By Hannah Weintraub

Being stubborn and close-minded is the blueprint for the development of an oppressive person or group of people.

I don’t usually see these character traits among people from Habonim Dror, but it is important that we are vigilant of the potential “Pharaoh” creeping into the attitudes of us movement members.

So, if the Pharaohs of today are Jews who do not listen to others and who are unwilling to change their minds, this leads to the next question: who is the slave?

The quickest answer would probably be the Palestinian people. The reasons for this are fairly obvious. We as Jews are literally oppressing large masses of Palestinian people. This is a truth that has complicated roots and reasons but is a reality of the present day that we cannot and should not be scared to admit.

The slower answer is that we, Jews are also the slaves. Many Jews around the world have relinquished their power and their opinions to the Jews in the room with the loudest voice. Many Jews have allowed others to make the decisions surrounding Jewish practice, issues in Israel and the transfer of Jewish knowledge. Many Jews do not speak up when these louder voices make decisions that they do not agree with.

This attitude of disengagement and powerlessness is problematic. Often times, the loudest voices have the most extreme positions or they speak from places of opulent wealth, self-interest, or a lack of understanding of complex situations affecting Israel and the greater Jewish community. As many of us discussed during winter seminar, these voices often have clear intentions of shutting down conversations and limiting the freedom and democratic right others have to speak their opinions. Often times, these loud voices are the voices of Pharaohs.

There have been many situations when us in HDNA have become slaves to these louder voices. Many of us are scared of becoming the centers of our Jewish communities. Many of us do not feel free or able to speak our opinions, push against the Pharaohs and practice our Judaism in the way we believe.

A result of this fear? Many non-Jews never hear that there are Jews who oppose the occupation, support the rights of Palestinians and aren’t interested in wealth. In other words, people don’t know that Progressive Socialist-Zionism is a thing. We continue to give destructive, extreme messages the main stage skewing the world's perception of the Jewish community.

Part three in this belabored metaphor: Who are the Moseses, Aarons, Shifras, Yochevets, Miriams of today? Who is going to stand against the Pharaohs and demand democracy and justice in the Jewish community and in Israel?

My answer to this question is predictable. We as Habonim Dror must be Moses and Miriam. We have the partners and the message. Our feet are pointed in the right (left) direction. We must demand the change that we want to see.

Yes, we have been doing this for a long time. We built Kibbutzim! We established J-Street chapters on our campuses! But I want to place a demand on the movement to do more. We cannot be afraid to speak out against louder or more powerful members of our Jewish communities or college campuses. We cannot relinquish our message and our power to other more incendiary groups. We must have the confidence to stand against our community’s Pharaoh’s.

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