For Leah Robbins, growing up in rural Florida meant that her Saturday morning synagogue services were always followed by lunch at Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q.
Living predominantly among non-Jews, her family took great pride in how they expressed their Jewish identity. For her parents, being Jewish included donating to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC and encouraging Ms. Robbins to sing the Israeli national anthem while her classmates recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
However, during her college years and afterward, as Ms. Robbins encountered friends who challenged her understanding of Israel’s history, its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, and its actions in wars in Gaza, her views on Israel shifted dramatically from her Zionist upbringing. She now believes that young Jews who are critical of Israel, like herself, must build new communities – including spiritual congregations and schools – that do not center Zionism.
As she watched with a mix of relief and apprehension the news of an Israel-Hamas cease-fire and the release of hostages and prisoners, she pondered, “When we’re on the other side of this devastation, what’s going to be left of Judaism if the Jewish left isn’t building it right now?”
For many years, a persistent narrative existed about the role of left-wing Jews within the broader Jewish community. The assumption was that young progressive Jews might advocate for more critical perspectives on Israel, but as they aged, they would enroll their children in the same Jewish day schools they attended, where those children would learn pioneer songs and celebrate Israeli independence day with falafel.
In essence, it was believed that young Jews critical of Israel would eventually either accept the institutions they grew up in or simply leave them.
Yet, today, that narrative is being challenged, particularly within certain Jewish families.
Across various parts of the United States, there are clear signs of how much progressive Jewish communities have grown or gained greater recognition over the past two years, especially those that do not identify as Zionist.
Ms. Robbins is currently raising funds to establish a “diasporist” Jewish day school in Boston. This school aims to emphasize Judaism outside of Israel and teach Israel’s history from a non-Zionist perspective. It plans to open in the fall of 2029. Meanwhile, three Jewish friends who met in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, now residing in Brooklyn, recently canvassed for a Muslim mayoral candidate who pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival in New York.
In Chicago, a rabbi successfully gathered 400 families for high holiday services at a pro-Palestinian congregation that deliberately chooses not to display the Israeli flag. While most of these groups acknowledge the horror of the Hamas militant attacks on October 7, 2023, they also condemn the Israeli government’s response, the ongoing war in Gaza, and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, which predated the recent conflict.
Recent interviews with nearly two dozen young people—some proudly Zionist, some pro-Israel but critical of its government, some anti-Zionist, and some still unsure—reveal they are grappling with complex questions: What will the future of American Jewish communities look like, and how will they approach the topic of Israel?
Institutional leaders acknowledge the widespread uncertainty. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who heads the largest movement of American Jewry, the Reform movement, stated, “Your responsibility as a Jewish leader is to be concerned about the people within your movement. We’re at a critical moment. I don’t think at this moment we have a clear sense of where it’s going.”
This critical period, since October 7, 2023, has been deeply painful for many, prompting introspection within families and communities about morality, safety, and identity. The already significant generational divide on Israel within the American Jewish community has only widened. Pew polling from 2024 revealed that younger Jews hold more negative views toward Israel compared to their older counterparts. A Washington Post poll from last month indicated that while 56 percent of Jewish Americans feel an emotional attachment to Israel, this figure drops to 36 percent among those aged 18 to 34.
IfNotNow, an American Jewish organization that opposes Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, has seen its dues-paying membership increase by over 500 percent since October 7, 2023, now exceeding 6,000 members. Rabbis for Ceasefire, founded after October 7, currently boasts approximately 430 rabbis. Jewish Voice for Peace reported a budget increase from $5 million to $9 million and an expansion of its chapters from 45 to over 100 in the last two years.
While these communities are still relatively small in absolute numbers, they are expanding rapidly. Arielle Angel, editor-in-chief of the left-wing magazine Jewish Currents, advocated for the creation of more such groups in a recent editorial, writing, “We need new Jewish institutions.”
Rabbi Jacobs suggests that the views of these left-wing Jews could continue to evolve. He posed the question, “If this war is in fact ending, what is the possibility that there could be in the coming months a new government in Israel, a reconnecting of young Jews who had been confused or pained by the war?”
A majority of Jews maintain an emotional and political connection to Israel and support its continued existence as a Jewish state. According to Washington Post and Gallup polling, American Jews also support “Israel’s actions in Gaza” in larger proportions than the general American population.
However, in recent interviews, some younger Jews expressed an increasing reluctance to join or attend synagogues, schools, camps, and nonprofits that do not align with their views on the recent war in Gaza.
“Four in 10 American Jews believe Israel has committed a genocide,” stated Daniel May, publisher of Jewish Currents, referencing Washington Post polling. He added, “There’s a disconnect between that number and the view of American Jewish institutions, where even the most liberal places have leaders that have refrained from calling this a genocide. People who feel committed to Jewish life have no choice but to create new Jewish communities.”
This conviction drives Ms. Robbins’s efforts to establish a Jewish day school that does not place Zionism at the core of its belief system. Named Achvat Olam, meaning universal solidarity, the school is slated to open in the fall of 2029. Ms. Robbins believes there is “a real hunger to save the soul of Judaism and see it decoupled from nationalism.”
Breaking Tradition
In September, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, a progressive New York-based organizing group, hosted its gala, the Mazals, at a Sunset Park sports center, drawing about 1,000 attendees. Dressed in a lively mix of sequins and clogs, participants reconnected with childhood friends from summer camp, while a speaker passionately declared, “Mazel tov and free Palestine!”
Among the crowd were three women who, at one point, felt such a strong connection to Israel and a sense of responsibility for its actions that they chose to live there. They became friends while residing in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Today, none of them identify as Zionists.
One of these women is Simone Zimmerman, 34, a veteran left-wing Jewish activist and co-founder of IfNotNow. She is also the subject of the 2023 film “Israelism,” which chronicles her journey of questioning her support for Israel, beginning during her time as a student at Berkeley.
Her friend Liya Rechtman, 33, who grew up in Brooklyn, dedicated her teenage years to every pro-Israel activity she could find. This included a weeklong training program linked to the Israel Defense Forces and recruiting college classmates for Birthright Israel, which offers all-expenses-paid trips to Israel for young Jews. Ms. Rechtman recounts becoming more critical of Israel during her time living there in 2016 and 2017, particularly after witnessing the violent attacks Palestinians in the West Bank endured from settlers.
After October 7, she visited Germany for a Jewish leadership program and shared with the attendees that she felt ashamed to be Jewish due to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
She recalled an audible gasp in the room, saying, “It was upsetting for some people to hear that.”
Natasha Westheimer, 35, was the last of the trio to leave Israel, remaining there well after the war began. Ms. Westheimer recounted breaking her hand in 2021 when Israeli soldiers forcibly dispersed an anti-occupation demonstration in the West Bank. Over time, she grew increasingly wary of attending these demonstrations as the risks escalated and advocacy opportunities diminished. Yet, she also felt uncomfortable living there without engaging in activism and civil disobedience led by her Palestinian neighbors. She eventually moved back to the United States in 2024.
Ms. Westheimer was struck by how many anti-occupation activists she had known in Israel had since become anti-Zionist activists living in New York.
Ms. Rechtman echoed this sentiment, stating, “There is a broad network of people that I see myself as part of, who have intimacy with Israeli culture and who have my left-wing politics and my understanding of the stakes.”
No Middle Ground
In recent months, author Benjamin Moser has been at the New York Public Library, immersed in writing a book about anti-Zionist Jews. His research meticulously documents the challenges faced by these rabbis, lawyers, poets, and scholars across diverse locations, from Britain to Brazil and Amsterdam to Houston.
Mr. Moser explained that his book tells “a pretty unbroken story from the 19th century to the present, of anti-Zionist Jews being exiled and killed, being fired from their jobs, families splitting up.”
Aspects of this experience are still familiar to left-wing Jewish groups today, even as their numbers grow. Lex Rofeberg, 34, a non-Zionist rabbi residing in Providence, R.I., found himself targeted by Canary Mission, a group that aims to expose critics of Israel, due to his political views. When he was invited to speak at a Reform synagogue in Milwaukee, his hometown, his mother, Ruth Lebed, was surprised to learn “through the grapevine” that some locals were uneasy about his visit.
When she shared his involvement with the film “Israelism,” which explores anti-Zionism, in a Facebook group, online acquaintances unfriended her.
Ms. Lebed, 67, asserted, “There are people out there who think that his views on Israel make him antisemitic, which is ridiculous. The guy is a rabbi.”
In the Chicago area, anti-Zionist Rabbi Brant Rosen, 62, recalled being excluded from his local rabbinical network due to his beliefs. He left his congregation in Evanston, where he had served for 16 years, because of internal tensions regarding his activism. Mr. Rosen then founded his own anti-Zionist congregation, Tzedek Chicago (Hebrew for justice), which has more than doubled in size since the Israel-Hamas War began, now counting over 400 dues-paying households.
Mr. Rosen believes that since the onset of the recent war, a shared community space for Jews who support and oppose Israel’s policies has become impossible. He stated, “I think the middle ground has become untenable.”
Nevertheless, many organizations on the Jewish left identify as Zionist and strive to create a welcoming environment for individuals who hold profoundly critical views of Israel.
Hadar Susskind, chief executive of New Jewish Narrative, a progressive Zionist group, observed, “You have a lot of young people saying, ‘This is important to me, but it’s not, as I’ve been told, a simple yes or no, do I support Israel or not?’”
He notes that young people he engages with care about Israel but are also deeply opposed to the current government.
“So many people were taught that it’s ‘You support Israel, period,’” he continued. “Many people are not willing to have that be the end of the discussion.”
Generation to Generation
In September, Vivian Russell, 17, was walking in Park Slope when she encountered Ms. Rechtman, Ms. Zimmerman, and Ms. Westheimer canvassing with Jews for Racial & Economic Justice. She stopped to introduce herself.
Ms. Russell, a high school student from Washington Heights, explained that she often found herself at odds with her public school classmates during discussions about the Israel-Hamas War. Dissatisfied with her school’s Jewish Student Union, she chose to join the Muslim Student Union instead.
Two days before the recent October 7 anniversary, back in Washington Heights, Ms. Russell sat with her mother, Dara Herman. Ms. Russell identifies as an anti-Zionist, while Ms. Herman, 52, expresses “more sympathy for Israel’s plight.”
Their conversation mirrored those in countless Jewish families, where group chats and Sabbath dinners have grown more strained since 2023.
“If I have kids, I’ll be raising my kids Jewish and celebrating Jewish holidays and stuff,” Ms. Russell remarked, sitting with her mother at a local coffee shop. “But I don’t think that I’ll tell them, ‘Oh Israel is the place of our people.’”
Her mother countered, “But how do you reconcile that with the ancient history I was taught – that Jews originated from Israel, that after all those years wandering in the desert, they finally returned. Is all of that false?”
“That was many, many years ago!” her daughter exclaimed.
“I’m only one generation from the Holocaust,” Ms. Herman responded. “It feels very real to me that less than 100 years ago, millions of Jews were being killed, and those who survived needed somewhere to go.”
However, observing her daughter’s evolving perspective, Ms. Herman recognizes that the Jewish community is undergoing a transformation as it embraces a new generation.
Some activists believe it’s also possible that established groups will recede, and the new communities being built by a younger, left-leaning generation—such as the school Ms. Robbins hopes to start or Mr. Rosen’s congregation—will eventually become the new norm.
Ms. Russell, whose father is Irish American, expressed confidence in the Jewish ideas she intends to pass on to her future children.
“I’ll teach them about how my people – both Jews and Irish people – have been rebels,” Ms. Russell affirmed. “Both are a group of people that have struggled, cared about each other, and fought for freedom.”