JPPI’s 2023 Jewish World Dialogue examined the growing polarization and uncivil discourse within Israel and Jewish communities worldwide – especially in regard to Israeli government policies affecting religious pluralism in Israel, the balance of power between the Israeli judiciary and the other branches of government, and the administered/occupied territories (Judea and Samaria, aka the West Bank) post-l967.

By: Dr. Shlomo Fischer, Dr. John Ruskay

Project Coordinator: Jonathan Siedel

Editor: Barry Geltman

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During the Dialogue process we listened to the opinions of Jewish leaders abroad and Israelis regarding the question: To what extent is Israeli intervention in Diaspora affairs desirable and what are the preferred ways to realize it? The Dialogue provides a new and interesting perspective on Israel-Diaspora relations.

Opening Remarks: Prof. Yedidia Stern, President, JPPI

Presentation of Findings Dr. John Ruskay, Senior Fellow, JPPI

Comment: Dr. Nachman Shai, Minister of Diaspora Affairs

Comment: Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, Former Executive Vice President, Rabbinical Assembly 

Summary: Amb. Stuart Eizenstat, Co-chair, JPPI

The post JPPI’s Jewish World Dialogue: The State of Israel, the Diaspora, and the Nation-State Law first appeared on The Jewish People Policy Institute.

The post The State of Israel, the Diaspora, and the Nation-State Law first appeared on The Jewish People Policy Institute.

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70 Years of Israel-Diaspora Relations: The Next Generation

Project Heads: Shmuel Rosner and John Ruskay
Contributors: Noah Slepkov, Dov Maimon,
Dan Feferman, Uzi Rebhun, Adar Schieber
Editors: Barry Geltman and Rami Tal

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Main findings:

The findings reflect what emerged in the course of this year’s Dialogue process – a framework in which engaged Jews, often occupying positions of leadership in the Diaspora communities, are predominantly represented.

• Israel is perceived as the driving force of the Jewish people and, accordingly, is felt to bear an outsized share of responsibility for the Jewish people’s fate.
• Diaspora and Israeli Jews agree that all Jews have a “stake” in the State of Israel and, therefore, the right and duty to help sustain it.
• Diaspora Jews expect Israel to provide cultural and ideological inspiration. Practical assistance in the ongoing management of community life is expected to a much lesser extent.
• Alongside their duty vis-à-vis the State of Israel, Jews expect Israel to listen to them and show them consideration. Most expect particular consideration on issues related to the state’s “Jewishness.” Regarding policy on other issues, notably security, their expectations of input are lower.
• Israeli Jews are willing to take Diaspora positions into account on matters of religion and state, but not on issues of security or foreign policy.
• The “distancing” discourse is gaining currency; today’s prevailing opinion, particularly in the Diaspora, is that Israel and Diaspora Jewry are growing farther apart. Surprisingly, this view is more common among older Jews than among younger Jews.
• Diaspora Jews are disappointed with the level of attentiveness and consideration they receive from the Israeli government. The disappointment centers around, but is not limited to, the Western Wall crisis (for unaffiliated Jews, Israel’s lack of attentiveness increases the degree of alienation).
• Nevertheless, the relationship with Israel is still a significant and irreplaceable element for affiliated Diaspora Jews.

Policy recommendations:

Israel-Diaspora relations roadmap, 2018
In all of this year’s Dialogue discussions, participants were given a chart to review, with the aim of outlining principles and points of consensus on major issues that stand between Israel and the Diaspora. The discussions related to the chart were preceded by a brief review of the Ben-Gurion-Blaustein Agreement (dating from early 1950, it laid a groundwork for Israel-Diaspora relations), and participants were asked to update various sections of the agreement, in keeping with their understanding of 21^st century realities.

For some groups the chart-completion process was lengthy and meticulous, for others it was quicker. However, the entire array of conversations, and the insights raised during other portions of the discussion, together with the information obtained via the participant survey were sufficient to allow a basic framework for major principles of Israel-Diaspora relations to emerge, as understood by the Dialogue participants, and as formulated by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI). Naturally, such a framework cannot consistently reflect the specific positions of each individual participant or reader; rather, it addresses Israel-Diaspora relations more broadly. In our view, this framework does reflect a reasonable consensus shared by a substantial group of Jews who took part in the Dialogue and devoted thought and effort to the formulation of an appropriate model for relations. We recommend that the Israeli government, Israeli social organizations, and major Diaspora Jewish institutions look upon this framework as a roadmap for managing the relationship. In addition to the framing chart, we have included a short section detailing additional recommendations specifically directed toward Israeli and Diaspora leaders, based on the Dialogue discussions and on JPPI’s subsequent analysis.

Additional Major Recommendations for Israel:

Israeli resources allocated to the Diaspora should be channeled toward helping communities in distress or crisis. Communities capable of marshaling their own resources should remain responsible for their own affairs.

Diaspora Jewry should be accorded space for meaningful and diverse cultural expression in the Israeli arena. It is the Israeli government’s duty to remove obstacles to creating such a space (in this regard the government would do well, as a first step toward rebuilding trust, to unfreeze the agreed-upon Kotel arrangement, and implement it).

Resources should be directed to reinforcing projects that promote Israeli-Jewish culture – a culture that generates impact, provides inspiration, and fosters Israeli-Diaspora connections. Cultural activity of this kind should be goal-oriented, and its impact should be measured via professional follow-up analysis and assessment instruments.

Israel and its institutions have an obligation to educate the younger generation of Israelis to understand their responsibility for the fate of all Jews, whoever and wherever they may be, and the meaning of this responsibility – including the duty to take into consideration the needs of non-Israeli Jews.

Israel should regularly take measures designed to show solidarity with Diaspora Jewry and the recognition of its importance. Such measures might include naming streets for important Diaspora leaders, regular symbolic participation of dignitaries in major Israeli public ceremonies (for example, lighting the Memorial Day torches), and more.

Additional Major Recommendations for the Diaspora:

Communal Diaspora discourse on Israel should be a productive discourse of partnership, patience and support, and should reflect the recognition that the shaping of Israeli society – and of Israeli-Diaspora relations in the present era – is a process that will take time and be marked by ups and downs.

Publicly goading Israel as a means of organizational, philanthropic or community advancement is damaging to Israel-Diaspora relations and should be avoided.

The Diaspora Jewish communities are faced with the important task of fostering a sense of connection to Israel among the younger generation. They must ensure that the next generation includes Jews who are attached to Israel. Israel can and should aid in this effort to the best of its ability, and act with awareness of the consequences that its behavior sometimes has in terms of Diaspora Jewry’s sense of connection to Israel.

Additional major recommendations for Israel and the Diaspora:

The Israel-Diaspora dialogue should focus on reinforcing shared interests, creating joint projects, and identifying a shared and relevant cultural platform. A discourse that concentrates on distancing will itself produce distancing.

It is incumbent upon Israeli and Diaspora leaders to manage confrontations between them in a measured manner, and to refrain from statements that intensify feelings of alienation between the Diaspora and Israel. Well-managed interaction should be the basis for active participation in meaningful Israel-Diaspora dialogue.

Encounters and dialogue should be initiated between groups of Jews from different streams, and between people of differing opinions. “Liberal New York Jews with Rishon Likudniks and Shilo settlers” (as opposed to “liberal New York Jews with Tel Aviv liberals,” or “Borough Park Orthodox with Kiryat Arba settlers”).

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Jerusalem and the Jewish People: Unity and Division

Project Heads: Shmuel Rosner and John Ruskay
Contributors: Noah Slepkov and Chaya Ekstein
Editors: Rami Tal and Barry Geltman

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