There’s No Jewish Future Without Jewish Pride

I have Jewish friends in academia who frown at the idea of saying, “I’m a proud Jew.” They see pride as something simplistic and unsophisticated, what a tribal Jew might express at a rally.

Also, in their view, Jewish pride depends on Jewish action. If they’re passionate about repairing the world, for example, this makes them proud of that Jewish action. But when Jews do something very wrong, this makes them feel the very opposite of pride—more like shame.

It’s similar with Israel. As long as they see Israel as oppressing the Palestinians, they can never bring themselves to express Zionist pride. They may be pro-Israel, but they see too many problems to ever express pride. With so much repairing of Israel to do, what Israel needs is rebuke, engagement, protest. Those are useful, action-oriented sentiments. Pride, on the other hand, feels like an empty indulgence: Who can think of pride when there’s so much to fix, so much to be ashamed of?

For many Jews, pride feels like an empty indulgence: Who can think of pride when there’s so much to fix, so much to be ashamed of?

This cold, conditional mindset has been deadly to the health of American Judaism. Its deadliness, however, has been well camouflaged, as it comes under the guise of that noble Jewish value of self-criticism.

Self-criticism is indeed noble, but when it becomes a fetish or a reflexive dogma, it can suffocate the visceral bonds that are essential to the lifeblood of a community or a relationship.

Take the love of a parent for a child. More often than not, it’s unconditional. The child may make plenty of mistakes, but that doesn’t stop a parent from expressing their unconditional love. That unconditional aspect is crucial to the health of the relationship.

Jews who instinctively express Jewish pride fall into that category. There may be things that Israel does or that Jews do that they can’t stand—and they will express their rebukes– but none of that stops them from expressing their Jewish pride.

That pride is rooted not in the transient winds of the moment but in the timeless echoes of the past.

Jewish pride is rooted not in the transient winds of the moment but in the timeless echoes of the past.

I’m a proud Jew not because Israel did something great yesterday, or because a Jewish organization did something cool last week, or because I just read an inspirational sermon. I’m a proud Jew because I belong to an extraordinary people with a tradition that has sustained us for thousands of years. It is that very existence, that sense of belonging to something remarkable, that is the deepest source of my unconditional pride.

Within American Jewry, that puts me in the minority. Expressing unconditional pride in being Jewish, especially when Jews are seen as the supreme example of so-called white privilege, is simply not cool. It’s a lot cooler to be a Jew who bashes Jews or bashes the Jewish state whenever it stumbles.

This single-minded reflex to throw shade on one’s people ends up not only stifling Jewish pride, but also disseminating Jewish shame. When pretensions of “tough love” express the tough without the love, it is shame that invariably comes through, not pride.

Is it any wonder we have turned off so many young Jews? When they turn one way, they see much of the world bashing the Jews and Israel. When they turn the other way, they see many of their own people doing the same thing.

When chronic Jewish critics do express pride, it is often pride about their freedom and duty to criticize, which they consider a key part of their Jewish identity. (What’s noteworthy is that they will check this self-criticism at the door when it comes to their political parties. That’s evidently a bridge too far).

Throw in the fear of antisemitism, the pitched battles around politics, the anxieties around the pandemic and so many other communal ills, and it’s clear that “Jewish pride” is hardly ascendant in the Jewish conversation. When conditions are unpleasant and you see pride as conditional, what is there to be proud about?

It’s naive to think that “education” is the magic solution. We don’t need a Jewish day school education to feel pride that we’re part of an amazing people with an amazing story. What we need, more than anything, is to see other Jews around us expressing their own pride in their Jewish identity, whether it’s cool or not.

Pride is the immune system that makes the collective Jewish body function better, that enables us to absorb and deliver self-criticism without lethal side effects.

Pride will never be as sexy as self-criticism. But pride is the immune system that makes the collective Jewish body function better, that enables us to deliver and absorb self-criticism without lethal side effects.

In recent years, the fear of antisemitism has lit a fire under many Jews. That fear may be real, but it’s based on a negative. Pride is rooted in a positive and is built to last. Walking through life as a proud Jew is the ultimate antidote to fear and disconnection.

Walking through life as a proud Jew is the ultimate antidote to fear and disconnection.

The Jewish establishment has generally gone where the money is, and fear is where the money is. It’s easier to fundraise when fighting fear than when building pride. That crisis model, however, is not sustainable.

Jewish leaders and donors who are serious about keeping the Jewish flame alive for the long-term would do well to pivot to “Jewish pride” as their next rallying cry. We have enough creative innovators in our community to make the Jewish pride movement concrete, real and meaningful.

We can’t afford to wait for pride to just happen based on changing conditions. Pride is a kick-off point, not an end result. Without pride, why should Jews care about their Jewish identity? And if so many Jews don’t care about their identities, where’s the Jewish future?

The Jewish future starts with the ancient idea of Jewish pride. As you’ll read in our cover story by Blake Flayton titled, “Proud Jews Walking,” Jewish pride is the spark that leads to greater things and keeps the Jewish flame alive.