I’m finally doing it. I’m getting my Jewish, aka Israeli, citizenship. Sometime this year (i.e. 5782 or as soon as Covid lets me) I will take a Nefesh B’Nefesh flight to Israel, disembark, kiss the ground, go into the terminal and register as an Israeli citizen.
Really well written article, laying out in an organized way long-term demographic trends and factors influencing the growing centrality of Israel to Jewish life. If anything, in my opinion, it understates the decline in Diaspora Jewry, especially in America. Firstly, because the criteria for counting the number of Jews in America is a very low bar. The large majority of Jews in America are completely secular, and as one goes down the age cohort, younger North American Jews are increasingly intermarried, increasingly unaffiliated, with little or no substantive Jewish education, who speak no Hebrew, have never even visited Israel and whose Jewish identity (for census or population survey purposes) derives from ancestral ethnic descent and secondary cultural influences. By contrast, even the most secular Israeli is deeply immersed in Jewish culture - through the Hebrew language, the calendar of public holidays, the education system, the low and high culture, and the national political discourse of an overwhelmingly Jewish society.
In America, the non-Orthodox who constitute the majority of Jews are overwhelmingly liberal Americans first, and Jewish Americans second. It is increasingly uncomfortable for Jews supportive of Israel to feel welcome in their traditional political home of the Democratic Party, or (thanks to the rise of the woke ideology of intersectionalism) even in their places of work, especially in the worlds of academia, entertainment and the non-profits. This combines with the rising demographics of non-European immigration and immigrants from cultures unsympathetic, or even hostile, to Jews and to Israel. The growing political and cultural chasm between American Jews and their Israeli cousins has been widely noted and is a real cause for concern, not only for the unity of the Jewish people, but for the political and military security of Israel, given the importance of America's political and military support of the Jewish state.
One other factor which Jason did not mention is the significant percentage of the Diaspora Jewish population that comes from emigrating Israelis, (including “Russian Israelis” i.e. Russian Jews who have spent time living in Israel). Unfortunately for the Diaspora Jewish communities to which they come, the secular Jewish culture which maintained them in Israel does not readily translate into a sustaining culture in the Diaspora, which was traditionally centred around the synagogue and religious practice. These new additions to the Jewish Diaspora are not religious, and no longer informed by the language, calendar and other cultural inputs, so that this infusion of Jewish immigration to the diaspora appears non-sustaining vis a vis future generations.
Jason's bold decision to throw in his lot with Israel is illustrative of a Diaspora Jewish version of the “80/20 rule”. While 80% of the Jewish diaspora is increasingly attenuated in its Jewish identity and commitment, there is also a 20% which is more committed, educated, and involved than ever. The evolution of Jason's innovative thinking about alternative ways of “moving to Israel” open up new possibilities for how the 20% who ARE committed Jews might strengthen and give concrete expression to that identification, involvement and commitment.
Really well written article, laying out in an organized way long-term demographic trends and factors influencing the growing centrality of Israel to Jewish life. If anything, in my opinion, it understates the decline in Diaspora Jewry, especially in America. Firstly, because the criteria for counting the number of Jews in America is a very low bar. The large majority of Jews in America are completely secular, and as one goes down the age cohort, younger North American Jews are increasingly intermarried, increasingly unaffiliated, with little or no substantive Jewish education, who speak no Hebrew, have never even visited Israel and whose Jewish identity (for census or population survey purposes) derives from ancestral ethnic descent and secondary cultural influences. By contrast, even the most secular Israeli is deeply immersed in Jewish culture - through the Hebrew language, the calendar of public holidays, the education system, the low and high culture, and the national political discourse of an overwhelmingly Jewish society.
In America, the non-Orthodox who constitute the majority of Jews are overwhelmingly liberal Americans first, and Jewish Americans second. It is increasingly uncomfortable for Jews supportive of Israel to feel welcome in their traditional political home of the Democratic Party, or (thanks to the rise of the woke ideology of intersectionalism) even in their places of work, especially in the worlds of academia, entertainment and the non-profits. This combines with the rising demographics of non-European immigration and immigrants from cultures unsympathetic, or even hostile, to Jews and to Israel. The growing political and cultural chasm between American Jews and their Israeli cousins has been widely noted and is a real cause for concern, not only for the unity of the Jewish people, but for the political and military security of Israel, given the importance of America's political and military support of the Jewish state.
One other factor which Jason did not mention is the significant percentage of the Diaspora Jewish population that comes from emigrating Israelis, (including “Russian Israelis” i.e. Russian Jews who have spent time living in Israel). Unfortunately for the Diaspora Jewish communities to which they come, the secular Jewish culture which maintained them in Israel does not readily translate into a sustaining culture in the Diaspora, which was traditionally centred around the synagogue and religious practice. These new additions to the Jewish Diaspora are not religious, and no longer informed by the language, calendar and other cultural inputs, so that this infusion of Jewish immigration to the diaspora appears non-sustaining vis a vis future generations.
Jason's bold decision to throw in his lot with Israel is illustrative of a Diaspora Jewish version of the “80/20 rule”. While 80% of the Jewish diaspora is increasingly attenuated in its Jewish identity and commitment, there is also a 20% which is more committed, educated, and involved than ever. The evolution of Jason's innovative thinking about alternative ways of “moving to Israel” open up new possibilities for how the 20% who ARE committed Jews might strengthen and give concrete expression to that identification, involvement and commitment.