0.4
TO GO
Or Not lb GO?
For many American Jews,
THE DETROIT J EWISH NEWS
t ravel to Israel isn't a question. JULIE EDGAR
54
read the Jewish newspapers," Mr. Ben-David
says.
Judy Amit, executive director of the Aliyah Del-
egation of North America, puts it more plainly.
"Israel has no meaning unless being Jewish has
a meaning. The whole trend in the American Jew-
ish community is away from Jewish issues," she
says.
According to a 1990 study by the Council of
Jewish Federations, the latest data available,
PHOTOS BY DANIEL LIPPITT
sk American Jews why they
haven't been to Israel and their
answers are all over the board.
They'll cite time constraints, ex-
pense, myriad other attractive trav-
el destinations, fear of terrorism,
lack of knowledge about the coun-
try, and even a distaste for Israeli
culture. Few feel a spiritual con-
nection with Israel, but most
say they identify strongly as
Jews.
Ask those who've been
there once and they all say
they would like to return,
but few have plans for the
near future. Most are affiliated with a synagogue
and donate money to Jewish causes.
Both groups reflect the reality of American
Jewish tourism in Israel which, according to
government tourism officials, is woeful indeed.
While more young Jews are making aliyah
— almost half of whom consider themselves re-
ligious — fewer Jews than Christians visit Is-
rael annually, and less than half return a second
time.
Less than 20 percent of the American Jewish
community — estimated at about 6 million —
has ever stepped foot inside Israel, says Tsion
Ben-David, director of the Israel Government
Tourist Office-Midwest Region in Chicago. In
fact, more American Jews go to Hawaii than Is-
rael.
That, he asserts, is a "catastrophe."
"Many Jews are unaffiliated, so they don't
care about Israel. Not only that, but it's very
hard for us to approach them. Affiliated Jews,
they go with their rabbi, the federation, they
STAFF WRITER
only 37 percent of American Jewish families be-
long to a temple or synagogue.
Last year was better than the year before for
American Jewish tourism in Israel, but only
slightly. Between 55 and 60 percent of the
420,000 U.S. citizens who included Israel in their
travel plans were Jewish. In 1994, about the
same number of Americans visited, but 46 per-
cent were Jewish, according to the Israel Min-
istry of Tourism.
All in all, 2.1 million people visited Israel in
1995, a 19-percent increase from the previous
year. Most of the new traffic came from Europe.
Mr. Ben-David says he often argues with fed-
erations about the best way to tap the unaffili-
ated segment of the Jewish community, a rich
vein of potential tourists and more important,
future supporters of the State of Israel.
"Most of my argument with the Jewish fed-
eration chairmen is [that] they are really mak-
ing it very hard for Jews to visit Israel, because
a tour to Israel for them is a very good tool for
fund raising. Those Jews say, 'Why do I have to
go to Israel and then donate?' I tell them not
to use the tours to fund-raise. I tell them they
should encourage unaffiliated Jews to go to Is-
rael — to take them free, even, or at 50 percent
[of the cost]. Chances are, more than 90 percent
of these people will come back as affiliated Jews,"
Mr. Ben-David says.
That's not an entirely accurate picture, says
Jane Sherman, a former vice president of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and
an organizer of two Miracle Missions, which
took a total of 2,200 metro area Jews to Israel
in 1993 and 1995. She also organized the Mir-
acle Mission for Teens, whose 238 participants
returned this week from Israel.
4-o