I COMMENT BYRON W TRERICE CO REALTORS 32100 Telegraph Road Birmingham, MI 48010 Telephone: (313) 540-1000 Imimmom OFFICE SPACE FOR LEASE Israeli Jews Ponder Destiny JONATHAN TSEVI Special to The Jewish News CALL: JOAN DASSEY 501000 MARK PLAZA 21411-21415 Civic Center Dr. 850 - 3600 SQ. FT. Southfield's prestige location at moderate rental rotes. ROOT FOR THE UNDERDOG Hurt. alone. unwanted. They are the victims of tragic accidents or intentional cruelty. Unfortunately, the Michigan Humane Society handles scores of these sad cases daily. receiving hundreds of calls reporting animals in distress. Our rescue vans are on the road thirteen hours a day. seven days a week. But our goal is around-the-clock vigilance. These rescue efforts and medical attention take money. MOM' than we have. Won't you please help these underdogs? They deserve a fighting chance. INVEST IN BONDS. Your contribution to the United Way Torch Drive can help save troubled marriages. Give, for all the good you can do. Give to the Michigan Humane Sociefy. 7411 Chlysler Dr Detroit. N11482II Detroit d72-3400 Westland 77.1-7300 Auburn Ht. 552.7420 United Way for Southeastern Michigan TA R K AY Today's Hottest Selling Artist New Shipment Just Arrived. All 30% Off. Gallery 22 Thurs., Fri. 9:30 A.M. to 9 P.M. Sun. Noon to 5 P.M. Mon., Tues., Wed., Sat. 9:30 A.M. to 6 P.M. 22 E. Long Lake Rd. just east of Woodward, Bloomfield Hills, MI • 642.1310 647-6633 122 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1990 "Engineered like no other car in the world" Call RICK GOULD Estate Motors, Ltd. 644-8400 T he theme of this year's dialogue was "What is a Jew?" For me, the major question as an Israeli Jew was: Do we have the same destiny as American Jews? I tend to agree with Knesset member Avraham Burg, who, in his opening remarks at the dialogue, claimed that American Jewry is an autonomy within the United States. Life in the United States for the Jews is very comfortable, and, hence, there is no urgent, existential need for American Jews to leave and go to Israel. Two thousand years ago, Judaism was, unlike Chris- tianity, a religion that was based upon and received its nourishment from Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel. Even the communities out- side Eretz Yisrael accepted without reservation the au- thority and the primacy of Eretz Yisrael. The rules changed dras- tically after 70 C.E., with the destruction of the Tem- ple and the beginning of the exile. As Burg said, when the exile became comfor- table, it became Diaspora. The miracle of the con- tinuation of Jewish life, even though Eretz Yisrael became just a dream, is not for a second underestimated. The preservation of the Jew- ish people is the achiev- ement of the Diaspora, be it in Yemen, Ethiopia, Poland, Peru or the United States. The major question to con- sider is what difference does it make — if it does make a difference at all — that the State of Israel now exists in Eretz Yisrael. One possible answer is that the Jewish community living in that part of the globe which happens to be the historical Eretz Yisrael is nothing but another Jew- ish community. Therefore, the fact that, geographically, this community is located at a place of historical impor- tance to the Jewish people is just an interesting coin- cidence. Jonathan Tsevi, an attorney, was one of 20 Israeli par- ticipants in the 25th annual Americalsrael Dialogue in Jerusalem. The article originally appeared in the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. This Jewish community constitutes a majority of the population; hence, they con- stitute a "Jewish state." This state may be used as a refuge for other Jews in times of trouble witness the aliyah of Arab Jewry, the E- thiopians and Soviet Jewry. Thus, as a land of refuge, together with its historical importance, Israel of today is important to other Jews. But in essence, according to this view, the Jewish community in Israel is just another Diaspora, both in concept and in essence. This is a legitimate perception of the situation, and I felt that many of the American delegates at the dialogue felt this way, even without putting it in such harsh terms. Even many Israelis share that view. The fact is that many more Jews have left the State of Israel for Jewish autonomy in the United States than vice ver- sa. I offer a different view- point: The Jewish people were forced into the Diaspora phase of Judaism. However, things changed in 1948. The Jewish people are today faced with two types of Judaism: the Diaspora and Israel. Although I do not for a minute underestimate the Babylonian Talmud, Maimonides or Abraham Joshua Heschel, Jewish creation was centered in Eretz Yisrael before 70 C.E., and if Judaism is a religion or nation or culture that gets its nourishment from Eretz Yisrael, it must return to Israel. Therefore, the destiny of the Jewish people — living not merely in autonomy but in a state, and not just in any state but in Eretz Yisrael — is not the Diaspora destiny. In Eretz Yisrael, the Jew- ish people are heading toward a new reality of Jew- ishness, and their destiny is inevitably not the same as the Jews in the United States or in Togo. Obviously, Jews who do not return to Israel do not believe that the estab- lishment of Israel is a Jew- ish revolution in the sense that it is not only the begin- ning of redemption, but even more the end of Diaspora. This marks the true differ- ence between U.S. Jewry and Israeli Jewry today, one that demands a continuation of such dialogue. ❑