Israelis and American Jews: still talking past each other
By Abraham Foxman
What most surprised and disturbed me about A.B. Yehoshua's remarks before the American Jewish Committee were the black and white images he projected. This is particularly unsettling considering the nuanced characters that populate his works of fiction.
Life in Israel and in the Diaspora is not so simple as to put it in terms of: one is good, the other is not, one has value, the other doesn't.
I believe that a Jew can fulfill his or her "greatest potential" as a Jew in Israel. I emphasize the words "greatest" and "potential" to make clear that despite Israel holding out the lure of the fullest Jewish life, it has tremendous challenges in order to reach that potential, while a very satisfying Jewish life is also possible in the Diaspora.
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Yehoshua's description of what it means to an Israeli, alone among Jews in the world, to be in the majority, to make decisions on a governmental and societal level that affect ones life, indeed to have the totality of ones Jewishness in one's country, is compelling. His description, however, takes for granted the maintenance of one's Jewish identity simply by being an Israeli citizen.
This is an illusion. Yehoshua's shrugging off problems of assimilation among Israeli Jews is short-sighted. Particularly, if the Middle East someday becomes a more hospitable place to Israel, the question of Jewish identity will perhaps emerge in force.
It is in that sense that Yehoshua's dismissal of Jewish life in the Diaspora, as represented in his words by "texts and spirituality" is so inappropriate. It will not be enough to sustain the Jewish people by virtue of governance and judiciaries, though the existence of these institutions has fundamentally changed the Jewish condition. The unique values of Judaism and Jewish history, as well as the land of Israel, are what have sustained the Jewish people for thousands of years and will continue to do so in the future.
Far better to talk about how Israel and the American Jewish community can work together on their common challenge - maintaining Jewish identity -and what each brings to the table to meet that challenge and to help the other, rather than to revisit old rivalries about who is more important for the future of the Jewish people.
Israelis bring to the table their sense of self-confidence about who they are, that comes from living in their Jewish-dominated society. This sense of pride also benefits American Jews.
On the other hand, American Jews, engaging in much soul-searching over how to prevent assimilation in a society that has few limits, bring concepts and experience to the discussion about maintaining one's identity as a Jew without closing oneself off from the world. This subject may not appear to have relevance for many Israelis, but it does.
If Yehoshua was merely interested in stimulating a new discussion about Israel and the Diaspora, he has succeeded, and good that he has. If he truly believes all that he said, then it shows how much we are still talking past each other.
Abraham H. Foxman is National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and author of "Never Again? The Threat of the New Semitism"
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