A new dialogue with the Diaspora

If there is some confusion in Israel following the outcome of the elections, regarding the political parties and their socio-political agenda, then for Diaspora Jews the confusion is much greater. Those who did not go through the disengagement in Israel and the political changes that subsequently took place will find it difficult to understand terms like "the big bang" and the "convergence."

The political changes to the Israeli party map created an enormous gap between the positions of a small group of activists in the Jewish community and the vast majority of the community, and it will take time until the change is fully comprehended there. The gap was expressed in the faux-elections conducted by the Jewish Agency on the day of the elections among Jewish students on campuses around the world. As opposed to the results in Israel, the right, also the extreme right, won a striking victory. The Likud won 44 seats, Kadima 33, National Union 15, Labor 14, Baruch Marzel, who didn't win enough votes in Israel to cross the threshold into the Knesset won 5 seats and Yisrael Beiteinu won 3.

Israel has always played a central role in defining Jewish identity for Diaspora Jewry. Significantly, it strengthened the identity of Jews with very loose religious connections. Sociologists claimed that Israel had become a kind of "civil religion" for Diaspora Jewry, especially in the U.S. where the activities on behalf of Israel were institutionalized in fund-raising and political lobbying. For many who stay away from synagogues of all types and who find it difficult to stick to religious messages, Israel has become a suitable alternative for identification and community activism. At the same time, there has been a demographic change in the Diaspora: a weakening of the liberal-left wing, which has been through accelerated assimilation compared to the strengthening of the conservative and Orthodox right, which has penetrated the community establishment and taken on key roles in Jewish organizations. The coalition that leads the agenda for Israel in the U.S. is hinged on two key groups: the pro-Israel lobby known as AIPAC, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. These two organizations reflect the political direction of the religious conservatives and secular nationalists of American Jewry.

Like in Israel, the 1990s were a period of adaptation and uncertainty for the Jews of the Diaspora. The Oslo accords created tension between the leaders of those organizations and the leadership in Israel that was trying to foment political change among American Jews. Israeli leaders like Yitzhak Rabin, Yossi Beilin and the consul general in New York, Colette Avital found themselves clashing with the policymakers in the Israel lobby. Politicians like Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert, and Haim Ramon understood that to impose the "big bang" required a fundamental change in the political system. In the Jewish world, where there were no parties discussing the peace issue, the "shock treatment" of the Israeli elections was not sufficient. True, those Jewish papers that lean to the left, like the Forward in New York, presented the elections as a national referendum on the "disengagement," which resulted in a change in direction in Israeli policy, but it is clear that to coordinate policy in Washington, the next government will have to prepare the groundwork with elements of the Jewish lobby. On more than one occasion, Israel's friends in Congress have complained that they find it difficult to spot a common denominator in the cacophony of messages they receive from Jewish organizations.

Recent studies among American Jews and European Jews show that along with the ongoing assimilation, Jewish cultural and religious life is also flourishing. But as opposed to past trends, the young people returning to their communities and expressing pride in their Judaism are saying that Israel is distant from them and a "vague" source of their identity. Jews who are going to synagogue more often than in the past and who attend Jewish cultural events say their Judaism is focused on religious and cultural aspects and less on a relationship with Israel. It is therefore vitally important that the dialogue with world Jewry not focus on the "big bangs" of Israeli politics, but rather on the deeper content of contemporary Jewish identity.