The recent enactment of a death penalty law by Israel’s Knesset, occurring just two days before Passover and exclusively targeting Palestinians, starkly illustrates the ethical decline the nation is experiencing. The law’s approval was met with expressions of joy and celebrations within the legislative chamber, showcasing a legal embodiment of a troubling ideology in contemporary Israel: the absence of a humanitarian duty in Jewish culture that extends universally. The idea that Jews should care for the well-being of all people, irrespective of their backgrounds, has been buried under the devastation in Gaza.<\/p>\n
This perspective, however, was not always absent. Historically, there was a time when values such as cosmopolitanism over nationalism, social democracy over unchecked capitalism, and collective liberation over ethnonationalism were upheld by the Jewish Labour Bund, a revolutionary organization established in 1897 within the Tsarist Empire. As noted by author and activist Molly Crabapple, the Bund serves as a significant reference point for leftist Jews seeking inspiration from their heritage to confront the current Zionist ideologies. Crabapple’s recent publication on the Bund has already seen a second printing before its official release.<\/p>\n
Crabapple, known for her direct and colorful New York style, has spent 15 years documenting various resistance movements through her art, articles, and previous literary works, including a collaboration with Marwan Hisham. Her latest book, titled “Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund,” offers a narrative she describes as “the history of a defeated people in the 20th century.” In this 380-page work, filled with her illustrations of pivotal figures, she chronicles the Bund’s remarkable journey and eventual decline. For half a century, Bundists advocated for liberation both as Jews and as Marxists, at one point becoming the most significant socialist movement in Russia, until the tumultuous events of the 20th century led to their tragic downfall.<\/p>\n
The Bundists fought not only for Jewish rights but for the liberation of all oppressed individuals. “They held a deep appreciation for the dignity of Eastern European Jewish culture at a time when it was often derided,” Crabapple explains. “Yet, they were also committed internationalists.” They organized educational initiatives in the shtetls, established defense groups against pogroms, promoted the Yiddish language, and actively participated in the revolutions of 1905 and 1917.<\/p>\n
Following the October Revolution, when Lenin restricted their activities, the Bund managed to regroup in Poland, where they created what Crabapple describes as “a beautiful alternate world built from love and perseverance.” The Polish Bund developed schools, labor unions, a women’s movement, children’s organizations, summer camps, and a sanatorium for impoverished children afflicted with tuberculosis, alongside influential newspapers that reported on labor movements globally. During the Nazi occupation, they played a pivotal role in the anti-fascist underground and were instrumental in the Warsaw ghetto uprising.<\/p>\n
Despite their efforts, the Bund faced a complete and tragic defeat: nationalism surged, leading to the systematic extermination of Eastern European Jews, both working-class and bourgeois. The socialism of Soviet Russia morphed into tyranny, and their historical adversaries, the Zionists, established a settler colonial state that thrived on the very nationalism they opposed. As Jewish communities worldwide increasingly aligned with Israel, the legacy of the Bund faded into the background of obscure academic studies and Yiddish archives.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the foundational principles that guided the Bundists remain relevant, as Crabapple observes in the rising movement of Jews advocating for Palestinian rights. “Solidarity across differences,” she articulates. “This belief that one can retain their identity while joining forces with others to strive for a more equitable and beautiful world: that essence is why the Bund continues to inspire morally today.”<\/p>\n
During our conversation, Crabapple and I are seated at a wooden table in her spacious Williamsburg apartment. The open layout, created by removing interior walls, is filled with art, supplies, textiles, and various treasures gathered from around the globe, giving the loft a charmingly cluttered feel.<\/p>\n
“I read him the entire book five times,” she gestures towards her partner, the illustrator Fred Harper, who quietly sketches at his desk during the interview. “Even more than that,” he adds, seemingly unbothered. Above them, a large replica of the Chateau-Thierry clock hangs, while a striking nude portrait of Crabapple by Harper occupies one wall. A small monoestrellada flutters on the fire escape outside, mirroring Crabapple’s mixed heritage of Jewish and Puerto Rican descent.<\/p>\n
The artwork that adorns their walls includes pieces by Crabapple, Harper, and their friends, as well as several sculptures and captivating impressionist paintings by Samuel Rothbort, Crabapple’s great-grandfather. “I grew up fascinated by my great-grandfather,” she reflects. “He taught my mother to paint, and she, in turn, taught me. I always felt that being an artist was a gift passed down from him.” <\/p>\n
However, her inheritance from Sam extended beyond artistry. Rothbort was born in 1882 in Volkovysk, a small Belarusian town, where he was employed in a tannery. In the summer of 1898, amidst a strike against oppressive working conditions, he began to carve out a legacy that would resonate through generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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