The world’s ‘good Jews’ are history’s bad guys.
"Good Jews" always end up on the wrong side of history.
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This is a guest essay by Dinah Bucholz, a writer and the New York Times bestselling author of the “Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.”
You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
Chances are, if you’re Jewish and Zionist and you’re reading this, you’re a bad Jew.
That’s because today, the only good Jew in the eyes of the world is a Jew who renounces Zionism. Despite that, most Jews support the Jewish state. So why is there a minority that doesn’t? What’s up with these folks? What motivates them, really? And what outcome can they expect from their activism against Israel?
The answers to these questions lie in the history of Jew-hatred and its impact on our psyche. Let’s face it: We hate being hated. It is, after all, distinctly unpleasant to be regarded as the scourge of mankind in every time and place that we inhabit. Most of us react by clinging harder to each other and to our traditions. But in every time and place, some Jews hate it so much, they’re willing to jump ship to escape that awful burden.
During the Greek occupation of the Holy Land, most Jews resisted Greek influence, but a minority of Jews wanted to fit in. And these, my dear bad Jews, constitute an early example of the good Jews, the Jews who, unlike their stubbornly backward brethren, sought the approval and acceptance of the gentiles. In their zeal to be viewed as the good Jews, some, like Menelaus, went so far as to assist in the persecution of their brethren, actions that finally led to the Maccabean revolt.
Who ended up on the right side of history, the Maccabees or the Hellenists?
In medieval Europe, our Christian hosts informed us that the only good Jew was a Jew who converted to Christianity. Sometimes they explained this nicely, but usually, they made their point with the sharp side of the sword. Despite their persuasive tactics, however, most Jews remained stubbornly backward. Yet for a Jew like Pablo Christiani (his chosen name — no subtlety there!), the desire to be welcomed into Christian arms overwhelmed any other consideration.
Christiani is notorious for staging the famous disputation between himself and the great Jewish sage Nachmanides, who was forced into exile for winning. Among his various activities, persecuting the Jews of Aragon with great zeal ranked as some of Christiani’s most prolific.
The fame of Nachmanides echoed through the centuries, but whoever heard of Pablo Christiani?
Heinrich Marx, father of the famous Karl Marx, descended from a long line of illustrious rabbis. But to be accepted into society, he had to become a good Jew; namely, unlike his stubbornly backward brethren, this enlightened Jew converted to Christianity so he could continue practicing law. His son Karl was a child when he was converted. The venomous Jew hatred Karl Marx expressed in “On the Jewish Question” influenced generations of antisemites.
Can you imagine what the world would have looked like in the 20th century if Marx and son had stayed in the fold and trained for the rabbinate?
Today’s good Jews figure that the need for a Jewish state, while maybe understandable after the Holocaust, is no longer pressing. Given the rise in antisemitism globally — which preceded October 7th — this belief is mystifying. Nevertheless, they believe their stubbornly backward brethren are stuck in a paradigm of the past.
The Jews in these examples, and indeed Jews across history who sought acceptance from non-Jews, share certain traits:
To be a good Jew, they had to renounce their Judaism in some way.
The standard of “good Jew” was externally imposed by the surrounding culture/society.
The good Jews represented a small minority of all Jews.
In every generation, some of these good Jews joined our enemies to persecute us.
Ultimately, when their story was written, the good Jews were not cast as the heroes.
The good Jews failed to sustain a Jewish identity for their progeny within several generations (and sometimes right away).
How do the good Jews of today fit the bill? It’s easy to tick off the list:
Good Jews must renounce Zionism, which for most of us is inextricable from our Judaism.
This standard of renouncing Zionism is externally imposed by the non-Jews among whom we live.
These Jews represent a small minority of all Jews.
The good Jews of our day actively harm Israel and Jews worldwide by legitimizing the frenzy of Israel hatred that has gripped the world. After all, if Jews say it, how can it be antisemitic?
It remains to be seen whether today’s good Jews will wind up on the right or wrong side of history and succeed or fail in leaving behind descendants with a recognizable Jewish identity. But when the record so far of good Jews throughout history has tracked this way 100-percent of the time, then why should this time be different? Also, when in Jewish history has world opinion turned against the people of Israel and turned out to be right?
I have a message for the good Jews of our time: If you cast your lot with the people of Israel, you will never, ever go wrong. But the opposite is also true: If you turn against your brothers and sisters, you are certain to go very, very wrong.
When I was a kid attending a private Jewish school, I learned that the worst punishment mentioned in the Torah is the sentence of karet, “that soul shall be cut off from the midst of its people.” One of the traditional definitions of karet is ending your Jewish line, which effectively cuts off your connection to the people of Israel.
As I grew older, I realized that karet isn’t a divinely applied punishment; it’s something you do to yourself. If you cease to keep the observances that differentiate you from the gentiles, eventually your descendants will assimilate into the surrounding society and lose their Jewish identity. Your connection to the Jewish people will thus be cut off.
Where are these good Jews standing, they who do not represent us? They are not standing with us. They are standing outside of the Jewish community. They have already cut themselves off, albeit unwittingly and with the best of intentions — which makes it all the more heartbreaking. As they demonize the one and only Jewish state using the tired old words of vilification (racism, settler colonialism, genocide, apartheid, open-air prison, ethnic cleansing, ethnostate, mass starvation), it’s horrifying to see what they are doing: They are meting out karet to themselves.
These good Jews, they hear the opprobrium of the whole world, and it seems obvious to them that the whole world can’t be wrong; Israel must be immoral. They want to be on the moral side. And during a time when people can sneeringly call you “Zionist” the way they once called you “Jew,” identifying as Zionist makes the good Jews cringe, while the resounding approval that greets them when they castigate Israel makes them feel morally superior.
An episode of “Uncensored” by Piers Morgan perfectly captures this idea. This episode ranged three anti-Israel participants against one Zionist: Ana Kasparian, a member of the Young Turks; Gideon Levy, a Haaretz journalist and good Jew; and Piers Morgan, the host; versus Shabbos Kestenbaum, a recent Harvard graduate, advocate for Zionism, and bad Jew.
During this episode, Kasparian screams insults at Kestenbaum and doesn’t let him speak, then screams at him for filibustering. At the end, she addresses Levy and literally thanks him for being a good Jew. You can clearly see this good Jew/bad Jew dichotomy playing out on the screen in cartoonish starkness.
The media has shaped the narrative of the Israel-Hamas war to cast Israel as the evil villain conducting a genocide against the Palestinians and deliberately starving them, when nothing could be further from the truth. These libels have turned the whole world against Israel — and the good Jews have given them the proof that they can’t possibly be antisemites, because they can hold up these good Jews as the evidence.
Will we ever be vindicated? In Isaiah 52-53, the prophet says that one day, the kings and nations will say, oh my goodness, those Jews were right all along, and we were wrong! How can that be? They’ll say, the ones we hated, who we thought were so ugly (hook-nosed, anyone?), whom we persecuted — well, they turned out to be righteous and we’re the ones who sinned. Who would have thought? (I paraphrase.)
But my goodness, it sure is hard to wait for that day. It’s so painful to be in the here and now, watching the world act out the prophet’s words, and knowing that the vindication might not come for a good long while.
Indeed, it took the horrors of the Holocaust for the world to face the consequences of Jew hatred run amok and come to its senses. But the generation of the sensible people is fading, and a younger generation educated on TikTok, across the political spectrum, that knows almost nothing about history, is growing up with distinct hostility toward Jews. They will be our future leaders and politicians. And we should be scared. We should be scared for ourselves and for our children and for our people.
And the good Jews? If God forbid a calamity should befall us, the people who imposed the “good Jew” standard won’t care which Jews are good and which Jews are bad. They won’t spare the good Jews.
This, then, is the fate of the good Jews: to be remembered as the bad guys, after all; to be powerless to escape the persecution they helped inflict on their own people; and in the end, to eventually lose their connection to Am Yisrael. They jumped ship, and the ship will sail on without them.
Powerful article on a painful subject. The millenarian hatred and hostility to Jews must have left a trace in the psyche of those we eventually think of as self-hating Jews. In a metaphorical way, one could compare victims of Stockholm Syndrome to the perverse identification those Jews have with our mortal enemies. There is also an element of narcissism, beyond what must be considered natural and healthy. Those " good" Jews need to look and smell good however this betrays their own. Finally, perhaps deep down they don't consider themselves part of the Jewish People. It's a shame. Staying loyal would have made them stronger. It's one of the secrets of Am Israel Khai. Inner strength, courage,intellectual honesty, seeing clearly and protecting the good.
In my opinion the good Jews are shameful! I am a Zionist so I must be bad as well!!