There is no such thing as an ‘anti-Jew’ Jew

This article is a part of a debate. Read To act against communal interests is to be an 'anti-Jew' Jew by Hannah Chester.

I have never met Sarah Schwartz from the Jewish Council of Australia. I suspect that if we sat down together, we would disagree on most things relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. But like all Jews, she is part of my people.

That is why I was horrified when Lillian Klein debated her on ABC and accused of being an “anti-Jew” because of her political views.

"Sarah might be a Jew but she is an anti-Jew whose views are not reflective or representative of the mainstream Jewish community here in Australia." - Lillian Kline, speaking of Jewish Council of Australia EO Sarah Schwartz on ABC Radio

I want to be clear. I am an Orthodox Jew and a Zionist, and my politics are not Sarah's. But I would never, ever hurl that accusation at a fellow Jew, and trust me it’s not because I am too polite or too conflict averse. But rather, because Judaism itself does not allow it.

At the core of Jewish life sits a principle that is both deceptively simple and brutally demanding: Ahavat Yisrael. Love for a fellow Jew.

In Jewish tradition, every Jew, religious or secular, Zionist or anti-Zionist, left wing or right wing, lactose tolerant or deeply lactose intolerant, possesses a Neshama, a soul. A literal spark of the Divine.

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad movement, teaches that every Jew has a nefesh Elokit, a Godly soul, that is one and indivisible at its source. Because all Jewish souls share this single Divine root, we are commanded to love other Jews based on their essence, not their behaviour or temperament or politics. Love is not contingent on how palatable someone is to us, and it is certainly not earned by ideological alignment. Rather, it is demanded precisely when those things are absent.

This is where Ahavat Yisrael becomes uncomfortable. It is easy to love Jews who look like us, think like us, vote like us, and make us feel morally affirmed. It is much harder to love Jews who unsettle us, embarrass us, anger us, or articulate positions we believe are deeply wrong. But the mitzvah does not ask us only to love our fellow Jews when it feels easy.