Haaretz: “They Were Raised in the Heart of the Settler Right. Now They're Determined to Revive Israel's Left”

The Smol Emuni – the Faithful Left movement saw up close how a small group slowly reshaped Israeli society. Now they plan to do the same – from the opposite side

By Itay Mashiach (Originally Published in Haaretz, full piece Linked Here)
November 28, 2025

“…Smol Emuni U.S. was also not planned from the top down per se, but developed independently, and took its place under the movement's umbrella. It began with the initiative of a circle of religious friends in New York, half of them former Israelis who about a year ago were driven by the gloom of living in a political wilderness to meet for left-wing parlor talks.

When interest grew and the group expanded, they decided to organize their own local conference and developed connections with their colleagues in the Holy Land. ‘It's actually a group that didn't have an identity, so we are growing in a very surprising and rapid way,’ says Esther Sperber, a former Jerusalemite, who is the group's executive director. She's in touch with people in multiple cities across the United States who want to establish similar communities, and she's also assisting the European Smol Emuni, which is currently taking shape.

‘We don't have a policy paper, but the operative ethos is that of equality and compassion,’ [Mikhael] Manekin explains. ‘When I say that I am a leftist precisely because I am a believer – it's because the religion I was raised on is occupied almost obsessively with dealing with the weak and with a recoil from the use of force. It's clear to me that most people do not perceive Jewish religiosity in that way, but I think it was perceived like that throughout most of Jewish history. In other words, it's only at this point in time that people like us are a minority.’”