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........

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