The recent passing of a draft of the budget for 2011-2012 by the Israeli Cabinet reveals the government’s priorities for the coming year (Hebrew). Two line items in particular suggest a change in what the Government of Israel perceives its role to be in the Jewish World: the allocation of funds to the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption and that to the Taglit-Birthright program.
Historically, promoting the return of Jews to Israel (aliyah) has been a sacred cow for Zionism. Even the language for immigration aliyah, which literally translates to “ascending,” reflected this belief. But now, this sacred cow is receiving a blow in the form of budgetary cuts for the absorption of new immigrants and aliyah-affiliated programs. Minister of Absorption Sofa Landver said: “This is the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that aliyah is not on the government’s agenda. . . The suggested budget is directly harming the absorption and encouragement of aliyah.”
At the same time, the budget includes a new plan by the government to double the number of Birthright participants from 24,000 to 50,000 by 2013, and to significantly increase funding for the program. Unlike the Ministry of Absorption, the main goal of Birthright is not to promote aliyah, but to strengthen the relationship between Jewish communities across the world and Israel.
These changes reflect what Reut believes should be the new paradigm for Israel’s relations with the Jewish world: that a vibrant Jewish Diaspora is imperative not only to the Jewish people but also to the state of Israel. This paradigm necessitates discarding the old mindset toward aliyah and recognizing that immigration to Israel is not the ultimate fulfillment of Jewish identity. Accordingly, the shared mission of the Jewish world, which includes the Government of Israel, should be to nurture Jewish peoplehood through a multitude of peer-to-peer and community-to-community relationships. Changing the way we connect with each other is necessary if we want to produce a wide enough spectrum of options so that more Jews feel a desire to be included. In the long run, a more diverse network will also be a more resilient one.
In conclusion, could it be that the Government of Israel has begun to respond to the needs of the Jewish world?
General
Amit Granek
Yuval Holtzmann
Ronit Gudes
Gidi Grinstein
Gaddy Weissman
Calev Ben Dor
Yossi Horesh
Dana Preisler
Omri Dagan
Eran Shayshon
Liran Bainvol
Merav Pick
Noa Ecker
Netaly Ophir
Yariv Mann
Reut Institute
Omri Zegen
Yael Weisz
Toni Hasson
Talia Gorodess
Gil Murciano
Anat Horowitz
Abed Assli
Daphna Kaufman
Shay Gurion
Elad Leshem
Aliza Petrack
Jessica Brandt
Yael Brendel
Martin Ben Moreh
yotamhacohen
Both are early indicators that may prove to be isolated instances or temporary shift. These matters tend to drastically shift every few years with public opinion and fresh blood in the Knesset. We’ll have to wait and see whether they stick to form a defined policy or just another knesset fad.
In response to this post, my good friend Daniel asked the following question: given the different ways of practicing Judaism in America and Israel, the former characterized by greater pluralism, diversity, and opennes to different ways of practicing religion and the latter by a more orthodox, uniform appraoch, why should we assume that increasing the number of Birthright participants will have the power to bridge the gap between the two? (original question in Hebrew below)
מעניין וכרגיל כתוב נפלא. אבל את בטוחה שיש פתיחות גדולה יותר למגוון הקהילות שבתפוצות? אני מתרשם שמגמה מקבילה היא הדרה של מגוון זרמים ביהדות (ראי את חוק הגיור שאמנם, עדיין, לא עבר אבל המסר חזק ואת מעצר הנשים שקראו בתורה בכותל). זרמים אלה אמנם לא חזקים בארץ אבל הם מהווים את עמוד השידרה של יהדות התפוצות בכלל וארה”ב בפרט. אם, כך נדמה לי, המגמה הנוכחית תמשיך, אני לא בטוח שהגדלת מספר המשתתפים ב”תגלית” תוכל לכפר על הניתוק שעניין זה יביא עם הקהילות הלא אורטודוקסיות בעיקר בארה”ב. האם עירבבתי שמיטה והר סיני? מה דעתך?
——————
This is an excellent quesion that is at the heart of the matter- thank you Daniel:)
Reut’s new paradigm regarding the future relations of Israel and the Jewish world offers several principles for action. Two of them relate directly to our discussion: The first has to do with the need to ‘flatten’ the Jewish world by promoting direct community links around the world, deemphasizing aliyah and focusing on global connections instead. The other principle has to do with fostering pluralism in Judaism, thus allowing any Jew who is interested in his ‘Jewishness’ to be part of this global community.
So to answer your question, the two ideas complement one another- by itself, neither is sufficient. The idea of diversity as a source of strength is not new; it is now our job to advance this idea in the context of the Jewish world. When a single stream of Judaism claims ownership over such a complex network of people, the nework suffers. As you implied, this is not as easy task.. which is why we have to keep working!