Israel and the Diaspora: The Big Bet on Jewish Peoplehood in the Twenty-First Century

There’s an ever-growing understanding within the Jewish world that we are approaching a point of no return in the gap between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. Recently, the fallout in this battle can be seen in American Jews’ erosion of identity and solidarity with Israel and Israeli Jews’ rising nationalism and resistance to pluralism.

No doubt both communities harbor grievances towards the other. To overcome this existential threat to our unity, many individuals have created initiatives to bridge the distrust between American and Israeli Jewry. The Israeli government’s recent initiative — a formal consultation process between Israeli decision-makers and representatives from Jewish communities, organizations and institutions on matters relating to Diaspora Jews — is just the latest example. These efforts are primarily based on the belief that educating the other side of their respective worldviews can break down these barriers and strengthen critical ties.

But all these well-meaning attempts have left us on opposite sides of the canyon. The reality is that we may not be facing an educational challenge; instead, we face an infrastructural challenge. And should we fail to confront this challenge, we could have two vastly different Jewish peoplehood experiences that pay lip service to a shared unity yet remain apart.

Separate Spheres

The destruction of European Jewry and the declaration of Israeli independence defined these two dueling experiences in the 20th century. The Israeli epicenter of Judaism was constructed through a new national political enterprise and a rapidly expanding economy and social sector. The American epicenter’s growth was built primarily within voluntary communal institutions, both locally and nationally.

Inevitably, growing these two epicenters required building intricate institutional networks to communicate between the two: Jewish Federations, the Jewish Agency, Keren Hayesod, the World Jewish Congress, the World Zionist Organization, JNF, and many more. Challenges aside, these two epicenters seemed to function in sync with one another during the second half of the twentieth century.

However, each side had a very different survival mechanism. For Israel, survival in the Middle East required building a strong, independent nation that relied on a powerful defense force, a vibrant economy, and a cohesive social infrastructure. On the other hand, within an American society that demanded assimilation to achieve acceptance, the Jewish community depended on pluralism to find meaning and strength.

For Israel, survival in the Middle East required building a strong, independent nation. On the other hand, within an American society that demanded assimilation to achieve acceptance, the Jewish community depended on pluralism to find meaning and strength.

These survival strategies should have served as means to specific critical goals not ends in themselves. Yet this is precisely how the two sides now relate to each other: the inability of American Jews to fully understand the nationalism within Israeli society and Israelis’ failure to understand contemporary American Jewry’s pluralism.

As the chasm between the two communities widened, Diaspora Jewry’s funding and lobbying have aimed to “show the light” of exceptionalism, universalism, and pluralism to Israel. Many Israeli leaders have shown little reverence for the Diaspora’s involvement in their national affairs — but they rely on those personal relationships to placate any discontent abroad and leverage as much political and financial support as possible.

Adding to this dysfunction is the fact that legacy Jewish organizations still insist that communication between Diaspora Jews and Israelis must pass through them, even though their roles have become increasingly irrelevant. Post-World War II Zionism was about the creation of a state struggling to survive in a post-Holocaust era: raising desperately-needed funds and providing political support for the young Jewish State’s survival.

However, 21st century Zionism needs to be about growing a vibrant Jewish state that competes economically and culturally on an international scale. Federations and traditional Jewish organizations struggle with the grassroots contact now possible in the contemporary world. Rather than accepting greater possibilities for authentic bottom-up, peer-to-peer interaction, these institutions respond with increasingly top-heavy resistance and paternalism as defense mechanisms to protect against their decline. Witness, for instance, how their governing bodies have been painfully slow in opening up to alternative voices and next-generation leadership.

The policymakers and funders who constructed and commanded these two separate epicenters, once so intricately tied together within the twentieth century, now are the very guardians of the twenty-first-century divide.

Bridging the Gap

What can American Jewish funders of Israel do to help overcome this malaise? First, we need organizations that don’t impose their view of the world on the other side. Second, we need them to help build new initiatives, new models of education and new experiences for young people that eliminate the divide, not just cross over it.

Many significant initiatives, such as Birthright, MASA, Onward and others, genuinely engage both communities into a greater acceptance of one another. However, these initiatives will never fully succeed in overcoming the divide unless world Jewry’s institutional infrastructure is rapidly reconstructed for the 21st century.

We need new entities that embrace the diversity of the Jewish life with Israel at its center. Israel must be accepted as the leading community in the Jewish world, the key to our future growth and vibrancy as a people. New organizations need to systemically integrate and bring those epicenters into concert with one another.

We need new entities that embrace the diversity of the Jewish life with Israel at its center.

We should start by redirecting our legacy organizations’ missions towards a unified approach to global Jewish peoplehood. Despite our appreciation for the great cultures of Diaspora Jewry, we must embrace Israel’s growing leadership as the nucleus of world Jewry and adjust our institutions to reflect that leadership. The Jewish Community Center movement, for example, must show far more contemporary Israeli and Hebrew productions and fewer reruns of Fiddler on the Roof on their stages. And Federations must integrate Israeli leadership into their systems, rather than just providing financial and political support.

For its part, the Israeli government’s efforts to engage world Jewry cannot be based on merely going back to the legacy institutions that have not adapted to the times. The Israeli government and Jewish funders abroad must open new doors to those not yet at the table. Participation of Diaspora Jewry through a formal mechanism within Israel’s political structure must occur within a spirit of genuine acceptance and not just lip service for short-term political gain. Currently, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevich has suggested requiring the Israeli government to consult world Jewish leaders on issues it deems crucial to Diaspora Jews. (It remains to be seen what exactly that process will be and how likely it would be implemented.)

Political advocacy and well-meaning dialogue alone will not satisfy the needs of  the next generation of Jews living outside of Israel. The modern world depends on genuine people-to-people connections, specifically focused on healthy cultural vibrancy. That means promoting Hebrew as the common language of our people, the same way Yiddish sustained the Diaspora in the early part of the twentieth century. That also means supporting community-based networks that promote contemporary Israeli popular culture in music, the arts, literature, fashion, food, wine, and film to revitalize flagging Jewish identity amongst young Jews abroad.

These changes are the keys to our future as one people. This is the “Big Bet” on Jewish Peoplehood, and a new generation of visionaries, leaders, politicians, funders, and institutions will need to rise and meet the challenge.

Ted Sokolsky is the former CEO of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and consultant to the Jewish Agency for Israel.