Or is it?
The Israeli prime minister’s office, which organized the 120-Jews meeting, was envisioning a campaign to strengthen Jewish identity among young Jews and solidify their connection to Israel–in order to bring them home.
But Alan Hoffmann, director of the Jewish Agency, a participant in the meeting, said the effect of Israel’s policies on American Jewish identities was not discussed.
The Jewish agency is in charge of bringing Jews to Israel. Nefesh B’nefesh is a sub-contractor in America, but it’s the “Sochnut” that runs the global show. And, from personal experience, doing a heck of a job.
And the Jewish Agency believes you can’t have Jewish Identity in the diaspora without a connection to Israel—unless you’re religious.
“It’s clear to us that if you are not part of the Orthodox world and are not connected to Israel, you assimilate,” said Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency. “We need to show how much your life is more interesting, more significant if part of your identity is also a deep connection to Israel.”
Hartman’s initiative, iEngage, was adopted last week by the Reform movement, as a way to strengthen ties to Israel “in the context of American Jewish values.”
I’m not sure what this really means, and iEngage sounds so much like an app, it makes me wonder what it can really accomplish. Also, when you click on their address, you get the message: Account suspended. Very Obamacare…
Nevertheless, Hartman says his project will help connect young American Jews to Israel by changing the relationship between American and Israeli Jews into one of equality. This includes openly discussing Israel’s disputed policies.
Does this mean Israelis also get to challenge Jews in America? Can we share how weird some of the practices of the Reform movement look to us? Can we express our fears that with their open conversion policies they’re actively turning the Jewish nation into the somewhat Jewish nation?
Also, will the only option in a discussion of “Israel’s disputed policies” be how fast we should uproot the half million or so Jews from their homes?
Can we get a mutual program, whereby for every Jewish family kicked off its land in Judea and Samaria, one family from Cleveland has to make Aliyah?
The Pew Research Center’s report found U.S. Jews disapprove of Israel’s policies in the territories. It showed that only 17 percent of American Jews say Israeli settlement construction is helpful to Israel’s security. Forty-four percent said it hurts Israel’s security.
See how much they care about Israeli security? They’ll fight for it to the last drop of Israeli settlers’ blood…
But the Pew report also showed that seven in 10 Jews are attached or very attached to Israel, and 61 percent said they believe Israel can coexist peacefully alongside an independent Palestinian state.
We could cure that delusion by sending the next batch of Birthright kids on a trip to Ramallah or Gaza. Or even just to Nachal Oz, on the Gaza border, where kindergartens are regularly targeted by kassam rockets.
The Reform and Conservative Jewish movements, which make up the majority of the American Jewish population, are “marginal” in Israel, reports the AP, quite correctly. In Israel, the Orthodox establishment rules the life cycle areas. A tiny minority of Israelis are showing an interest in either American influences–Reform or “Masorti” which is code for Conservative, certainly not the Sefardi majority.
Haaretz published an entire weekend edition of pro-Reform articles, mostly because Haaretz is the newspaper of record for the secular, Ashkenazi elite, which lives in fear of Rabbinic Judaism. Like the secular Ashkenazim, the Reform have been stuck in a small enclave in Israel. But while the Haaretz crowd has been entrenched in positions of power since 1909, including the supreme court and much of the civil service apparatus, the Reform beachhead must fight another entrenched Israeli establishment—the Rabbanut. Good luck with that one…
Steven M. Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a participant in the meeting who also consulted on the Pew study, says the new mission has “strong symbolic value.”
Israel’s interests lie in preserving its supporters in North America, he told AP.
How very 1980.
