Study: US Jews distance themselves from Israel

danarhea · 09-09-07, 05:40 PM

In a just completed study, only 48% of non-Orthodox Jews in America find that the destruction of Israel would be a tragedy for them, and only 54% of American non-Orthodox Jews feel comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state. Orthodox Jews were not included in the poll.

Judaism and Zionism are not the same thing. Maybe at once time they were the same. After Hitler's atrocities against the Jews, the idea of a Jewish homeland seemed to be an excellent one, but many Jews now do not see it as such, even after attempts to destroy Israel by Egypt and Syria.

Since almost all Orthodox Jews see the creation of Israel as a violation of Mosaic law, I believe this is why they were not included in the poll. Their views are not surprising, but the views of American non-Orthodox Jews are, IMHO, very surprising.

It would be interesting to have a discussion on why support among non-Orthodox American Jews for Israel is declining as it is doing. I would like to see this discussion an intelligent one, with no name calling by those on either side of this issue. This is very important, because this issue is a sensitive one for many on both sides. Lets make this a good discussion, and see what conclusions, if any, we can come to.

Article is here.

new coup for you · 09-09-07, 05:43 PM

God I've met some Jews that were just way more into Israel then they needed to be. Those statistics hearten me though.

A message to all you rabid zionist super Jew ultra Israel supporters out there (particularly the ones on my campus): Seriously, your ****ty country is smaller then New Jersey and I don't care about it one way or the other so would you please just stop. Thank you.

danarhea · 09-09-07, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new coup for you

God I've met some Jews that were just way more into Israel then they needed to be. Those statistics hearten me though.

A message to all you rabid zionist super Jew ultra Israel supporters out there (particularly the ones on my campus): Seriously, your ****ty country is smaller then New Jersey and I don't care about it one way or the other so would you please just stop. Thank you.

Excuse me. I said no name calling please. I want this to be an intelligent discussion. Tirades against Israel or Jews can be taken to another thread, preferably in the basement.

new coup for you · 09-09-07, 05:49 PM

I don't have a problem with Jews. I have a problem with any person, any race or creed, who wont stop talking about the same thing continually.

And I think it's a legitimate point. Why are there Jews in this country that are so myopically obsessed with Israel?

danarhea · 09-09-07, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new coup for you

I don't have a problem with Jews. I have a problem with any person, any race or creed, who wont stop talking about the same thing continually.

And I think it's a legitimate point. Why are there Jews in this country that are so myopically obsessed with Israel?

Could it be that many of them remember the Holocaust, and see the state of Israel as a way to prevent a repeat?

new coup for you · 09-09-07, 06:20 PM

Yeah they've tried to sell me on that one before. But that doesn't explain why guys my age who've never even been to Israel walk around campus wearing IDF shirts.

Thelost1 · 09-09-07, 06:32 PM

As an American Jew, it always bothers me when other Jews expect me support Israel because I am Jewish. I am an American, not an Israeli.

I don't have an Israeli citizenship, any relatives or friends in Israel, or any financial interests in Israel.

Hell, the Jewish religion doesn't even have a geographical centre (like the Vatican for Catholocism), so I really don't get why American Jews care about Israel.

bhkad · 09-09-07, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Although Israel won its existence more than 50 years ago, a new and insidious critique has begun to spread, attacking anew the legitimacy of Israel's very establishment as a Jewish state. The new line does not come from Tehran or Riyadh but, surprisingly from largely European intellectuals and certain voices on the fringe American Left, surfacing recently in The Guardian and The New York Review of Books. It proposes the elimination of Israel and is generally accompanied by calls to establish a bi-national Palestinian-Jewish state in its place.1 The new anti-Zionists invariably start with the claim that there are no Jewish rights to sovereignty in Israel, or that, in any case, Jewish nationalism is inherently unjust.

Answering the New Anti-Zionists

Quote:

Why Should a North American Jewish Teenager Care About Israel?
By Dan Garwood

Exploration of Topic :
Israel: the name evokes much meaning for most people who have spent some time at a NFTY event, Jewish summer camp or religious school. Some will recall that Israel is the Jewish state in the Middle East. Others will note that it is the historical homeland of the Jews; still others will recognize a spiritual connection to the land. There are numerous responses to the concept of Israel, a country embedded with history, culture, and mystery. For some the connection is recognized; for others it remains ambiguous.

URJ - Why Should a North American Jewish Teenager Care About Israel?

bhkad · 09-09-07, 08:34 PM

Quote:

My Top Four Reasons to Care About Israel
Here are my top four reasons American Jews should care deeply and passionately about Israel:

1) Security.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg argues that absolute powerlessness corrupts as completely as absolute power because it invites persecution.

Jewish history is a catalogue of such powerlessness: expulsions, pogroms, blood libels…

The early Zionists understood that a sovereign Jewish state was the only answer to the cyclical, but unending vulnerability and persecution of a powerless Jewish people.

If Israel existed just 10 years earlier, Europe’s Jews not only would have found haven from Hitler’s ovens, Israel would have taken out the ovens.

Where other nations may be immobilized by “mitigating” concerns, Israel remains committed to the well being of the Jewish people everywhere, even here.

If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

2) Identity.

Jews are not just adherents of a religion. We are a family, and Israel is our ancestral home. As such, Israel evokes the warmth of nostalgia, a longing for sights, sounds, and smells that we may only know from stories or the deep recesses of our souls.

Israel is the place we can most deeply and fully be ourselves.

There is nothing like being in Israel during Hanukkah and seeing the menorahs blazing in every town square, home, and store window. Israel is our true home, and we are stronger inside ourselves when we nourish that connection.

3) Covenant.

Longing for the land of Israel is perhaps the oldest covenantal tradition of Judaism, older than brit milah. The land of Israel links us with our past and our future. It links us with each other and with God. It provides us with spiritual transcendence.

Our passion for Israel contributes to the ongoing relationship between God and the Jewish people. Whenever we support Israel, financially, politically, economically, or emotionally, we are helping to keep the covenant between God and the Jewish people alive.

4) Hope.

Israel is all about hope: the hope that a ragged band of slaves, or survivors, could build a life of dignity and independence; the hope that the desert could bloom, the hope, currently much strained, that enemies can someday become friends.

I saw this most clearly last summer on our synagogue mission to Israel. On the Golan Heights, I was surprised by a profusion of statues lining the path to the defensive bunkers. Our guide explained that the fields had been covered with the remains of destroyed tanks after the ’73 Yom Kippur War. Israeli soldiers had converted the blasted metal pieces into these whimsical statues. The modern equivalents of swords were beaten not just into plowshares but into life-affirming art.

Anything is possible as long as hope remains alive. The very existence of Israel is a symbol of the hope not only that the Jewish people will survive but that someday every human being will be able to sit in safety and satisfaction under his or her vine and fig tree.

Israel protects us. Israel unites us. Israel gives us purpose. Israel gives us hope in a better future. What happens to Israel will affect us, whether or not we care about it or think it will. But if we do care, if we do think about it, if we participate in its wellbeing, we will be the ones to gain the most, through the inner strength, the communal connection, the spiritual fulfillment, and the energy to go on, even in the face of set backs. All this becomes possible through the promise and miracle of Israel, our Promised Land.

Beliefnet: Virtual Talmud - Jewish blog, Beliefnet blog on Judaism and Jewish issues, Rabbis blog

new coup for you · 09-09-07, 08:35 PM

If only there wasn't people already living there.