semitism.net

I have been putting off writing this, half hoping the situation would change, but it looks like it’s final - Brad Brooks-Rubin is leaving Semitism.net. He’s taking a new job and, for reasons of time and to avoid any conflict of interest, he won’t be able to post here anymore. I’m not sure how much he’d want me to say about his new position; but readers can be assured that he’ll be in the public sector, and continuing to work for a better world. I wanted to take a little space to appreciate all that Brad has done for this site, and for the dialogue on Israel and Palestine, in the time that he’s been writing here…

I remember when Brad first contacted me. I’d never met him. He found Semitism.net somehow or other and wrote to ask if I might consider publishing some of his work. When I read the pieces he sent me, I realized pretty quickly that he was a true kindred spirit and a terrific writer. We wrote back and forth, talked once on the phone; and he joined the site as a writer in April of this year. Talking with him then helped me to realize that the site, if it speaks to anyone at all, should speak especially to other Jews who embrace the religion but dissent from the mainstream on the issue of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. We wanted to show readers that this is an acceptable position, a sentiment that others - maybe many others - share.

Reading back over Brad’s posts to Semitism.net, it’s clear that he has hit this issue dead on. He has always avoided easy criticism of Israel, moralistic rhetoric, polarizing arguments. Instead he has written diligently about Jewish identity and community, the implications of dissent, the practical strategies of activism. His moral position is always self-questioning, never strident or absolutist. He holds himself to the highest standards, openly admitting his failures - and in so doing, invites the rest of us to climb up with him on the balance beam.

In October, after Lawrence Franklin pled guilty to passing classified information to AIPAC officials, Brad wrote:

What to make of this story? For some, this has been a moment of joy. To see AIPAC, an organization that has grown into one of the country’s most powerful lobbies and is at the center of American policy in Israel, Palestine and throughout the Middle East, injured offers a rare chance to see the powerful take a body shot. To read press releases, not about how dangerous the Palestinians are, but about how dangerous AIPAC itself can be. To see the organization most (but not entirely) responsible for insuring that American policy remains narrowly tied to the wises of the Israeli government (as long as that government is not run by Labor), rather than what we believe to be the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people, have to backtrack, sidestep and face this pressure is, in many ways, as sweet as the apples and honey we will eat later this month.

But, no matter the harm some of us believe AIPAC has caused, is that the right way to approach the story, given that we must approach it in the midst of the High Holidays? Sure, AIPAC has sinned. But so have we all. And as one of the central prayers of these days, the “Vidui” or “Ashamnu,” teaches us, our sins are both individual and collective. That is the power of our being together in community to go through this period.

In August, with the disengagement debate in full swing, he coined the Miracle of the Circle:

The Miracle of the Circle, in case you do not know it by name (you are familiar with it if you have ever tried to take a side on any issue involving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), is the power to transform a fact or an argument on one issue into another fact or argument, whether tangential or totally different, and place it in such a way as to ensure that the now-two existing facts or arguments will never be resolved. For example, when I give you a fact or argument about Palestinian suffering under occupation, the Miracle of the Circle introduces the issue of suicide bombers or “Palestinian textbooks” and, voila, a never-ending circular discussion. Want to affirm Israel’s right to self-defense in response to terrorism? Once the Miracle of the Circle takes over, you will find yourself discussing 1967. Or Lebanon. Try to resolve that one.

I could go on quoting my favorite parts of Brad’s posts all day. But, instead, I’ll invite you read them over yourself. I know that he spent many hours thinking on them and writing them and, it seems to me, his effort paid off richly. He’s avoided the “echo-chamber” effect we see so often in the blogosphere, where one idea or opinion is duplicated endlessly on site after site. Brad has written things that are new, not said before; and he has thus added to the knowledge base of American Judaism. Much of what he’s written, though topical, will be well worth reading many years from now because of the careful observation and insight he applied.

For me, personally, Brad has been a help, and inspiration and a friend.

Brad, many thanks. In the seven-odd months you’ve been blogging at Semitism.net, you’ve put together a truly valuable corpus of work. It will be here for everyone to read, and I hope that lots of people will find it and read it.

I wish you the very best of luck. Having lost the pleasure of hosting you on this site, I will take comfort in knowing that you’re doing good work where it’s sorely needed. I will keep in touch. Maybe, one of these days, we’ll meet in person.

Be a blessing. And take care.