Assumptions

Rabbi Bruce Alpert’s “The High Holy Day sermon I did not give” (Comment & Features, October 9) is heartfelt. Yet I must respectfully challenge his underlying assumptions.

Most startling is his reference to “the miracle” of American Judaism, which has kept the faith alive in a Christian nation and atmosphere of religious freedom. But with the exception of Orthodox Judaism, American Judaism is dying. Its adherents marry out in shocking proportions, and are not even reproducing themselves. Today, it is Christian Zionists who provide more solid political support for Israel than do those identifying with the progressive branches of Judaism.

Kol Hakavod to the rabbi for teaching his congregants about Israel. However, in sharing his discovery that many at the periphery of Jewish life do not care, he has come to the heart of the problem: Non-Orthodox American Jewry has failed to sustain the most essential connections between Judaism and Israel. The failure is deep, pervasive and has to do with a great deal more than a plaza at the Western Wall. To reduce it to this trivializes it.

The Diaspora Jew’s sense of connection to Israel should be intrinsic. What about Jewish history, the Torah, God’s promise regarding the land, the prayers concerning Jerusalem, the miracle of the rebirth of an ancient nation and the ingathering of the exiles? What about a sense of awe and pride regarding the extraordinary way in which Israel reaches out to help others