Brit Tzedek v'Shalom
Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace
JTA News
May 18, 2004
By Carl Schrag
BALTIMORE, May 18 - Every week, Sheldon Berman distributes an e-mail compilation of "must-read" articles and commentaries about Israel from a variety of media outlets around the world.
"Everybody's inundated with stuff to read," the Baltimore accountant said recently from behind his cluttered desk. "I try to keep it to 10 pages."
Berman began distributing his e-mail newsletter about three years ago, when he and other members of his synagogue, Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim, decided they needed to take steps to educate their 260 member families about events in Israel.
"We're a very Zionist shul," he said, "and we wanted to prove it."
Just what does it mean to be pro-Israel in America today? How do American Jews express their ties to Israel?
The old joke says that whenever two Jews get together, they have three opinions. That's certainly true of the ways American Jews express their support for, and concern about, the Jewish state.
Does support for Israel mean writing a check, attending a rally, visiting or even moving there? Politically speaking, does it mean defending the government's policies or advocating different ones?
The questions take on added significance at times of crisis in the Jewish state and the answers go a long way in reflecting the relationship between American Jews and Israel.
The American Jewish Committee's 2003 Survey of American Jewish Opinion found that some 74 percent of respondents said they feel very close or fairly close to Israel, and 76 percent agree that "caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew."
A smaller, but still significant, majority of respondents, 63 percent, said they believe they should support the positions of Israel's elected government even if they disagree with them.
But beyond survey numbers are the actions taken.
One measure of support for Israel is a visit or long-term stay. Berman has visited five times in the three and a half years since the Palestinian intifada began. Next year, his son will study in a yeshiva there.
According to Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna, Berman is fairly typical of the Orthodox community.
"There is a huge difference between the Orthodox community and others," Sarna said. "The Orthodox have by and large continued to go to Israel and to send their children to Israel."
Nathan Hyman is an junior at the Orthodox Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore.
"You'd be a different kind of Jew if you were disconnected from Israel," he said. "The message I've gotten from being in this school is that Israel is a cornerstone of the Jewish faith." He added, "It seems natural to be involved."
The school has changed its Israel studies curriculum in light of the current unrest, according to Joshua Gurewitsch, who chairs the Jewish history department.
Students learn to read media accounts of the conflict with a critical eye, and guest speakers help prepare seniors for potentially hostile encounters with anti-Israel activists on college campuses.
Many of Beth Tfiloh's students will get additional reinforcement before going to college. Most of the 90 seniors go to Israel on an extended class trip, and many spend a year studying in yeshivas or other educational programs.
While Orthodox youngsters may have the most all-encompassing immersion in Israel education, other movements also seek to instill in their youths a strong tie to the Jewish homeland.
Just a few miles south of Beth Tfiloh, in Bethesda, Md., members of United Synagogue Youth, the Conservative movement's youth arm, have been volunteering to run a phone bank for the Koby Mandell Foundation, which supports victims of terrorism..
Mandell was a 13-year-old Israeli-American who was bludgeoned to death by Palestinian terrorists in 2001. Mandell's parents had made aliyah from Maryland, where his father, Seth, had been a Hillel director.
One recent night, eight high school students phoned donors across the country to seek support for the foundation's Camp Koby, which provides a camp-style break for Israeli children who have lost a loved one to terrorism.
Taking a quick break between calls, 15-year-old Abe - the organizers asked that last names not be published - said that learning about Mandell helped him put a face on the terrorism he learns about in religious school.
"I feel good to be doing this," he said. "It's better than sitting at home watching TV."
The group surpassed its goal, raising $1,681 for Camp Koby.
Rabbi Barry Block, of the Reform Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas, said his congregants are very interested in Israel. He said that though they had shied away from Israel travel following the collapse of the peace process in late 2000, now "we're back - with a lot of excitement."
This summer, six of his young congregants are going to Israel with the Reform movement's youth arm, the National Federation of Temple Youth. That's the same number that went in 2000, before the intifada began. Another congregant is going to Israel on a high school study program. Last year none went, and the previous year there was only one.
"We've busted the federation's budget for Israel scholarships," Block said with pride.
If resuming travel to Israel is a sign that Jews are adjusting to the new reality of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then a return of dissent and disagreement is another indicator.
Observers say that like Israelis, many American Jews who care about Israel but disagree with the government's policies felt compelled to keep quiet during the early part of the intifada, when Israel was under constant attack.
But recent stirrings on the political left show that the limits of silence are being reached in Israel, and American Jews who disagree with Israeli policy - or are supporting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza - also are speaking up.
"There's more than one way to be pro-Israel," said Steve Masters, 44, a Philadelphia lawyer who was a founder of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, which describes itself as a pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-human rights organization.
Since its founding in April 2002, Brit Tzedek has advocated dismantling Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and pushing Israel's leaders to be more forthcoming in peace negotiations.
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met President Bush in Washington last month, Brit Tzedek delivered to the two leaders a petition signed by 10,000 American Jews calling for the Israeli government to offer financial incentives to settlers who relocate into Israel proper.
Masters, who chairs Brit Tzedek's advocacy and public policy efforts, maintained that the group's positions are embraced by many Israelis.
"I distinguish between support for Israel and support for Israel's government," he said.
Another founder of Brit Tzedek, Marcia Freedman of Berkeley, Calif., accuses the organized community of stifling dissent on Israel. She says the old joke about two Jews having three opinions is no longer accurate.
"Now you get 10 Jews, one allowed opinion. Everything else is traitorous," she said. "It's intimidating to be told, 'You're threatening Israel by saying that.' If you're told that what you're saying is dangerous, you start being quiet."
Some community leaders have dismissed such gripes as unfounded, arguing that there simply are fewer dissenting voices because so many American Jews perceived that even Israel's most generous peace offers elicited a belligerent Arab response.
Some Jews seem to be simply turning away from Israel rather than wrestling with the difficult issues.
"Almost no one talks about Israel," said Gerald Bubis, a prominent figure in left-of-center pro-Israel groups in Los Angeles. "Far more people just are not interested in Israel today because it is just too painful for them. I see it in intangible ways."
As an example, he cited the charities chosen by children at their Bar Mitzvahs. In years past, many children asked that gifts be made to Israel-related charities, he said, but today he sees many more choosing local causes.
Still, in recent months, Bubis has noticed something of a resurgence of left-of-center voices in his community. Attendance has increased at programs sponsored by the local Peace Now chapter and the Progressive Jewish Alliance, which promotes left-of-center views on Israel.
In the small Jewish community of Eugene, Ore., Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin watched with alarm as congregants' discussions about Israel became increasingly heated.
Husbands-Hankin initiated the creation of a Jewish Community Relations Council, hoping it would serve as a tool for internal discussions and formulation of consensus views. But it hasn't always worked as intended.
Some members of the community have dropped out of the JCRC or declined to join at all because they feared it had a left-wing bent. Others have stayed away for the opposite reason, fearing it toes the Israeli government line.
Recently, JCRC members planned to write an opinion column about Israel's West Bank security barrier for the local newspaper. When they couldn't agree on a position even after lengthy debate, the op-ed was shelved, and they turned their attention to issues on which they could agree, such as working with local schools to create a Middle East curriculum free of bias.
The disagreements in a small community like Eugene seem tame compared to the scene in San Francisco.
The director of the region's JCRC, Doug Kahn, noted that thousands of local Jews can be counted on to mobilize around Israel-related issues, but he said he is worried by the large number who simply have "moved on" to other issues or causes.
He added that the collapse of the Israeli left has caused many on the left in his community to step back from their pro-Israel activities.
"It has been a challenge to keep them engaged," Kahn said, adding that a relatively small number have become pro-Palestinian activists.
The real problem is long-term, he said, and it didn't start in the last few years: He points to the 1982 Lebanon War as the beginning of a period in which many American Jews grew disillusioned with Israel.
"It's fairly easy to mobilize the activist core around issues related to campus or media," he said. "There tends to not be enough attention paid to a diminished attachment felt by a larger cross-section of American Jews."
May 18, 2004
By Carl Schrag
BALTIMORE, May 18 - Every week, Sheldon Berman distributes an e-mail compilation of "must-read" articles and commentaries about Israel from a variety of media outlets around the world.
"Everybody's inundated with stuff to read," the Baltimore accountant said recently from behind his cluttered desk. "I try to keep it to 10 pages."
Berman began distributing his e-mail newsletter about three years ago, when he and other members of his synagogue, Suburban Orthodox Congregation Toras Chaim, decided they needed to take steps to educate their 260 member families about events in Israel.
"We're a very Zionist shul," he said, "and we wanted to prove it."
Just what does it mean to be pro-Israel in America today? How do American Jews express their ties to Israel?
The old joke says that whenever two Jews get together, they have three opinions. That's certainly true of the ways American Jews express their support for, and concern about, the Jewish state.
Does support for Israel mean writing a check, attending a rally, visiting or even moving there? Politically speaking, does it mean defending the government's policies or advocating different ones?
The questions take on added significance at times of crisis in the Jewish state and the answers go a long way in reflecting the relationship between American Jews and Israel.
The American Jewish Committee's 2003 Survey of American Jewish Opinion found that some 74 percent of respondents said they feel very close or fairly close to Israel, and 76 percent agree that "caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew."
A smaller, but still significant, majority of respondents, 63 percent, said they believe they should support the positions of Israel's elected government even if they disagree with them.
But beyond survey numbers are the actions taken.
One measure of support for Israel is a visit or long-term stay. Berman has visited five times in the three and a half years since the Palestinian intifada began. Next year, his son will study in a yeshiva there.
According to Brandeis University professor Jonathan Sarna, Berman is fairly typical of the Orthodox community.
"There is a huge difference between the Orthodox community and others," Sarna said. "The Orthodox have by and large continued to go to Israel and to send their children to Israel."
Nathan Hyman is an junior at the Orthodox Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore.
"You'd be a different kind of Jew if you were disconnected from Israel," he said. "The message I've gotten from being in this school is that Israel is a cornerstone of the Jewish faith." He added, "It seems natural to be involved."
The school has changed its Israel studies curriculum in light of the current unrest, according to Joshua Gurewitsch, who chairs the Jewish history department.
Students learn to read media accounts of the conflict with a critical eye, and guest speakers help prepare seniors for potentially hostile encounters with anti-Israel activists on college campuses.
Many of Beth Tfiloh's students will get additional reinforcement before going to college. Most of the 90 seniors go to Israel on an extended class trip, and many spend a year studying in yeshivas or other educational programs.
While Orthodox youngsters may have the most all-encompassing immersion in Israel education, other movements also seek to instill in their youths a strong tie to the Jewish homeland.
Just a few miles south of Beth Tfiloh, in Bethesda, Md., members of United Synagogue Youth, the Conservative movement's youth arm, have been volunteering to run a phone bank for the Koby Mandell Foundation, which supports victims of terrorism..
Mandell was a 13-year-old Israeli-American who was bludgeoned to death by Palestinian terrorists in 2001. Mandell's parents had made aliyah from Maryland, where his father, Seth, had been a Hillel director.
One recent night, eight high school students phoned donors across the country to seek support for the foundation's Camp Koby, which provides a camp-style break for Israeli children who have lost a loved one to terrorism.
Taking a quick break between calls, 15-year-old Abe - the organizers asked that last names not be published - said that learning about Mandell helped him put a face on the terrorism he learns about in religious school.
"I feel good to be doing this," he said. "It's better than sitting at home watching TV."
The group surpassed its goal, raising $1,681 for Camp Koby.
Rabbi Barry Block, of the Reform Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas, said his congregants are very interested in Israel. He said that though they had shied away from Israel travel following the collapse of the peace process in late 2000, now "we're back - with a lot of excitement."
This summer, six of his young congregants are going to Israel with the Reform movement's youth arm, the National Federation of Temple Youth. That's the same number that went in 2000, before the intifada began. Another congregant is going to Israel on a high school study program. Last year none went, and the previous year there was only one.
"We've busted the federation's budget for Israel scholarships," Block said with pride.
If resuming travel to Israel is a sign that Jews are adjusting to the new reality of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then a return of dissent and disagreement is another indicator.
Observers say that like Israelis, many American Jews who care about Israel but disagree with the government's policies felt compelled to keep quiet during the early part of the intifada, when Israel was under constant attack.
But recent stirrings on the political left show that the limits of silence are being reached in Israel, and American Jews who disagree with Israeli policy - or are supporting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza - also are speaking up.
"There's more than one way to be pro-Israel," said Steve Masters, 44, a Philadelphia lawyer who was a founder of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, which describes itself as a pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-human rights organization.
Since its founding in April 2002, Brit Tzedek has advocated dismantling Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and pushing Israel's leaders to be more forthcoming in peace negotiations.
When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met President Bush in Washington last month, Brit Tzedek delivered to the two leaders a petition signed by 10,000 American Jews calling for the Israeli government to offer financial incentives to settlers who relocate into Israel proper.
Masters, who chairs Brit Tzedek's advocacy and public policy efforts, maintained that the group's positions are embraced by many Israelis.
"I distinguish between support for Israel and support for Israel's government," he said.
Another founder of Brit Tzedek, Marcia Freedman of Berkeley, Calif., accuses the organized community of stifling dissent on Israel. She says the old joke about two Jews having three opinions is no longer accurate.
"Now you get 10 Jews, one allowed opinion. Everything else is traitorous," she said. "It's intimidating to be told, 'You're threatening Israel by saying that.' If you're told that what you're saying is dangerous, you start being quiet."
Some community leaders have dismissed such gripes as unfounded, arguing that there simply are fewer dissenting voices because so many American Jews perceived that even Israel's most generous peace offers elicited a belligerent Arab response.
Some Jews seem to be simply turning away from Israel rather than wrestling with the difficult issues.
"Almost no one talks about Israel," said Gerald Bubis, a prominent figure in left-of-center pro-Israel groups in Los Angeles. "Far more people just are not interested in Israel today because it is just too painful for them. I see it in intangible ways."
As an example, he cited the charities chosen by children at their Bar Mitzvahs. In years past, many children asked that gifts be made to Israel-related charities, he said, but today he sees many more choosing local causes.
Still, in recent months, Bubis has noticed something of a resurgence of left-of-center voices in his community. Attendance has increased at programs sponsored by the local Peace Now chapter and the Progressive Jewish Alliance, which promotes left-of-center views on Israel.
In the small Jewish community of Eugene, Ore., Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin watched with alarm as congregants' discussions about Israel became increasingly heated.
Husbands-Hankin initiated the creation of a Jewish Community Relations Council, hoping it would serve as a tool for internal discussions and formulation of consensus views. But it hasn't always worked as intended.
Some members of the community have dropped out of the JCRC or declined to join at all because they feared it had a left-wing bent. Others have stayed away for the opposite reason, fearing it toes the Israeli government line.
Recently, JCRC members planned to write an opinion column about Israel's West Bank security barrier for the local newspaper. When they couldn't agree on a position even after lengthy debate, the op-ed was shelved, and they turned their attention to issues on which they could agree, such as working with local schools to create a Middle East curriculum free of bias.
The disagreements in a small community like Eugene seem tame compared to the scene in San Francisco.
The director of the region's JCRC, Doug Kahn, noted that thousands of local Jews can be counted on to mobilize around Israel-related issues, but he said he is worried by the large number who simply have "moved on" to other issues or causes.
He added that the collapse of the Israeli left has caused many on the left in his community to step back from their pro-Israel activities.
"It has been a challenge to keep them engaged," Kahn said, adding that a relatively small number have become pro-Palestinian activists.
The real problem is long-term, he said, and it didn't start in the last few years: He points to the 1982 Lebanon War as the beginning of a period in which many American Jews grew disillusioned with Israel.
"It's fairly easy to mobilize the activist core around issues related to campus or media," he said. "There tends to not be enough attention paid to a diminished attachment felt by a larger cross-section of American Jews."