Rochel Sylvetsky is currently Senior Advisor and Op-ed and Judaism editor of Arutz Sheva’s English site. She served as chairperson of Emunah Israel from 1991 to 1996, CEO/director of Kfar Hanoar Hadati youth village, a member of the Emek Zevulun Regional Council and a member of the Religious Education Council of Israel’s Education Ministry. She also served as managing editor of Arutz Sheva before her partial retirement and is a member of the board at Orot Yisrael Teacher's College and the Knesset Channel. She holds degrees in mathematics and Jewish education.
One of my earliest memories is my father z"l telling me how he returned home after almost starving to death as a WWI POW (captured by the British, no less!) and discovered that in his hometown of Viseu, Romania nothing had changed and the only thing that mattered was that he was Jewish. He simply left for America, forever grateful for the welcoming statue lifting its “lamp beside the golden door" at the entrance to the land where equal opportunity was protected by law.
And so it was, for half a century after the Holocaust, a period in which the word “liberal" evoked the ideas of fair play, individual liberty, equality and sometimes - perhaps too often --fraternity. Antisemitism existed, but it was not considered in good taste to be obvious about it. And Jews deluded themselves into thinking that this was the way it would be forever. They flourished, contributed to their adopted country and its society, were at home from “sea to shining sea".
Until they weren’t, and those happy golden years (to paraphrase Laura Ingalls Wilder) morphed into the age of progressivism and identity politics. Jews, suddenly a group, all of them classified as white oppressors with the centuries of persecution they endured ignored -- not unlike my father in Romania -- found that all their loyalty, patriotism and contributions to society did not overcome their perceived collective identity. The freedom of belief and equality they had cherished was buried by overt hatred aimed at them for being Jewish, and Zionism was added to the resurfaced age-old antisemitic tropes.
The Heritage Foundation writes it as it is: Ultimately, identity politics poses a threat to republican self-government by corroding patriotic ties, fostering hatred, promoting cultural separatism, and demanding special treatment [for groups considered oppressed] rather than equality under the law.
American Jews are shocked at not being able to convince the haters to see them as individuals and judge them on their merits, it is as if European exclusion of Jews has made a comeback. Academics and writers are the most hard hit and some, especially the young, have opted to join the haters, victims of a self-hating Stockholm Syndrome that will eventually backfire as it always has.
Others are making their way to Israel, where being Jewish is supposed to be a unifying classification, only to discover that the Jewish State has its own identity politics, and is constantly dividing its Jewish citizens into groups (and sub-groups) that, in addition to economic demarcations, include those that are enlistment-based (Zionist and Religious Zionist vs. non-Zionist haredi), observance-based (secular vs. religious), ethnically-based (Mizrahi vs. Ashkenazi), geographically-defined (periphery vs. central vs. Judea and Samaria), or politically based (left vs. right). I may have omitted some.
After decades of living here, I am not sure Israelis can even judge individuals sans their group identity. And with those identity politics labels firmly in place in Israeli society, it is realistic to expect that the non Religious-Zionist voter puts the kippah on Bezalel Smotrich’s head and his “settler" grouping above his being one of the best Finance Ministers this country has ever had, this despite his extraordinary success (partly due to his knowing how to listen to various experts no matter what their grouping) in preserving economic growth during the longest war Israel has ever fought. Can these voters appreciate that the Finance Ministry, traditionally the burial ground for aspiring politicians, is thriving, although people predicted being at its head would be the end of him? Judging by what I read and hear, I am not convinced that the answer is in the affirmative.
What is, however, unconscionable is the efforts of those under the inclusive Religious Zionist umbrella with its shared goals, ideology and above all its accomplishments and love of Eretz Yisrael, Torat Yisrael and Am Yisrael to engage in small minded identity politics rather than lauding proven achievement and ability. That means their pitting “chardalim" vs. religious Zionists or city dwellers vs. “settlers" instead of finding common ground. Jason Willick (in 2023) was right when he wrote that identity politics is fundamentally illiberal because it imposes a group identity on individuals, and I add that it prevents us from looking objectively at the individual himself. Liberal individualism is the enemy of illiberal collectivism.
I was galvanized to write this article when respected journalist Ariel Schnabel wrote several weeks ago in Makor Rishon that the original, (since changed) Religious Zionist party list included too many candidates who live near route 60 (an allusion to Yehuda and Shomron). He was not the only one to make this offensive and shocking remark, but I wrote him a letter decrying it because of the publicity he receives. Did it mean that a religious Zionist voter in Givat Shmuel cannot rely on those candidates to represent his interests because of where they live? Have we become that divisive? Are we crazy? Do we each need a party that is exactly like ourselves so that we can identity-politicize ourselves to political death through a plethora of parties who will not pass the electoral threshold - this when we have one, although not above criticism, which has proven itself?
We tend to get used to good things and forget how hard it is to have achieved them. Consider the Religious Zionist party’s long-needed success in separating civil issues from security issues in Judea and Samaria. This opened the way to recognizing existing communities and establishing new ones, building the roads Merav Michaeli refused to allow (I bless them every time I visit my daughter in Gush Etzion) and more. The faction even found a way to help defray the high tuition fees for Ulpanas and Yeshiva high schools, among many other things it improved and we now take for granted.
And yes, despite the frustration and pressing need to see our sons’ IDF service augmented by haredi enlistment (and our sector lives with the trauma and loss every waking minute), I now realize that causing the coalition to fall in the middle of a war would have been disastrous. And that the problem will not be solved by laws forcing the drafting of unwilling and unmotivated non-Zionist haredi soldiers, even if it makes us feel better.
Let’s face it. Political accomplishments are a function of ability and skill, but also of how many hands your faction can raise when it wants something done. Avi Maoz’s record as a lone MK for the last four years is proof that a perfect platform is not enough. And when all the fiery pre and post- election rhetoric is put aside, accomplishments are the result of doing the jobs that need to be done with astute thinking and hard work, something inexperienced Ofer Winter did not seem to understand when he denigratingly rejected offers to head the projects he is pushing for and refused the chance to translate policy into action, not words. Those, like Smotrich, Strook and the entire Religious Zionist Knesset faction who were part of the pre-October 7 government but railed at its acceptance of the then prevailing “conceptzia" are to be admired for warnings, not brushed with a collective brush.
Religious Zionists tend to choose to elect principled leaders who share their ideology, but must at the same time choose those with proven accomplishments who know how the system works.