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Major New Book Explores the Future of Progressive Zionism — Featuring Three Contributors from Arzenu
Arzenu supports groundbreaking new publication from the UK
Last month, the UK’s Movement for Progressive Judaism published a groundbreaking new book: Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel. A collection of 40 essays from leading Rabbis and lay-leaders in the UK, the book addresses head-on many of the issues being debated today with unprecedented intensity.
Arzenu Olami is very pleased to support this publication. We are proud that three of the contributors are from our leadership team and we are happy to share their essays with you here.
Why Progressive Jews Must Be Progressive Zionists: Power, Presence, and Pluralism
Rabbi Lea Mühlstein, Immediate Past Chair.
In recent years, many Progressive Jews have found themselves increasingly alienated from Israeli politics. For some, this alienation grows out of profound moral discomfort; for others, from exhaustion with a political system that seems impervious to critique, particularly when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, democracy and human rights. The temptation to disengage—to step back, withdraw, or declare the political arena irredeemably compromised—is both understandable and widespread. Read the full essay here
Flight, Fight and Always Being Right: Our Home on Native Land
Rabbi Jordan Helfman, Co-Vice-Chair
In his book, Beyond Survival, Dow Marmur laments that “Judaism as a negative reaction, rather than a positive programme” has become the norm.[1] Many colleagues and institutions’ perception of Jewish teaching has been warped by Antisemitism and anti-Colonial discourse. An adaptive Judaism that finds inspiration in our texts and our narratives is more fulfilling than swimming in negativity. The role of Progressive rabbis is not to become East End boxers in the global arena, but to inspire Jewish lives true to our Torah. Read the full essay here
The Collapse of Nuance
Rebecca Singerman-Knight, Chair of Marketing and Communications
To mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, I had ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ tattooed on my arm – my first tattoo, at the age of 53.
Eight months later I was suspended from the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD), having been one of the 36 signatories to a letter published in The Financial Times in April 2025. Read the full essay here
The book is available to purchase from Amazon.