On American and Israeli Jews

A recent article in Ynetnews warns about a brewing crisis between Israel and American Jewry regarding the old question of ‘Who is a Jew.” It appears that Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister, and Eli Yishay, leader of the orthodox Shas party, are collaborating on a legislative maneuver in which Shas would allow the passage of civil marriage legislation—pushed by Lieberman—in exchange for gaining exclusive control over conversion. Such a move would essentially render the 85-90% of American Jews who are not orthodox not quite Jewish enough for Israel’s official tastes.

Now, the absence of civil marriage in Israel is a travesty that must be corrected. But linking this move, as Lieberman is trying to do, to an orthodox power grab regarding conversion would be a calamitous event, signaling a sorry shift in Israel’s cultural-religious stance, with particular implications for its strongest and most loyal supporter—American Jewry.

As reported in Ynetnews, Executive President and CEO of United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, Rabbi Steven Wernick, summarized the concern, saying, "If Israel wants to be the country of the Jews, it needs to start being a country for all the Jews." Conservative Rabbi Julie Schonfeld the executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis worldwide, is quoted as saying: "What is happening is damaging to Israel's security, and I am not saying this as a metaphor… Most of the representatives in AIPAC are Conservative and Reform who work day and night for Israel in the US. But when these people arrive in Israel, they are treated as non-Jews. Chairs are thrown at them at the Kotel. The police arrest them. You need to understand that a threat to our relations with Israel is a threat to the resilience and security of the country."

Schonfeld warns correctly that, "The young generation sees Israel as a society with growing religious zealotry and oppression. We must change the growing alienation of young Jews in the Diaspora, who are unwilling to accept a society that allows a religious minority to contemptibly threaten their religious values."

Ynetnews reports that the Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren “received more emails in the past few days than all letters received at the embassy in the past decade on any issue, including the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead.”

What is being revealed here is that in addition to drifting away from current American thinking and political interests (illustrated by the latest row over building projects in East Jerusalem), Israel is also drifting away from the cultural-religious interests and sensibilities of its Jewish American supporters. You may not hear it from the leadership both here and in Israel, but the two conflicts are related.

In truth, non-orthodox American Jews find themselves hoisted on their own petard. For years, they stood by silently—and at times cheered on—as Israel kept pursuing a brutal policy of occupation based on—and energized by—dark nationalistic and religious impulses that are patently incompatible with the development of a democratic, tolerant and pragmatist culture. Lieberman spiteful right wing nationalist agenda is as blunt, retrograde, intolerant and cynical as Yishai’s orthodox theocratic agenda. Both of these ideologies are on the wane among American Jews, but they are overtaking the Israeli landscape, and they have been doing so for years with American Jews’ support.

AIPAC in particular has some explaining to do regarding how it can suddenly become alarmed over Israel’s morally offensive religious character while managing to remain silent all these years regarding Israel’s morally offensive politics of occupation and trenchant militarism. After all, within the type of nationalistic, messianic political and cultural climate that AIPAC has enabled and nurtured, religious pluralism and tolerance cannot seriously be expected to bloom.

Even before the latest row over conversion, it was apparent that non-orthodox American Jews are becoming less and less comfortable with how the power of orthodox Israeli Jews is changing Israel.

Union for Reform Judaism President Rabbi Eric Yoffie, with whose denomination some 40% of US Jewry is affiliated, was quoted as saying, "The State of Israel is not the country of Israelis. If so, then I have no connection with the country. What connects me is the fact that this is the country of the Jews. This is the essential point. Zionism is a movement for Jews. Whoever doesn't understand this has no idea what the State of Israel is… There is nothing in the world more important to the State of Israel than good relations with America. This is the top-most value. Only here can we help defend the country and ensure its future. There is no chance that these relations continue to be strong without American Jews."

Rabbi Yoffie has his heart in the right place. But the truth is that AIPAC and American Jewry have behaved for years as if Israel is the land of Israelis, not of the Jews. Worse yet, instead of getting involved in the life of Israel they got involved in the myth of it. Now the ugly reality, embodied by Mr. Lieberman, is colliding with the pretty myth and both are crumbling. A second truth is that for the Israeli orthodox and their leadership, America and Zionism matter little compared to the messianic vision of theocratic rule. A third truth is that for the rising tide of Israeli orthodox Judaism, represented by Mr. Yishai and his ilk, the question of whether Israel is the land of Israelis or Jews is beside the point in the case of Mr. Yoffie, because he is neither an Israeli nor, to their minds, a Jew.