The End Jews

There is a group of Jews whom I call End-Jews. These are Jews who are themselves or whose children will be the last of their line to identify as Jews. Many in public life are prominent: e.g. Bernie Sanders and Doug Emhoff. There are millions more and they generally form two separate groups. However, they share a single characteristic; they don’t need Israel.

The first of these groups, and the most vocal, are the progressives. They trend with several attributes: woke politics, indifference or hostility to Israel, grandparents who were Communist or fellow travelers, actual or emotional affiliations with self-described liberation movements for black or brown people, Tikkun Olam as the high point of Jewish prayer, the Holocaust as their defining event in contemporary Jewish history, etc.

You have met these End Jews. They will minimize any Arab atrocity, “what can you expect a powerless people oppressed for 75 years to do?” and they will shout down or refuse to engage in argument: “I know all about that.” Seeds of this group were planted a long time ago. I was raised in Los Angeles in the 1930’s among non-religious Zionist Jews. I had friends from non-Zionist families. As children we argued about a Jewish Palestine or a Jewish Birobidzhan. Zionism versus the Workmen’s Circle.

Two major and separate events affected these End-Jews. Both involve Israel and both weakened their attachment to Judaism. The first is the 1967 War. The USSR had gone from being Israel-neutral in 1947 to becoming progressively hostile as Israel failed to join its bloc. By1967 the USSR was supplying arms to the Arab states surrounding Israel and advised Israel against starting the war. At the war’s end the Soviets launched a strong political attack against Israel. In immediate concert, the ultra-left US progressive Jews joined this attack (e.g. see Ramparts Magazine and I.F. Stone) and they have never relented.

The other major event was the anti-Vietnam War movement in the US. Starting with student-led protests in the early 1960s and spreading nation-wide, this movement rapidly included Black activists who pushed a separate agenda of Black liberation. Despite the many affiliated Jews, somehow this movement grew to include anti-Israel and anti-Jewish agitation. Many of the gentile and Jewish members went into careers in media, politics, and the non-stem divisions of universities. Their children and grandchildren have continued in their footsteps. Generations of anti-Israel focus, based on faulty or seriously incomplete information, has been transmitted via media and political activism to millions of current US citizens. And the Jews among these found allegiance with this protest to be stronger than allegiance to contemporary Jewish history.

The progressive End Jew will dispute that last sentence and blinds himself to his reality. Thus, he might still participate in Jewish activities, but these will not include Zionism. His Seder might use a “modern Haggadah” that speaks of oppressed Palestinians and other peoples. The Holocaust, devoid of Israel content, is a favored topic for his discussion; he might have visited a camp. If he visited Israel he was unable to experience a lasting positive impact. Out-marriages by his children are a feature of his group and he is comfortable with this. He himself might convert to another religion. These conversions are usually without epiphany and are done for convenience or a bizarre reading of ethics which ignores Judaism’s place in Western culture.

The other group of End-Jews is non-ideologic. They just are indifferent to Judaism and Israel. While growing up they lost their attachment to Jewish themes. They are not hostile to Judaism and Israel but they just don’t connect and are comfortably submerged into the US non-affiliated majority. If they attend a Seder it is because a friend invited them and “Oh yeah, when I was growing up my mom and dad had these”. They have often already out-married and their children have no Jewish theme in the home.

The truly religious Jew is clearly not an End Jew but he runs a different path. He believes in a living God; an entity that consciously created the universe and all within it. he is waiting for Mosiach. He does not need Israel. God has preserved Jews for thousands of years with or without a homeland and to him, loss of Israel would be upsetting but God’s way is true and if it takes another thousand years, so be it. Many progressive Jews echo this argument that Jews have survived without Israel, but they choose to ignore that it was culture tied to religion that accomplished this.

It is for the non-religious Jew committed to his past that Israel is essential. He might be living in the diaspora, is loyal to his country, and inculcating patriotism to his children. He is willing to die in service for his country. However, at core he is Jewish and needs Israel in place of God.