{"id":62457,"date":"2019-11-20T10:35:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=62457"},"modified":"2019-11-20T10:35:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T15:35:10","slug":"is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism?  Does it Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The parsha is dominated by two parallel stories of dramatic negotiations. Avraham bargains with the citizens of Chevron to secure a burial plot for his deceased wife. Afterwards he dispatches his loyal servant to secure a wife for his chosen son, Yitzchak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In each instance local \u201cparties\u201d must be convinced \u2013 to sell land or to release Rivka to Avraham\u2019s family. These two parallel negotiations exhibit multiple similarities: Each evolves in three successive waves of \u2018discussions\u2019:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Avraham\u2019s servant first encounters Rivka at the well, subsequently presents his request to her parents and finally \u201ccloses the deal\u201d the next morning. Avraham, for his part, first negotiates with the general Chevron population, and subsequently engages in two rounds of negotiations with a chieftain named Efron. Each \u201cproject\u201d of this parsha is riveted to a central and even iconic location: Avraham and Efron confer at the gates of Chevron- the ancient equivalent of City Hall; the servant discovers Rivka at the watering hole or the well. The Chevron talks are pitched on money and the marriage project involves gifts of jewelry and ornaments. There are numerous similarities uniting these two storylines.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Yet, these two parallel stories exhibit one glaring difference. The marriage project could not have gone more smoothly. \u201cLuckily\u201d Rivka literally falls into the servant\u2019s lap and her family couldn\u2019t be more excited nor more welcoming to this long lost \u201crelative.\u201d Indeed, they are torn about releasing their daughter so immediately but, sensing Rivka\u2019s enthusiasm, they willfully offer their full blessings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By stark contrast the Chevron project is protracted, plodding, and painful.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Initially, the residents voluntarily propose burial opportunities, but Avraham soon discovers that these offers are empty pledges as he must persuade Efron as well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A simple burial-plot purchase, which could easily have been summarized in one pasuk, extends for twenty verses and becomes labyrinthine. Chazal sensed the bulky and stalled nature of the negotiations and portray Efron as hesitant, hostile and even manipulative. Ultimately, Avraham must pry away this burial site and even overpays for his modest purchase. By carefully aligning these two storylines the Torah highlights their core difference: while the marriage project is wildly successful and harmonious, the land project is stalled and fractured. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Jews are tasked with advancing the human condition and Avraham launches this grand mission. The arranged marriage between the two families represented more than \u201cjust\u201d a wedding between Yitzchak and Rivka. This alliance extends Avraham\u2019s influence beyond the borders of Israel\u2013to his long-forgotten family. Curiously, Avraham\u2019s camels play an outsized role in the story, in part because they highlight the great distance traveled. A short journey to the akeidah can be traversed by donkey but longer expeditions to international locations require camels. The camels were also essential in transporting Avraham\u2019s great wealth to his family. This marriage expedition enables Avraham to reconnect with his distant overseas family and share his prosperity. More importantly, Avraham\u2019s servant constantly thanks G-d and mentions His role in the family\u2019s successes. Through this servant\u2019s conversation, Lavan and his crew learn about the G-d of Avraham. During the marriage project Avraham\u2019s impact as international agent of religion and welfare goes global and his audiences, both in this parsha and in previous sections are, by and large, extremely receptive to his message. Throughout history, and even more so in the modern era, the world has welcomed the Jewish \u201ccontribution\u201d to society. Jews have spearheaded development in almost every sphere of human achievement including science, economics, culture, medicine, and politics. The warm welcome which Avraham\u2019s servant receives foreshadows the manner in which humanity will welcome the Jewish \u201clight\u201d provided to nations. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, a Jew is tasked with a second and parallel mission: to settle the land of G-d and transmit our messages from that land. This second mission commences in this parsha as Avraham bids for his first legally binding purchase of land. Though he previously resided in Israel, Avraham lived either a nomadic lifestyle wandering from hilltop to hilltop or as a guest hosted by his local friends. Finally, Avraham hopes to set roots in this land, but the locals aren\u2019t very happy. Though their hostility is hidden, it simmers beneath the surface and severely complicates what should be a quick and easy purchase of a small burial shrine. Though the world is happy to embrace the \u201cJewish contribution\u201d to humanity, they are far less enthusiastic about granting us our land of Israel. This ironic contrast is illustrated by the two negotiations of parshat Chaye Sarah- one which zigzags and one which is fluid. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We have worked hard at unmasking anti-Zionism and exposing the horrible monster of anti-Semitism which oftentimes lies beneath. We encounter many who, in addition to anti-Israel rhetoric, issue bigoted and vile attacks on Jews. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, as much as we battle this unholy union between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, we cannot conflate the two issues \u2013 for two reasons. Firstly, because they are fundamentally two different issues \u2013 oftentimes fused but still independent. Many opponents of Jewish settlement of the land of Israel fully embrace Jews and their importance to society. Sometimes, anti-Zionism bleeds into anti-Semitism, but often it remains absent of any hatred toward Jews. In fact, many Jews themselves are uncomfortable with the State of Israel even though they are proud of their Jewish identity and heritage. Though many enemies of Israel are virulent anti-Semites, some are not, and we best not simplistically blur those differences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Secondly, and equally important, we must not conflate these issues for our own sake- to maintain our own clarity of mission. We deserve this land through Divine mandate and historical heritage and that is a self- sufficient justification.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The battle for our land is important and Divinely mandated even independent of the important battle against anti-Semitism. Our two missions- to advance the human condition and to settle our homeland land are indistinguishable and inseparable. Our commitment to our land and our struggle with those who oppose this project doesn\u2019t have to be justified as part of a larger battle against anti-Semitism. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The parsha is dominated by two parallel stories of dramatic negotiations. Avraham bargains with the citizens of Chevron to secure a burial plot for his deceased wife. Afterwards he dispatches his loyal servant to secure a wife for his chosen son, Yitzchak.\u00a0 In each instance local \u201cparties\u201d must be convinced \u2013 to sell land or<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133782,"featured_media":60850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism? 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Afterwards he dispatches his loyal servant to secure a wife for his chosen son, Yitzchak.\u00a0 In each instance local \u201cparties\u201d must be convinced \u2013 to sell land or\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-does-it-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-20T15:35:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/ALIYAHISRAEL.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Moshe Taragin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Moshe Taragin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-does-it-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism-does-it-matter\/\",\"name\":\"Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism? 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