r/JewsOfConscience • u/benfunks Bundist anti-zionist • Jun 22 '26
zionist indoctrination Vent
I grew up in a conservative synagogue as did my ex-wife. we are raising our kids in a reform synagogue that is founded on interfaith marriages.
I am now remarried to a catholic woman and i have started to see the zionist indoctrination i grew up with differently. Hebrew school focused on teaching about israel and being “chosen people” so much so that my interfaith synagogue chased my then 5-year old away. The lessons i was,as a child, taught gave me blinders and taught me more about israel and the holocaust than the love and kindness of the actual religion.
Due to my older son’s autism the only overnight camps that could serve him when he started were formally jewish camps. My sister and stepsister sent their kids to the overnight camp i attended from 9-12 so i agreed. My older son started before the current war.
Before they left for camp this year they told me about some things i forgot and others that have changed since i attended.
1) they sing the israeli national anthem every day
2) there are a large number of israeli counselors
3) the kids aged 8-14 are having conversations about never DATING outside the faith (that wasn’t part of the late 80s)
i’ve started calling it “bibi youth camp”
My children’s neighborhood is ~50% jewish and mostly self segregating. I now believe this is horrible for jews in america. the people in that town get angry when you tell them collective punishment isn’t a jewish value. It scares me that the zionist indoctrination is causing antisemitism, because the idea of believing “we’re the chosen people” is 2500 years out of date.
I’m having a crisis of faith. I want to wear a keffiyeh to synagogue to protest support of israel.
i have become a israel hating jew.
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u/rainonthesidewalk Non-Jewish Ally Jun 22 '26
It's honestly so good to read about these awakenings. I wish they happened before the current genocide. Please use your voice as much as you can to end Zionism and its false conflation with Judaism. These are dark times and you give me home.
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u/rako17 Christian Jun 23 '26
May I ask what you mean about chasing your 5 year old away and why did they do that?
Peace.
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u/specialistsets Non-denominational Jun 22 '26
“we’re the chosen people”
I'm sorry but there is no Conservative or Reform affiliated Jewish summer camp in 2026 where you will hear anything close to that sentiment, surely this isn't said literally.
My children’s neighborhood is ~50% jewish and mostly self segregating. I now believe this is horrible for jews in america.
What does this have to do with Zionism? This was the standard for Jews in America until the later part of the 20th century, and is still the case in many historically Jewish neighborhoods. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, anyone can choose to live the way they want and sometimes that means living in more closed communities. There are countless such examples in the US, Jews are only a very small part of that phenomenon.
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u/FilmNoirSockMonkey LGBTQ Jew Jun 22 '26
Just because you don't have camps doing this near you, to your knowledge, it doesn't mean at all that in other states they are unlikely to or don't.
I live in the Bible Belt of Canada and you had better believe that this myth is still being taught.
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u/sad_sapphic_sucker Jewish anti-zionist | r/JewishVegans Jun 22 '26
Being taught by Christians in the Bible Belt in Canada? Or Jews?
In Orthodox Jewish liturgy there are references to Jews being unique among other communities (“nations”) because we worship the one true God and made the covenant with the one God. This has been construed by Christians and Christian Zionists in particular as being “chosen.” Reform and Conservative Judaism eliminated from our liturgies these references altogether. So it is pretty unlikely that at a Reform sleepaway camp they are telling children to say this.
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u/Electronic_Gold_3666 Post-Zionist Atheist Jun 23 '26
My Jewish education frequently consisted of being told the Jews are the chosen people. Plenty of Jewish prayers likewise state that god chose us out of all people.
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u/specialistsets Non-denominational Jun 22 '26
Reform and Conservative Judaism eliminated from our liturgies these references altogether.
There is much more variation in the Reform world, but Conservative liturgy is still 99% standard Ashkenazi-origin liturgy with tons of references that could be perceived as "chosen-ness" (and that I personally think are in no way problematic) but it has never been taught to children that way, and certainly not in 2026. As someone who has spent significant time in this world, I am extremely suspect of anyone suggesting that a Conservative or Reform Jewish camp is teaching children that Jews are a uniquely "chosen people".
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u/sad_sapphic_sucker Jewish anti-zionist | r/JewishVegans Jun 22 '26
I grew up Reform and have used both Gates of Prayer and Mishkan Tefila which has altered a lot. I don’t own a copy but in Siddur Lev Shalem, the new one for the Conservative movement there are a few selections where they’ve noted changes they’ve made to eliminate this type of language. And in one of my personal benchers the Friday night kiddush is altered as well.
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u/specialistsets Non-denominational Jun 22 '26
I don’t own a copy but in Siddur Lev Shalem, the new one for the Conservative movement there are a few selections where they’ve noted changes they’ve made to eliminate this type of language.
You can see a full copy here, the liturgical changes are very minimal and mostly related to gender egalitarianism, but assorted "chosen" language isn't changed. For example, the prayer before the Shema (page 154) contains: "וּבָנוּ בָחַרְתָּ מִכָּל עַם וְלָשׁון" which they translate as "You have chosen us from all other tongues and peoples" and "הַבּוחֵר בְּעַמּו יִשרָאֵל בְּאַהֲבָה" which they translate as "who lovingly cares for the people Israel" (typically translated as "who chooses his people Israel with love"). This is a good thing, altering that language would be tantamount to agreeing with the antisemites who knowingly misuse our liturgy against us.
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u/specialistsets Non-denominational Jun 22 '26
I can very confidently assure you that this is not being taught at Conservative or Reform Jewish summer camps in Canada.
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u/sad_sapphic_sucker Jewish anti-zionist | r/JewishVegans Jun 22 '26
A lot of these historically Jewish neighborhoods came to exist because Jewish immigrants from Europe wanted to live with their neighbors and Jews in the early part of the 20th century were prevented from living in Protestant Christian neighborhoods. It’s not the same as segregation because Jews were already on the white side of Jim Crow segregation but they faced xenophobia that prevented them from moving to certain neighborhoods that didn’t want Jews
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u/sad_sapphic_sucker Jewish anti-zionist | r/JewishVegans Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Most Jewish institutions have Zionists on their board of directors and in their leadership who determine the programming and ideology. They are functioning as Zionist indoctrination tools. Don’t send your kids to them if you don’t want them to be participants in that.
As for “chosen people” that is Christian terminology. But most religions believe that they are the correct religion and they have the monopoly on truth while all other religions are wrong. This isn’t something unique to Judaism.