“Our dilemma today is that at the very time that we desperately need an ideological linkage between powerful Israel experiences and the creation of robust Jewish communities for young Jews in America, Zionism is absent from the mix”

Our dilemma today is that at the very time that we desperately need an ideological linkage between powerful Israel experiences and the creation of robust Jewish communities for young Jews in America, Zionism is absent from the mix. The term has been hijacked by the left and by the right. Among next-gen Jews I hear arguments that echo the claim of the political left: that Zionism is a form of racism. I also hear other arguments that echo the party line of much of the Israel advocacy establishment: that to be a Zionist means that Jews need to provide unqualified support for Israel because the world is so hostile to the national aspirations of the Jewish people. Even if I accept the second part of that statement, there are very few young Jews who are prepared to simply be Israel flag-wavers.

Sid Schwarz, “Can Zionism be the Answer?”, The Jewish Week (6 June 2014), 54.