In much the same way as donating to one charity often leads to appeals from many related charities, especially in the Jewish world, I recently received an email from a new Jewish pro-Israel multidisciplinary journal called Kaleidoscope (linked to Habonim Dror internationally) inviting me to share their link with friends and perhaps consider submitting an article or letter to the editor.

I shared their link as a professional courtesy, although I am not affiliated with their movement Habonim Dror nor with Israel’s related (defunct) leftist Zionist Socialist political party Meretz.  I took a cursory look at this new publication and wish them well in their endeavors, but I do not share their political orientation.  I cannot imagine submitting articles there in future, and do not need the approval of their editorial board, but thank them for their invitation nonetheless.

I am not sure why I was contacted.  Although Meretz is linked to LGBTQ Pride celebrations in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv, I have largely disengaged from the LGBTQ community in Canada and internationally.  Although I am a human rights advocate and legal scholar I am not affiliated with leftist political movements.

I suspect a potential form of ‘tokenism’ – perhaps this journal is seeking more female, feminist, LGBTQ and Jewishly educated pro-Israel human rights oriented scholarly contributors, and my name came to mind.  Some of its Canadian contributors are people I have known in my advocacy work in Toronto.

I do support the stated intentions of this new Kaleidoscope journal of the Habonim and Meretz movements to confront ‘populist’ movements contributing to anti-semitism and related hate crimes and harassment, on both the radical left and on the far right.

However, in our current circumstances, I do not believe mass cultural movements of any stripe, however fervent, would be sufficient to turn this anti-semitic tide ideologically and politically.  Innovation usually arises from below, from the lived experiences and creative actions of ordinary people.

The same innovation is encouraged in the Habonim movement, but it must be translated into meaningful political and practical action and the formation of credible communities of sufficient critical mass and popular electoral appeal. Not all populism is bad, although the Torah teaches us to avoid ‘following after a majority to do evil’ (Exodus 23:2).

Many have a misguided understanding of power and political mandates.  Electoral majorities and mass populist movements are........

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