On Hasidic Jews, Anti-Semitism and Non-Profits

In light of recent antisemitic attacks, Lane Silberstein gives perspective on political divisions and class contradictions within the Jewish community, particularly Hasidic Jews.

Amid the frustrations and struggles of so-called “late capitalism” a very old capitalist problem has again come to the fore: antisemitism. Last month there were nine antisemitic attacks in New York City and the surrounding area in the span of one week, with the bulk of them targeting ultra-orthodox Jewish communities. Understanding and approaching this reality is confusing not only for gentiles, but also for well-meaning liberal, leftist and secular Jews, most of whom are isolated from these communities. I’ve lived in New York for ten years and been Jewish much longer. As a Jewish socialist, I hope that these preliminary thoughts and resources can spur further discussion and action.

To be clear, I am not Hasidic. I am not really religious at all. In the wake of this recent attack, Hasidim are speaking out and writing moving pieces that I encourage people to read. More effort needs to be made to translate the robust Yiddish press that circulates among Hasidim. My knowledge of Hasidim is sorely lacking, based on readings and some personal interactions. I am also conflating “Hasidic” with ultra-orthodox, which historically is not accurate; when Hasidim emerged in the late 18th century, they were opposed by other Orthodox leaders. Today, there are many ultra-orthodox Jews who trace their lineage to the misnagdim of Lithuania. Among Hasidim, there are many groups, often called courts, that trace their history to specific geographic locations. Their politics vary: I remember being at a Menorah lighting several years ago put on by Chabad, a group known for outreach to non-Hasidic Jews. At this time, Trump had moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, so the event was dedicated to him. Chabad is also known for their “mitzvah tanks,” the buses on New York street corners that give out ritual items — they started calling the buses that after Israeli armor dominated the 6 Day War. Most other Hasidim are anti-Zionist.

What I can offer readers, however, is insight into the bourgeois world of Jewish liberals, their relationship to capitalism, nationalism and whiteness, which affects how they feel about Hasidim. One of the biggest conflicts for Jewish socialists is the discrepancy between our lives and the power of the “Jewish establishment,” a vast conglomeration comprised mostly of nonprofits with budgets in the billions of dollars. They operate independently, and some of them have tiny budgets, and they collaborate on occasion; but as a whole, they function to uphold the status quo and buttress against socialist organizing. Many socialists have written about the “nonprofit industrial complex,” as it is often called. Recently, the left’s conflict with the Jewish establishment has centered around Zionism and the establishment’s inability to end the occupation of Palestine — but it’s clear they are equally unable to address relationships between Jews and people of color, to adequately embrace Jews of color, and even to understand and tackle antisemitism.

With these recent attacks, it would be a good opportunity for liberal Jewish nonprofits to donate to Hasidic causes, but many of these mainstream Jewish organizations feel the need to pay their directors six figures, so it’s unlikely they will be able to free up those funds. The history of (Jewish) nonprofits is based on a fundamentally orientalist relationship between bourgeois Western European Jews and poorer Eastern European Jewish refugees. (You will often hear about tense relationships between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews; a lot of that can be traced back to condescension between Ashkenazi Jews and other Ashkenazi Jews). That said, contemporary nonprofits are another way for the bourgeoisie to remain aloof from both the working class and Hasidim, while claiming they have solutions to our problems. The Jewish establishment has spent decades not building ties to working-class Jews, Hasidic or otherwise. Were these connections between nonprofits to be built, they would happen on a board member-to-board member, bourgeois-to-bourgeois level, and reaffirm the power of Hasidic elites as well as non-profit hegemony.

The path forward relies on working-class Jews from all backgrounds building connections on our own, and a good way to start is with the OTD (“off the derech”/lit. not following the path, i.e. ex religious) crowd. These Jews, often young and LGBTQ, have left their tight-knit families at great personal risk. Occasionally, high profile suicides will make the news. Groups like Footsteps, which helped produce the Netflix documentary “One Of Us,” do outreach and provide resources to OTD Jews, but their model is fundamentally individual, and not based on building power against Hasidic elites or raising class consciousness. Another group, Yaffed, is pushing New York politicians to adopt stronger oversight of Yeshivas’ educational programming, who do not teach adequate math, science, and English. DSA and other electoral organizations should endorse candidates who follow Yaffed’s recommendations.

Detailing the history of Hasidic Judaism is a task so complex that it has required the recent publication of a nearly 900-page book. The authors write,

From its beginnings, Hasidism was far more than an intellectual movement. It was also a set of bodily practices, including praying, storytelling, singing, dancing, eating, all performed within the frame of the reciprocal relationship between rebbe [leader] and Hasid [follower]. The very physicality of Hasidism played an enormous role in transforming it from an elite to a popular movement. Despite all of the traditional elements one finds in Hasidism, this concatenation of ideas and practices was something entirely new in Jewish history, a movement of mass religiosity that would take its place side by side with more secular movements as part of the complex phenomenon of Jewish modernity.

Building ties with practicing Hasidim will be a long and difficult undertaking, because this internal social network remains incredibly strong, and is able to provide them with not only psychological and emotional community ties, but material sustenance like housing and food. Hasidim try as much as possible to isolate themselves, and distrust outsiders: “it is impossible to think of Hasidism without its use of new weapons against secular culture.” Their penchant for speaking Yiddish is part of this. Imagine being born in the US but never learning proper English, an “immigrant to your own country,” as Footsteps often says. White supremacy, patriarchy, and faith in their corrupt leaders are strong. Considering the hand-wringing about the “white working class”, organizing Hasidim is a very American problem. The distrust that Hasidim have towards liberal groups like Footsteps and Yaffed (whose founder receives death threats) means the work for socialists will be especially hard.

Overall, Hasidim live in poverty. While many of them do work, it’s often for little pay in retail. Their cost of living is high: kosher food, dowries, and expensive private education. Latinx workers led a strike in 2017 at B&H Photo, which is owned by Hasidim; working-class Hasidim could have joined the workers against the owners, but this did not happen, and the strike was defeated. Many Hasidim rely on food stamps. Amid the antisemitism scandals around Corbyn and Labour, he was defended by ultra-orthodox Jews who valued his support for social welfare.

I predict that Hasidim will welcome greater police presence, who to my knowledge have good relations with their own informal police, the shomrim. They will not really care about the waste of resources. Maintaining our solidarity with those already targeted by the state is of utmost importance and will be difficult – think of how ultra-orthodox anti-Zionism is not really based in solidarity with Palestinians. Again, liberal Jewish institutions are useless in this. They trust the police (collaborating with the police seems to be the ADL’s whole raison d’etre). When the police fail and inevitably start working with open white supremacists, we will see how the Jewish establishment responds.

Theoretically, I believe it is worth differentiating between fascist attacks (e.g. Tree of Life massacre) and attacks whose motivations are rooted in neighborhood-specific contexts. In Jersey City, where an attack took place, Hasidim were making recent moves, displacing long-time residents. For Brooklyn, studying the history of relationships between Hasidim and people of color is necessary. The Crown Heights riots and the general trend of gentrification are relevant. Jimmy McMillan, who became famous in 2010 for his “the rent is too damn high” speeches, held antisemitic views. But if a black person’s only interaction with Jews is one in which the latter is a landlord, this is a different conversation from fascist antisemitism that posits Jews are letting in too many immigrants and fomenting white genocide, and one James Baldwin writes about with characteristic sensitivity and insight. However, while it appears that a black man perpetrated the recent Monsey attack, local Republicans there ran an ad in August warning of “Jewish takeover” Rockland County. The conflation by certain members of the commentariat between “black” and “leftist” are not even worth addressing; they are racist and have an obvious political motivation. But we are seeing a dangerous mix of social issues, and it will be all the more important for Jews to show up to anti-racist organizing, such as prison and police reform.

I’m also thinking right now of liberal and conservative Jews’ nationalistic feelings for the US, which are not uncomplicated. On the one hand, they think this country is unique in its opportunity for Jewish success (that is, they ignore whiteness); but they’ve also had that latent Zionist paranoia where, at any moment, gentiles will turn on us. Maybe they will start to see that this country is built on racism and colonization and isn’t actually safe for any vulnerable group. The relative success of white Jews, however, blocks some of us from realizing that antisemitism is fundamentally about a relationship to capital. Suffice to say that liberal Jewish analysis of antisemitism as something unending and “just a part of society” is as useless as Orthodox Jews blaming Jewish assimilation or Zionism for the Holocaust. Antisemitism forces Jews to share a fate while we do not all share interests. The linking of fate with interest is the meaning of solidarity; only in socialism can there be true solidarity.

What else is next? This might sound crass, but a Jewish president who delivers well-liked universal programs could help stem antisemitism. Bernie wrote a widely-read article about combating antisemitism directly, although it relied on the action of state agencies, and was met with criticism, including my own. Expanding the rights of tenants and fighting gentrification could also curb awkward feelings about Jews, but neither the Jewish establishment nor Hasidim are invested in this fight. With the possibility of another war in the Middle East, this time with one of Israel’s enemies, the potential for diaspora Jews to be blamed is always there. Anti-imperialism is part of the fight against antisemitism.

At the same time, what’s happening now is showing us the need to be prepared, because a Jewish president, while good in the long-run, in my opinion, will result in more immediate backlash. I’m not of the mind that uniting as Jews, that is, on the basis of identity, is what’s crucial right now, as my overview of relevant power relations has hopefully made clear. Jewish identity is being constantly redefined and deployed for political means. But antisemitism is a problem for the working class, and capitalism will not be defeated until antisemitism is. Overcoming differences that have put in place by the non-profit industrial complex and elitists will be key, because the only thing that will protect us, and build connections for the future, is solidarity and defense of the working class.