Jan
30
2025
Judaism Beyond Nationalism: The Revival of the American Council for Judaism
Thursday, February 6th at 6pm ET, virtually:
In the years immediately preceding and following the founding of the State of Israel, the American Council for Judaism (ACJ) was the most prominent American Jewish anti-Zionist organization, shaped by a long tradition of anti-nationalism in the American Reform movement. The Reform Movement’s now decades-long embrace of Zionism can make its anti-nationalist roots feel quite alien. Most Americans, too, are unaware of the ACJ and its goals of maintaining the early Reform norm. But the ACJ has recently embarked on a revival process, with the goal of supporting American anti-Zionist Jewish communities in the anti-Zionist Reform tradition.
Join us for a conversation with Jewish Currents associate editor Mari Cohen and Rabbi Andrue Kahn, the ACJ’s executive director, as they explore the history of Jewish Reform and its intersection with Zionism. They will discuss how Jewish Reform has shaped contemporary Judaism, the movement’s complicated relationships with assimilation and whiteness, and the original Reform vision of Judaism beyond nationalism. What might this history teach us in the current moment, and what role might a newly re-energized ACJ play in today’s American Jewish landscape?
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Rabbi Andrue (Andy) Kahn is the executive director of The American Council for Judaism. He received rabbinic smicha in 2018 after five years of study at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. After ordination, they served as associate rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York until 2023, then served as the associate director of Yachad and adult education at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn. His edited volume The Sacred Earth: Jewish Perspectives on our Planet was published in June 2023 by CCAR Press.

Mari Cohen is the associate editor of Jewish Currents.