Reform Judaism and Zionism: Lowering the threshold without destroying the house

Over the past few years, Reform Judaism has faced a growing chorus of critics arguing that it has lost its way.

They have suggested that, in its embrace of universal values, it has become hesitant to speak about Jewish particularity; that, in its determination to be open, it has become reluctant to draw boundaries – and that, in some corners, Zionism has shifted from being understood as a central expression of modern Jewish identity to something that must be apologised for, qualified, or explained away.

For a long time, I rejected those criticisms outright. I did not become a Reform Jew because I wanted less Judaism. I became a Reform Jew because I wanted a Judaism that could engage honestly with the modern world, while remaining deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. I was drawn to its intellectual honesty, its willingness to engage scholarship seriously, and its conviction that revelation did not end at Sinai but continues to unfold through the lived experience of the Jewish people.

But the events of recent years, and especially the period following October 7, 2023, have made it increasingly difficult simply to dismiss every criticism of liberal Judaism as the complaint of those who never understood it.

Last week Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch gave a keynote address to the Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism Conference in the US that grappled with this failure. He argued that Reform Judaism must reinvigorate its commitment to Zionism, refuse to ordain anti-Zionist rabbis, and stop shying away from specific Jewish interests.