'Gone Off the Rails': U.S. Orthodox Jews Take a Stand Against Occupation and War in Gaza

By: Etan Nechin
Haaretz, March 31, 2025

At the launching event of Smol Emuni (Religious Left) in New York, hundreds of religious Jews opposed to the policies of the Israeli government congregated. ''Jewish' is invoked to justify violations of democratic and humanitarian norms,' said one participant

Although Rosh Hashanah is celebrated in the Jewish month of Tishri, according to the Torah, it is actually Nisan that marks the start of the Jewish New Year. For the 300 or so mostly religious Jews who gathered Sunday at a synagogue on the Upper West Side on the first day of Nissan, it was precisely that – a new beginning.
They were attending the inaugural conference of the U.S. chapter of Smol Emuni (Religious Left) – a little more than two years after the movement was launched in Jerusalem.

"We've come together as people of faith – observant Jews – to proclaim a different kind of religious voice than the one that dominates mainstream Jewish discourse," proclaimed Professor David Myers, a historian from UCLA who once served as the president of the New Israel Fund, which donates to progressive civil society organizations in Israel.

For too long, he lamented, the voice of the religious left has been sidelined. "But today, we speak aloud. In public. Not just to say 'not in our name,' but to declare that another Jewish tradition exists – one of justice, compassion, and moral clarity. A tradition that favors love, not hate; peace, not war; equality, not supremacy."

he event was organized by Esther Sperber, a Manhattan-based architect who was born and raised in Israel and has served for the past year-and-a-half as leader of the New York branch of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

"I fear that our Jewish religious tradition is being 'Smotriched by extremists who speak a language of revenge, power, and Jewish supremacy," she said, referring to Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister who is a leading proponent of the West Bank settler movement and supports the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
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Photo: Gili Getz