An amazing new study by two Jewish scholars underwritten by the Bronfman foundation echoes just what I’ve been saying in this space about Jewish identity and Israel. Titled "Beyond Distancing: Young Adult American Jews and Their Alienation From Israel," the study suggests that my own sense of Jewish identity–highly personalized, non-collective–is the wave of the future for American Jews and that it correlates with alienation from an Israel that young Jews observe to do bad stuff, from Lebanon to occupation.
Right off, I should note that my attitudes are still in the distinct minority in Jewish life. According to the study, well over half of all American Jews "disagree" with the statement that Israel is occupying lands that belong to others. Even those under 35 disagree with this (obviously true) statement. (A deep shame; when will Judaism reform!?!) Second, the number of Jews who most worry the authors, because they are "alienated" from Israel (saying yes to 2/3 of the following: don’t express pride in Israel, don’t get excited about Israel, or don’t feel attachment to Israel) is very low, about 18 percent at the most–among intermarried Jews under 35.
That word intermarried is key to the findings. Among Jews 65 and over, 9 percent are intermarried. Of those 35 and under, 62 percent are. And the intermarried have a "far lower level of Israel attachment." What is wrong with these intermarried Jews? Well, they have a more "personalized rather than collective view of being Jewish." They have "fluid concepts" of community and identity. There is a drop in "Jewish tribalism" among them. "This shift in the meaning of being Jewish in America explains the retreat from engagement with Israel."
The authors want to stop this trend. They say that birthright trips to Israel help young Jews maintain an attachment to the Jewish state. They say that "ethnic cohesion (Jews relating to Jews)" will buttress Israel support.
That’s where the study shows its regrettable biases. It is highly problematic to call for greater ethnic cohesion and firm borders on the Jewish community at a time when Jews make up such a large part of the American leadership class and when Jewish neocons have been implicated in the greatest foreign policy disaster of the last 25 years. Ethnic cohesion is fine if you accept a certain distance from the great American experiment. Jews relating to Jews is fine, if you are not in a prominent position in American leadership. Then it is problematic. I don’t say wrong; I respect diverse belief, and imagine there are ways to skin the cat. But right now the U.S. is in a foreign policy crisis, occupying an Arab country, in some measure because of the majority Jewish opinion that Israel doesn’t occupy another people’s lands. My people have to deal with this. The study would maintain the border between our community and the wider American one (where kids are far more likely to serve in the armed forces).
One other finding of note. The authors say that being liberal Democrat or rightwing Republican is no indicator among Jews of lesser or greater attachment to Israel. This is something I’ve always said: that the American Jewish attachment to Israel defies conventional ideological distinctions. It is devotional not topical; it has a strong tribal component, to use the authors’ word.
