“Only the Left Can Defeat Anti-Semitism”: Raffi Magarik on the Real Crisis of American Judaism and Why the Only Real Solution is Solidarity (also, what “solidarity” means)

I really needed to talk to Raffi Magarik. Whenever the subject of anti-Semitism erupts into the news, the public discourse around it immediately and invariably become combative, contested, confusing, and confused. Are there different kinds of anti-Semitism or just one kind that shapeshifts through history, adapting to the parameters of its new host? If there are different kinds, should we call them all out equally, or are some inherently more evil and dangerous and merit greater vigilance and attention? Should the response be political or stridently apolitical? Raffi gets into it in a deeply honest and rigorous fashion in his recent Jacobin piece, “Only the Left Can Defeat Anti-Semitism.” There he argues among other things that there is no such thing as an apolitical response to anti-Semitism. Because “Jews as a people are not a theory of how to change the world,” we must always choose a side; because it’s physically impossible to remain “neutral on a moving train,” not choosing is itself a revealing and impactful choice. He imagines a form of Jewish life where Jews “really do show up” in solidarity with ‘other’ struggles and stories – both within their communities and without – and what it would be to have a “working” Jewish culture: to turn Jewishness and Judaism in America into “something that’s not only accessible to the upper middle class, and is not reliant upon incredible infusions of cash capital from the finance industry.” He explains how demoralization is an intentional strategy built into capitalist systems to cripple the left. Finally he talks about what keeps him up at night: the profound need for American Jews “ to be having a conversation about how American Jewish institutions have become addicted to money and created this incredible moneyed, finance-laden structure. This to me is the crisis of American Judaism. To me this is the problem we have to solve.”

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/01/antisemitism-monsey-stabbing-attacks-hannukkah

That Jewish Currents Essay about Anti-Semitism: https://jewishcurrents.org/envisioning-solidarity/