Article in The Times of Israel by Andy Blumenthal: Recently in the Forward, I read about this “synagogue,” Tzedek Chicago, that has the tragic distinction of being the first anti-Zionist synagogue in America. They claim that they are all about justice, as their name “Tzedek” supposedly implies. However, the facts do not match the rhetoric. Anti-Zionism, regardless of the source is ultimately about Jew hatred.

1. 5/15/22, 6:55 AM The Tragic Comedy of the "Anti-Zionist Synagogue" | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-tragic-comedy-of-the-anti-zionist-synagogue/ 1/5
THE BLOGS
Andy Blumenthal
The Tragic Comedy of
the “Anti-Zionist
Synagogue”
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2. 5/15/22, 6:55 AM The Tragic Comedy of the "Anti-Zionist Synagogue" | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
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(Screenshot from @margoexplainsitall on Instagram reel at https://www.instagram.com/reel/CcBMN1bFfpU/)
Recently in the Forward, I read about this “synagogue,” Tzedek Chicago, that
has the tragic distinction of being the first anti-Zionist synagogue in America.
They claim that they are all about justice, as their name “Tzedek” supposedly
implies, and as their website values states:
However, the facts do not match the rhetoric. Anti-Zionism, regardless of the
source is ultimately about Jew hatred.
Disingenuous claims of justice exist all throughout history.
Already 3,400 years ago, when the Jews were in Egypt (after Joseph saved the
Egyptians from Famine), Pharaoh enslaved and afflicted the Jewish people
and killed the male first born children in a case literally of justice turned
upside down, accusing their former saviors: “lest (the Israelites) increase…
and wage war against us.”
Even in the modern times, the notorious, Adolf Hitler (may his name be
obliterated) who murdered 6,000,000 Jewish men, women, and children
claimed that he stood for justice: “As a Christian, I have no duty to allow
myself to be cheated, but I have a duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.”
Similarly, in America, the Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregation
were depravedly thought of as just and routinely slave owners meted out
what they deemed as justice to their slaves in brutal beatings, rape, and
lynchings.
…the creation of an ethnic Jewish nation state in historic Palestine resulted in
an injustice against the Palestinian people, an injustice that continues to this
day.”
“

3. 5/15/22, 6:55 AM The Tragic Comedy of the "Anti-Zionist Synagogue" | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
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Highlighting their ignorance about basic Judaism, there is also a funny-sad
Instagram reel from @margoexplainsitall poking fun at their portrayal of a
photo of the Ten Commandments, only this set had just eight. The sad part of
this is that it fits their rejection not only of their fellow Jews and Israel, but of
the very Torah that states (Deuteronomy 30:5):
Moreover, the famous Jewish scholar and kabbalist, the Ramban, writes in his
commentary on Maimonides, Sefer Hamitzvot (quoted here):
Unfortunately, I don’t see Tzedek Chicago living anything resembling Jewish
values.
They don’t seem to care an iota for what the Torah says regarding Israel.
The L-rd your G-d will bring you to the land of which you fathers took
possession, and you shall take possession of it, and He will do good to you…””
“
We are commanded to inherit the land that the Almighty gave to our
forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. and not to leave it in the hands of
other nations or desolation, as it says, ‘Inherit the land to live in it, since it is
to you that I am giving the land to occupy…’ (Numbers 33:53)”
“
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4. 5/15/22, 6:55 AM The Tragic Comedy of the "Anti-Zionist Synagogue" | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
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They don’t seem sympathetic to the plight of the Jews massacred by the
Arabs in Israel, including tens of thousands of Israelis that have been killed in
the wars and terror campaigns by the surrounding Arab nations.
I don’t see anything in their values shedding a tear for the millions of Jews
genocidally oppressed and murdered throughout history from all over the
world.
Where is the justice in that?
The Arab League consists of 22 Muslim nations with domain over 5,000,000
square miles of land.
The Jewish people have and want just a single homeland, Israel, which is
comprised of just 8,550 square miles.
When Tzedek Chicago calls Israel the “historic Palestine,” I can only wonder
how they so easily overlook the many travels to Palestine in the 1800’s that
found the land desolate and nearly without any person. Recall the famous
American writer, Mark Twain, who stated in 1869:
Further, unlike the Palestinian Authority, Israel is a land of freedom,
democracy, and diversity. More than half the world’s Jewish population lives in
Israel where Arabs serve in the IDF, are members of the Knesset, and even serve
on the Supreme Court.
Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that
has withered its field and fettered its energies…in whose bitter waters no living
thing exists…about whose borders nothing grows but weeds…”
“

5. 5/15/22, 6:55 AM The Tragic Comedy of the "Anti-Zionist Synagogue" | Andy Blumenthal | The Blogs
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader who writes frequently about Jewish life,
culture, and security. All opinions are his own.
While this misguided congregation may think they are showing compassion,
this is not justice. Indeed, they embody the saying:
Like King Saul who had mercy on the Amalekites, the historic enemy of the
Jews, and he saved their king contrary to G-d’s commandment, Tzedek Chicago
cries for the Palestinians! Yet, it is the Palestinians who have repeatedly
rejected every peace overture from the U.N. Partition Plan to the Camp David
Accords and beyond. They demand the total annihilation of the Jewish people
“from the river to the sea.”
Seventy-seven years after the Holocaust, it is sad and unfortunate that any Jew
can find justice in that.
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He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the
compassionate.”
“