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Happy Passover TO ALL OUR CLIENTS, FAMILY & FRIENDS! S T O N E ' S J E W E L R Y 6881 Orchard Lake Rd. on the Boardwalk (248) 851-5030 www.stonesfinejewelry.com 2170040 Spring Is Here... At PALM BEACH P a t i o & C a s u a l F u r n i t u r e 7350 Highland Road (M-59):aterford www.PalmBeachPatio.com (248)-666-2880 10 April 6 • 2017 jn views essay The Religion Of Social Justice L ast Sunday, a large protest was held in front of the AIPAC con- ference in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators called for an end to what they referred to as "the Israeli occupation." What shouldn't come as a surprise by now is that many of the protesters were Jewish. The protes- tors were members of the group IfNotNow, a Jewish organization whose ideol- ogy is based on values of "social justice" and whose members support the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. In fact, Yonah Lieberman, one of the co-founders of IfNotNow, told the Huffington Post that it was "the biggest ever Jewish-led protest of AIPAC." It's, of course, upsetting to wit- ness Jews turning against their own homeland and damaging 6.5 million of their fellow Jews. But we have to ask ourselves: Why are more and more young Jews adopting an anti- Israel narrative? American Jews are at the forefront of the social justice movement, and this is nothing new. For years, a large part of the Jewish establishment in America has been teaching young Jews that Judaism's core values should be defined by social justice ideals, which are dictated not by God or by the Torah, but by the lead- ers of the current social movements. They decide what is moral, and the modern Jew follows suit. Because most American Jewish education is so centered around social justice, traditional Jewish beliefs are put aside and, if they are taught, it is only within the context of social justice. For example, in some Jewish circles, Passover is no longer about God's relationship with the Jewish people or why He gave them the Torah; it's only about anti- slavery and human rights around the world. And that is about social justice — not Judaism. This is why many young American Jews don't really see a reason to be Jewishly identified. Young Jews share an ideology with many of their non-Jewish peers, plus they live the same kind of lifestyle. So really, what do young Jews have left to identify with? This is why American Jewry is diminishing in larger numbers year after year, and it's why many young Jews are now turning against Israel. It is clear by now that the social justice movement, by and large, has adopted a pro-Palestinian narrative, one which views Israel as an apartheid state that must be boycotted and resisted and protested against. Here are some examples: The National Women's Studies Association, the largest mainstream feminist academic women's asso- ciation in the U.S., voted in favor of boycotting Israel, while many of its prominent leaders main- tain that Zionism is equivalent to racism and has no place in the social justice movement. The leader of the recent Women's March stated that the March has no place for feminists who are Zionists. Black Lives Matter has also explic- itly declared its solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling Israel an "apartheid state" while endorsing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of the State of Israel. JStreet, another Jewish organiza- tion that sees itself as part of the social justice movement, lobbied for the December United Nations resolution condemning Israel for building in Judea and Samaria. JStreet also approves the boycott of Jews over the Green Line (including parts of Jerusalem) and even draws a moral equivalency between murder- ous Hamas (the Palestinian terror group) and Israel. Young Jews have been taught that the leaders of the social justice movement hold the highest author- ity on what is moral and just. This is why Sunday's demonstration found so many young Jews willing to pro- test against Israel. If the trend doesn't change, we will find more and more Jews at the fore- front of the fight against the Jewish state. • Kobi Erez is executive director of the Zionist Organization of America - Michigan Region. Kobi Erez