Erika Dreifus

Last week, just before Rosh Hashanah, I ran across Peter Beinart’s “The American Jewish Cocoon” online. Uh-oh, I thought, when I first saw the article’s title. Happy New Year to us.

But, as I’ve tried to do for some time (see the mention in “Among the Literati” from January 2012), I wanted to at least attempt to absorb what Beinart had to say. Because back when my primary acquaintance with his overall critique was “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment,” I sensed in his writing an authentic concern for Israel’s long-term health and viability–and I believed that I might be able to learn from his work.

Alas, I’ve since realized that I’m not Beinart’s therapist, and I can’t presume to know what motivates him. All I can say with any surety is that my faith in learning from his work had begun to erode even before this new opus appeared.

Some of the uneasiness came with the launch of his book, The Crisis of Zionism (I found Rabbi David Wolpe’s take on that situation at the time quite persuasive). Some of it had to do with Beinart’s March 2012 New York Times op-ed advocating a “settlement boycott,” a commentary rendered even more troubling by the fact that its publication coincided with a deadly attack on a Jewish day school in France, prompting Jeffrey Goldberg to comment: “You know what? I find it unpleasant to talk about boycotting Jews on a day when Jewish children have been murdered for being Jewish.” And some of it had to do with some of the writings I noticed over time on Beinart’s “Open Zion” blog.

Then came this new piece. (more…)