The New Reality: Retelling the Israel Story

It has only been two days since we learned of the terrorist assault on the State and people of Israel. Yet, for those of us who have lived a lifetime parallel to the story of the founding and evolution of the Jewish State, this marks another moment of reflection, of sadness, and of concern but always of hope.

I have lived at least three lives in connection with the Israel story. Growing up in Richmond Virginia in a classical Reform congregation, Israel was not only a non-entity, but also it sadly was defined as a pariah, as the leaders of the American Council for Judaism within our synagogue would argue that “America was our Zion” and that the founding of the State of Israel must be seen as a danger to Jewish security across the globe. After all, Jews would be charged with dual-allegiance, and antisemitism would be our legacy.

With that as my inheritance, I had to literally “relearn” the story of Israel, the historical record of Zionism and the case for supporting the Jewish State. After all, in the aftermath of the Six Day War, I was now a Jewish professional working first for the American Jewish Committee and then taking on the directorship of the Albany Jewish Federation. No doubt, in the 1980s making the “case for Israel” would be a central part of my professional portfolio in my advocacy role as the director of the then “Community Relations Committee” of the LA Jewish Federation. 

The third part of my Israel sojourn would begin in 1995 when I returned to higher education to lead the School of Jewish Nonprofit Management at HUC-JIR (now Zelikow). I encountered in academia the intellectual challenges and scholarly assaults attacking the very existence of a Jewish State. The task of working with students, faculty and community members in fending off misinformation and misrepresentations about Israel and its storyline would become my newest role. My task was to prepare future Jewish leaders who could articulate the case for Israel, while pushing back against those who would deny the rights of the Jewish people to their national homeland. 

Over the years, on various trips to Israel as tour educator, teacher, tourist and relative, I could appreciate the complexity of the Israel national saga. As a political scientist I was able to explain the Israel political landscape, as a Jew I could pray for its/our people and financially and emotionally give sustenance for its well-being, and as an American I would have the ability to advocate for the Washington-Jerusalem partnership. 

In all of this, however, I could never fully experience Israeliness, the act of being an Israeli. That is something altogether different, even as I supported and advocated for the Jewish State. In this moment, Israeli lives are being threatened and destroyed, reminding me that as a Diaspora participant, I remain a caring bystander. My life and those of my family are not being called upon at this hour to serve in defense of the Jewish State.

Wasn’t the Jewish experiment in state building designed to end the oppression of Jews, where assaults on the Jewish people were to be no more? How do I, and they, come to grips with the stark reality that the status and security of the Jewish enterprise remains incomplete? 

Now, living with the current reality of a massive terrorist assault by Hamas, taking place on a Jewish holy day and being directed against my cousins, friends and associates, I have come to understand another stage in my Zionist, Israel education. Here is a society celebrating its 75th anniversary of statehood, only to confront yet again its vulnerability as a nation-state. Wasn’t the Jewish experiment in state building designed to end the oppression of Jews, where assaults on the Jewish people were to be no more? How do I, and they, come to grips with the stark reality that the status and security of the Jewish enterprise remains incomplete? Indeed, these past 48 hours have highlighted more clearly than prior moments of war the precarious nature of the Zionist dream. No, that does not mean giving in or giving up; but it does demand something else, recalibrating the essentials of the Israel story. We are being called upon as Diaspora representatives yet again to defend the Jewish enterprise.

For the past year, so many of us have been critical of the current government in connection with its political platform to undo elements of Israel’s democratic character. In doing so, we all turned inward to argue that the “biggest” threat to Israel was internal, its political divisions. But now, in less than a few hours, we were rudely and rapidly abused of this faulty notion. Israel may face challenges to its democratic structures but such issues pale in magnitude to the sanctity of Jewish life and the preservation of this nation-state.

Its enemies may have misread these internal wars, believing that if a nation is torn apart by public division that it somehow loses its will to defend and protect itself. This misjudgment may prove to be a significant, maybe historic, miscalculation. The world may for the first time come to appreciate how problematic and dangerous these actors against Israel truly are.

The immediate agenda is stark but real in garnering support for Israelis, as they face the challenges of defeating terrorists, reclaiming those who have been kidnapped, giving support to those who have lost loved ones and providing assistance to those physically and emotionally impacted by these tragic events, 

There is also a broader agenda that needs to be managed. 

How do we reenter the battle to defend, protect and present Israel to the audiences that sit outside, uncertain and uninformed? How do we bring new generations of young Americans, and more directly Jewish Americans to the Israel story, which has been allowed to be hijacked and distorted by its opponents? Can we “win back” folks who have over time felt alienated and distant from Israel? How do we best make the case for Israel to audiences here and elsewhere who may not even know where this country sits on a map?

My connections to the Israel story continue to evolve as events, experiences and relationships allow me to discover my  Zionist soul. In this moment, I pray for the peace of Jerusalem as we recalibrate and pursue the case for a Jewish national homeland

Dr. Steven Windmueller is an Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Studies at the Jack H. Skirball Campus of HUC-JIR, Los Angeles. His writings can be found on his website, www.thewindreport.com.