President Donald Trump, August 20, 2019
I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat -- it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League
It's unclear who @POTUS is claiming Jews would be 'disloyal' to, but charges of disloyalty have long been used to attack Jews. As we've said before, it's possible to engage in the democratic process without these claims. It's long overdue to stop using Jews as a political football.
Jews, and the Accusation of "Dual-Loyalty"
Emile Zola, J'Accuse! January 13, 1898
In defense of Alfred Dreyfus (wrongfully accused of passing French state secrets to the German army)
And it is finished, France has this stain on her cheek, History will write that it was under your presidency that such a social crime could be committed. Since they dared, I too will dare. The truth I will say, because I promised to say it, if justice, regularly seized, did not do it, full and whole. My duty is to speak, ....Ah! the nothingness of this bill of indictment! That a man could be condemned for this act, is a wonder of iniquity. I defy decent people to read it, without their hearts leaping in indignation and shouting their revolt... Dreyfus knows several languages, crime; one found at his place no compromising papers, crime; he returns sometimes to his country of origin, crime; he is industrious, he wants to know everything, crime; he is unperturbed, crime; he is perturbed, crime... Here then, Mr. President, are the facts which explain how a miscarriage of justice could be made; and the moral evidence, the financial circumstances of Dreyfus, the absence of reason, his continual cry of innocence, completes its demonstration as a victim of the extraordinary imaginations... of the hunting for the "dirty Jews", which dishonours our time.
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, "What Loyalty Demands" 1905
In a country whose constitution prohibits discrimination on account of race or creed, there is no place for what President Roosevelt has called hyphenated Americans... Habits of living or of thought which tend to keep alive difference of origin or to classify men according to their religious beliefs are inconsistent with the American ideal of brotherhood, and are disloyal.
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, Speech to the Conference of Eastern Council of reform Rabbis, 1915
Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with Patriotism, Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent. A man is a better citizen of the United States for also being a loyal citizen of his state…every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine…will likewise be a better man and a better American for doing so. There is no inconsistency between loyalty to America and loyalty to Jewry.
Dischord and Disagreement in Jewish Texts
Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure. Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai. And which is the controversy that is not for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Korah and all his congregation.
א"ר אבא אמר שמואל שלש שנים נחלקו ב"ש וב"ה הללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו והללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו יצאה בת קול ואמרה אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים.
Rabbi Abba said that Shmuel said: For three years Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion, and these said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion. Ultimately, a Divine Voice emerged and proclaimed: Both these and those are the words of the living God.
לְפִי שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לוֹ לְאָדָם לִהְיוֹת אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם וְרוֹדֵף שָׁלוֹם, כְּעִנְיָן שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהילים ל"ד ט"ו): "בַּקֵּשׁ שָׁלוֹֹם וְרָדְפֵהוּ", בַּקְּשֵׁהוּ בִּמְקוֹמְךָ "וְרָדְפֵהוּ" עִם שׂוֹנַאֲךָ, בַּקְּשֵׁהוּ בִּמְקוֹמְךָ "וְרָדְפֵהוּ" בִּמְקוֹמוֹת אֲחֵרִים, בַּקְּשֵׁהוּ בְּגוּפְךָ "וְרָדְפֵהוּ" בְּמָמוֹנְךָ [פֵּרוּשׁ: שֶׁלִּפְעָמִים צָרִיךְ הָאָדָם לִהְיוֹת וַתְּרָן בְּמָמוֹנוֹ כְּדֵי לְהִתְחַזֵּק בִּמְעוֹז הַשָּׁלוֹם], בַּקְּשֵׁהוּ לְעַצְמְךָ "וְרָדְפֵהוּ" לַאֲחֵרִים, בַּקְּשֵׁהוּ הַיּוֹם "וְרָדְפֵהוּ" לְמָחָר. וְאַל תִּתְיָאֵשׁ לוֹמַר: לֹא אוּכַל לְהַשְׁלִים, אֶלָּא רְדֹף אַחַר הַשָּׁלוֹם עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעֵהוּ. וְאֵיזֶהוּ רְדִיפַת שָׁלוֹם? כָּךְ אָמְרוּ חֲזַ"ל: זֶה הַמְדַבֵּר שָׁלוֹם בִּשְׁעַת הַמַּחֲלֹקֶת וּמְבַטֵּל כְּבוֹדוֹ מִפְּנֵי הָרַבִּים, כְּדֶרֶךְ שֶׁעָשָׂה מֹשֶה רַבֵּנוּ עָלָיו הַשָּׁלוֹם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (במדבר ט"ז כ"ה): "וַיָּקָם מֹשֶה וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶל דָּתָן וַאֲבִירָם". וְהַמְבַטֵּל עֲסָקָיו וּמַטִּיל שָׁלוֹם בֵּין אִישׁ לְאִשְׁתּוֹ, בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ בֵּין רַב לְתַלְמִידוֹ, וַאֲפִלּוּ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה סְעֻדָּה לִשְׁנֵיהֶן כְּדֵי לְהַטִּיל שָׁלוֹםֹ בֵּינֵיהֶן.
One must love peace and pursue peace, as it is written: "Seek peace and pursue it." Seek it with your friend and pursue it with your enemy. Seek it in your place and pursue it in other places. Seek it with your body and pursue it with your money. [Sometimes one must be liberal with his money to seize upon the "stronghold of peace."] Seek it for yourself and pursue it for others. Seek it today and pursue it tomorrow. And do not despair, saying: "I will never achieve peace," but pursue it until you do achieve it. And what is the pursuit of peace? Thus have our sages of blessed memory said (Sanhedrin 110a): "This is speaking peace at a time of dispute and sacrificing one's honor for the general good, as was done by Moses, as it is written (Numbers 16:25): 'And Moses arose and he went to Dathan and Aviram…,'" and suspending one's affairs to make peace between a man and his wife, a man and his neighbor, and a teacher and his student — even to the extent of arranging a meal for two to make peace between them.
In the meantime, two brothers came to the marketplace. Elijah said to Rabbi Beroka: These two also have a share in the World-to-Come. Rabbi Beroka went over and said to them: What is your occupation? They said to him: We are jesters, and we cheer up the depressed. Alternatively, when we see two who have a quarrel between them, we strive to make peace.
Oath of Disloyalty - a Modern and Timeless Jewish Text
Oath of Disloyalty, Reb Irwin Keller, August 2019
I am a disloyal Jew.
I am not loyal to a political party.
Nor will I be loyal to dictators and mad kings.
I am not loyal to walls or cages.
I am not loyal to taunts or tweets.
I am not loyal to hatred, to Jew-baiting, to the gloating connivings of white supremacy.
I am a disloyal Jew.
I am not loyal to any foreign power.
Nor to abuse of power at home.
I am not loyal to a legacy of conquest, erasure and exploitation
I am not loyal to stories that tell me whom I should hate.
I am a loyal Jew.
I am loyal to the inconveniences of kindness.
I am loyal to the dream of justice.
I am loyal to this suffering Earth
And to all life.
I am not loyal to any founding fathers.
But I am loyal to the children who will come
And to the quality of world we leave them.
I am not loyal to what America has become.
But to what America could be.
I am loyal to Emma Lazarus. To huddled masses.
To freedom and welcome,
Holiness, hope and love.