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Woke Antisemitism
Woke Antisemitism: How a Progressive Ideology Harms Jews | David L. Bernstein
5 posts | 1 read
David Bernstein has written an important book which deserves to be read widely and be thoroughly discussed in our community. This book is a powerful defense of liberal values.Bernsteins treatment is nuanced and respectful, showing understanding for the goals even as he critiques the methods of woke culture and shows us cases where it leads to antisemitism. Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, American scholar, author and rabbi In every age, hatred of Jews cloaks itself in different moral garb. Todays fashion goes by many names, Wokeism, Social Justice, Critical Social Justice, etc., but the historical commonalities are unmistakableas are its ineluctable prescriptions. In clear, plainspoken language, David Bernstein denudes the profoundly unsettling relationship between woke ideology and antisemitism. This is an urgent message few people want to hear, but one that everyone needs to understand. Peter Boghossian, author and philosopher In May 2021, amid another conflict with Iran-backed Hamas, Israel took a beating in both the mainstream press and social media. Notwithstanding the rocket fire aimed at its citizens, the Jewish state was portrayed as the oppressor and the Hamas government in Gaza as the oppressed. While Israel has always been subject to excessive scrutiny, this time was different. What had changed in the ideological environment? A veteran leader of Jewish advocacy organizations and a self-described liberal who has broken with the far left over the adoption of woke ideology, David L. Bernstein traces the growth of woke ideology in his life and career from a remote academic study to an international post-colonialist movement, then a faddish campus ideology, morphing into corporate diversity programs to a dominant ideology in mainstream institutions, including many Jewish organizations. Bernstein shows how core ideological tenetssuch as privilege, equity, whiteness, and the oppressor/oppressed binarycan be and are weaponized against Jews. Whats more, surveys tell us that Americans are self-censoring at record rates. Jewish institutions, long known for their robust deliberative processes and open discourse, have not been spared. Many have uncharacteristically dodged controversial issues and have simply fallen in line. He warns that, unabated, the ideology will disenfranchise the American Jewish community and sap Jewish pride. He puts forward a strategy for restoring liberal values and countering political extremism and antisemitism, focusing on rebuilding the political center strategy.
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Estherhasredhair
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Fantastic book. This should be required reading for every Jewish person and honestly? Most people should at least know about this book. That said, there is SO MUCH about this book I disagree with. The author, however, I suspect will be ok with that.

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Estherhasredhair
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I don‘t talk about being Jewish at work. I don‘t talk about being Jewish at school. I only talk about being Jewish with people who I know are also Jewish. This paragraph is ME.

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Estherhasredhair
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Yeah. The author is right. The work of Jews in the last 10 years or so has been the work of dismantling the tools of fighting back antisemitism. The last year has been exhausting because the community lacks the tools to handle these hard discussions.

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Estherhasredhair
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This is the kind of thing happening in 2024.

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Estherhasredhair
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I don‘t agree with the rest of the paragraph, but him talking about a women‘s studies class in the late 80‘s is a remarkable reminder to be kind to the “other”. I‘m going through my own de-radicalization process and hearing men out in spaces where they are trying to learn in good-faith is something I‘m not sure I‘ve been the best at.