Reclaiming Judaism From Zionism With Several Contributors

In this powerful collection of personal narratives, forty Jews of diverse backgrounds tell a wide range of stories about the roads they have traveled from a Zionist world view to activism in solidarity with Palestinians and Israelis striving to build an inclusive society founded on justice, equality, and peaceful coexistence.

Reclaiming Judaism from Zionism will be controversial. Its contributors welcome the long overdue public debate. They want to demolish stereotypes of dissenting Jews as 'self-hating,' traitorous, and anti-Semitic. They want to introduce readers to the large and growing community of Jewish activists who have created organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, and Open Hillel. They want to strengthen alliances with progressives of all faiths. Above all, they want to nurture models of Jewish identity that replace ethnic exclusiveness with solidarity, Zionism with a Judaism once again nourished by a transcendent ethical vision.

Linda Hess is senior lecturer emerita in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University.

Sydney Levy, a queer Latinx, is a co-coordinator of the caucus of Jews of Color, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in solidarity with Palestine, and a steering committee member of both the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and the Global Jewish Network in Solidarity with Palestine.

Hilton Obenzinger is a recipient of the American Book Award. His books include This Passover and the Next I Will Never Be in Jerusalem (1980), American Palestine: Melville, Twain, and the Holy Land Mania (1999), and Treyf Pesach (2017). He is currently Associate Director of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University.

Henri Picciotto served on the JVP Board of Directors from 2002 to 2009 and chaired it for much of that period. He has authored or co-authored many books and articles on math education.

Cecilie Surasky has worked as a professional communicator in a variety of social justice movements, and her film work and political analysis has been featured in film festivals and news outlets all over the world.

Jordan Wilson-Dalzell is a queer poet writing about intersections of disability, feminism, Judaism, survivorhood and social justice; her next poetry book, Baptism by Flame, will be about finding a home in Judaism that reflects her values.