{"id":4093,"date":"2021-04-12T12:26:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T09:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jppi.org.il\/?post_type=article&p=4093"},"modified":"2024-02-27T15:00:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T13:00:51","slug":"israel-advocacy-and-israel-education-leadership-must-decide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/en\/israel-advocacy-and-israel-education-leadership-must-decide\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Advocacy and Israel Education \u2014 Leadership Must Decide"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The conflation of Israel advocacy and Israel education has resulted in growing numbers of North American Jews ill prepared to understand and negotiate the complexity of contemporary Israel.<\/p>\n

New initiatives are launched to prepare young and old to respond to calls for BDS, to defend Israel’s legitimacy, to deepen their appreciation of the historic achievements of the Jewish state reborn. Leadership avoids investing in substantive Israel education and as a result, the drift continues, gulfs widen, large numbers turn away. Israel education can provide contexts for thinking critically about complex Israel related issues and developing one\u2019s own vision of what Israel can and should be. While intensifying debate, Israel education can also strengthen connection and engagement. It is time for Jewish leadership to invest significantly in serious sustained Israel education.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Pre-State Visions<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many years, I have taught a class titled \u201cPre-State Visions: Jabotinsky, Ben Gurion, and Magnes\u201d in which participants read excerpts from each of these pre-state Zionist leaders. After outlining the context of the Yishuv during the Palestine Mandate (l920-1948), participants zero in on the different visions these leaders proposed for the emerging \u201cJewish homeland in Palestine\u201d \u2014 the language of the Balfour Declaration. Each held different views on core issues: Should the future homeland\/state be socialist or capitalist? Secular or religious? Should it be a Jewish state or a bi-national state? The responses to these dilemmas provided the ideological foundation for the pre-state movements \u2014 a harbinger for the robust and noisy multi-party politics of Israel today.<\/p>\n

Each of these Zionist schools of thought had partner organizations in North America and Europe which amplified their visions and mobilized support \u2014 financial and human. Back then, American Zionist leaders identified and supported groups that had conflicting visions of what the future entity in Palestine should be. As but two examples, if you were an adherent of the revisionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky, you likely supported a Jewish state on both sides of the River Jordan; and if you were a member of Hashomer Hatzair, you likely supported a bi- national socialist state.<\/p>\n

Early Statehood<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Israel was attacked after declaring independence in May l948, world Jewry rallied to provide essential financial and political support during the state\u2019s first decades. In North America, a wide network of national Jewish organizations emerged that focused on telling the history of 20th century Jewry \u2014 from the Holocaust to the building of the Jewish state \u2014 and marshalled historic levels of financial and political support. Post l967, Israel advocacy enabled American Jews to learn the history of the young state, embrace its achievements, and mobilize political support on its behalf. This became, as Jonathan Woocher z\u2019\u2019l described in his 1985 book Sacred Survival, a core pillar of the \u201ccivil religion\u201d of North American Jewry. The American Zionist groups, which had heralded different visions of what the future State of Israel should be, withered. North American Jewry focused, both in its advocacy and education programs, on teaching and inculcating Israel\u2019s founding core narrative \u2014 in Weizmann\u2019s words, \u201cthe solution for a people without a land and a land without a people.\u201d Israel’s dazzling accomplishments were celebrated, support was mobilized, and checks were written. This period will stand as one of the great accomplishments of 20th century American Jewry. However, growing sectors of North American Jewry \u2014 particularly the younger generations who had not lived through either the Holocaust or the state\u2019s first decades \u2014 found themselves increasingly ill prepared to understand or negotiate the complexity of contemporary Israel.<\/p>\n

Israel Advocacy\/Israel Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Israel advocacy can be understood as mobilizing American Jewry to stand with and champion the people of Israel as they build the state, Israel education can be understood as providing settings to study the historic connection of the Jewish People with Israel, the history of Zionism, the history of Jews and Palestinian Arabs in Palestine\/Israel, and to understand and work their way through some of the difficult \u201cgray areas.\u201d The purpose of Israel education is both to deepen connection with the State of Israel and its people and to provide contexts for students young and old to develop their own visions of what Israel can and should be.<\/p>\n

Four examples of \u201cgray issues\u201d that beckon serious examination: <\/strong><\/p>\n

In a May 2018 article titled \u201cAs Israel turns 70, many young American Jews turn away<\/a>,\u201d Northeastern University Professor Dov Waxman wrote that most young Jews are liberal and it is increasingly \u201chard for them to reconcile the values they have internalized with the idea of a state that gives preferential treatment to Jews at the expense of its non-Jewish citizens.\u201d As Waxman observed, most American Jews are liberal nationalists, committed to equality. The Zionism that prevailed is a conservative nationalism, preferencing Jews. A second example: Our narrative has Israel being continually attacked by its hostile Arab neighbors (and we were). However, both the Suez War of l956 and the 1967 Six-Day War are now viewed by some historians as pre-emptive wars launched by Israel (with allies in l956) in response to aggressive threatening behavior from its Arab neighbors. A third: While many celebrate Israel as the lone democracy in the Middle East, Israel\u2019s treatment of its Arab citizens garners widespread scrutiny. Fourth, Israel\u2019s treatment of the Palestinians since l967 is increasingly regarded as a hostile occupation that violates human rights. Each of these issues is markedly different but they are among those that surface and require serious study \u2014 introducing students to their complexity, the various perspectives on each, and their multiple surrounding narratives. The objective is to help students learn about the issues, recognize different perspectives, and develop their own views.<\/p>\n

Young American Jews and Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n

These issues can be studied and worked through, but not by ignoring them. Young American Jews are increasingly introduced to these and similar issues on college campuses, which leads them to often ask \u201cwhy didn’t they tell us?\u201d A 2018 qualitative study of high school graduates from four Jewish day schools \u2014 two Modern Orthodox and two community schools \u2014 was prepared by Rosov Consulting with the support of the Avi Chai Foundation. In the 2018 report titled \u201cDevoted, Disengaged, and Disillusioned<\/a>,\u201d one high school alum captured a view shared by many: \u201cI realized how one sided the information was that we were provided in high school.\u201d Another likened his day school education to being \u201cplugged into a propaganda machine.\u201d The Rosov\/Avi Chai report concludes \u201cwe are left with a strong sense of a group of individuals who feel their schools have failed them.\u201d To repeat, this was not a study of marginal Jews, it was a study of graduates of Modern Orthodox and Jewish community high schools.<\/p>\n

Having been denied space or time to grapple with these and other issues in their day schools, synagogues, congregational schools, Jewish summer camps, or Israel trips, students are often angry \u2014 why didn’t they tell us? Growing numbers feel bewildered if not betrayed, and some intuit that Jewish leadership lacks confidence that studying such issues can lead to positive outcomes for identified Jews who care deeply about Israel.<\/p>\n

While empirical data about the long-term impact of Israel education is scarce, anecdotal reports and preliminary studies appear to confirm that providing contexts to examine such issues strengthens long term connection to and engagement with Israel. Dr. Bethamie Horowitz authored an important 2020 study of the alumni of Kivunim<\/a> \u2014 an Israel based gap year program. Of the 589 alumni who attended Kivunim from 2006 to 2019, 65 percent participated in the study. Overwhelmingly, the study details how Kivunim alumni appreciate and value the program\u2019s educational vision, which includes studying the historic debates within the Zionist movement, requires the study of both Hebrew and Arabic, and fosters critical thinking about the complexity of Israel\u2019s history and contemporary challenges. The report concludes: \u201cAlumni felt that Kivunim gave them a way to address the most troubling challenges of contemporary Israel while helping them develop profound connection to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israeli Reality<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reality of Israel is complicated. In all societies, one\u2019s founding mythic history avoids nuanced issues and there is often distance between a country’s lofty ideals and contemporary realities. Americans are now grappling with this vis-\u00e0-vis race in America. The delta between what is and what could be, the world as we know it and our visions for the future, provides the context for deep study, for more deeply understanding Israel, and for determining how one can most effectively be an ally in shaping Israel\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Israel remains a dazzling historic achievement \u2014 politically, economically, culturally and beyond. Israel also faces a range of challenges, including maintaining its security in a changing regional and global context, reducing economic inequality, clarifying the proper religion-state balance, strengthening the fabric of Israel\u2019s democracy including the demographic challenge of Israeli rule over millions of Palestinians who do not enjoy civil and political equality. These challenges provide a rich agenda for study and learning, which can lead to enhanced engagement.<\/p>\n

Effective Israel Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be sure, effective multi-year Israel education will have many objectives. It will seek to enable the student to learn about the historical, cultural, and religious connection of the Jewish People to the land and people of Israel. It will enable the learner to understand the historical context in which Zionism emerged. It can provide a window into and an experience of Israel\u2019s amazing cultural, economic and technological vibrancy. Effective Israel education will speak to the learner\u2019s heart and head. But beyond these important objectives, effective Israel education can enable the learner to think critically about the complicated \u201cgray\u201d issues of Israel\u2019s history and its contemporary challenges and provide the context for each student to develop his or her own views and visions of what Israel can be.<\/p>\n

While most American Zionist groups withered over time after l948, small groups emerged on both the political right and left advocating policies for different visions of Israel\u2019s future. That said, the largest centrist organizations of American Jewry \u2014 the Reform and Conservative religious movements, the Federations, the national coordinating bodies of Jewish community centers, Hillel, and Jewish summer camps \u2014 migrated to advocacy. As their memberships reflected the wide spectrum of views held by American Jews on issues in Israel, in avoiding issues where there were growing differences of opinion \u2014 particularly in recent decades as debates about settlements and religious diversity in Israel became more important for American Jews \u2014 the largest North American Jewish organizations became potent and effective advocates for Israel. Political leadership in Israel \u2014 whether under the Labor Party or the Likud \u2014 and the leadership of the Jewish Agency welcomed this transition. In a hostile and challenging environment, Israel\u2019s leadership welcomed an American Jewry that was supportive and actively advocated on its behalf, not one with visible debates about core values, conflicting visions, or alternative policies.<\/p>\n

But we are at a different moment. To be sure, strong Israel advocacy will continue to be essential moving forward \u2014 mobilizing North American Jewry to stand with the people of Israel. However, if we are to engage future generations with Israel, we will need to provide time and space in our key Jewish educational institutions \u2014 day schools, Jewish summer camps, youth groups, in synagogues and on Israel trips \u2014 to learn about and grapple with the complexity of Israel’s history and the range of views on contemporary issues. We will need to provide a context for young and old to forge their own views and visions of what Israel can and should be. When I was quietly discussing these ideas with colleagues some years back, one asked: If we place the challenging issues on the table, might large numbers of Jews walk away? To which I answered: Most will emerge with a far clearer understanding of why and how Israel was created, of its legitimacy, and the multiple challenges it continues to face. And this can lead to strengthened identification with Israel, commitment to it, and active engagement. Credible Israel education can enable young and old to legitimate Israel on the basis of views developed after wrestling with Israel\u2019s history and contemporary issues and aligning their views about Israel with their deepest values.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are examples of serious Israel education sprinkled throughout the landscape of American Jewry, but they are few and far between. They must be massively scaled; Jewish educators need to be prepared to lead such efforts; age appropriate curricula will need to be developed. This will require significant sustained funding and will only take place if Jewish leadership in Israel and North America recognize the urgency to do so. This will require encouraging young and old to debate core assumptions and policies and settings to develop one\u2019s own vision, conflicting visions, of what Israel can and should be. If seriously undertaken, it will be messy and noisy, reminiscent of pre-state Zionist debates, but the noise will reflect heightened engagement in shaping Israel\u2019s future. With confidence in the legitimacy of Israel and the Jewish People, serious sustained Israel education can stem the drift and distancing currently underway.<\/p>\n

The choice is before leadership. Will we invest in serious Israel education? Or will the attraction of a still potent support\/advocacy engine, if declining in numbers, mean that the drift continues and more and more Jews turn away \u2014 not in anger, not as opponents \u2014 but because there is simply no place within our community to grapple with the complexity of contemporary Israel? The choice is before us.<\/p>\n

Notes <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Bethamie Horowitz and Amanda Winer, Kivunim Alumni Study, 2020: www.kivunim.org\/alumni-study<\/a><\/p>\n

Professor Dov Waxman, \u201cAs Israel turns 70, many young American Jews turn away,\u201d May 3, 2018. The Conversation: theconversation.com\/as-israel-turns-70-many-young-american-jews-turn-away-95271<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDevoted, Disengaged, Disillusioned\u201d Rostov Consulting, November 2018: www.rosovconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/7-Years-Later-Final-Report-FINAL-20181101.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel Education: The Next Edge<\/em>, Edited by Jonny Ariel, The Jewish Agency, 2020.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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