Jews have co-existed, cooperated, competed and sometimes fought with other peoples and religions over thousands of years. The phenomenon of Jewish traitors, one result of these interactions, is well studied in Jewish tradition from antiquity to the present day.
Some may find the phenomenon perplexing. For instance President Trump, during the recent presidential campaign, commented on Jews who appeared to be acting against communal self-interest (because they weren’t voting for him) saying “they should get their heads examined.”
The good news is that Jews don’t need to get their heads examined. One of the most famous physicians in history has already done the hard work of self-examination.
That physician is Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, known by the acronym Rambam in the Jewish tradition and Maimonides in Western philosophy. A physician to the court of Sultan Saladin and leader of the Jewish community of medieval Cairo, the Rambam found time to write a synthesis of the entirety of Jewish law, belief and lore, in lucid Hebrew, organized into 14 books. This magnificent work – the Mishnah Torah or Reiteration of the Torah – contains a taxonomy of the phenomenon of Jewish traitors.
Rambam places the discussion of Jewish traitors, optimistically, in his Laws of Repentance. He begins by reciting this Mishnaic saying:
All Israel have a portion in the world to come, as it is said, “Your people are all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever; they are a shoot that I planted, a work of My own hands, in which I glory.” Mishnah, Sanhedrin 90a (citing Isaiah 60)
Rambam adds, in the Laws of Repentance, that this assurance of a place in the world to come includes Jews who have committed most sins. Also, he notes, “the pious of all nations of the world have a portion in the world to come.”
But, he continues, there are exceptions. He defines 24 different types of Jews who “do not have a portion in the world to come.” Mostly their offenses are theological in nature, for wicked acts (murderers, slanderers, those who cause others to sin, those who “inform” on fellow Jews in order to get them killed or beaten) and heretical beliefs (those who deny the Torah). Several categories are defined in detail – schismatics (minim) who profess to be Jews but work to undermine the community from within, of which there are 5 types; and assimilated non-believers (epicursim) who openly scorn the community and religion, of which there are 3 types. Rambam compiled the list from traditional sources including the Torah and the Talmud where references are made or interpreted to deny a place in the world to come.
Rambam adds a new category – “A person who separates himself from the community even though he has not transgressed any sins … but acts as if he is from another nation and not [Israel], does not have a portion in the world to come.” This category appears to more sociological or political than theological and closest to the phenomenon we see today in anti-Zionist Jews.
American Jews who join with pro-Hamas demonstrators or support them rhetorically – especially after the brutal attack of October 7, 2023 – would seem to fit into this category of Rambam. The intent of October 7 was not to change any specific Israeli policy. It was to eliminate the state of Israel. While US media has often elevated these anti-Zionist Jews to be on a par with Zionist Jews, in fact polls of American Jews show the truth – the vast majority (about 90 percent) of American Jews are Zionists. Anti-Zionists are a tiny fringe who have separated themselves from the community.
Rambam, writing in the 12th century, captures some of the arrogant, defiant spirit of today’s anti-Zionist Jews. Part of the sin, he notes, is the very public nature of their attacks on fellow Jews, inciting by example.
None of the discourse of today’s Jewish anti-Zionists is new. The Jewish communist scholar Isaac Deutscher created in the 1950s what he considered to be a proud tradition of “Non-Jewish Jews” from the ancient rabbi of the Mishnah who converted to paganism, Elisha Ben Abuya, through Leon Trotsky, all of whom have “gone beyond Judaism” to something else. He predicts mainstream Jews will eventually tire of the allure of nationalism as presented in Zionism. He published the essay based on a paid lecture he gave to the World Jewish Congress for Jewish Book Week.
The American-Israeli scholar Hillel Halkin, in a recent interview in The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, also sees continuity. “I think a lot of it [Jewish anti-Zionism] is a reincarnation of communist or Bundist socialist opposition to Zionism that was very strong in the early 20th century then went underground or was temporarily silenced with the foundation of Israel. Somehow it was always waiting for an opportunity to revive.” The difference is that today’s Jewish anti-Zionists are a loud but tiny minority whereas 100 years ago, anti-Zionists were a much larger percentage of the Jewish community and included Bundists, communists and many Reform Jews.
Will today’s anti-Zionist Jews have a portion in the world to come? I am not qualified to even begin to answer. But I do note that in case the answer is negative, Rambam has a solution. He writes in the Mishnah Torah:
Any wicked person, apostate, or the like, who repents, whether in an open, revealed manner or in private, will be accepted as implied by [Jeremiah 3:22] “Return, faithless children.” Even if one is still faithless, as obvious from the fact that he repents in private and not in public, his repentance will be accepted.
Nothing stands in the way of repentance, concludes Rambam. So whatever the verdict on anti-Zionists and the world to come, there is always hope.
