We are pleased to host Dara Horn at r/Jewish for an AMA! Dara is the author of five novels, the essay collection People Love Dead Jews, the podcast Adventures with Dead Jews, and the forthcoming graphic novel One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe (out in March, available now for preorder).

#This AMA is LIVE now. Ask your questions here!

Speaking to a Christian gay black gentleman today about the world and politics, and he considers himself well versed in history and politics. I shared with him that antisemitism, mostly disguised as anti-zionism, is absolutely rife in the LGBTQ+ community and you cannot really openly be Jewish in "queer spaces", and explained that when I do tell people I'm Jewish, often the first thing they do is ask me about Israel/Palestine, and when it becomes clear I'm a zionist they go on some massive tirade against Israel chock full of misinformation and outright lies they've been fed. Often their minds are hardened against being changed, ultimately because they hate Jews. They don't feel passionate about Ukraine, or China, or any other conflict around the world.

He seemed surprised and asked me to confirm what I said. I concluded by saying I feel political homeless and cannot decide whether I would even vote next year in the Canadian general election. There was a brief pause, then he redirected the topic, which infuriated me the most. I feel as if I'm being gaslit, that maybe there isn't antisemitism where I believe it is.

But it's so obviously there:

• Would the same people argue the US and UK should have tried to do a ceasefire with Nazi Germany? Many Germans supported the Nazis, just as many Palestinians support Hamas. On Oct 7th, many Palestinians celebrated in the streets, likewise on 9/11 the same Palestinians also celebrated on the streets then.
• There's a Pogrom happening in Amsterdam and politicians there do nothing. No condemnation from leftist politicians anywhere in the Western world. No condemnation of this from Queers Against Jews or whatever the f-ck it is called.
• Since October 7th 2023, there have been numerous incidences in North America and Europe of Jews being attacked. Attacks on Jews have skyrocketed 10 or even 20 times compared to 2022. Do the left condemn this? Do they protest against violent antisemitism on our streets? Not a peep. Not a peep out of leftist politicians either, no reaction to actually tackle the source (i.e. radical leftist groups).
• University campuses have become bastions of antisemitism. You cannot even walk through these encampments with a yarmulke on, without being stopped, encircled, intimidated and interrogated.
• When these anti-zionists are asked where millions of Jews should go, their answer is usually "back to Europe". It's then pointed out to them that many Jews fled Muslim countries in the Middle East and African and have nowhere to go back. The same people saying that are living on Native American indigenous land. Why don't they practice what they preach if they believe Israelis are truly colonizers? Why don't they go back to Europe, Asia or Africa? One rule for themselves, another for Jews.
• Same dumbasses claim they oppose ethnocentric states. Yet you never hear these people tearing up university lawns over Muslim nations actively mass killing minorities in Muslim countries. Nor any complaints about LGBTQ+ people being literally killed in Muslim countries. This is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about - that it is extremist Muslims which are causing the conflicts. And yet we have these "woke" people clambering to have the backs of these extremists. Why so focused on Israel? I know why: Antisemitism.
• Etc, on and on.

I'm not gonna be gaslighted anymore, it's clear that antisemitism is occurring. If people feel so strongly about this, they should go educate themselves, read up from reliable neutral sources. They don't, because they don't want a narrative that challenges their antisemitism.

A Wider Bridge mobilizes the LGBTQ community to fight antisemitism and support Israel and its LGBTQ community.

Click here to ask questions!

You can also click "Remind me" there to get a reminder when the AMA starts. You can ask questions starting at 10am Eastern, and folks from A Wider Bridge will be answering them until at least 3pm Eastern.

Hello everyone-

This Thursday over at r/Jewish we will be hosting an AMA with representatives from A Wider Bridge (AWB), a Jewish-LGBTQ organization devoted to building bridges between LGBTQ communities in America and Israel, as well as fighting LGBTQphobia and antisemitism.

Multiple representatives from the leadership of AWB will be answering questions. I personally admire AWB because in the post 10/7 world, in a climate of increased antisemitism and disinformation, they dispel the myth that there is any conflict between LGBTQ and Jewish/Zionist identities, and this is expressed in their beautiful flag!

So save your questions for Thursday November 21, 10am-3pm ET!

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Goth music used to be my all time favorite type of music. When I was in my twenties it was practically my identity. The Cure has a new album out finally after sixteen years and I’m missing my goth days since listening to it. But my problem is that most goths nowadays are typical antizionist lefties. “Punks for Palestine” is now a thing. I’d never thought I’d see the day. Punk used to be against nazis. I feel like I now have to vet all of my music, and I’m left with basically nothing except Jewish music and folk and some country. Which is ok. I just miss my goth days. Ah yeah well, such is life. Growing up sucks. My Jewish identity and relationship with Hashem is more important than anything. Thank for letting me vent!

http://zionismontheweb.org/why_i_am_a_Zionist.htm

"I am a Zionist because in establishing the sovereign state of Israel in 1948, the Jews were merely reconstituting in modern Western terms a relationship with a land they had been attached to for 4,000 years since Abraham ' just as India did in establishing a modern state out of an ancient civilization.

I am a Zionist because in building that state, the Jews were returning to history, embracing normalcy, a condition which gave them power, with all its benefits, responsibilities, and dilemmas.

I am a Zionist because I celebrate the existence of Israel, and like any thoughtful patriot, though I might criticize particular governmental policies I may dislike ' I do not delegitimize the state itself.

I am a Zionist because I live in the real world of nation-states, and I see that Zionism is no more or less "racist" than any other nationalism, be it American, Canadian, or Czech, all of which rely on some internal cohesion, some sense of solidarity among some historic grouping of individuals, and not others, some tribalism." - Gil Troy

http://zionismontheweb.org/zionism_definitions.htm

This breaks my heart because it lists a bunch of definitions of Zionism from across the Web at the time but if you Google Zionism right now, you'll get the "anti Zionist" definitions which are all blatant lies.

It lists Wikipedia's old definition of Zionism - "Zionism is a political movement among Jews (although supported by some non-Jews) which maintains that the Jewish people constitute a nation and are entitled to a national homeland. Formally founded in 1897, Zionism embraced a variety of opinions in its early years on where that homeland might be established. From 1917 it focused on the establishment of a Jewish national homeland or state in Palestine, the location of the ancient Kingdom of Israel." which, as we all know, has been replaced by "Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century and aimed for the establishment of a Jewish state through the colonization of a land outside Europe."

This website is a harsh reminder that antisemites have successfully warped Zionism into all the worst things in the world (genocide, apartheid, racism, etc).

Tonight I watched part of a Kol Nidrei livestream service by an LGBTQ+ shul. In a prayer for peace, the rabbi expressed her displeasure with Netanyahu that he didn't accept the (second?) ceasefire deal. Prayed that HaShem might soften the "hearts of those in charge" (i.e. Bibi). It went on like this, but I don't recall hearing much if any mention of Hamas. Seems a bit ridiculous to me:

Firstly, why even bring this up in a Yom Kippur (i.e. forgiving/repentance) service? Seems like a poor moment for politics (yes I know, I'm a hypocrite rn)...

Secondly, who are we to tell G-d what he should do about the conflict? We are only in charge of inputs (praying for peace), He is in charge of outputs (the outcomes).

Thirdly, 30 hostages in exchange for 1000+ terrorists? If the US were in Israel's shoes, would America ever accept such a ridiculous deal?! I highly doubt it.

I'm gay, met some LGBTQ+ Jews along the way, and half of them seem almost apologetic for being Jewish, they're wishy washy on Israel. Pathetic. The Watermelon Gang's entire motivation is antisemitism. We don't see comments about other conflicts plastered on every Instagram/TikTok cat video.

Nor do we ever see them angrily protest against Ukrainians as they are massacred by Putinis, or against Uyghur as they are being persecuted by Chinese commies. Oh why aren't they pushing for Ukrainians or Uyghurs to make peace with their murderers?! No, it's just Jews that get the hate!

Being a gay Jew in LGBTQ+ spaces is terrible right now, the amount of antisemitism and rejection is crushing - I get it, it hurts to be suddenly rejected from what is meant to be a "safe space". So it's easier to be a pick-me Jew. But newsflash: They still hate you, because they don't hate Israel, they hate all Jews! Dear fellow LGBTQ+ apologist Jews, open your eyes, see what is so obvious right in front of you.

Those LGBTQ+ Jews who hope not to be entirely rejected by the woke gays are in for a rude awakening very soon. In the space of one year we went from the Watermelon Gang vaguely condemning Hamas, and now in 2024 calling rape, torture and sadistic murder a legitimate form of resistance. That means they think Jews deserved Oct 7th!

When us alert Jews try to raise the alarm bell, we get told to stop calling everyone antisemitic, that we need to be more tolerant of differences of opinion, that we're only thinking about ourselves ("Palestinians!"), or to just nod and walk away. We are being gaslight HARD. Would black Americans or Canadians tolerate this kind of mass denialism of racism?

As a tribe, we cannot afford to give even 1 inch to the Watermelon Gang. I believe if I did so, I would just be legitimizing their continued use of "anti-zionism" as a way to spread their hatred of Jews. Yes I have my concerns about Israel and Bibi, but Israel has a right to exist and imo every Jew should proudly declare themselves to be a zionist

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a genocidal terrorist attack that included the murder of more than 1200 people and the taking of more than 250 hostages. October 7 was the most violent attack targeting Jews since the Holocaust, and included torture as well as the weaponization of sexual violence.

Today we remember the victims of 10/7–and the many hostages who still remain in Gaza. May their memories be a blessing.

After 10/7 Israel initiated a war against Hamas and the other terrorist groups that the IRGC of Iran has fueled to destroy the Jewish state. Over the year since we have witnessed the downfall of Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s leaders.

On this day we thus also remember the soldiers who have served in the IDF and sacrificed their lives to protect not only Israel and its inhabitants (including both the Jewish people, and its diverse minorities, such as the Druze-Israelis) but also the free world.

On October 7, 2024, we are not victims because we have a state and an army that has protected us, that enforces Israeli sovereignty and defends our right to self determination; we are not victims today, in short, because we are Zionists.

As a Trinbagonian who's never been to that corner of the world and has no material or religious stake there, I find Zionism to be one of my proudest political positions: I have nothing to gain from it but it being the right thing.

From what I gather from Ottoman history, the Jews of the Syria-Palestine region in the Yishuv of Israel --often involuntarily pushed there over the course of 300 years-- had as much of a presumptive moral right to a state in the wake of the Ottoman collapse as the Croatians or the Kosovars. They thus had a likewise presumptive moral right to autonomy over their own immigration policy. This is generally how I frame Zionism as a post-imperial independence movement, and though many attacks on Zionism are disingenuous and immovable with arguments, this framing is generally factually ironclad.

Hi! So, I've always described myself as a Zionist but I'm curious as to what type. I've heard of things like Labor Zionism but I don't really know what it is or if other subsets of Zionism like Labor Zionism exist. Are there any resources/tips/information y'all have for me to learn more?

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Philosopher, historian, psychologist, socialist, Zionist, antipatriot and antihero of nationalist Germany, researcher of "Jewish self-hatred" fell victim to anti-Jewish hatred, becoming one of the first victims of the Holocaust.

On February 8, 1872, the German philosopher Theodor Lessing was born into an assimilated Jewish family. In 1895, he converted to Lutheranism, in 1898 he returned to Judaism, and in 1900 became a Zionist and a critic of assimilation.

He was a teacher at numerous progressive schools before World War 1, although he was initially denied a career on the university level, as he was a Jewish Social Democrat. With the outbreak of World War I, Lessing was called up for medical service. At this time he wrote his famous anti-war essay History as the comprehension of the senseless, however its publication was delayed by the censor until 1919.

After the war he returned to lecturing in Hannover, and from 1923 he took an active part in public life, publishing articles and essays in the Prager Tagblatt (Prague daily) and the Dortmunder Generalanzeiger (Dortmund general newspaper). He became one of the Weimar Republic's leading political writers as well as one of the most hated men. Unlike the German Jewish patriots Walter Rathenau and Fritz Haber, he was an anti-patriot. During the 1925 German presidential election, he infringed on one of Germany’s holiest shrines, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, a patient of his physician father. Nationalist students used his critical portrait of the new Reich President Hindenburg as an excuse for an antisemitic campaign against him in 1925 and his lectures were attacked by protesting antisemites. Not only did he denounce Hindenburg but he also accurately predicted the imminent establishment of a dictatorship in Germany with the assistance of the Field Marshal and declared that whoever voted for Hindenburg in the election would vote for Hitler.

There was limited public support for Lessing with his colleagues saying that he had gone too far. On June 18, 1926, Prussian minister Karl Heinrich Becker gave in to public pressure, expelling Lessing indefinitely from the university with a reduced salary and depriving him of the chair of professor of philosophy at Hannover, his position of 18 years. In the 1932 presidential election, he opposed Hindenburg's nomination for president. A critic of Hindenburg and Nazism, Lessing became one of the greatest enemies of the new government: when the Nazis won the 1933 election, President Hindenburg commissioned Hitler to form a government as Lessing had predicted. Lessing’s political ideals, as well as his Zionism, made him a very unpopular figure in Nazi Germany. On January 30, 1933, the Nazi Party entered the government, and on March 1, Lessing and his wife Ada fled to Marienbad in Czechoslovakia (where they lived at the Edelweiss Villa of a local Social Democratic politician) where he continued to write for German-language newspapers abroad. But in June the Sudeten newspapers reported that a reward had been announced for his capture.

He took part in the Prague Zionist Conference in the summer of 1933, and had planned to open a boarding school with his wife when he was shot in his apartment on August 30 by Nazi supporters Rudolf Max Eckert, Rudolf Zischka and Karl Hönl who then fleed to Nazi Germany. Lessing died of his wounds on August 31, becoming the first political murder of an opponent to the Nazi regime outside of Germany.

Lessing published his major book Der jüdische Selbsthaß (Jewish Self-Hatred), a historical and psychological study of Jewry as a minority in the Diaspora in 1930. He studied self-hatred on himself. During his student years, he, a typical German Jew who had not received a Jewish upbringing, had been influenced by antisemitism and converted to Lutheranism, filled with hatred for his people. After feeling that the antisemitic attacks against him did not become weaker, he returned to Judaism, exhibiting sympathies for Zionism.

Lessing saw the Jews as an Asian people displaced in Europe and forced to occupy a position between the cultures of the two continents. He noted that the weakness of the Jews lay in their detachment from the soil, as a result of which this people had become overly spiritualised and decadent. The restoration of the land and the people, he, as a member of Poalei Tzion (Workers of Zion), saw in the synthesis of socialism and Zionism.

Self hatred in Jews is a reaction to the way the dominant population sees them, anxiously pushing away their belonging to their own people and artificially elevating themselves above their tribesmen. Jewish self-hatred was a neurotic reaction to the growing power of antisemitism and an expression of the fear of fighting it for spiritual national self-assertion.

Lessing viewed the Austrian satirical writer Karl Kraus as a self-hating Jew because Kraus criticised sympathy for Alfred Dreyfus and attacked Heine, Dreyfus, Freud, Herzl and other colleagues in the liberal press (which was run by assimilated Jews). Lessing felt that Kraus showcased his Judeophobic attempts to “purge” himself of Jewishness.

The term “Jewish self-loathing,” coined by Lessing, became popular after the publication in 1986 of  the book Jewish Self-Hatred by American historian Sander Gilman. Gilman writes, “Jews see the way the dominant nation perceives them, and through cleavage project their concerns onto other Jews for self-soothing.” This projection creates a dichotomy: “self-hating” Jews seek to make themselves “good” Jews -exceptions different from the stereotypical “bad” Jews. The self-hating Jew is copying the attitudes of antisemites toward his people. The self-hating Jew is convinced of the inferiority of his nation’s culture and seeks to borrow other people’s language, other people’s art, other people’s traditions."

Sources: https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2024/03/11/jewish-biography-theodor-lessing-helped-to-define-jewish-self-hatred/ (Jewish Biography: Theodor Lessing Helped to Define Jewish Self-Hatred by Alex Gordon)

https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/theodor-lessing/?no_cache=1 (The German Resistance Memorial Center (Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand) Biographies - Theodor Lessing)

This is a pretty rare prutach minted in Jerusalem by John Hyrcanus, shortly after he allied with Antiochos VII Euergetes (who was a renowned friend of the Jews). Hyrcanus would end up marching East with Antiochos on his great campaign to reclaim territory from the Parthians. Fighting on this campaign in the region of Hyrcania is likely where John got the epithet “Hyrcanus”. He and his army would garrison Babylon for a time while Antiochos continued East but returned home when the Seleucid king was ambushed and killed in battle.

The original term was just hating Jews, but they can't up with the term "Anti Semitism" because it sounds better then Jew hate, once it started sounding bad they made up a new term. "Anti Zionism" is bullshit, we as Jews need to understand that community is about joining together and attacking the country that our brothers and sisters live in and calling them genocidal and terrorists is attacking our religion and faith, using Anti Zionism instead of just calling it Anti Semitism like it is makes them think it's a real thing which I reiterate one final time IT IS NOT.