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12

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1988

Alienation

Continued from preceding page

attitudes toward Israel.
Whatever one's successes or
shortcomings as a Jew, he can
always dream his children
will achieve a higher stan-
dard of Jewish (or, in this case,
Israel) involvement than he
was able to attain in his own
life.
We asked respondents
whether they would want
their. children to ever visit
Israel, to spend a year there,
or to settle there. Almost a
third of the Reform Jews had
no interest in their children
visiting Israel, as compared to
less than half as many Con-
servative, and only a very
small number of Orthodox
Jews. In contrast, while a
fifth of the Reform
respondents would want their
children to spend a year in
Israel (or even settle there),
the figure was twice as high
among Conservative
respondents, and more than
three times as high among
the Orthodox. Finally, it was
only among the Orthodox
that there was a sizeable in-
terest (25 percent in one's
children making aliyah, as
compared to 3 percent among
Conservaive and Reform
Jews.
We asked respondents
several questions about
Israeli society. They had to
answer whether Shimon
Peres and Menachem Begin
are from different parties (on-
ly 34 percent knew they are);
whether non-Orthodox rabbis
can marry couples in Israel
(34 percent were aware they
could not); whether Arab and
Jewish children go to the
same schools (31 percent
rightly thought they do not);
and whether most Jewish
religious holidays are also na-
tional holidays (68 percent
knew — or correctly guessed
— that they are).
On these questions, the Or-
thodox far out-performed
Conservative Jews who, in
turn, slightly surpassed the
Reform in "knowledge of
Israeli society." While half the
Orthodox correctly answered
at least three of the questions,
only a little more than a
quarter of the Conservative
Jews and a little less than a
quarter of the Reform did as
well.
In short, not only do Reform
Jews generally feel less at-
tached to Israel, and not only
do they maintain few per-
sonal ties with Israelis, they
more often lack the intellec-
tual tools with which to follow
events in Israel and to
understand them with any
depth or vigor.
Whatever the reasons for
the gap in Israel invovlement
between Reform and other
Jews, we still need to explain

why that gap apparently
grew between the two surveys
conducted in 1983 and 1986
(recall that the number of
Reform Jews "highly attach-
ed" to Israel fell from 25 per-
cent in 1983 to 17 percent in
1986).
One explanation focuses on
the growing chronological
remoteness of hostilities in
the Middle East. The 1983
survey was conducted just a
eyar after Israel's invasion of
Lebanon which heightened
American Jewish attention.
The absence of war since then
may account for the growth in
the number of American Jews

The Orthodox far
out-performed
Conservative Jews
and the Reform

who are most detached from
Israel.
One other factor may ex-
plain the growth in Reform
detachment that occurred
simultaneously with a surge
in Orthodox Jews' involve-
ment in Israel. More than any
other denomination, Reform
Jews in the sample reported
the largest degree of an-
tipathy to Israeli Orthodoxy.
The intra-religious turmoil in
Israel may have given
American Jews the impres-
sion that Israeli Orthodoxy
has been especially influen-
tial, if not dominant, of late.
Perhaps the image of a
more Orthodox Israelhas had
opposite effects on Orthodox
and Reform Jews. The
American Orthodox may feel
more drawn to a seemingly
more Orthodox Israel, while
the Reform may feel more dis-
tant for the same reason.
One piece of evidence sup-
ports this view. Feelings
about Israeli Orthodoxy and
Israel generally are cor-
related for the entire sample.
In other words, people who
feel better about the Or-
thodox in Israel also feel more
attached to Israel; and the op-
postie is true: those alienated
from Israeli Orthodoxy are
also more remote from Israel.
This relationship is
especially strong among
Reform Jews. Among Reform
Jews who were largely an-
tipathetic to Israeli Or-
thodoxy, only 7 percent scored
high on Israel attachment
and 63 percent scored low; in
contrast, of those sympathetic
to Israeli Orthodoxy, as many
as 38 percent scored high on
attachment while only 17
percent scored low.
The contrast between the
relatively weak commitment
to Israel on the part of the
Reform masses and the pas-
sionate involvement with

