JEWISH WORLD

Judaism in Israel is a well – a deep well of living water that is some- times also narrow and dark. And the disadvantage of expanse is that it can be very thin, very superficial. Our challenge here is to widen our Judaism. Deepening is the chal- lenge of American Judaism. How do you perceive the anti- Zionism brewing on America’s campuses? It’s really quite dismaying to see a strong strain of anti-Zionism emerge among Jewish-identified young American Jews. When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, the New Left in America was heav- ily Jewish, but most did not identify actively with their Judaism. The anti-Zionism was usually part of an assimilation process. What’s hap- pening today is that some young American Jews see no contradiction between anti-Zionism and a posi- tive Jewish identity. In fact, the opposite – they see anti-Zionism as an expression of their Jewish identi- ty and their anger at Israel is because they perceive us as sullying Jewish ethics. Would you say it’s because of a glorification of the Diaspora? I think there are a few reasons for it. One is that the State of Israel has helped American Jews feel proud and secure in their Jewishness. My generation knows that the reason American Jews feel secure is because of Israel. Younger American Jews today don’t know that – they take that sense of Jewish security for granted. They don’t remember a time when Jews were stigmatized as cowards. Growing up, I used to read books with titles like Jews Fight Too . Can you imag- ine publishing a book like that today? The problem today is that the world thinks that we fight too well. No Jew has to prove that Jews can fight. The Six-Day War was the moment when Diaspora Jews over- came their inferiority complex. Young American Jews today don’t know that, and I feel that they are guilty – often involuntarily out of ignorance, but guilty – of a deep ingratitude to Israel, which changed the image of the Diaspora Jew. In effect, it is Israel that has made it possible for American Jews to feel American, to feel fully accepted in America. The irony is that the rea- son that anti-Zionism disappeared after the Shoah is that the anti- Zionist world was literally destroyed. There’s something ahis- torical, a kind of amnesia quality in this new wave of Jewish anti- Zionism. And your generation of American Jews? I’ll say that my generation of American Jews fell in love with an Israel that we didn’t understand. We had some idealized image of Israel in its early years, but Labor Israel of the 50s and 60s was much less dem- ocratic and pluralistic than Israel of today (I’m of course referring to Israel within the Green Line). My fear is therefore that American Jews are falling out of love with an Israel that they don’t understand. Israel today is one of the most vital places on earth. And somehow we’re not conveying that spiritual vitality to American Jewry. I’m told: “There’s no pluralism in Israel,” and I answer, “It depends how you look at it.” It’s a different kind of pluralism than in American Jewry. In American Jewry you have religious pluralism. Here, we have ethnic pluralism. We have Jews from dozens of countries. We have such extraordinary Jewish diversity. And I believe that we are beginning to develop religious pluralism here as well – Israeli Judaism. For me, the promise that “ Ki mitzion tetze Torah,” Torah will go forth from Zion, means that we will be creat- ing forms of spiritual renewal with deep roots. Israeli Judaism reads our sources in their original lan- guage and creates a culture in response to the needs of a Jewish majority with self-confidence in a sovereign nation. I chose to live in Israel because this is where I believe ultimately the Jewish story is going to be determined. But we can’t do it alone. We can’t do it without American Jewry. This may be the first time we have an opportunity to create an authentic and mature relationship between American Jews and Israelis. In the past we were com- mitted to a project that excluded the Diaspora. In fact, that was in direct opposition to the Diaspora. The Zionist cultural project very much saw itself as creating a new Jew who was meant to be cut off from the Diaspora. And now we need to create the new “new Jew”? We’re done with this notion of cutting ourselves off from Jewish civilization in the Diaspora. We now see ourselves as the continua- tion – not just of Biblical Judaism but of uninterrupted Jewish histo- ry, including Jewish life in the Diaspora. My worry is that interest in Israel among American Jews is declining. Are we going to miss each other again? I’m concerned that without a close relationship with the State of Israel and Israelis, American Jewry also will not reach its full potential. For the first time we can create a real rela- tionship. What an amazing, extraordinary moment. But we need partners for that – serious partners. Reprinted from Eretz Acheret. Yossi Klein Halevi is a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and author of, most notably, Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation. Israel is where I believe ultimately the Jewish story is going to be determined. But we can’t do it without American Jewry. Divide continued from page 9 Well-scrubbed J Street supporters believe they can convince BDS advocates to put a lid on their destructive movement. No luck so far. 10 JEWISH WORLD • JANUARY 26 - FEBRUARY 1, 2018 Be part of our Pesach special section starting February 2, 9, 16, & 23 to advertise call 516-594-4000