I saw the ad in one of our English-language Jewish newspapers. It was an ad for one of the slates running in the World Zionist Congress elections. The tag line of the ad was “It’s us vs. them.” Under “us,” a line was drawn to the words “Klal Yisrael.” Under “them,” a line was drawn to the words “woke left and liberals.” If I asked the author of the ad, I’m sure he would say that he believes in achdut. He might have even authored or offered paeans to it after October 7.
But if “all Jews are Jews, except the Jews I really don’t like” is your stance, then you don’t actually believe in achdut. It’s no kuntz to stand together with Jews who serve Hashem the way you do, share politics with you, have the same vision for Israel with you. Achdut means that I believe in the unity of Klal Yisrael, even the ones I disagree with, even the ones whose ideas or beliefs I think are wrong or bad. If your vision of the achdut of Klal Yisrael writes off the vast majority of American Jews, you don’t believe in achdut, even if you declare that you do.
