6-01. Judaism and Anti-Zionism: Palestine, Kibbutz, and the "New" Jew

6-01. Judaism and Anti-Zionism: Palestine, Kibbutz, and the "New" Jew

In this recording, part of a larger video memoir, Suzanne Ross traces her profound Jewish identity, shaped by her family’s flight from Nazi-occupied Belgium during WWII. As a child refugee across Europe, North Africa, and Palestine, she learned early that being Jewish meant survival amid persecution. Her family’s year in Palestine (before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948) left lasting impressions: while she cherished reunions with relatives, she critiques the left-wing kibbutz’s secular Zionism, which mocked religious traditions and marginalized diaspora Jews like her family. Suzanne recalls visceral discomfort when classmates scorned elderly Jews or scrawled “outsiders leave” on a blackboard—early signs of Zionism’s exclusionary undercurrents.

Though the kibbutz idealized a “new Jewish” identity tied to Hebrew and labor, Suzanne’s parents saw Palestine only as temporary refuge. Her father, a polyglot and anti-Nazi operative, leveraged his work with Allied intelligence to secure passage to the U.S.—their ultimate dream of stability. Suzanne’s memoirs highlight how Zionism’s post-Holocaust appeal grew, contrasting with pre-war Jewish diversity (most Jews weren’t Zionists). She honors Jewish resistance fighters like Warsaw Ghetto’s Mordechai Anielewicz, rejecting Zionist narratives that erased diaspora resilience.

Her reflections weave personal trauma with sharp ideological critique, revealing how kibbutz life’s contradictions—collective ideals paired with intolerance—shaped what would grow in her adult years to a full-blown anti-Zionism.

2022

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MP4

English

Video memoir

AV-ROSS.087

MP4

00:52:54