Jonah Platt's recent Substack essay, "They're Not Self-Hating Jews. The Truth Is Harder," attempts a sympathetic diagnosis of young Jews – often college-educated, day-school alumni – who march with keffiyehs, chant for "ceasefire" in ways that echo Hamas talking points, or affiliate with groups like IfNotNow. Platt insists we misunderstand them if we call them self-hating or anti-Jewish. They have "strong Jewish roots," know holidays, prayers, songs, customs. The failure, he says, lies with parents and institutions that taught superficial "tikkun olam" Judaism, leaving them vulnerable to progressive ideologies. The solution? More outreach, understanding, bridge-building.
If this sounds like Korach v’adaso, its because it is: a sophisticated, envy-fueled insurgency from within the elite, cloaked in the language of egalitarianism, justice, and a "purer" vision of holiness. It prefigures modern ideological rebellions where the privileged weaponize selective readings of tradition to dismantle the very structures that elevated them. Korach shows us why Platt is off the mark even before his own inconsistencies are laid bare.
Korach advances an egalitarian protest under prophetic guise, akin to modern leftists in academia or media claiming "democratic" or "inclusive" visions while enforcing conformity. He personalizes the political, turning agavrah (personal status) machloket into a vehicle for power. The "250 men of renown" were not the hoi polloi; they were assembly leaders. Privileged insurgents. Platt's subjects operate similarly. They weaponize Jewish vocabulary – "tikkun olam," "never again" for everyone but Jews facing October 7 echoes – not out of deep literacy but shallow, selective literacy that serves their social capital in progressive circles. Like Korach, they build an "anti-community" – Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow chapters, campus encampments – united by Judeomisia masquerading as universalism.
Platt affirms their Jewish literacy: holidays, prayers, songs, customs. Yet later he undercuts this entirely: "If all we teach them is holidays, songs, and tikkun olam, we can’t be surprised when the only things they know about being Jewish are holidays, songs, and tikkun olam." Which is it? The essay reveals the tension inherent in thin, feel-good education. Their "Judaism" is a mutated, personalized political instrument – a Korachite theology of grievance that inverts Torah priorities, elevates personal narrative over the Jewish collective, especially targeting its sovereign embodiment in Israel for dissolution.
Today, the "miracle" is empirical: post-Oct. 7 clarity for many, but hardening for others. We see the anti-community's fruits – isolation from Klal Yisrael, alliance with those who celebrate Jewish death. Platt's compassion is misplaced for those who have self-exiled. Reach the reachable; for the Korachites, separation protects the congregation. As the earth opened, so must communal boundaries. Not out of hatred, but fidelity to the Torah's demanding holiness – one that elevates through distinction, not levels through dissolution.
These are not confused, disconnected Jews longing for reconnection. They are, as sports commentator Max Kellerman put it of similar figures, Jewish antisemites. Full stop. They are not self-hating; they love themselves very much. Platt notes their "no skin in the game" carelessness: low-information opinions dumped publicly, no incentive for rigorous homework because their circles affirm them. Exactly. The effort goes into belonging to their community - the status-maximizing virtue-signaling community; not ours.
Platt wasn’t the first to notice that “[y]our community is not their community anymore." One prominent member of IfNotNow warned in 2013 that if the community didn't meet demands, they'd leave. Newsflash: you already did. You gave the pi ha'aretz its pischon peh, and you have been lost from the community. And, like Korach, eventually you will spend eternity lamenting “…and we are liars.”
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