I think it’s great that some liberal Jews are rallying to beat back against the antisemitic response directed at Haredi (“ultra-orthodox”) Jews.

But in so doing, since most of them are ignorant of inward dynamics, they’ve also managed to spread a lot of mistruths and apologism.

This is difficult, because it is absolutely true that there has been an undue focus on these communities.

But it is also true that there is a lot going on that is either being lied about or obscured by the usual self-selected spokespeople for these communities.

The truth is that these issues are complicated, and that there are true horrific failures in leadership occurring (even now, still), as well as other dangerous dynamics.

All that while they are focused on with an antisemitic eye.

This creates problems.

eg: Activists within & formerly from these communities have been fighting to keep these communities safe by speaking up about the issues that I’ve mentioned above.

When liberal Jews swallow apologism, they often unintentionally marginalize these voices.

The result being that voices who are both fighting against disinformation and leadership issues in these communities are then lumped in with the antisemites.

This is, incidentally, a big goal many of many Haredi spokespeople: to marginalize activists as actual antisemites.

When liberal Jews try and stand up for Haredi communities by swallowing everything they’ve heard from the very few Haredi Jews that they know, they end up regurgitating these talking points, even if indirectly.

What is needed, what has always been needed, is a truer connection between liberal and Haredi Jewry.

There needs to be an understanding of how these communities work, who the leaders are, and literal relationships beyond the few public figures.

Either way (and I know the above may be hard or impossible for some) liberal Jewry needs to stop bouncing between demonization and mythologizing Haredi Jews.

They are real people, meaning there is good and bad in them. Their societies suffer from issues, as do all societies.

And the fact that antisemitism exists and is an issue does not erase these issues.

Unfortunately it is exactly antisemitism that is often used by leaders and others to pretend these issues don’t exist, both intra and inter-communally.

I hope we can strike this balance.