בס״ד relations) to be עש"ק פרשת נח 3 MarCheshvan 5780 ISRAEL NEWS violated to save a life.  November 1, 2019 It also declares that if Issue number 1268 A collection of the week’s news from Israel someone comes to kill you, “rise From the Bet El Twinning / Israel Action Committee of up and kill him first.” Jerusalem 4:10 Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation For the same reason, national Toronto 5:51 self-defense is considered one of the principal responsibilities of a Jewish leader, and possibly even Commentary… a religious obligation. The Bible itself merely states that some wars are obligatory without defining which wars fall into this category. Does Jewish Morality Require Israel to Leave the West Bank? But one interpretation, adopted inter alia by the great medieval By Evelyn Gordon Jewish scholar , says it includes wars of self-defense. Zionism seems like a binary proposition: You’re either for or Obviously, this doesn’t mean anything goes. Even in wartime, the against the existence of a Jewish state. But a third option has become Bible sets limits on an army’s behavior—the original laws of war. increasingly popular, one I would call conditional Zionism. It holds But Jewish tradition utterly rejects the idea that morality requires that a Jewish state has a right to exist, but only if it meets certain national suicide. On the contrary, it views defending the Jewish conditions. commonwealth as a positive moral good. This position is spreading rapidly among liberal . In So what does all this have to do with the Palestinians? It’s very an essay in Haaretz in August, for instance, Abe Silberstein argued simple: Even if you accept the (false) premise that ceding the West that Israel must be coerced into creating a Palestinian state because Bank would actually satisfy Palestinian demands, the fact remains otherwise, the only alternatives are perpetuating the status quo or a that Israel isn’t there solely or even primarily because of the settlers, one-state solution—and any moral Jew would have to deem the latter who have repeatedly proven incapable of preventing territorial “infinitely preferable,” even though it would probably end Jewish concessions (see the Oslo Accords, the disengagement from Gaza, statehood. In other words, the Jewish state’s right to exist depends on the far-reaching offers made by prime ministers Ehud Barak and satisfying Palestinian (and American Jewish) demands. Ehud Olmert). It’s there because, based on bitter experience, most This position is also common among non-Jews. For instance, in a Israelis see no way to leave without committing national suicide. September essay for Mosaic on whether a Catholic equivalent to Withdrawing from parts of the West Bank under the Oslo Protestant Zionism was possible, Gavin D’Costa concluded, “If the Accords led to the lethal terror of the Second Intifada, which ended Israel-Palestinian dispute were to be resolved tomorrow, with the full only when the Israeli army retook control of these areas. agreement of both parties and with international support, I believe Withdrawing from Gaza resulted in 14 years (and counting) of almost official Catholic Zionism would emerge quite quickly.” In other nonstop rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel; a similar outcome words, the Church might someday accept a Jewish state, but only if would be far deadlier in the West Bank, which, unlike Gaza, is in Israel satisfies Palestinian (and Western) demands. easy range of Israel’s main population centers, economic hubs and Ostensibly, such positions could be dismissed as simple anti- international airport. Withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000 Semitism based on Natan Sharansky’s famous 3D test (demonization, enabled Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, to acquire a missile delegitimization and double standards). The relevant criterion here is arsenal greater than that of many national armies, aimed straight at double standards since no other country’s existence is deemed Israel. conditional on its behavior, even when said behavior is far worse than All this has convinced most Israelis that barring a radical and Israel’s. For instance, China has occupied Tibet for almost 70 years unforeseen change in Palestinian behavior, ceding the West Bank and currently holds a million Uighurs in detention camps, and many would be militarily suicidal. And since a one-state solution still looks people want these policies stopped. But nobody says a Chinese state demographically suicidal, that leaves some version of the status quo has no right to exist without such changes. as the least bad option—not only for Israel, but even for the Nevertheless, dismissing conditional Zionism as anti-Semitic Palestinians, as I’ll explain in a subsequent column. poses one obvious problem: Any rationale for a Jewish state, whether So is conditional Zionism anti-Semitic? That depends on the religious or secular, rests on the Jews’ claim to be a distinct people conditions. But nowadays, the key condition usually involves suicidal with a distinct religion, language and culture. And that very heritage Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. Thus today’s conditional deems the Jewish people’s right to remain in its land conditional on its Zionists require one nation, of all the nations in the world, to destroy moral behavior. This isn’t a minor detail; it’s a core element of Jewish itself for another’s sake. And yes, that’s anti-Semitic. (JNS Oct 30) theology. It’s stated repeatedly in the Bible. It’s included in the Shema prayer, ’s closest approximation to a credo, which observant “Aliyah” Seems to be the Hardest Word By Ruthie Blum Jews recite twice daily. It’s the reason given by the rabbis of the At its three-day board of governors meeting in Jerusalem this Talmud for both the first and second exiles (they attributed the first to week, the Jewish Agency for Israel, which recently turned 90, murder, idolatry and forbidden sexual relations, and the second to revealed a new plan of action. Addressing the Jewish leaders who baseless hatred). Indeed, it’s precisely because this is so fundamental convened in the Israeli capital on Sunday, Jewish Agency chairman that it still seems self-evident even to secular Jews who have Isaac Herzog announced that the organization, which “founded the abandoned almost every other vestige of Judaism, or a Catholic State of Israel and brought 3 million Jews on aliyah,” is now Church that has downgraded the Hebrew Bible in favor of the New “refining our strategic mission for the coming decade, based on the Testament (the main reason Christian Zionism is a Protestant challenges Jews are facing today.” phenomenon is because Protestants give greater weight to the Hebrew Herzog, who kicked off the event with a ceremony to honor and Bible than Catholics do). mourn the victims of last year’s attack on the Tree of Life*Or So does that mean conditional Zionists are right, and Israel’s right L’Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 Jews dead and six to exist depends on satisfying Palestinian demands? Not at all, because others wounded—explained the mission as one aiming to “provide there’s a crucial distinction between modern conditional Zionism and concrete solutions to the greatest challenges facing the Jewish people the biblical version: Neither the Bible nor the talmudic Judaism it at this time: mending the rifts among our people, building a two-way engendered ever insisted that Jewish morality requires the Jewish bridge between Israel and world Jewry, encouraging aliyah and polity to commit suicide. providing security for Jews around the world.” Indeed, another fundamental principle of Judaism is that following The only thing really new in this mission lies in its reduced God’s laws leads to life, not death (see Deuteronomy 30:19 or emphasis on immigration to Israel. When it was established in 1929 Leviticus 18:5). Consequently, the Talmud allows almost any religious as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish commandment (except murder, idolatry and forbidden sexual

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Agency’s main raison d’être was aliyah, absorption and the building of unavoidable, particularly in a world that deems causing “offense” to communities in the Jewish state. someone practically worthy of the electric chair. But if Herzog This subtle yet significant gradual shift in the perception and imagines that the kind of Israel-Diaspora unity he has in mind will description of the Jewish Agency’s job has coincided with the put even the slightest dent in the deep political/ideological rifts at the evolution of the concept of “Zionism.” Once considered to be the heart of the divide, he has another think coming. (JNS Oct 29) ideological basis for Jews striving to live in their ancestral homeland- turned-state, it now is a general term denoting anything from a strong love or political backing for Israel to the wishy-washy, often veiled Fear itself isn’t the only thing American Jews have to fear anti-Israel claim that it has a “right to exist.” As long as it behaves By Jonathan S. Tobin itself, of course. With impeccable timing, a new American Jewish Committee Long gone are the days when legendary Israeli Prime Minister survey came out only days before the one-year anniversary of the Golda Meir was able to cause Diaspora Jews ill ease—even outright Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. The memorials for the single guilt—for remaining in their comfort zone abroad. Passed, too, is the bloodiest day in American Jewish history echoed with renewed time when Israelis were viewed as traitors for moving to greener outrage about that crime and the subsequent shooting at Chabad of pastures in America and Europe, and referred to as such by the likes of Poway in Southern California. So it was hardly surprising that the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. poll’s findings were hyped in some quarters as an indication that fear Ironically, this move away from shaming Jews for not settling or of anti-Semitic violence was rising along with the statistics on hate staying in Israel to embracing and strengthening Jewish life in the crimes. Diaspora began to take place alongside the re-emergence of anti- The fact that 88 percent of those polled thought anti-Semitism Semitism worldwide. Yes, as radical Islamism started to spread from was a problem and 84 percent thought it was increasing stopped some the Middle East to the West, the classical Jew-hatred that had crawled observers in their tracks. Even more startling was the fact that 31 under a rock of taboo in Europe after the Holocaust came out of the percent of the respondents answered that they “avoided publicly closet. wearing, carrying or displaying things that might help people identify Both such forms of anti-Semitism seemed to skip over the United you as a Jew.” States, however. Until recently, that is, when it began to emerge in Taken on its own, that result makes the United States sound as if previously unheard of places, among them on college campuses and it is not merely heading down the path to the same dangerous even in the halls of U.S. Congress. conditions for Jews as France, Germany and other European Strikingly, whenever a pubic Israeli figure responds to the above countries where even public officials have cautioned Jews not to by urging Jews to “come home,” or even suggesting that they might, stand out lest they be singled out for violence. he is chastised for it. That number, combined with other findings in the survey, in Take Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for instance. In the which the majority of Jews blamed Republicans far more than wake of the 2015 attacks on the Hyper Casher market in Paris, which Democrats for anti-Semitism, and regard President Donald Trump’s accompanied the slaughter of cartoonists at the satirical magazine, record on anti-Semitism unfavorably, has helped some on the left Charlie Hebdo, Netanyahu was slammed for telling French Jews that make the case that not only are Jews afraid, but that it’s clear the those wishing to immigrate to Israel would be “welcomed with open reason for their fear stems from concerns about the White House. arms.” While this survey should be taken seriously, there are some Israeli President Reuven Rivlin criticized Netanyahu’s perfectly points about it that need to be put in context. appropriate statement on the grounds that aliyah should be undertaken The first is that while the number of those who indicate that they for Zionist reasons, not out of the fear of anti-Semitism. are afraid to be identified as Jews is alarmingly high, it’s not entirely Really? Wasn’t the State of Israel founded to provide refuge to apparent whether that kind of fear is justified. Jews in their historical homeland? To serve as the venue for the After all, the same survey made it clear how rare open acts of “ingathering of exiles”? anti-Semitism truly are. Apparently not, according to European Jewish Association director Only 2 percent of those polled said they had ever experienced an Rabbi Menachem Margolin. Incensed by Netanyahu’s statement, anti-Semitic attack in the last five years. While even one such crime Margolin said that Israel shouldn’t call on Jews to make aliyah when is one too many, given that the language of the question is so broad, they are victimized by anti-Semitism, but rather must “employ very it’s far from certain that even the figure of 2 percent represents a real diplomatic and informational means at its disposal to strengthen the anti-Semitic threat to life and limb in 2019. Indeed, outside of the safety of Jewish life in Europe.” targeting of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, N.Y., who are easy to Netanyahu was bashed again for appealing to European Jews to single out and the rare shootings, attacks on Jews remain truly make aliyah after the shooting to death of two people in Copenhagen, unusual in the United States. including a guard at a protecting the Even when asked whether they had been the targets of an anti- entrance to a bat mitzvah party. Semitic remark, only 23 percent said yes. Interestingly, the number of That was four years ago. Last year, following the massacre of those who had experienced such an attack on social media—where Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh, former Israeli Opposition leader Avi extremists are the noisiest and where trolls abound—was only 21 Gabbay came under similar fire for calling on American Jews to percent. Again, the fact that so many Jews have been subjected to “immigrate more and more to Israel, because this is their home.” such remarks is terrible, but it remains the fact that more than three- Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States and Knesset quarters of the Jewish people have never undergone that trial. member Michael Oren responded by tweeting that Gabbay “said things Even when the questions switched to life on college campuses, that should not be said. … Through his words, he adds insult to injury. which other surveys have identified as the venue where most Jews The call to U.S. Jewry … deeply hurts their feelings and reduces their have had their primary encounter with anti-Semitism because of desire for aliyah. Gabbay does not understand anything about Israel’s attacks on supporters of Israel, the numbers are relatively low. Only relationship with the Diaspora.” 20 percent of those polled said they either personally experienced It is totally understandable for Jews to consider relocation to Israel anti-Semitism in an institution of higher learning or knew someone a nonstarter, even those who occasionally toy with or fantasize about who had. the prospect. Once a person has built a life somewhere, whether or not Despite all our worries, the survey proves that the overwhelming he or she was born in that place, the prospect of picking up and majority of American Jews can live entire lifetimes without once starting over can be daunting to the point of virtually impossible. having to navigate through a situation in which their Jewish identity Strikes against embarking on such a momentous move include scant makes them a target. career options, a lack of language fluency, adjusting children to a new Should that cause us to downplay the issue of anti-Semitism? education system and the difficulty of leaving parents and circles of Absolutely not. friends behind. The existence of a tiny group of white supremacists who are Indeed, in the absence of the level of affluence that affords flights armed and dangerous, coupled with the growth of anti-Semitism back and forth to visit loved ones, along with other financial or masquerading as mere criticism of Israel is worrisome. Anti- emotional expenses involved in uprooting one’s entire ecosystem, Semitism is a powerful virus that has attached itself to a number of aliyah can be more terrifying than keeping a low profile as a Jew different ideologies, including fascism, Nazism, communism and elsewhere. This doesn’t make it any less ridiculous and appalling for radical Islam. Even in the country that has proved to be the best home Jews to be insulted when offered a haven in the Jewish state, however. for Jews in the history of the Diaspora, hatred of Jews is never going That the Jewish Agency is altering its course somewhat may be to completely disappear. But we should also be aware of the role partisanship plays in Iran, and have repeatedly opted for restraint to Iranian provocations. shaping our views of anti-Semitism. It appears the American administration has decided not just to When asked which party bears more responsibility for “the current disengage from the region, but also close the "Iran file" so that the level of anti-Semitism,” on a scale of 1 to 10, most Jews blame US doesn't find itself dragged back to a region it wants to leave in a Republicans more (54 percent) and Trump far more than Democrats few months' time. (at 18 percent). Under these circumstances, it's hard to assume a new nuclear deal That response correlates with the fact that Jews break down on will significantly improve upon the original, the one that Trump partisan and ideological lines that are similar to those results with angrily withdrew from over a year ago. Indeed, Iran is straining under Democrats outnumbering Republicans by 53 percent to 14 percent, and the weight of painful American sanctions, which are severely liberals dominating conservatives by 56 percent to 21 percent. Where hindering its economy. But the assumption that economic steps Trump is concerned, the numbers conform to the usual breakdown of would be enough to bring the Iranians to their knees or even topple the Jewish vote in presidential elections, with 76 percent viewing him the ayatollah regime has been debunked. Iran, therefore, will return to unfavorably and only 22 percent favorably. the negotiating table from a position of strength, because they have In an era of hyper-partisanship in which adherents of the two been audacious, confrontational, aggressive and successful. If anyone major parties exist in social-media silos where they rarely experience will be brought to their knees, it will be Iran's adversaries. opposing opinions, it’s only natural that Republicans blame Democrats The United States is Israel's greatest and most important friend, and Democrats blame Republicans for anti-Semitism, with neither and Jerusalem must respect America's vast array of interests. Along group particularly interested in taking on political allies for their role with its concerns over a conflict, however, Israel must also prepare in spreading Jew-hatred. It’s no surprise that anger about the president for the possibility of an improved nuclear deal between Washington has helped increase the total of those expressing fear, even if they may and Iran, which, although it could delay Iran's march to an atomic not personally be in danger. bomb, could also provide a tail wind for Tehran's efforts to entrench Yet we should also be encouraged that so many Jews are willing to itself in the areas surrounding Israel. (Israel Hayom Oct 29) call out extremists on both ends of the spectrum. While 89 percent view the “extreme political right” as a threat, 64 percent also view the “extreme political left” as a similar peril. That number upset some The Heart of the Democratic Party has Moved Against Israel. Israel-bashers like ’s Peter Beinart, who act as apologists Overstated? By for the anti-Semitic BDS crowd and want that variant of Jew-hatred This week, four of the top candidates for the 2020 Democratic shifted from the definition. presidential nomination — Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Julian The main conclusions we should be drawing from the AJC survey Castro and Bernie Sanders — gathered at the Conference to is that for all of our justified fears, it’s a mistake to think that explain why the United States ought to pressure the state of Israel to American anti-Semitism is no different from the far more serious make concessions to terrorists, why the Obama administration was problems facing European Jews. Nor should we allow our political correct to appease the Iranian regime and why American Jews ought leanings to obscure the truth that threats to Jews exist from both ends to value the opinions of Bernie Sanders over those of Israeli Prime of the political spectrum. Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the future of Jewish safety. Seen in context, the alarming results don’t change the fact that— Two other top Democrats — Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden — thanks to American exceptionalism—Jews should still have no qualms sent video messages in support of the group. about claiming a place in any sector of society. That’s still true even if By contrast, when the American Israel Public Affairs Committee radicals on the right and the left both want to marginalize those who held its annual conference in March, not a single Democratic are unafraid to proudly proclaim their Jewish identity. (JNS Oct 28) presidential candidate showed up. The Democrats are, by and large, simply too ashamed to stand with an actual pro-Israel group, although prominent congressional leaders still show up to mouth nostrums Beware of War, Beware of Talks By Eyal Zisser about bipartisan support for Israel. Last week, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who is But the heart of the Democratic Party has moved against Israel. normally measured and cautious in his speech, surprised a lot of That's because Israel is economically successful, while its enemies people by sounding the alarm over the possibility of a war breaking are not; Israel is liberal, while its enemies are not; Israel is the tip of out in the near future, whether on the northern front or southern front. the spear of Western civilization in an area known for its tribalism His words highlighted the concern and even anxiety in Israel about the and brutality. This means that according to the radical left, Israel is an intentions of Iran, which dictates the actions of its proxies, Hezbollah exploitative country hell-bent on domination, despite its lack of in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. territorial ambition — Israel has signed over large swaths of land The IDF chief emphasized, however, that our enemies are not won through military victory to geopolitical enemies, and offered interested in going to war. After all, Israel is not Saudi Arabia or the much more repeatedly. Kurds; it doesn't have a reputation for turning the other cheek, but for So the Democrats built up and gave credence to J Street, a Trojan responding immediately and doggedly, and sometimes horse group dedicated to undermining American support for Israel disproportionately, to any provocation. Israel also has first-class and justifying left-wing hatred of the Jewish state. J Street was operational and intelligence capabilities, which allow it to deter the founded by Clinton operative Jeremy Ben-Ami and Israeli far-left Iranians and even foil many of their plans. And yet, the ongoing political figure Daniel Levy in late 2007. One of its chief sources of friction between Israel and Iran in Syria and Iraq could spill over into funding — a source obscured in the early years by its founders — Lebanon and Gaza. was anti-Israel radical George Soros. In Israel, there will always be those who blame the government The media quickly began treating J Street as a legitimate and defense establishment for the rising tensions between Israel and representative of mainstream Jewish opinion on Israel, and so did Iran, but the truth is that Tehran and Jerusalem have been on a Democrats, particularly in the anti-Israel Obama administration: collision course for a long time now. The friction between the two Rather than having to deal with those troublesome actually pro-Israel countries stems from Iran's fundamental enmity toward Israel, its voices at AIPAC, it was easier to bring in a few ringers from J Street stated devotion to destroying it, and its persistent efforts to establish a to pretend that advocating for negotiations with Hamas represented presence in Syria and Iraq, bringing those countries under its sphere of an acceptable opinion in the pro-Israel community. influence that stretches from Tehran to Beirut and Gaza. And those sorts of positions routinely crop up at J Street. J Street Alongside the concern in Israel over Iran's belligerence and repeatedly urged the Obama administration to abstain from anti-Israel brazenness, which could drag the region toward an all-out war, Israel resolutions at the United Nations. Proponents of the anti-Semitic must also closely monitor and prepare for the possibility of an Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement have found comfort at improved nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington. their events. J Street was an adamant backer of Barack Obama's Iran Ordinarily, dialogue or even diplomatic accords are the best way deal when the pro-Israel community unanimously opposed it. J Street to avoid armed conflict; but not in this case. The dilemma facing Israel has refused to condemn a government deal between the Palestinian and the international community isn't a war with Iran or making a deal Authority and Hamas and has even undermined Israeli self-defense in with it. In this case, it's obvious that a new deal, one that doesn't differ conflicts with Hamas. On campus, J Street regularly hosts groups from its predecessor in any fundamental way, could actually make war dedicated to smearing the Israel Defense Forces. more likely rather than less. So it was no wonder that Bernie Sanders arrived at the J Street The signs pointing to a new deal have accumulated in recent conference and quickly suggested aid to Israel be redirected to the months. The Americans aren't hiding their desire for dialogue with Gaza Strip, run by Hamas, to the cheers of attendees. It was no surprise when Buttigieg suggested that the Iran deal correctly ignored When we send our sons and daughters to fend for themselves in Iran's terrorist funding and ballistic missile testing, while also institutions increasingly committed to reviling so many of the ideas suggesting that America reconsider aid to Israel if Israel continues to we hold dear—from our affinity with Israel, to our desires to be build in disputed areas of Judea and Samaria. It was no shock when judged on our merits as individuals rather than consigned to Julian Castro pledged to open an embassy in East Jerusalem for the hierarchically arranged bins based on skin color and ethnicity, to our Palestinians — despite the fact that no solution has been negotiated embrace of our own timeless religious traditions and practices—we with regard to the final status of Jerusalem. are effectively asking them to choose between the world they left Leaders in the Democratic Party may maintain that their anti-Israel behind at home and the one they’ve entered on campus. We admit, turn is due to Benjamin Netanyahu. Those who understand Israeli some of us more openly than others, that to make the most out of politics know better. There is wide consensus in Israel that no Vassar or Berkeley or NYU, it’s best to take off that yarmulke and negotiation can be expected with Hamas, Islamic jihadis or the nod politely as some tenured radical thunders on about Israel being Palestinian Authority; those negotiations have ended in blood too an apartheid state and harvesting the organs of Palestinian prisoners. many times. Absent a peace partner, there can be no peace. Democrats It’s better to be quiet, and receive your diploma. must know this. But they'd prefer to blind themselves to that This duality too many of us are forced to embody—be a Jew in knowledge — and use J Street to cover their tracks. your dorm room and a progressive on campus—is bad for the mind, (Jewish World Review Oct 30) the heart, and the soul. It’s confusing, and dispiriting, and anxiety- provoking–which is hardly the recipe for a good education, or a purposeful and fulfilling life, Jewish or not. Free College Tuition for American Jews By Liel Leibovitz In Israel, even American Jews who are critical of the As American universities continue to grow increasingly hostile to government’s policies will have a chance to examine the intricate Jewish students, and as Jewish philanthropists and community leaders reality of life in a Jewish state firsthand. They will learn some seem largely unable to effectively meet this torrent of bigotry or to Hebrew—never a bad pathway into Jewish culture in all its glory— educate a new generation of American Jewish leaders who can, it’s and meet different people who embody different things, from the time for Jewish American students and their families to radically Israeli Arab studying to become a doctor to the settler woman rethink their choices when it comes to higher education. Here’s one running a women-only class on religion and sexuality. They will see crazy idea: Send our best and brightest to college in Israel. how little race matters in a country where religion matters much Think of it as the next Birthright—but instead of the earthy more, and the ability to choose one’s own path in life is a hard-won pleasures of canoodling on Bedouin tent night, applicants will get miracle. In other words, they will encounter the sort of cultural and some more practical and lasting advantages, starting with a free intellectual diversity that is rarely if ever found in elite American education. In a country where student debt is already a huge political universities, where the children of the affluent are instructed in the art issue, free college tuition is a way for the American Jewish community of washing away ancestral guilt in torrents of empty words. and the State of Israel to deliver on the gauziest promises of Bernie And while the clarity that young American Jews will gain from Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to their own youth. studying in an environment where they are free to be themselves and What could better appeal to young American Jews of all political learn things that have market value is precious, the benefits to our leanings and persuasions than that? It should also appeal to parents collective sense of community are even greater. who are paying upwards of $70,000 a year to send their children to If Israel, which currently pays for a portion of the Birthright universities where they are being turned into progressive piñatas in a program, foots part of the bill, it will send a very important message bankrupt system where ideological indoctrination has largely replaced to American Jews: The Jewish state isn’t simply an inherited drag on the teaching of history, literature and political philosophy. your ambitions, and a threat to your sense of personal comfort. It Why Israel? Because it’s Israel, of course. And because, as my cares for you, and it provides for you—in ways that the American friend Dan Perry noted in a recent column, while the quality of Israeli government, or the Democratic Party, or your local Jewish communal higher education is excellent—virtually all of the country’s organization do not. You and your parents just saved $300,000 thanks universities made it to the top 500 list of the world’s finest—tuition at to Israel, and you’ve earned a top-notch education to boot. It’s the most Israeli schools still remains blissfully affordable. For $3,000— idea of klal Yisrael embodied: Jews look out for Jews. which, incidentally, is almost precisely what it costs to fly a single And so, rather than convene panels on the strenuous relations person for a weeklong Birthright romp—you can enjoy a full year of between Israel and the diaspora or write tremulous op-eds about the education at any Israeli university. leftward drift of the Democrats and what it means for Jews, it would Serious Jewish philanthropists should do the math here, and realize be nice to see some concrete action. For about $60 million a year, that it works for all involved—even at the higher prices paid by paid for by whatever combination of generous American benefactors international students at Israeli universities, and with some extra and the Israeli government, we can send a cadre of about 1,000 Hebrew language support thrown in. Funders get to invest in a far American Jewish students to Israel each year, each one of whom can more profoundly meaningful experience than a few days on a tour bus, serve as a human bridge that will help bring our two worlds closer and Jewish families get a free college ride worth hundreds of together. thousands of dollars, which would otherwise come directly out of their Some of them may want to make aliya, serve in the army and bank accounts, or else be added to crushing mountains of student debt. marry an Israeli and strengthen the interfamilial bonds between the What are the numbers exactly? Sponsoring 1,000 qualified two Jewish communities in the most direct ways possible. A majority American Jewish students per year for a four-year ride to an Israeli will hopefully return to America after four years of college in Israel, college, at a cost of $15,000 per student per annum, comes out to speaking fluent Hebrew and able to form a powerful core for the next roughly $60 million a year once this imagined program is up to generation of American Jewish communal leadership. Some may speed—which is roughly the cost that international donors currently return after a year or two, or four, and continue their education in an pay to support their share of Birthright. Practically speaking, that American college, equipped to face whatever awaits them there. But means five or six philanthropists or family foundations willing to all of them will get to know Israel like few young American Jews commit to spend roughly $10 million a year for 10 years to help know it now—and, just as important, introduce American Judaism to guarantee a viable and meaningful future for the American Jewish an Israeli society largely ignorant of its beauty and richness. The community. benefits for Israel of an engaged and active partnership with a cadre As far as Israel is concerned, the timing for such an initiative of tens of thousands of Hebrew-speaking American Jews are as would appear to be eerily perfect: Israel’s Council for Higher obvious as the dangers of finding out that there is no one to return Education has just announced a Study in Israel initiative that seeks to your phone calls. double the number of international students studying at Israeli Birthright was a good first date; now it’s time for the relationship universities from the current 12,000 to 24,000, in part by adding between American and Israeli Jews to take the next logical step. additional English-language courses and infrastructure. An infusion of (Tablet Oct 28) 4,000 American students enrolled in four-year college programs would take them one-third of the way to meeting the stated goal of 12,000 new international students in a single leap. But the significance of an initiative like this far transcends any individual bottom line, whether familial, communal, institutional, or national. Instead, it will give American Jews the two things that we need the most: A sense of clarity, and a sense of community.