What Israel and the Diaspora need…
There have been several articles in the press, as well as some brief discussions on this blog, about how to achieve a closer relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. I’ve given this topic much thought, and have recorded the results below, limited by my experience and personal outlook. I’m sure I’ve left out things, but perhaps you all can fill in the gaps with your thoughts.
Here are the issues as I see them, in question form. I have attempted answers for each.
1) What is the state of the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora?
To read the articles on this subject, the relationship is a very disconnected one. The reasons for this are manifold, and include the physical distance between them, the fact that what Israeli columnist Amotz Asa-El calls “middle Israelis” and “middle Americans” rarely meet face-to-face, and a general lack of understanding of the primary issues facing one another. Diaspora Jews are busy confronting issues of Jewish identity within a larger, diverse national landscape, addressing the needs of continuity and Jewish education (to name two). Israelis are confronting an ongoing battle over their continued existence in the Middle East, as well as issues of hasbara (public relations) in an international diplomatic context, the different axes of domestic conflict (religious v. secular, Zionism v. post-Zionism, Roadmap v. Something-else), and a government where half the officials are under investigation for some form of crime. On the face of it, Israel and the Diaspora have little in common.
2) Why does it need to change?
Am Yisrael has always been strongest when it has been united. Bad things have happened to us when our interests have been at odds. When the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judea split, things began a downward slide that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and exile. And so it has generally been with us throughout history: we hang together or we hang separately. If American Jewry’s leadership had not chosen to ignore the plight of European Jewry before and during World War II, the Shoah might have had a very different outcome. If Rabin and the Haganah hadn’t fired on and sunk the Altalena, Begin’s ship bearing arms to the Jews during the War of Independence, perhaps the war might have ended sooner, or the Jews suffered fewer casualties.
Perhaps the Jews of Israel and those in the Diaspora can even help one another to solve the problems they face.
3) What does Israel need to do in order to improve and strengthen its connection to the Diaspora?
There are two main things that I think Israel needs to do to strengthen its ties to the Diaspora. One is to improve its hasbara to the world, including to Jews in the Diaspora. Its spokespeople need to know how to present Israel’s strategic, diplomatic, and historical position to the world, to inform readers and viewers via the media (the Jerusalem Post has called for Israel to establish a 24/7 television news station to help counteract the kind of reporting done by Al-Jazeera) of where it stands, rather than allowing biased and disproportionately negative journalism to dominate its representation in the news. To allow Israel to be viewed as colonialist, a charity case, or worse, genocidal Nazi oppressors, is neglectful, irresponsible, and horribly damaging—not only to Israel, but to the Jewish people everywhere.
The second thing that I think needs to happen is that Israel needs to see itself as a homeland for all Jews, not only Jews of one stripe or another. Halachic Judaism is all very well, and should have a clear voice in steering the fate of Israel and its people. But it should not be the only voice. Secular Jews and Jews from liberal movements (including those with liberal-movement conversions) need to be included in government as Jews, and need to be allowed to celebrate their life cycle events in the manner they see fit as Jews. Israel and the Jewish Agency constantly keep tabs on the rate of aliyah, especially from North America, and are consistently disappointed with the numbers they see. If they were to open the doors of the rabbinate (assuming the rabbinate were to continue as a government office; I’m still not sure about this) to Jews of other denominations, there might be less unanimity than there is now, but perhaps there would be a greater sense of representation and enfranchisement for Jews everywhere. Then we might see those aliyah numbers rise. A more open marketplace for Judaism in Israel would not affect the choices people make; Orthodox Jews would still marry Orthodox Jews, and secular Jews marry secular Jews. But to allow everyone to live their Jewish lives fully in the state of Israel (instead of one-third of Israelis leaving the country to get married to avoid the rabbinate) would make it truly a Jewish State.
4) What does the Diaspora need to do in order to improve and strengthen its connection to Israel?
Spending time in Israel is one of the most powerful experiences a Diaspora Jew can have. It doesn’t necessarily make them more religious, or less American, but walking the land where our history began, visiting the sites where we were forged as a people, and seeing and experiencing firsthand the greatest achievement of the Jewish people in 2000 years is unlike anything else. Birthright Israel is a marvelous program which has enabled thousands of young Jews to visit Israel for the first time and in most cases, it forges an attachment that plays a large role in that young person’s growing Jewish identity. Israel has numerous opportunities for Jews to come and spend some time connecting to the country: tours, programs for Jews of various ages and affiliations, kibbutzim, short-term army programs, Jewish study, ulpan (intensive Hebrew study).
Visiting Israel is one way to increase one’s connection to the country. Another is study—Jewish texts, history, and current events from as many Israeli sources as possible (pending that 24/7 TV station). Understanding Israel is key to developing an informed, nuanced view of its place in the world. The marketplace of ideas has not been favorable to Israel: pundits bleat the same anti-Israeli calumnies, and anti-Israeli sentiment is all too often a disguise for anti-Semitism. An informed Diaspora can be a great help in spreading some truth around about Israel, for a change.
5) Why does all this matter?
One of the rabbis on my beit din told me what I think all rabbis are supposed to tell potential converts: The Jews are not a popular people. There are lots of reasons for this, none of them very good, and we don’t need to get into them here. But if we’re not popular with the rest of the world, at least we can work to be popular with one another. Our goals should be to recognize our differences and find ways to heal rifts and build bridges, help each other with our different struggles, and remember when things don’t go well that we are still a family and must find a way to weather through our difficulties—together.
Hi Shimshonit,
You’ve put together a very well thought out and articulately stated post here. I have to say that I agree with you on all counts. I think your use of the quote by Benjamin Franklin is a spot-on descriptor of why we (Israeli and Diaspora Jews) need to make sure that we work things out and come together as one people. We certainly must hang together, or we’ll hang separately.Â
Israel certainly does need a Jewish al-Jazeera. To be perfectly honest, from my vantage point, relying on AIPAC and the Simon Wiesenthal Center to convey the security needs of Israel to the American population is an exercise in futility. Israel needs to put on a full court press, and get the word out there. The stories are easy to see when you’re in Israel, and they could be easily communicated with the right media. I had Shabbat dinner under the stars in Shlomi when I was there, and the homeowner pointed to the top of the hill behind his house, and said before the Lebanon War, there were Hezbollah soldiers on that hilltop. They weren’t there that night, and that was why he felt the war was a success. Now, I know that most Israelis don’t share his opinion, and certainly most people here don’t, but when you have an opportunity to hear a real human story like that and see it, it changes one’s perception.
I share your belief that every Diaspora Jew who can at all do so should take a trip to Israel. My own trip - which I still refer to to an insane degree a year later - was life changing. I mean, I broke in the new tallit I bought in Tzefat by saying morning prayers in the synagogue ruins on the top of Masada. I saw the country from Shlomi and Nahariyah to Eilat, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to Beer Sheva. I think about Israel every day, and I know I will be back, and with a little luck, some day I’ll live there. There is absolutely no substitute a Jew can find for going to Israel. We in the Diaspora need to go so we can have this experience, and once the connection is made, it will last a lifetime. Incidentally, I was two years too old for the Birthright trip when I finished grad school, so I went by myself and traveled cheap - Egged buses and youth hostels - and I fell deeply in love with the place and the people.
I also thought you were right about Israel needing to become the State of ALL the Jewish People. I really think that if American religious Jews - 85-90% of which are non-Orthodox - felt that the Israeli government didn’t discriminate against their cherished expressions of Judaism, more of them would come on aliyah. I don’t buy the idea that posh American life and lack of commitment is what keeps large numbers of non-Orthodox olim from coming, because I know several people in my own community who would be much more likely to take that step if they thought they’d be able to raise their families in their own Judaism and be treated as equals. I was happy to see that you recognize this as part of the problem as well, and I hope that more Israelis start to appreciate the significance of this issue.
Thank you for a wonderful post! I’ll be thinking about the points you made for quite a while!
kol tuv,
Yair
I truly appreciated this timely post. I have also been hearing and reading about the disconnect between Israel and the Diaspora and it pains me to see such negativity on both sides of the issues.
I wish to make aliyah some day but I am fearful of how I will be treated by my fellow Jews. Since I had a non-Orthodox conversion, I will be considered a Jew by the State (at least for now) but I would be considered a non-Jew by the Rabbinate. I am not married (and have no plans to get married) and I have no children so some of the issues of being considered a non-Jew do not affect me. However, I do not understand why the non-Orthodox cannot have their own chief rabbinate and follow his auspices just as the Orthodox have their own chief rabbinate. I think if some of the issues dividing Orthodox and non-Orthodox can be fixed, aliyah and Diaspora support would increase.
Yair and rachel-esther,
Thanks for your comments.Â
I think that a more inclusive rabbinate would enfranchise the liberal movements here. Whether that would really result in a significant rise in aliyah, I’m not sure. Those who came would feel more at home, but I haven’t ruled out the comfort level in America as factoring into the statistics. God forbid there should be any reason for Jews not to live peacefully there, but sometimes comfort can play a role in creating inertia (as it did for us for some years), i.e. the pull of Israel isn’t hard enough to budge one from a life and routine that feels normal. I wonder, too, what the state of Zionism is in America overall, especially in the liberal movements. Is it strong? Is it somewhat apologetic in the face of negative press about Israel and the Palestinian Arabs? Is there concern about Israel’s overall security and Iran’s nuclear saber-rattling? I haven’t been a liberal Jew for 10 years, and haven’t lived in America since the Second Lebanon War (during which we made aliyah).Â
rachel-esther’s point about having liberal-movement chief rabbis is an interesting one. I continue to think about and struggle with the concept of a rabbinate at all. I believe very strongly in the Jewish State, but I wonder what it would be like without the rabbinate as a governmental body. Jewish life would be more of a free-for-all, and some things would be more complicated. Mikvahs, restaurants, butchers, and supermarkets, which get hechshers from the rabbinate, are all at a kashrut level that works for the vast majority of Israel’s citizenry. (And those for whom they’re not kosher enough build their own.) If some of these places were to choose to get their hechsher from a liberal rabbi, Orthodox Jews would have to do much more checking to find places where they could dunk, shop, and eat. This would make life as an Orthodox Jew much more difficult (much as it was in the U.S., and one of the reasons we left to come here to live). On the other hand, one hopes there would be less corruption and nepotism, and perhaps more openness to solving some of the halachic problems that exist, such as agunot.
I value your contributions to the conversation and look forward to the day when you join me here in Israel!
-Shimshonit
Hi Shimshonit,
I have to make this quick, but just a thought on the heksher dilemma you referred to in your comment above. I think that in terms of kashrut, mikva’ot, and grocery shopping, it could be easy to blend nods from more than one movement together. Maybe mikva’ot would be tougher, because they’d be used by one community for conversions another wouldn’t recognize. But I think the food thing is easy enough to get around. The Conservative movement’s interpretation of the laws of kashrut differ in only two areas that I can think of from Orthodoxy: cheese and wine. These two areas seem to be easy concessions for Conservative/Masorti Jews in Israel, where most of the wine is made by Jews, and you can’t swing a cat without hitting a block of kosher cheese. So really, the standards would be the same. And for those religious Jews who do not keep kosher, they certainly have plenty of opportunities to eat treif in Israel. It seems like it would only be complicated if a particular Jew would only shop or eat in establishments carrying ONLY the certification of his or her preferred authority.  But if they’re willing to shop and eat at places that are certified by multiple bodies, maybe it could work out.
Thanks for some interesting comments!
Yair
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