Last weekend, I spent hours in a bloodied bathroom cleaning and bandaging the wounds of friends who stood up to a Nazi wearing a swastika at a neighborhood event in Northside. My friend has been called an antisemite for decades for her tireless work for Palestinian liberation. When she heard a Nazi spouting hate for Jews during a concert at DSGN CLLCTV, they got into a physical altercation. When I stood up to speak the next afternoon at the Queen City United Against White Supremacy rally in Washington Park, I felt the solidarity of the crowd. I also felt alone and embarrassed.
I am a proud and observant Jew. I’ve taught religious school for our children, led Shabbat and High Holy Day services for our elders, and grown up, learned and practiced in the Cincinnati Jewish community. I now co-lead Shema Cincinnati, a pluralistic community of Jews who are working to create community, religious practice and political action beyond Zionism. We believe that the holy work of questioning, changing and growing belongs to us all.
I am embarrassed that the Jewish community, people with whom I have had deep, meaningful relationships, decided to boycott last Sunday’s rally against white supremacy. A recent op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer written by Rabbi Ari Jun was headlined “I’m a Zionist. That shouldn’t prevent me from speaking at a rally against Nazis.” I understand Rabbi Jun’s frustration with being disinvited to speak. I empathize with my community members who felt hurt. However, I also understand the organizers’ unwillingness to platform Zionism, an ideology that is committing ethnic cleansing in Gaza, even if Rabbi Jun’s expression of that ideology is less extreme than others (he is a self-described liberal Zionist). Both Jews and Zionists were explicitly welcomed by the young organizers to attend and stand against white supremacy. Jews spoke and were visible. Zionists chose to boycott. I saw comments from people I have known and worked with for years saying explicitly “part of me genuinely does not care about the other minorit[ies] anymore.” This is a shanda.
You may have been told that all Jews are Zionists, and that anti-Zionism is anti-semitism. Even recent opinion pieces in The Enquirer have referred to Judaism and Zionism interchangeably. This is untrue and inaccurate. Anti-Zionism is a loose term referring to criticism of the policies of the Israeli state, and/or moral, ethical or religious criticism of the idea of a Jewish nation-state. There are many Jews both nationally and in our community who strongly denounce Israel’s actions, and who have been silenced and disowned as Jews for it. The message that to be Jewish is to support Israel is untrue and goes against the value of wrestling with moral questions that have guided Jewish people for centuries.
It is true that many Jews have emotional connections to Israel, but survey polls find wildly different answers to questions about the nature of that connection. Attitudes differ dramatically across generations, with one 2024 study finding that only 62% of Jewish American teens consider themselves to be Zionists, while another 2022 poll found that 58% of American Jews identified as Zionist. Though other polls do find, as Rabbi Jun noted in his op-ed, 80% of American Jews feel that supporting Israel is in some way important to their Judaism, endorsement of Zionism among American Jews varies widely (from 10% to 72%) depending on how it is defined.
Here in Cincinnati, as well as nationally, there are Jews who do not identify with – or are unsure how they feel about – Zionism, or who do not agree with the state of Israel. A group of us meet every month for Shabbat. Just last week, I had three separate conversations with Zionist Jews who felt lost and confused about their relationship to Zionism, but who worry about social isolation and ostracization from other Zionist Jews. Should we ignore 20-40% of our communities, as Rabbi Jun’s blanket statements do? Should Jews say we will not even attend a rally to fight Nazis if we are not given space to express a particular ideology?
There are Jews standing in solidarity alongside pro-Palestine organizers in direct confrontation with white supremacy. Join us. We all share a common enemy. White supremacist ideology is a threat to us all. If we expect to be trusted allies in the fight against white supremacy, we need to address and disavow the ethnic cleansing being conducted in our name.
Moshe Seid is a community organizer and co-organizer of Shema Cincinnati.
This article appears in Mar 19 – Apr 2, 2025.
