"What Do We Sharer
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A
Israeli group explores diversity in the U.S.
and among themselves.
DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
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T
he plan: to bring a group of
Israeli "influentials" in vari-
ous fields and from a range
of religious backgrounds to
the United States to witness the diversi-
ty of the American Jewish community.
The organizer's goal: to bridge what
many describe as a growing chasm
between Israeli and American Jews, as
well as to foster a positive attitude
toward religious pluralism.
The impact: not yet entirely clear.
The American Jewish Committee
brought 10 Israeli leaders from fields as
diverse as education, the military, law
enforcement and journalism to see for
themselves the best that the American
Jewish community has to offer in
Atlanta, Washington and New York.
The trip aimed to examine such
questions as "What do we share as
Jews? Do we have a common sense of
peoplehood?", Steven Bayme, director
of Jewish communal affairs for the
AJCommittee, said in remarks to par-
ticipants at the end of the trip.
As they concluded their two-week
tour Dec. 12, some strong impressions
were given of the differences between
American and Israeli Jewry.
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JEWISH XEWS
In Atlanta, seminar participants vis-
ited Jewish day schools oriented toward
each of the main Jewish religious move-
ments. In Washington, they met with a
Jewish senator, a State Department offi-
cial and with executives at the
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee. In both cities, they spent
time at Jewish community centers.
In New York, the focus was on reli-
gion. They met with rabbis from each
of the main movements, visited the
Orthodox and Reform rabbinical semi-
naries, heard from leaders of the •
Conservative movement and wor-
shipped at a modern Orthodox syna-
gogue on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Some Israelis said they were
impressed by the intensity of commit-
ment to Jewish education for both
adults and children.
"I was surprised to see Jews who
choose to be Jews, and invest in it" by
paying $8,000 a year in day school
tuition, said Noga Rogel, who works
as head of information for the educt
Lion and training division of Israel's
national police force.
"Their drive to study, and their
knowledge, is really impressive," shL,
said. "As a secular Israeli, I find mvse
so ignorant that I feel ashamed."
Others said that they were wowed
by the power they saw that Jews vviel:
in Washington.
Many said that while they were
happy to see that American Jews
believe that anti-Semitism in not cur
rently a concern, they were mystified
by the Americans' confidence that it
would not become one in the future.
"I don't buy American Jewish self-
assurance, their feeling of security," said'
Rabbi Eitan Childi, who immigrated rc
Israel from Tunisia at the age of 19 and
is now a Conservative rabbi and execu-
tive director of the Tali Education Fun(
Participants complained about
meeting only the elite of the America
Jewish community — those most
intensively engaged in Jewish study
and living — and not having much
chance to talk with more typical,
unaffiliated Jews.
The closest they came, some said,
was a chance encounter with a studen
at Atlanta's Emory University, where
they had gone to meet with Debor ah
Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewis
and Holocaust studies.
The student described herself as a
Conservative Jew, said Moshe Elazar, an
Israeli naval officer. But when asked in
what way she was a Conservative Jew, i
she kept kosher or went to synagogue,
she impatiently said, "Of course not,"
according to Elazar.
"I got the impression that there is
thin layer of knowledgeable American
Jews and a huge layer of ignorant two
ple," he said.
Seminar participants differed
strongly about whether American
involvement in promoting religious
pluralism in Israel is appropriate.
"It is problematic and very danger-
ous to accept it," said Aviv Lavie, a
Aviv-based journalist and committed
secularist. "I prefer that we make our
own pluralism by our own hands
without Diaspora intervention. "
Others, though, said that the
American model made a strongly posi-
tive impression. U