A round of virtual applause for this amazing article, Mallory! You did a great job calling out the Diasporists and showing how nonsensical and bizarre their belief system truly is and how it is antithetical to the tenets of the Jewish faith. I fail to understand why R.B. Kitaj thought eternal homelessness and suffering were virtuous and noble things that would be preferable for the Jewish people to return to their ancient homeland, rebuilding and living in safety in a country with a Jewish majority where their faith and culture can thrive and live on. Art is why a Jewish homeland shouldn't exist? Huh? I guess R.B. Kitaj slept through history class. He never considered the many pogroms and expulsions they suffered not to mention discrimination, persecution, forced assimilation, religious repression, and genocide. Mr. Kitaj would've done well to read "Night" by Elie Wiesel or "The Diary of Anne Frank" or give "Schindler's List" or "Shoah" a watch. He and Philip Roth promoted and helped spread, a very toxic ideology that puts Jews in danger. An ideology that isn't rooted in Judaism might I add, but leftism. Bundists, Marxists and Socialists never accomplished anything on behalf of the Jews or anyone else for that matter other than killing hundreds of millions of people, destroying economies and nations, imprisoning millions in gulags, and squelching human freedom and creativity. That was the source that informed Kitaj's "Judaism" and informs the ideology and values that underlie what anti-Zionist Jews like those in Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow hold. Anti-Zionist Jews are totally misguided and historically illiterate. Disaporist Jews are a disgrace to the Jewish faith and have no understanding of reality. Do they not realize antisemitism has risen to 1930s levels in the West? Are they aware of the attacks on Jews in Britain, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, etc.? There was recently a pogrom against Israeli Jewish Maccabi Tel Aviv fans not in Cairo, Algiers, Khartoum, Damascus, Beirut, or Baghdad but in Amsterdam. Even in the United States, Jews find themselves often at great risk to face hate and violence. Israel is the eternal home of the Jewish people where the Western Wall, Temple Mount, the Cave of Patriarchs, and Rachel's Tomb are located, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph with his coat of many colors, Moses, Joshua, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth came from and the home of the eternal capital of the Jewish homeland, the holy city of Jerusalem. The rebirth of Israel in 1948 was absolutely the right course of action for the Jewish people. Theodor Herzl was right over a century ago when he concluded that western and liberal values would not to be enough to ensure the survival of the Jewish people-a country of their own was needed. The Diasporists are playing with fire and showing their ignorance, by going against Herzl's wisdom.
Very true. The wild thing is that Kitaj’s step-grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and that did very much affect his thinking on Judaism and making Jewish art. And still, clearly there is something that he completely missed. Sadly this happens.
The other sickening thing I finally realized while researching this piece is that there are literally tons of stuffy intellectual self-proclaimed Jews who literally academically put advocate for ignoring antisemitism because they inherently reject it as a Zionist conspiracy and not a real issue. Depraved and deluded.
I know a Jewish woman living in Amsterdam who calls herself a “diasporist” who vocally defended the pogrom against the Israelis there. She truly felt there was a social justice explanation for it. She’s a sad person.
Frankly I’m slightly torn because I do understand all these people to be exceptionally lost souls, and yet, like a reckless and tormented person who drives drunk and endangers other people, self-loathing is never a valid excuse to actively harm other people. It’s just selfish, cruel and foolish.
I think it's important to see the connection to critical theory (including queer theory) - a way of viewing the world that accords moral superiority to suffering and otherness. By claiming eternal homelessness, these leftist fools are trying in their self-defeated way to stake out a position on the precarious pyramid of virtue somewhere closer to Black transgender sex workers and Palestinian children. (I know because I used to think this way.)
So good. These pseudo-intellectual, hate-filled hypocrites can string together a bunch of smart sounding words pretty well but can't actually address any points when confronted with facts. Thanks for taking the time to deal with these losers when most of us don't want to even think about what kinds of creepy cult-worship they get up to in their seemingly copious amount of spare time...
This is a really fascinating article which I had to read several times to really process. I frankly didn't realize this club of self-hating wackos had a name, Diasporists...who knew? Perhaps we Jews brought this pestilence upon ourselves by abandoning the biblically used punishment of excommunication ("herem") and insisting that as long as your mother was a Jew, you're a Jew and no amount of stupidity or self loathing can change that. Maybe within our small tent we need to re-think our bylaws, i.e., what it means to be a "member in good standing". I had a weak moment over the holidays and while under the influence of way too many greasy latkes binge watched the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders series on Netflix. While on a tour of her backyard, Kelli Finglass (sounds a little Jewey, right?) longtime director of the DCC and a Texan gal (that means not Jewish) if there ever was one, walks over to the grave site of her departed dog Sugar and drops that Sugar is surrounded by 18 flowers because her husband Joel is Jewish and in Judaism, 18 means life. I almost choked on my tenth 50 cent piece of Chanukah geld (dark chocolate only please, good for the prostate I vaguely remember telling myself). In a later "Honestly" podcast with Bari Weiss, Finglass declares that both her son and daughter identify as Jews and her son had just returned from a Birthright Trip to Israel (in the summer of 2024 no less!!). Now who would you rather invite to your seder, (or set up with your Jewish daughter), Ryan Finglass or the son of Reb Yisroel Dovid Weiss, Obergruppen Fuhrer of the Neturei Karta?? A long and winding story to illustrate my post 10/7 revelation that if you want to be in my Jewish tent, the only thing I'm gonna ask is that you declare your love and support for Klal Yisrael and the State of Israel. Everything else we can figure out later (and if my children are reading this, later means BEFORE the wedding).
hahaha I love this comment and also I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you read it and took time to process it (and re-read it) because I recognize that these are exceptionally difficult and frankly even disturbing concepts for us to contemplate.
The rebrand to Diasporists instead of merely "anti-Zionist Jews" is, I believe, quite intentional. These are social media duds whose chronically online presence from an early age has rendered them naturally skilled in digital marketing and PR. They know that their "allies" (i.e. neo-Nazis and the like) will most gleefully tokenize them if they appear to have a religious basis for their opposition to Zionism, rather than a more secular or ideological-sounding belief system. It is insidious and vile. Also, not sure if you've read this one, but I tackle the origin of some of these issues there as well: https://mallorymosner.substack.com/p/has-reform-judaism-fueled-anti-zionism
And I am frankly inclined to agree with exactly what you said. This is a very confusing juncture, and I do also want to acknowledge that some of the most widespread and influential Jewish organizations of our time (including Chabad) subscribe to the notion that "a Jew is a Jew" -- full stop. Meaning, there is nothing that anyone can ever do to shed their religious/spiritual Jewishness. I don't agree with that. It's something I have been trying to better understand in my own study of the Torah, and something I'm frankly still grappling with.
I may end up writing something else about this, but I found this research on heresy from Jewish Virtual Library quite interesting: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/heresy
The word "heresy" itself feels a little Salem Witch Trials, but I think there's something there.
Interesting. Glad you mentioned the revisionism of Hanukkah. These "Diasporists" sound very much like those of us who preferred to stay in Egypt, 80% of us, and disappeared physically and spiritually during the plague of the three days of darkness. The difference is that many of these Diasporists really are not Jews, although some may be of זרע ישראל have Jewish blood.
Absolutely, and I had the exact same thought. It’s tragically not new; what a waste to be connected in this particular Jewish way to g-d and to squander it. On what? Nothing but sheer cowardice and a false feeling of control. In the end, g-d sees and knows all. It is foolish and tragic. But I certainly do not miss them, personally.
Thank you for exposing the faux intellectual somersaults these lost souls aspire to, in order to shed the burden of being Jewish in a hostile world. It sounds like they'd rather engage in mental acrobatics, twisting themselves into some very ridiculous shapes, than sit with uncomfortable truths. Isn't it tragic that there are so many Jews who seem to radically empower antisemitism, and its offshoot, antizionism, in our world?
Great piece. These diasporists and other anti-Zionists short circuit when you ask them, “diaspora from where? From where were the Jews dispersed.” Since they know they can’t answer “Poland” without giving the game away, they just babble some more.
I have never seen the word “diaspora” used pejoratively.. To me, it is a beautiful concept that applies to most people, not just Jews. Diaspora = Dispersion is a human condition.
A diaspora is not necessarily a fundamentally bad or wrong thing— it is when people like these anti-Zionists try to play G-d by condemning people to an eternal state of homelessness and wandering and implicitly blame them for what is perceived as a punishment that we reach a place like this one.
Two things can be true at the same time; Jews can (ideally, and ideally by their own choice) thrive in the diaspora AND we can have self-determination in our homeland.
A round of virtual applause for this amazing article, Mallory! You did a great job calling out the Diasporists and showing how nonsensical and bizarre their belief system truly is and how it is antithetical to the tenets of the Jewish faith. I fail to understand why R.B. Kitaj thought eternal homelessness and suffering were virtuous and noble things that would be preferable for the Jewish people to return to their ancient homeland, rebuilding and living in safety in a country with a Jewish majority where their faith and culture can thrive and live on. Art is why a Jewish homeland shouldn't exist? Huh? I guess R.B. Kitaj slept through history class. He never considered the many pogroms and expulsions they suffered not to mention discrimination, persecution, forced assimilation, religious repression, and genocide. Mr. Kitaj would've done well to read "Night" by Elie Wiesel or "The Diary of Anne Frank" or give "Schindler's List" or "Shoah" a watch. He and Philip Roth promoted and helped spread, a very toxic ideology that puts Jews in danger. An ideology that isn't rooted in Judaism might I add, but leftism. Bundists, Marxists and Socialists never accomplished anything on behalf of the Jews or anyone else for that matter other than killing hundreds of millions of people, destroying economies and nations, imprisoning millions in gulags, and squelching human freedom and creativity. That was the source that informed Kitaj's "Judaism" and informs the ideology and values that underlie what anti-Zionist Jews like those in Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow hold. Anti-Zionist Jews are totally misguided and historically illiterate. Disaporist Jews are a disgrace to the Jewish faith and have no understanding of reality. Do they not realize antisemitism has risen to 1930s levels in the West? Are they aware of the attacks on Jews in Britain, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, etc.? There was recently a pogrom against Israeli Jewish Maccabi Tel Aviv fans not in Cairo, Algiers, Khartoum, Damascus, Beirut, or Baghdad but in Amsterdam. Even in the United States, Jews find themselves often at great risk to face hate and violence. Israel is the eternal home of the Jewish people where the Western Wall, Temple Mount, the Cave of Patriarchs, and Rachel's Tomb are located, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph with his coat of many colors, Moses, Joshua, King David, King Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth came from and the home of the eternal capital of the Jewish homeland, the holy city of Jerusalem. The rebirth of Israel in 1948 was absolutely the right course of action for the Jewish people. Theodor Herzl was right over a century ago when he concluded that western and liberal values would not to be enough to ensure the survival of the Jewish people-a country of their own was needed. The Diasporists are playing with fire and showing their ignorance, by going against Herzl's wisdom.
Very true. The wild thing is that Kitaj’s step-grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, and that did very much affect his thinking on Judaism and making Jewish art. And still, clearly there is something that he completely missed. Sadly this happens.
The other sickening thing I finally realized while researching this piece is that there are literally tons of stuffy intellectual self-proclaimed Jews who literally academically put advocate for ignoring antisemitism because they inherently reject it as a Zionist conspiracy and not a real issue. Depraved and deluded.
I know a Jewish woman living in Amsterdam who calls herself a “diasporist” who vocally defended the pogrom against the Israelis there. She truly felt there was a social justice explanation for it. She’s a sad person.
Frankly I’m slightly torn because I do understand all these people to be exceptionally lost souls, and yet, like a reckless and tormented person who drives drunk and endangers other people, self-loathing is never a valid excuse to actively harm other people. It’s just selfish, cruel and foolish.
I think it’s a solid point — they are (appropriately) worshipping these arbitrary pyramids of inborn, fixed pseudo-virtuousness like they are idols.
They put this manufactured, quasi-fascist posterity ethic well above and beyond any law or ethic of Judaism or g-d.
I think it's important to see the connection to critical theory (including queer theory) - a way of viewing the world that accords moral superiority to suffering and otherness. By claiming eternal homelessness, these leftist fools are trying in their self-defeated way to stake out a position on the precarious pyramid of virtue somewhere closer to Black transgender sex workers and Palestinian children. (I know because I used to think this way.)
So good. These pseudo-intellectual, hate-filled hypocrites can string together a bunch of smart sounding words pretty well but can't actually address any points when confronted with facts. Thanks for taking the time to deal with these losers when most of us don't want to even think about what kinds of creepy cult-worship they get up to in their seemingly copious amount of spare time...
This is a really fascinating article which I had to read several times to really process. I frankly didn't realize this club of self-hating wackos had a name, Diasporists...who knew? Perhaps we Jews brought this pestilence upon ourselves by abandoning the biblically used punishment of excommunication ("herem") and insisting that as long as your mother was a Jew, you're a Jew and no amount of stupidity or self loathing can change that. Maybe within our small tent we need to re-think our bylaws, i.e., what it means to be a "member in good standing". I had a weak moment over the holidays and while under the influence of way too many greasy latkes binge watched the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders series on Netflix. While on a tour of her backyard, Kelli Finglass (sounds a little Jewey, right?) longtime director of the DCC and a Texan gal (that means not Jewish) if there ever was one, walks over to the grave site of her departed dog Sugar and drops that Sugar is surrounded by 18 flowers because her husband Joel is Jewish and in Judaism, 18 means life. I almost choked on my tenth 50 cent piece of Chanukah geld (dark chocolate only please, good for the prostate I vaguely remember telling myself). In a later "Honestly" podcast with Bari Weiss, Finglass declares that both her son and daughter identify as Jews and her son had just returned from a Birthright Trip to Israel (in the summer of 2024 no less!!). Now who would you rather invite to your seder, (or set up with your Jewish daughter), Ryan Finglass or the son of Reb Yisroel Dovid Weiss, Obergruppen Fuhrer of the Neturei Karta?? A long and winding story to illustrate my post 10/7 revelation that if you want to be in my Jewish tent, the only thing I'm gonna ask is that you declare your love and support for Klal Yisrael and the State of Israel. Everything else we can figure out later (and if my children are reading this, later means BEFORE the wedding).
hahaha I love this comment and also I can't tell you how much I appreciate that you read it and took time to process it (and re-read it) because I recognize that these are exceptionally difficult and frankly even disturbing concepts for us to contemplate.
The rebrand to Diasporists instead of merely "anti-Zionist Jews" is, I believe, quite intentional. These are social media duds whose chronically online presence from an early age has rendered them naturally skilled in digital marketing and PR. They know that their "allies" (i.e. neo-Nazis and the like) will most gleefully tokenize them if they appear to have a religious basis for their opposition to Zionism, rather than a more secular or ideological-sounding belief system. It is insidious and vile. Also, not sure if you've read this one, but I tackle the origin of some of these issues there as well: https://mallorymosner.substack.com/p/has-reform-judaism-fueled-anti-zionism
And I am frankly inclined to agree with exactly what you said. This is a very confusing juncture, and I do also want to acknowledge that some of the most widespread and influential Jewish organizations of our time (including Chabad) subscribe to the notion that "a Jew is a Jew" -- full stop. Meaning, there is nothing that anyone can ever do to shed their religious/spiritual Jewishness. I don't agree with that. It's something I have been trying to better understand in my own study of the Torah, and something I'm frankly still grappling with.
I may end up writing something else about this, but I found this research on heresy from Jewish Virtual Library quite interesting: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/heresy
The word "heresy" itself feels a little Salem Witch Trials, but I think there's something there.
Thank you again for this comment!
Interesting. Glad you mentioned the revisionism of Hanukkah. These "Diasporists" sound very much like those of us who preferred to stay in Egypt, 80% of us, and disappeared physically and spiritually during the plague of the three days of darkness. The difference is that many of these Diasporists really are not Jews, although some may be of זרע ישראל have Jewish blood.
Absolutely, and I had the exact same thought. It’s tragically not new; what a waste to be connected in this particular Jewish way to g-d and to squander it. On what? Nothing but sheer cowardice and a false feeling of control. In the end, g-d sees and knows all. It is foolish and tragic. But I certainly do not miss them, personally.
Did you see the event Simon Wolff held for "hospicing Zionism"? It's as bad as it sounds.
🤢🤢🤢
Thank you for exposing the faux intellectual somersaults these lost souls aspire to, in order to shed the burden of being Jewish in a hostile world. It sounds like they'd rather engage in mental acrobatics, twisting themselves into some very ridiculous shapes, than sit with uncomfortable truths. Isn't it tragic that there are so many Jews who seem to radically empower antisemitism, and its offshoot, antizionism, in our world?
Great piece. These diasporists and other anti-Zionists short circuit when you ask them, “diaspora from where? From where were the Jews dispersed.” Since they know they can’t answer “Poland” without giving the game away, they just babble some more.
I have never seen the word “diaspora” used pejoratively.. To me, it is a beautiful concept that applies to most people, not just Jews. Diaspora = Dispersion is a human condition.
A diaspora is not necessarily a fundamentally bad or wrong thing— it is when people like these anti-Zionists try to play G-d by condemning people to an eternal state of homelessness and wandering and implicitly blame them for what is perceived as a punishment that we reach a place like this one.
Two things can be true at the same time; Jews can (ideally, and ideally by their own choice) thrive in the diaspora AND we can have self-determination in our homeland.
Thank you so much for this comment! Sadly, this definitely checks based on my experiences and observations of the "diasporists." So happy to connect.