I launched my study into Jewishness two decades ago. It began as a result of my reaction to the relentless attacks on dissident Jewish thinkers who didn't fit with the 'revolutionary agenda' of the so-called Jewish 'anti Zionist' Left. I quickly grasped that
it was actually the Jewish Left, the radicals and progressives, who displayed the most problematic traits associated with Zionism and Jewish identitarianism.
I was perplexed:
the same people who adhere to tribal politics and operate in racially segregated political cells preach universalism to others. I came to understand that nothing was transparent or obvious about Jewish culture and identitarianism, and that this was by design. I decided to untangle the Jewish enigma from a new perspective:
instead of asking who or what Jews are, I asked what those who self-identify as Jews believe in, what precepts they adhere to. This question was the beginning of my struggle.
By the time I published
The Wandering Who? (2011), I realised that those who identify as Jews can be divided into three non-exclusive categories. 1. Those who follow Torah and Mitzvoth. 2. Those who identify with their Jewish ancestry. 3. Those who identify politically as Jews. In
The Wandering Who I argued that while the first and the second categories are innocent, the third category is always contaminated by biological determinism. The third category is, in fact, racist to the core. While Jews aren't necessarily a race,
Jewish politics are, too often, racially oriented. This applies to both Zionists and the so called 'anti' Zionists. In my work there is no real distinction between Jewish Zionists and their Jewish dissenters. I have found them to be equally racist.
Comment: Previously: