The Ultra-Orthodox World’s Non-Zionist Zionist Revolution

Over the last fifteen years, mainstream American Jews have moved famously leftward on Israel. Some have dropped out of Zionism altogether; others have attempted to redefine what it means to be Zionist so as to include a healthy—at times too healthy—dose of criticism for the Jewish state.

But in a less heralded reverse development, another American Jewish demographic has been busy redefining what it means to be non-Zionist, and not in the way you might think. This group harbors warm affection for the Jewish state, and, where mainstream Jews increasingly approach Israel as an abstraction, as a matter of ideology, or as a totemic signifier, this group approaches Israel not as an ideological project but as a concrete, practical reality.

The group is American ultra-Orthodox Jewry. For a long time they’ve been construed as non- or even anti-Zionist, and perhaps for good reason—after all, as a community they don’t mark any official observances of Israel; they won’t celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, they won’t participate in New York’s iconic Celebrate Israel Parade, and they refrain from including the prayer for the state of Israel in their liturgy. But a look at their daily life tells a more nuanced story: the story of a group largely supportive of the Israeli government, enthusiastic about Israel’s achievements, and that sees its future as inextricably bound up with that of the Jewish state. One might even go so far as to say that the ultra-Orthodox community is the most pro-Israel Jewish community in America—and, again, all without explicitly identifying as Zionist.