A Rebellious People

By Gabriela Geselowitz
KOC Co-Editor
Hunter College

Politically, Jews have been very active throughout history.  More than that, we have been traditionally revolutionary.  Naturally, a people can't be spoken of in such generalizing terms.  But many of the country's (and world's) key revolutionary leaders have been Jewish.

Jewish rebellion has a long history.  The Maccabees, of course, were successful enough in their revolt to establish a dynasty (and the story for the most well-known Jewish holiday in popular culture).

The Romans were used to conquering a land, colonizing it and bringing in their culture.  It was the Judaeans who rebelled, leaving behind the legacies of the likes of Bar Kochba and Masada.  True, these revolts were generally disastrous for the Jews, but the spirit of rebellion remained.

In American history, Jews have been involved politically, but also revolutionarily.  Haym Solomon is famous for practically funding the country in its earliest days, including a famous (possibly apocryphal) story in which he asked his congregation to contribute to the war effort during Yom Kippur services.  Although he was reactionary (and in the wrong), Judah P. Benjamin was certainly revolutionary, rising through the ranks of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and eventually becoming its Secretary of State.

Internationally, Jews were highly involved in political movements that could offer equality considering their oppressed status; Communism held that promise and the Russian Revolution had several Jewish thinkers and leaders, such as Leon Trotsky.  Marx's theories were certainly nothing short of revolutionary and he was Jewish.  In fact, it was stereotypes of Jews as subversively revolutionary that became a root of modern anti-Semitism.

Without a Jewish tradition of political advocacy in unconventional ways, could Theodore Herzl and his contemporaries have founded modern Zionism?  The creation of the Jewish State was in many ways unique, and early Zionists had to think and act outside of political norms, even when trying to organize into a more typical system.  Then, of course, during the British colonization of Palestine, groups such as the Haganah and Irgun formed more traditional resistance and were willing to resort to violence.  In addition, during World War II, small pockets of rebellion raged against the Holocaust, such as partisans like the Bielskis, Mordechai Anielewicz and the other fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

This trend of Jews seeking to change unfair political systems continues today; Occupy Wall Street has a strong Jewish presence despite opponents attempting to paint it as anti-Semitic.  In Israel this summer, similar Tent City movements sought to reorganize a system that in some ways is inherently unfair (as in any country).

Ironically, despite stereotypes to the contrary, anti-Semites have accused the Jewish people of being meek or sheep to the slaughter.  They clearly don't know their history.  Politics is intellectual and about working through the existing system in realistic means.  However, politics is also about changing the system altogether when it fails.  It is ironic that as "People of the Book," we have proven to be willing to stand up when we see the system as unfair.  Millennia of oppression and marginalization have shown us how to write our own story.

[Posted 11/27/11]