Growing gap between Israel and Diaspora
Last week, Peter Beinart created a furor. In an op-ed for The New York Times, he argued that the two-state solution is dead. Instead, he said, liberal Zionists should be pushing for a single state with equal rights for both Jews and Palestinians: a secularized and non-Jewish state that would provide a cultural home for the Jewish people rather than a political one.
Twitter ignited. The English-language Jewish press was ablaze. However, if one Googles Peter Beinart in Hebrew, the response is silence. In the Hebrew-speaking world, i.e. Israel itself, Beinart is neither embraced nor controversial. He is not particularly relevant.
Beinart’s vision of a single state is not directed at Israelis. It isn’t even directed at Palestinians. It is a vision for American Jews who increasingly feel disconnected from the State of Israel.
And there’s the rub. My issue with Beinart’s piece is not with the idea that it proposes (and with which I disagree), but rather, the moment in Israel-Diaspora relations that it represents: a fundamental disconnect.
Is his rejection of a Jewish State, in favor of a glorified Jewish community center, confirmation that we face an irreparable schism between the Jewish communities of Israel and America?
The activist group IfNotNow rose to infamy when some of its members walked off their Birthright program. In response to the proposed annexation, alumni of Habonim Dror North America advocated that their movement stop encouraging its graduates to immigrate or participate in Israel programs.
The alumni of Habonim Dror, IfNotNow and Beinart himself do not reflect mainstream American Jewry. Indeed, Beinart’s most recent epiphany has been slammed by the moderate Left throughout the Diaspora. However, the negative trends they represent are undeniable.
It has been convenient for many (including Beinart) to blame this schism on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s increasing embrace of right-wing politics. Yet as Daniel Gordis points out, this disconnect transcends Netanyahu, right-wing Israeli politics, and the current mood in the USA. It is far more fundamental. It is about the very nature of these communities.
I want to take you 8,000 miles from Jerusalem to Australia. Outside of Israel, Australia had the largest proportion of Holocaust survivors of any Jewish community in the world. The community they built is steeped in old-school values of European Yiddishkeit.
Roughly half our children are enrolled in Jewish day schools. A significant percentage have attended a youth movement. More than two-thirds of Australian Jews define themselves as Zionists. An even higher percentage say that when Israel is in danger, they feel personally exposed.
THE SPECIAL sauce that the Holocaust-surviving founders of our community employed what can be described as Jewish literacy. Through our schools and youth movements and our Shabbat dinner tables, we imparted a knowledge and love of foundational Jewish history and values.
While the Australian Jewish Community still faces many challenges in engaging the next generation, Zionism is not a dirty word among progressive Australian Jews. The moderate Left is able to express its views without compromising its Zionism. Our grounding in the core values of Judaism enables us to be both supporters and critics of Israel.
Our community has been emphatic that alleged sex-abuser Malka Leifer be extradited back to Australia to face justice, and that an embrace of the neo-Kahanist parties in the latest round of elections was beyond the pale. Since our community and Israel are grounded in a similar value set, we can engage in a nuanced and balanced way. We speak the same language.
Beinart is clearly Jewishly literate. Beinart’s target audience, however, was not. One of the IfNotNow activists involved in walking off Birthright asserted that a small number of Jews should not be living in Hebron surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. A legitimate perspective. However, she couldn’t explain why there is a Jewish community in Hebron.
A stunning confession from a Jewish American activist (albeit on the extreme fringe), using her platform to influence politics in another country, who is completely ignorant of the historical connection between the people of that country (indeed, her own people) and the land upon which they live. Irrespective of one’s politics, if you don’t know the connection between the Jewish people and Hebron, then you abrogate your right to be taken seriously.
The State of Israel is not randomly situated. The land of Israel, Jewish history and Jewish texts are intrinsically connected at the deepest levels. Without a basic grounding in Jewish literacy, it is small wonder that a significant proportion of American Jewry are becoming alienated from Israel.
Imparting Jewish literacy is the primary responsibility of each Diaspora community, yet the Israeli government also has a critical role to play.
We stand at a crossroads. Just as European Jewry at the turn of the 20th century began to realize that only through a return to their ancient physical homeland of Israel could our people survive, so too at the beginning of our century comes a realization that only by returning to a meaningful knowledge of our culture and history can we thrive into the future.
The writer is president of the Zionist Federation of Australia.