Israelis of my generation, those who were born in a world in which the State of Israel is a fact, face the challenge of understanding Israel as a modern state.
We ask ourselves what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state and a democracy, and we struggle to understand what it means to sit on this particular piece of land in the Middle East.
Actively or passively, we all deal with the question, “Why live in Israel and what are the consequences of our choices?”
When I arrived in Milwaukee three years ago as Israel emissary, I was willing and ready to share that aspect of modern Israeli life with the Milwaukee Jewish community.
Surprisingly, I found a community dealing with similar challenges as its members questioned the role of Israel in their lives and as a force in shaping their children’s identities.
I found community members asking, “How can we influence Israel’s future and what does it mean for us as individuals and as a community to be connected to Israel?”
These three years have taught me that our struggles with our identities, as Israeli and American Jews, not only run parallel to each other but also bind us to each other. They reveal our intertwined fates, as we are all equally responsible for ensuring the future of the Jewish people.
As an Israeli, I knewabout the transcendent Jewish bond— regardless of geography or denomination — but I now understand with greater clarity how Jews in Israel and in the United States desperately need one another.
No longer is it true to see the Israeli-American relationship as one in which Americans donate dollars and Israelis provide Jewish neshama (soul).
It is clear to me that the Jewish-American identity will influence my identity as an Israeli; and the Israeli identity will be an integral component in the Jewish-American process.
For example, the Israeli definition of “Who is a Jew” and its answer to the dilemma of citizenship for non-Jews will have a profound effect on Jewish communities around the globe.
Americans also cannot afford to see their fate as separate from that of the Jewish state. An American Judaism that does not accept Israel as part of its core identity will lead us to become two separate tribes, two divergent nations.Can we survive the physical and spiritual implications of such a division?
Israeli and American Jews share not just a religious and cultural history but are undeniably responsible for each other’s future.
The Jewish communities in Israel and in the U.S. are the world’s largest Jewish communities. We together will form the face of the Jewish people in the coming years.
Israelis are still trying to understand their role not just in the state but in the global Jewish nation. A new study, published in mid-June by B’nai B’rith, found that 59 percent of Israel’s Jews think that the Jewish community in Israel needs to support and help Jewish communities abroad. We truly cannot live without each other.
I came here to teach and educate about Israel but I have learned much from this community. I had the chance to experience significant American events up-close (elections and the financial crisis, for example) and was far from home for dramatic Israeli events (military operations in Gaza and the last elections).
After living here for three years, I understand how challenging it is to maintain connections between Jews here and in Israel. Our very experience with our religion is vastly different, affected by our different cultures, challenges and needs.
I have become convinced of the irreplaceable value of face-to-face meetings between Israelis and American Jews. As long as we teach and learn from each other, we may accept our differences and grow from them.
I admit that though I had worked with the organized American Jewish community before, I had never visited the United States and expected people to feel that they are part of me. I didn’t, however, see myself as part of them. I used the word “partnership” but I didn’t take the personal responsibility necessary to be a true partner.
My perspective has radically shifted. I now understand the word “partnership” in a deeper way. I know the extent of our responsibility — as individuals and as communities — to shape our children’s Jewish world.
Rakefet Ginsberg is returning to Israel next month after three years as Israel emissary and director of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel Center.
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