In Search of a Critical Voice in the Jewish Diaspora: Homelessness and Home in Edward Said and Shalom Noah Barzofsky's Netivot Shalom

This article explores the perception of Israel and Zionism in the diasporic imagination. I argue that the dominance of Israel as a tool of diasporic Jewish identity has impeded Diaspora Jews from developing their own identity alongside, yet distinct from, Israel. I use the work of Edward Said and the late Slonimer Rebbe, Shalom Noah Barzofsky, as lenses through which to view the notion of exile as a positive and constructive social and ideological posture. I challenge the progressive Jewish attempt to erase "exile" as a category and replace it with the more tepid "Diaspora." I argue that diasporic Jews are indeed living in exile—not as refugees but as expatriates—and this exile should be a positive part of their identity, used to create new avenues of Jewish expression in the contemporary world.