How Does Israel Help Jews be Jews?

Sephardi

Israel's existence is undoubtedly a blessing to the Jewish people. The Holy Land was given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a platform for proclaiming their message of monotheism, justice and compassion to all humanity. The renaissance of Jewish observance and Torah study in Israel has certainly transformed the state into a source of spiritual inspiration. Moreover, Israel has served as a unifying force for world Jewry, enabling us to recognize and embrace the destiny we share and the challenges we face in the diaspora.

However, Israel's impact on Jewry has its downsides. Oftentimes, the nationalistic pro-Israel sentiments of American Jews supplant or replace their enthusiasm for Judaism as a system of thought and a way of life. I recall how a congregant informed me that a member of his family had recently intermarried. He pointed out that although the new spouse was regrettably not Jewish, he was very pro-Israel! Apparently, in some circles, support for Israel is perceived as a meaningful substitute for Jewish identity.

Humans have a tendency to attach themselves to concrete objects rather than to abstract ideals. We should embrace the manifold benefits conferred on us by Israel and celebrate its continued existence and growth, but never let our strong feelings for the Holy Land distract us from the wisdom of our Holy Torah.

Rabbi Joshua Maroof
Magen David Sephardic Congregation
Rockville, MD

Chabad

Two Jews facing their executioners were blindfolded when one shouted, "Shema Yisrael…Hashem Echad." The other Jew whispered, "Shaa! You'll get us in trouble.";

Is it me or do Jewish leaders rush to accept criticism and blame, comfortable with being wrong, uncomfortable with being right because then "they" will hate us? The pressing need of the hour is to restore Jewish pride.

I used to walk the streets of the Twin Cities with my lulov and etrog box, welcoming the opportunity to tell my Scandinavian neighbors that the commandment concerning these plants is in the Bible.

Two thousand years of persecution and abuse left us unsure of ourselves, of our right to exist. The establishment of a Jewish state in '48 and the stunning victories of '67 helped us heal. Jews everywhere stopped hiding; they proclaimed their Jewishness in solidarity with our modern day heroes. They stopped changing their names and their noses.

Israel has given us our voice. We shout; we complain; we feel entitled to equal treatment. We have achieved parity, but the healing is not complete. It will be complete only when we are comfortable with being chosen—comfortable not despite our Jewishness, but because of it. Israel enables us to shout. We need only learn to shout the Shema.

Rabbi Manis Friedman
Dean, Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies
St. Paul, MN

Modern Orthodox

Although pro-Israel political action and fundraising dominate the agenda for American-Jewish continuity, Israel's greatest power—igniting the Jewish soul—remains underutilized.

In Israel, Jewish history lives. The Wall is the incarnation of priests and prophets, of prayers and dreams. Contact with this culture confirms the Jewish identity of diaspora Jews, even the assimilated. I have seen countless individuals who thought they did not care instantly weep or dance there. Suddenly am yisrael chai is a living experience.

Those who study Torah in Israel—even the Orthodox—find that they absorb Talmud and attain piety much more quickly than in the United States. The holistic Jewishness of Israel is like a hyperbaric chamber in which the patient absorbs far more oxygen than in a normal hospital room. Israel heals wounded American souls and restores visiting Jews' shriveled identities in a mysterious and powerful way. The Israeli experience proves the old Biblical and Talmudic claim that the souls of all Jews are intertwined as if they stood together at Sinai.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg
New York, NY

Reform

July 3, 1976, one day before the U.S. Bicentennial, I was on a plane to Israel to begin my rabbinical studies. Arriving late at night and being an impoverished student, I decided to sleep on a bench at the airport.

In the middle of the night, I awoke. Soldiers, civilians and the press were milling around. Passengers without luggage came into the terminal. When quiet eventually returned, I went back to my fitful sleep.

In the morning, I saw people jubilantly waving American and Israeli flags. "How wonderful," I thought. "Israel is helping America celebrate her birthday." But the crowds were listening intently to the news. Something was happening. I asked a man sitting next to me to translate. He asked how long I had been at the airport. When I replied, "overnight," he was incredulous. "How could you have been at the airport and not known?" he asked. "The Entebbe passengers....They rescued the hijacked hostages!"

Through sleep-addled eyes, I had witnessed history. I recognized an immutable truth in those simultaneously waving U.S. and Israeli flags. Israel is important to American Jews. Even with all its warts and weaknesses, Israel demonstrates Jewish values, Jewish resolve, Jewish dignity.

Israel represents what I, as an American Jew, can be: proud, independent, even courageous in my beliefs and my actions. For the past 60 years, Israel has served as both symbol and support for what living a Jewish life can mean. For me, Entebbe was a moral victory. And a message to American Jews. Be proud. Live Jewish.

Rabbi Arthur P. Nemitoff
The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah
Overland Park, KS

Reform

To ask whether Israel promotes the continuity of American Jewish life is to ask whether the members of one's family enhance one's existence. Life without your family would be unimaginable. Just as a natural sense of moral obligation connects family members, an ethical chain of responsibility binds American and Israeli Jews.

In his book's title, Babylon and Jerusalem, the late Brandeis University Professor Simon Rawidowicz suggests the reality and indivisibility that marks Jewish existence. Whether in the diaspora or the land of Israel, Jews believe that an integral connectedness and attendant moral obligation bind Jews everywhere.

I was challenged constantly during the worst days of the Second Intifada to modify our institution's student requirement for at least one year's study in Israel. We maintained this rule—despite the threat of terrorist danger—because anything other than an absolute commitment to the value of Jewish peoplehood for future Jewish leaders would have betrayed our faith. To have lessened our commitment to Israel would have indicated a failure to understand the concept of areivut— mutual Jewish solidarity and responsibility.

Rabbi David Ellenson
President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
New York, NY

Reconstructionist

Israel enriches us because Jewish culture thrives there. Public buses sport biblical verses without a trace of irony. Instead of "Please give up your seat for the elderly," the Egged bus line offers Leviticus 19: mipnei seivah takum—"Rise in the presence of gray hair."

Israel's history is ours. Jerusalem streets bear names of medieval rabbis, Yiddish and Hebrew poets and prophets of cultural and political Zionism.

Israel enriches us by field-testing Jewish values—sometimes well, sometimes less well. Today's Jewish state hosts minorities, lays sewage lines, ingathers exiles, mandates electric cars, but also drops cluster bombs. Such enrichment is not altogether our choice. We share past and future, family and fate. In the eyes of the world and our tradition, Israel and diaspora are inseparable. For better and for worse, the very existence of a Jewish state reminds us that we are Jews.

Too often, armchair Zionism becomes our dominant Jewish expression. Such vicariousness is no favor to Judaism or to Jews, there or here. But when Israel instills pride, raises questions, encourages Hebrew study, becomes our home base, and makes Jewish life complex—then Israel helps diaspora Jews to be Jewish.

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation
Bethesda, MD

Renewal

We are not sure whether support for Israel helps Jewish continuity.

For example, more people contribute money to Israel than join synagogues, yet the Jewish intermarriage rate has grown during every decade of Israel's existence.

Certainly, the Jewish state makes access to our sacred land and birthplace easier and that enhances our vitality in the diaspora. Israel exists neither to provide us a service nor to serve as a backdrop for North American Jewish agendas.

We are privileged to live at this moment when the work of Jewish spiritual renewal includes learning from a vibrant Israeli community and working together to build a Judaism that honors the universal need to share this planet and its resources. We are energized by our relationships with Israelis who share these perspectives, and we integrate their work into our programs.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel
Director of Spiritual Resources
Alliance for Jewish Renewal
Rabbi Steven Silvern
Chair, ALEPH Board

Independent

Israel has fulfilled three functions that contribute to the enrichment of Jewish life in the United States.

First, Israel's incorporation of peoplehood, religion and nationhood into a meaningful whole demonstrates that Judaism is more than a religion comparable to other religious traditions in the United States.

Second, Israel has become the mainstay for Judaic scholarship, culture and the arts. With the destruction of Warsaw, Vilna and Frankfurt as centers of Jewish cultural creativity, Israel has fulfilled the Biblical promise that "out of Zion will come forth the Torah and the world of God from Jerusalem." I rely heavily on Modern Midrash, Biblical commentaries and exegesis relating to contemporary society that emanate from Israel. I look to programs such as the Aravah Institute for Environmental Studies as the prototype for tikkun olam.

Finally, Israel shows that Judaism is a world culture, transcending the narrow perspective of an American-grown Ashkenazi majority of predominantly middle-class professionals and business people. I could never have conceived of a Jew driving a bus, let alone one who is Ethiopian. Israel helps American Jews overcome our myopic view of what constitutes Jewish peoplehood.

Rabbi Harold S. White
Senior Jewish Chaplain
Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Humanist

Fundraising slogans to the contrary, American Jews are not "one" when it comes to our attitudes toward Israel. But whatever our feelings, our identity as American Jews is shaped and defined by the relationship.

The range of views often breaks down by generation. The older generation who witnessed the Holocaust and founding of Israel has forever bundled these events together. They are likely to remain stubbornly loyal to Israel—right or wrong—and find it hard to brook any challenge to it.

But this connection and allegiance have worn thin for many in the younger generation. They are less impressed by Israel's rebirth than distressed by her military dominance, occupation of foreign land, wall of division and disturbing internal social problems. Our support of Israel—and the bolstering of our Jewish identity, along with our stature as Americans—comes from engaging in these matters, not ducking them.

Most significantly, the Israel-diaspora dichotomy no longer exists for most American Jews, especially those who consider themselves secular or cultural Jews. While our Jewish identity may be enriched by connections to Israel, it does not depend on them.

Rabbi Peter H. Schweitzer
The City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism
New York, NY