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Dear Editor:

I found myself truly inspired by the recent op-ed, “West Hartford’s Disrespect America Caucus.” I found it to be a remarkable display of the disconnect between secular society and the insulated, politically conservative Jewish community.

The op-ed focuses on the fact that many who attended a recent West Hartford Town Council meeting chose not to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I am not here to debate the efficacy or validity of exercising First Amendment rights – an exhausted argument that has been litigated more times than Israel’s name has been invoked by the United Nations and ICJ. Instead, I want to explain my perspective as a Jew, and why I personally don’t stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or the National Anthem.

I emphasize that I am a Jew because it is a core aspect of my identity – one that has long been politicized by the actions of the State of Israel. To be an American Jew requires grappling with the history of America’s treatment of Jews.

I may be young, but I remember stories from my Zayde about a time in America when Jews were excluded from public and private spaces in suburban Connecticut. I remember children throwing coins at me on the playground and telling me that my ancestors should have been gassed.

I remember how Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf about being inspired by America’s border enforcement tactic of using Zyklon B to “delouse” Mexican migrants and America’s atrocious history of eugenics.

I remember reading virulently antisemitic quotes from Harry Truman, who is often credited as the U.S. president who helped create the State of Israel. I also remember that this same president turned away boatloads of survivors of the Shoah.

I remember when the President of the United States was elected twice by many of the same people who carried torches and chanted “Jews will not replace us” – all while receiving over $230 million in campaign contributions from AIPAC and the pro-Israel lobby.

I remember when Congress and the Senate (also heavily funded by AIPAC) repeatedly invested billions of dollars in Israel’s military, while American Jews saw their healthcare slashed and their neighbors kidnapped by what increasingly resembles an American Schutzstaffel.

So I ask: Why should I stand and pledge allegiance to a country whose only interest in Jewish safety arises when it serves the goals of Western imperialism in the Middle East? Would America still love Israel if it weren’t militarily advantageous?

If the West Hartford Jewish community is so proudly patriotic, then I urge every West Hartford Jew to step up and stand against fascism and support the American people. While Greater Hartford for Israel funds anti-Hamas fear-mongering billboards on I-95, the community around you is struggling to afford groceries. Invest your money in the secular community instead of sending it to fund pizza parties for the IDF. Get into the streets and march for immigrant rights, because our Jewish ancestors were refugees once. Use the money you dedicate to political advocacy for Israel to instead advocate for LGBTQIA+ people in America whose rights are being stripped away. And while you’re at it: abortion is protected under Halachah (Jewish law)—so where is your loud advocacy for reproductive rights? I would love nothing better than to see every member of the Jewish community join in the fight to make America a safe haven for all who call it home. There is nothing more inherently Jewish than fighting fascism.

To every fellow Jew, and to my friends of all faiths, races, and genders: if you want to see a better world, come join the so-called Disrespect America Caucus. Because America does not respect the people who built it. We owe no allegiance to a theocracy built upon the graves of Indigenous people from the blood of slaves. We only owe allegiance to each other.

In Solidarity,

A Proud Jew
Zee Rubin
West Hartford