beating Palestinians on farmlands, or committing random acts of violence. There is a dire need for us as an Orthodox community to have these conversations.

I have yet to meet a single American rabbi who is not horrified by the explosion of violence and extremism on the hilltops and in the Ben Gvirist circles, the Har Hamor takeover of so many Religious Zionist institutions, and the devastating blow those extremists bring to the image of what it means to be a Jew around the world. There clearly is a need for taking a stand on these issues.

So how can that be done?

I can only reflect from my own experience. Two years ago, watching the rise in inflammatory speech and in light of seeing how it is used against our people, I wrote to a Religious Zionist rabbi who would often put out such statements, and he was gracious enough to respond. After a back-and-forth exchange that indeed did not go anywhere, I asked him not to take my word for it. I told him to find someone he trusts with English and to search his own name on social media. Any search with his name would indeed show many antisemitic and anti-Israel accounts using his words to negatively portray the Jewish community.

I have not heard back from him since, but I have not seen him putting out the inflammatory statements he used to put out either.

It is unconscionable that we as Jews believe in dialogue with Palestinians but not in dialogue with our own people. My suggestion to anyone Orthodox who cares enough about the soul of our people is to write to Dati Le’umi leaders inside Israel, to pick up the phone and make a call, to put together a mission, and go visit.

Do not go for dialogue visits in Ramallah or Jenin when you should be going to Kfar Tapuach, Kiryat Arba, Kedumim, Har Homa, and other hotbeds of extremism in the Religious Zionist community. Modern Orthodox American leaders are uniquely positioned to initiate these conversations, as they share many of the yeshivot and educational frameworks with Israeli Religious Zionists and have many social and sociological bonds that, unlike American Charedi rabbis, parallel the Dati Le’umi community in Israel.

While New York’s Smol Emuni conference remains in my eyes a missed opportunity that was not really “Smol” nor was it “Emuni” in the sociological sense of the word, there is in fact a need for increased dialogue in the Modern Orthodox community about the wave of extremism that has overtaken many Religious Zionist communities in Israel, mostly in Har Hamor circles, the Shomron, and among the Hilltop Youth, who are no longer that young, though not limited to them.

We need that dialogue to begin now, and American Jews can play a vital role in helping Israeli Religious Zionists understand how many actions taken by extremists in the Religious Zionist community are helping fuel global antisemitism.

I hope that conversation begins soon.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)