The Jews are a famously fractious people, not to mention, according to the Bible’s testimony, a “stiff-necked” one. And American Jewry in particular is deeply divided along political, religious, and other lines, and has always rejected the sorts of central institutions that exist in France, Britain, and elsewhere. Yet somehow, 300,000 Jews from as broad a spectrum as one can imagine came together in the rally at the National Mall last month, with virtually no rancor. In conversation with Dovid Bashevkin, Eric Fingerhut, one of the organizers, describes how the event took shape, and the decisions and logistical efforts that went into it.
In the second half of the podcast, Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff discusses the movement for Soviet Jewry, why some rabbis at the time opposed public demonstration for the cause, and his own role working clandestinely with the Mossad on behalf of refuseniks. (Audio, 95 minutes. Fingerhut begins speaking at 7:26 and Rakeffet-Rothkoff at 56:31. A transcript is available at the link below.)
Read more on 18Forty: https://18forty.org/podcast/the-opportunity-and-difficulty-of-unity-on-the-israel-march/