Forming a Anti-Zionist Denomination of Judaism

[u/NAHTHEHNRFS850]

Seeing the stickied post regarding people seeking out progressive (particularly anti-Zionist) Jewish services, I wanted to talk about the formation of a progressive anti-Zionist Jewish denomination.

While there are progressive denominations of Judaism (e.g. Humanistic), these denominations don’t explicitly render themselves as anti-Zionist in the fact that they don’t declare “that there should not be a Jewish state”.

A new denomination such as this would need to remove practices phrases, statements and literature making overtures to the Holy Land and focus on community and belief in God. I see this as parallel to how some branches of Humanistic Judaism avoid using theonyms (names associated with God e.g. Joshua).

Thoughts?

[u/loselyconscious]

There was an antizionist denomination of Judaism, it was called Reform Judaism. The first statement of principle of Reform Judaism in the US explicitly rejected Zionism 

[u/specialistsets → u/loselyconscious]

The Reform Pittsburgh Platform of 1885 predates Zionism as a term and wasn't referring to Political Zionism, which didn't exist yet. It was a rejection of the traditional Jewish understandings of Jerusalem and the Land of Israel in an effort to de-emphasize Jewish peoplehood: "We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community"

[u/loselyconscious → u/specialistsets]

That is not quite correct; the Pittsburg Platform predates the forming of the first Zionist institutions by about a decade, but Zionism as a political movement was already in its nascent stage by then. Auto-Emancipation was published in 1882, Hibbat Ha-Zion had also begun to form in the 1880s, multiple new Jewish settlements had been founded in Palestine by the time the Platform was published, and people were very aware of the Montifore's and Rothschilds funding of the first aliyah. More importantly, the platform was the basis of opposition to political Zionism in the Reform movement for the better part of the next 50 years

[u/specialistsets → u/loselyconscious]

What has come to be called "Proto-Zionism" still isn't Political Zionism. Pinsker advocated for increasing Jewish migration to Palestine in response to pogroms, and only had vague allusions to future prospects of Jewish political autonomy. And the various Montefiore and Rothschild endeavors in 19th century Palestine focused mostly on supporting the poor residents of the Old Yishuv and agricultural self-sufficiency. The First Aliyah only came to be associated with Political Zionism retroactively. The text of the Pittsburgh Platform makes no mention of any of this and only refers to theological concepts.

[u/loselyconscious → u/specialistsets]

This is a weird pedantry. Whatever the Pittsburg Platform meant (which clearly is opposition to aliyah) Reform Movement was subsequently opposed to political Zionism.

[u/specialistsets → u/loselyconscious]

I don't believe the Pittsburgh Platform or the Reform movement at large was opposed to Jews living in Palestine, and many Reform leaders supported it prior to the adoption of the Columbus Platform. The text is clearly referring to traditional theological concepts of Eretz Israel and the associated messianic prophecies of a mass return to Jerusalem, rebuilding of the Temple and restoration of Temple service:

"We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state."