After What Israel Has Done in Our Name, Is Repentance Possible?

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Our guest today is Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller. He was the longtime Hillel Director at UCLA. He’s a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and was ordained by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik at Yeshiva University. He has opposed Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza for close to half a century, first with Breira, and more recently, with A Land for All and Smol Emuni. He has published two essays in the last year: A Zionism for the Future and ‘For the sins we have committed’: Reimagining Yom Kippur liturgy in a post-Oct. 7 world (with David N. Myers) I had him on to discuss Jewish statehood, a topic on which we disagree. But mostly, we discussed the idea of repentance, both individual and collective, and how he answers Jews who believe that Judaism itself has been fundamentally stained by the crimes committed in our people’s name. Topics include: Does Jewish religious observance make Jews behave better or worse? If there’s a non-chauvinistic way for Jews to see ourselves as “chosen” When does Zionism become idolatry?