Reform Judaism must reject the DSA
For more than six decades, my Jewish home has been within Reform Judaism. I grew up in its youth movement and summer camps. I received my rabbinical education in its seminary. I have prayed and led worship in its sanctuaries. It is, Jewishly speaking, my homepage (with many and diverse links).
More than that: I have quite often resonated with Reform Judaism’s political and social positions. Since its very origins, Reform Judaism has been inextricably linked to social justice. From its earliest statement of its principles – the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885:
In full accordance with the spirit of the Mosaic legislation, which strives to regulate the relations between rich and poor, we deem it our duty to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrasts and evils of the present organization of society.
For its time, that was a pretty radical statement, and it still resonates.
Years ago, the Buffalo Springfield sang: “There’s something happening here…”
Unlike the lyrics, it is “exactly clear.”
I am speaking of the seeming sudden emergence of the Democratic Socialists of America as a major political force in this country.
Look at what has happened in just the past month.
In New York’s 13th District, community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier ousted five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
She has publicly branded a former president a “rapist,” has posted that she wiped her hands on the American flag, and co-founded a Columbia protest group that critics say is dedicated to the eradication of Western civilization.
She has deleted some of those statements; she regrets having made some of them. Still, the sentiments are unacceptable.
In New York’s 7th district, Claire Valdez, another DSA-backed candidate, won by twenty points. She has called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide.”
The trend goes beyond New York. DSA-backed Melat Kiros defeated 30-year incumbent Diana DeGette in Denver, Colorado. Candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America have scored victories in 35 primary elections so far this year, including upsets against entrenched incumbents, out of 150 candidates the DSA has backed this cycle.
There is, of course, the DSA’s position on Israel and Zionism, which it treats as an inherently disqualifying structure of oppression. Calls to make DSA “an antizionist organization in principle and praxis” are now explicit and celebrated.
But, beyond that: the DSA has called for abolishing the police; getting rid of prisons, and unregulated immigration.
The DSA poses a tangible, real challenge to the future of the Democratic party. The party itself knows that.
But, this is also about the Reform movement. Why?
Some wags have called the Reform movement “the Democratic Party with holidays.”
That might be an oversimplification and trivialization of Reform Judaism’s principles and programs.
But, in truth, the vast majority of American Reform Jews – 91 percent, according to Pew Research Center’s 2020 study of Jewish Americans– identify as either liberal or moderate, with 80% leaning Democratic — figures that place them among the most consistently left-leaning religious demographics measured in the United States.
Therefore, what happens to the Democratic Party doesn’t stop in the Democratic Party. It touches Reform Judaism, and Reform Jews, as well – if only because it is the political home of so many of those Jews.
That is why Reform Jewish institutions must state loudly: None of the core principles of the DSA accord with Jewish principles, even liberal Jewish principles.
First, the DSA’s antizionism. A political movement that makes antizionism its organizing principle, and sends candidates who deny Israel’s right to exist to Congress can never be our political partner. It is a threat – to Jewish life, to Jewish safety, to Jewish memory, and to everything the Reform movement has supported.
This is what Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism stated, in May, in its resolution on Jewish peoplehood:
BE IT RESOLVED, that we call upon the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and all arms of Reform institutional life to ensure that their public advocacy, partnerships, and policy positions reflect and advance the movement’s enduring commitment to Zionism and Jewish peoplehood;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Reform institutions prioritize alignment with individuals, movements, and organizations that affirm the legitimacy of the State of Israel and strengthen the unity and continuity of the Jewish people.
Second, the DSA’s positions on police, prisons, and immigration. True: we should be looking deeply at the culture of police and prisons. We should be thinking critically about immigration, and how ICE contributes to de-humanizing violence against immigrants.
But, the call for abolition of those institutions is not a call for reform. It is a call for anarchy.
Therefore, the Reform movement must unequivocally reject the principles of the DSA. It must do so with the same alacrity and clarity with it has rejected the principles of MAGA. Every leader of Reform Judaism and its national institutions muststate clearly: the Democratic Socialists of America do not speak for us.
That is how we must speak up – yes, for the future of the Democratic Party; and yes, for America; and also for the core principles of liberal Judaism itself.
