Blog Posts

First in "The Great Conflation" — a series on Zionism, Judaism, and why the difference mattersYou have probably absorbed a simple equation without ever examining it: Israel is the Jewish state, Zionism is the Jewish national movement, and th…

This week, America celebrates two hundred and fifty years.I will be celebrating too. And I want to explain why — because my reasons may not be what you expect.I am an Orthodox Jew. And according to the government of Israel, and according t…

There is a claim that surfaces regularly in debates about Israel and Jewish identity.When Jewish critics of Zionism speak up — when rabbis, scholars, or ordinary Jews express opposition to the idea that Israel represents all Jews — Zio…

When a terrorist attacked a synagogue in Copenhagen in 2015, killing a young Jewish man on guard duty, something predictable happened within hours.The Israeli prime minister flew to the microphones.Benjamin Netanyahu's message to Danish Jews was…

Imagine you're an American.You vote in American elections. You pay American taxes. Your children attend American schools. If your country is attacked, you expect your fellow citizens to stand together in its defense. Like every citizen, your polit…

When violence erupts in the Middle East, something strange happens.A missile lands in Gaza, and a synagogue in Europe is vandalized.An Israeli military operation begins, and Jewish students on American campuses suddenly find themselves confronte…

In the wake of Trump's deal to end the war with Iran and Israeli cabinet members subsequent criticism of Trump, Vice President J.D.Vance commented: "My response to them would be: What is your exact proposal? You’re a country of 9 m…

When most outsiders hear about Israel's effort to draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish students into the military, they assume the dispute is about fairness.Israel faces security threats. Most young Israelis serve in the military. Many religious students d…

In modern discussions about Israel and Zionism, many people assume that Zionism and Judaism are essentially the same thing. They imagine that all Jews supported the Zionist movement from the beginning and that opposition came only from non-Jews.Th…

When people criticize the Chinese government, they do not generally hold Chinese-Americans responsible.When Russia invades a neighboring country, few people assume that every Russian living abroad supports the decision.When the United States goe…

Every year, around the anniversary of the Six-Day War, the same story is repeated.Israel Celebrates the Anniversary of the Six-Day WarTiny Israel stood alone against overwhelming Arab armies. The Jewish state faced possible annihilation. Against…

Incredibly engaging conversation between Rabbi Yaakov_shapiro and Jay Shapiro — no relation. Rabbi Shapiro argues that according to Zionism itself, Judaism does not even exist as Judaism, but is transformed into a political Frankenstein’…

Christian Zionism did not begin as a Jewish movement. In this episode, Rabbi Shapiro traces how Christian Evangelicals helped create the ideological framework that later became Jewish Zionism — importing Christian political theology into Jewis…

When most Orthodox Jews think of Zionism today, they tend to picture a political movement that supports Jewish safety, combats antisemitism, and enables a flourishing community in Eretz Yisroel. What many don’t realize is that Zionism was neve…

The State of Israel claims to be “the Jewish state,” and its Zionist leaders claim to be the leaders of the Jewish people. But these claims are entirely false. In reality, the State of Israel is nothing more than the state of the Israe…

Eretz Yisroel is not the Jewish national homeland.Jews are a religion, not a nation. Therefore Jews, as Jews, do not possess a “national homeland” in the political sense.A homeland is the place where a nation is born (moledes in mode…

Why the Land of Israel is not the homeland of the Jewish people:To the Jews, Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) is a holy land, not a national homeland. In nationalist philosophy, there is some organic connection between a people and the land in w…