Talk:Jewish left

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Jayjg, I did not create this article. Why the original contributor chose not to describe organizations on the Jewish left is beyond me. Nonetheless, groups idenitifed as being "the Jewish left" are not the only Jewish groups that have taken "left", or liberal positions. Any article on the Jewish left would have to mention this important distinction: Jewish groups often take liberal positions on many issues, but being liberal often is not the same being very liberal in a determined political sense. Michael Lerner's Tikkun community is one example of the Jewish Left; while the CCAR and RA are not. It is the job of an encyclopedia to explain and clarify such things. RK 23:42, Jul 27, 2004 (UTC)

I understand that you did not create it, but the article is about the Jewish left. If it described a number of groups on the Jewish left, and then went on to briefly say that certain other Jewish groups often take liberal positions, but are not considered part of the Jewish left, that would be fine, but having an article on the Jewish Left almost solely focus on groups which are not part of the Jewish Left makes no sense. Jayjg 02:54, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I don't entirely understand the need for this article. The very existance of it seems to imply that most Jews are on the right of the political spectrum, which is far from accurate. If one would want to make a comprehensive list of (non-Israeli) Jews who are on the left, one would be busy for quite a while. Even when noting celebrities, one would have to keep in mind practically all the Jewish people in the US entertainment business (eg. Woody Allen, Natalie Portman, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Goldblum, etc.) --Alan Phoenix 13:52, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I have added lots of material to this page. It still needs more work - e.g. citations. I hope other editors will build on what I've added - feel free to rip it apart! BobFromBrockley 18:12, 15 May 2007 (UTC) Some things that maybe should be added: Ameinu, Hashomer Hatzair, Jewish Currents, International Workers OrderBobFromBrockley 11:13, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Non-Zionist Jewish nationalism

Article currently says:

There were non-Zionist left-wing forms of Jewish nationalism, such as territorialism (which called for a Jewish national homeland, but not necessarily in Palestine), autonomism (which called for non-territorial national rights for Jews in multinational empires) and the folkism, advocated by Simon Dubnow, (which celebrated the Jewish culture of the Yiddish-speaking masses).

An anonymous editor inserted a comment to the effect that it is not clear if "the latter" (folkism?) should be considered part of the Jewish left. What do other editors think? BobFromBrockley 10:53, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Walther Rathenau definitely wasn`t a "leading figure in the Jewish Left". He was, at best, a centrist (Big-L) liberal. Marxist philosopher Georg Lukacs even claimed he had detected proto-fascist tendencies in some of Rathenau`s political writings. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.168.238.50 (talk) 12:36, 10 June 2008 (UTC)