Peace, Justice, and Jews: Reclaiming Our Tradition

The choice between extolling uncritically whatever Israel decides to do to others, and maintaining the Jewish commitment to justice, has created, for Jews, a profound moral crisis. Are Jews to adopt a form of Judaism that uncritically reveres Israel as the only safeguard against genocide? Or should Jews retain their ancient belief that only where human rights are respected for all can Jews find true security and equality?In this landmark collection of contemporary Jewish thought, Polner and Merken have drawn on the work of a wide variety of thinkers and activists in Israel and the USincluding charity workers, political demonstrators, conscientious objectors, prison workers, animal rights advocates, mothers and fathers, refuseniks, rabbis, soldiers, journalists, and professorsto answer this important question.These voices support the second choiceto pursue human rights as the key to securitya view nourished during two millennia of the Diaspora, and which has proudly seen Jews at the forefront of struggles for civil rights, labor rights, anti-militarism, and compassion for the most vulnerable among us: the poor, the hungry, the helpless, the oppressed.