Action is the antidote to despair
By David Zenlea
Ha'aretz, Dec14, 2022
“Most American Jews have no relationship with Israel. Now would be an excellent time to start one.
“"American Jews and Israeli Jews share this complex navigation of being both powerful and vulnerable,' said Masua Sagiv, Bay Area scholar-in-residence for the Shalom Hartman Institute. 'This is an example of something that we can actually try to think about together.'
"The first and easiest way to do this would be to help those in Israel already doing this work: to, as Sagiv put it, 'highlight the initiatives that we feel should be strengthened.'
“In order to change hearts and minds in Israel, we will have to gently yet assertively share our Torah. Naturally, that means actually visiting the place, and not just for the performative dip in the Dead Sea.
“Such incrementalism is likely to elicit eye rolls from the camp of progressive American Jews who will now, more loudly than ever, call for separation from, and greater criticism of, Israel.
“There are, as it happens, already plenty of people outside of Israel who dislike everything it does and stands for. There are far fewer of those people focusing on working within Israel to effect real change that would be acceptable to those who actually live there. Those of us who truly love the state and want to see it align more closely with liberal values not only account for the majority of American Jews but also, quite possibly, the plurality of Jewish people worldwide.
“'“Even if we disagree, there is a moral meaning to being in a relationship.'"
David Zenlea is a Detroit-based editor with a degree in Jewish Studies from the University of Maryland.
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אנחנו מכנסים הוגים מובילים, פעילים חברתיים, ומחוללי שינוי לעתיד, אמריקאים, ישראלים ופלסטינאים, המחויבים לשיפור החברות שלהם.
نحن أمريكيون وإسرائيليون وفلسطينيون نبني ونكوّن روابط من أجل التعلم والتفكير والمشاركة معًا حتى نشجع الحلول التقدمية بشأن القضايا التي تهمنا جميعًا.