Critical currents: Israel as footnote

by Naomi Chazan
20-Jan-2005

Israel is a diminishing item on the agenda of world Jewry. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the US, where the interests of committed Jews obviously lie elsewhere. A history of passionate engagement with Israel is fast being replaced by manifestations of remote curiosity and cackles of polite concern. The long-held truism regarding the centrality of Israel for contemporary Jewish life is now in danger of dissipating entirely.

If Israel does not respond vigorously and sensitively to this belated wake-up call, its relationship with American Jewry and Jews elsewhere will be irreparably damaged.

Instances of the dwindling role of Israel in American Jewish life abound. Lectures on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict attract shrinking audiences, while talks on Jewish revival are packed. Social and economic issues in Israel are virtually ignored, just as the demand for more instruction on biblical and rabbinical sources is growing. Israeli matters are acknowledged, but rarely wholeheartedly embraced.

A cursory glance at the program of a recent three-day festival of Jewish learning organized by Limmud is more instructive than 1,000 words. Of the more than 200 sessions offered, only 18 had anything directly to do with Israel.

The richness of the options in Jewish philosophy, culture, spirituality and history made this event a truly celebratory experience of voluntary Jewish study; its Israeli component was a mere footnote.

Confronted with these and other examples, apologists hasten to counter with evidence of the growing number of Jewish missions to Israel, and the steady stream of birthright israel participants. Some take pride in the strong Israel-orientation of the organized American Jewish leadership, in the activities of AIPAC, and in the growth of Israel advocacy groups among college students.

Others point, in contrast, to the astounding record of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom (The Progressive Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace), whose circle has expanded to more than 20,000 sympathizers in less than three years. But none would honestly deny the uncomfortable fact that the relationship between Israel and strong Jewish communities elsewhere is in severe distress.

THE MAIN reason for this growing separation lies in the diverging needs and aspirations of Jews in Israel and abroad. In the US, questions of community, religion, spirituality and civic norms predominate. These preoccupations have little to do with the existential concerns of most Israelis.

But behind the obvious lies a growing rift between the Israel-focused stance of the Jewish establishment and the vast majority of American Jews. Uneasy with Israeli policies in recent years and unwilling to embarrass Israel, they have chosen to opt out of the Israeli scene. The burgeoning Israel advocacy industry (Project David, for one) is a very poor, and frequently counterproductive, substitute indeed. The call for unwavering loyalty is gradually quashing the deep-felt commitment to Israel.

A growing number of American Jews are attempting to reconcile the clash between their consistently liberal values and their reliance on Israel as the source of their identity by bolstering their autonomous communal foundations and injecting them with familiar humanistic contents. Knowledge of Israeli affairs may fit into this rubric; the unquestioning defense of Israel clearly does not.

Israel is far from blameless in this process. Policies are formulated and carried out with scarcely a thought to their impact on world Jewry. Israeli leaders and intellectuals systematically turn down invitations to serious Jewish gatherings if they don't deal directly with matters Israeli. Their contempt is matched only by their rising ignorance of the Jewish communities they claim to hold dear.

To stem this deleterious dynamic, it is necessary to drastically alter the prevailing rules of the game and find new avenues for constructive Jewish reengagement with Israel. This can be accomplished only if Israelis stop seeing Jews abroad merely as sources of financial and political support, and begin to treat them as substantive partners. Such an approach requires transparency, along with the encouragement of debate. Most importantly, it entails an explicit commitment to strengthening the linkage between democratic and Jewish values that provides the declared normative compass of the State of Israel and of the Jewish world today.

Articulation of these joint conceptual, ethical and practical guidelines involves both recognition of their diverse expressions around the globe and a healthy respect for these differences.

It also means that Israelis must understand that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict touches not only on the core of the Jewish and democratic character of Israel but also of Jewish communities elsewhere. Similarly, Jews outside Israel can no longer overlook the implications of Israel's peace and security policies for their own Jewish cohesion and democratic coherence.

What is needed now is not a second house of the Knesset for the Jewish people but a mature two-way interchange. Israel and the Diaspora can no longer avoid the challenge of redesigning their ties.