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Jewish anti-Zionists aren’t going away—how should Jewish communities respond?

According to the JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America), some 32% of American Jews between the ages of 18 and 34 define themselves as “anti-Zionist.” Essentially, a third. That number may well grow.

How should the “mainstream” Jewish community respond? Try to understand them with greater sympathy, or raise the walls higher? Remove flags from the bimah in our synagogues so these people will find our sanctuaries less off-putting, or insist that no, we are who we are? Should we abandon the word “Zionism,” because Israel has already been founded, and perhaps because it’s the “movement” terminology that surfaces the question about whether or not Israel should exist?

Rabbi Abi Dauber Sterne and Robbie Gringas, authors of the book Stories for the Sake of Argument (which we discussed on our podcast when it first came out), have begun exploring some of these issues. In a conversation we’ll air shortly, Abi explains why these two committed Zionists thought it was important to engage the anti-Zionist community, what they learned, and what they still don’t know. I suggested other angles that I hope they’ll explore as their research continues.