Is Judaism conservatism?

There is a political civil war, consisting essentially of arguments and of positions fought over ideologically, now affecting American Jewry. This struggle is combative, nasty, and bitter. The position held by the mainstream that controls most Jewish institutions is being revealed as driven by an unscrupulous use of the most vicious tactics. The stakes are high. Younger Jews may make this grounds for a struggle for the very sole of Judaism.

At stake in part are the arch-conservative values that some Jewish leaders will and do make in the name of Judaism. To see what is at stake, it may help to observe that there are indeed solid grounds in Jewish thought, history, and culture to suppose that the ideological trinity of familialism, communitarianism, and nationalism largely define the Jewish mind and soul. In truth, these are possibilities of the Jewish world, as many forms of conservatism, as well as forms of radicalism, are. The conservative claim is that your family, your community, and your nation define who you are and what you can be and want to be. Much more can, and will, be said about this, but for now I note that these are contested values.

When people name their ideological idol, we should respond by contesting those ideas, and starting with the observation that “what you say is ‘Judaism’ or ‘Jewish’, we say is conservatism pure and simple. And we can and do say no to it.”