How to Use This Book

Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism makes a perfect gift for friends and family members who are wrestling with doubts about Israel. It is also a great choice for book clubs or to recommend to others.

Zionists, whether Jewish or Christian have been bombarded by pro-Israel propaganda. We recommend that you approach these conversations slowly, with understanding rather than confrontation. Focus on information rather than on trigger words like genocide and apartheid–gather personal accounts from the book of specific incidents that made contributors start changing their minds, and use them to help start others on the same path.

Use these personal stories to show others that they are not alone in doubting Israel’s actions. Point them to individual stories by ordinary Jews that might resonate for them. Point them to one or more of the rabbis’ testimonies that might provide ethical guidance.

Some specific suggestions:

1. Use the Introduction to help distinguish between Judaism and Zionism and to show that Zionism does not date back to the beginning of Jewish history but originated in the late 19th century.
2. The afterword uncovers a long history of Jewish criticism of Israel that people may not be familiar with. It discusses the many dissenting Jewish groups that have arisen over the past seventy years, both within and outside of Zionist ranks.
3. Many Jews who no longer view Israel as a utopia and can no longer justify the horrendous violence Israel has been committing, still find it difficult to voice their dissent because they are understandably concerned by the false charges of antisemitism against Israel’s critics. Zionist propaganda created these unjustified accusations to prevent legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions. Point them to the stories by contributors who have found new communities–and new synagogues–with whose members they are ethically aligned. See, for example, the narratives of Emily Siegel, Kate Sugarman, and Adina Cohen.
4. Religious Jews may be drawn to the narratives by Rabbis Brant Rosen, Linda Holtzman, Michael Davis, Cat Zavis, and Esther Azar, as well as to the one by the book’s most observant contributor, Eliana Fishman. They may also resonate with Hasia Diner’s conclusion: “Now, shorn of its nationalistic impulses, my new Judaism is much deeper than my previous Judaism, which always seemed to have to draw on the tropes and symbols of a political state and a piece of land.”