Prof Dror
צילום: צביקה טישלר
An Israeli Jewish people policy
Without a serious change in policy on the part of Israeli leaders, a serious deterioration in relations between Israel and Diaspora Jews is inevitable
Among the many domains in which Israel lack a substantive policy, the Jewish people occupies a "place of honor".
There is plenty of talk on "the Diaspora as a strategic asset" and its financial support is requested, world Jewry is being mobilized against Iran, the rate of assimilation is observed with shock and emotions boil in the face of anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues and cemeteries. There is some improvement in trying to take care of the physical security of endangered communities.
All these are accompanied by a multitude of declarations on the nature of Israel as "the state of the Jewish people", multiple appearances of Israeli senior leaders in Jewish forums around the world and repetitive declarations that aliyah is the solution for all troubles.
But deep understanding of the dynamics of the Jewish people and correct perception of the emerging dangers to Israel-Diaspora relations are nearly completely missing; and crafting of an Israeli Jewish people policy fitting the conditions of the twenty-first century is not included in the public agenda of Israel.
These attitudes towards the Diaspora are rooted in history and had some justifications in the realities of the past (though I think that in this matter Ben-Gurion made one of his few statecraft mistakes). But the world is changing rapidly, including the State of Israel and the Jewish people as a whole, making clinging to what may have been effective in the past a reliable prescription for dismal failure in the future.
This is clearly the case in political-security matters, but is not less true in respect to the future of Israel-Diaspora relations. In the absence of a sharp turn in policy, or more correctly in the lack of any real policy towards the Diaspora, serious deterioration in relations is assured, with irreparable damage to the future of both Israel as a Jewish-Zionist state and the Jewish people in its dispersals.
Strong socio-historic processes will result in a growing distance between the State of Israel and the Diaspora, unless an innovative policy will prevent this "natural" development. Substantial divergences between the experience of being a Jew in Israel and in the Diaspora, together with radical differences in social structure will produce a growing distance between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.
If the disappearance of the generation which experienced the dramatic events of the establishment and building of the State of Israel after the Shoah is added to the diagnosis, together with globalization of western culture which forcefully impacts on the majority of the Jewish people everywhere, then the unavoidable conclusion is that there is near-certainty that deep historic processes will weaken and dilute more and more the connections between Israel and the Diaspora. This will be the case, unless we succeed to bend historic trajectories into a desired direction.
To do so it is essential, first of all, to get rid of illusions and delusions stemming from the short-sighted fixation on what are before one's nose, instead of correct assessment of basic processes which are below the surface but shaping the future forcefully.
At present Israel continues to benefit from very visible expressions of identification by parts of the Jewish people in the Diaspora: Israel's policies are widely supported, money is flowing in, delegations come and go and declarations are pronounced noisily. Therefore, Israeli politicians, the vast majority of whom concentrate on what is obvious to the naked eye, lack any incentive to craft a new grand-policy towards the Diaspora, all the more so as they are overloaded with difficult current problems and Diaspora Jews do not vote for the Knesset.
Furthermore, most Israeli policy makers, and also intellectuals and opinion shapers, suffer from lack of understanding and also ignorance and misperceptions of Diaspora realities, and especially so on the mind sets and feelings of the majority of the younger generation.
Not a mission impossible
Even if the issue is well understood, it is not easy to base Israeli-Diaspora relations on a sustainable foundation. But this is not a mission impossible. If we are creative in thinking and acting then processes can be molded which will meet requirements, including for instance:
- Developing core curricula in Jewish and Jewish People studies to be shared by Israel and the Diaspora, with care being taken to offer a range of options so as to fit value diversity.
- Inclusion of understanding-providing programs on the Jewish people and its dynamics in the mass media;
- A radical change in the concept of aliyah, with encouragement of part-aliyah including multiple residences in Israel and the Diaspora;
- Substantive consultation with Diaspora leaders on Israeli decisions of importance to the Jewish people as a whole, with cautious movement towards establishing a "Consultative Jewish People Council" related to the Knesset, entitled to prepare advisory opinions, composed of representatives of the Diaspora;
- Explicit and declared recognition of the right of Jews in the Diaspora to criticize Israeli policies;
- New modalities for Jewish investments in Israel, combining profitability with expression of solidarity;
- Shared challenging projects, including "mending the world" (tikun olam) activities.
- Strengthening of identification symbols and shared centers, such as making Jerusalem into the civilizational capital of Judaism and the Jewish people;
- Setting up in Jerusalem a Jewish People Leadership Academy, for shared study and discourse by Israeli and Diaspora leaders, with special attention to young ones`
- Deepening the nature of Israel as a "Jewish State" and making it more visible;
- And more.
An essential step for moving in the suggestion direction, in addition to correct reading of the emerging dangers to Israel-Diaspora relations, is a self-perception and self-understanding of the Jewish leaders of Israel as being a part of Jewish people leadership, with allocation of attention and effort to advance the situation of Jews wherever they are. With distinguished but all too few exceptions, such a conception does not exist, other than on a purely declarative level which causes more damage than benefit.
The author is the founding president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, recipient of the Israel Prize, and professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
