JNO pitio n
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The Cost Of Staying Home
T
he majority of American Jewish parents
have concluded that sending their
teenagers to Israel now would put the
high school students at unacceptable risk
of Palestinian terror. And, seen in the light
of a suicide bombing that killed 21 Jewish
young people waiting to get into a Tel
Aviv discotheque on June 1, the fears are
understandable and entirely appropriate.
But in opting to keep our children away, we are
creating other risks, equally profound. We risk being
seen as allowing terrorism to carry the day
We risk letting our children think that Israel is not
that important to us or to them. We risk more dis-
dain by Israelis, many of whom already feel that
diaspora Jewry — and American Jewry in particular
— have lost their zeal for the Jewish state.
It is vital that we evaluate those risks and come up
with meaningful new ideas that show we can bal-
ance our love for our children with our commitment
to Israel.
. So far, we are doing a lousy job of that.
Consider, for example, how the Reform move=
menu handled its cancellation of summer youth trips
to Israel in the wake of the Tel Aviv tragedy.
Although the movement said it had conducted
weeks of "painful soul-searching" on whether to
continue a program that sent 1,500 high school stu-
dents last year, the announcement came just one day
after the Tel Aviv bombing. It appeared the move-
ment was simply running away, particularly as other
groups said they will not cancel their Israel programs
and even though the movement is continuing with
such programs for those beyond high school age.
The point is not the decision itself — only 300
teen-agers were actually signed up to go — so much
as the failure to identify alternative programs to help
all young people maintain the vital identi-
fication with Israel.
Maybe the movement could be arrang-
ing new efforts to bring Israeli teens here
to speak to their U.S. peers
about the nature of their daily
lives. Maybe it could be organiz-
ing youth groups here to take on
more tie-building activities.
Birthright Israel says it will have 4,500
participants ages 18-26 this summer for
their free trip to Israel, despite the
Palestinian madness. The Conservative
movement's United Synagogue Youth is
sending 350 teens (half of last year's total);
the Orthodox Union's National
Conference of Synagogue Youth expects to
send about 200 (down from 650 last year).
After a bit of vacillation, the American
team voted last week to rake part in the
Maccabiah Games in mid-July, a key deci-
sion that will allow the games to stay on
their quadrennial schedule.
But what can be done for those who
stay away? The need is for some creative
thinking, backed up with real organiza-
tional effort — and with money.
What about asking parents to contribute
a portion of what they aren't spending this
year on Israel travel to an activity that will
be useful for the future? How about a
"Promise Postponed" endowment that
could help subsidize trips for less-affluent
children next year?
No activity can truly take the place of the visit
itself, with its power to shape a Jewish soul. But just
giving up isn't the only alternative.
Dry Bones
EDITO RUM
Surely we are smart enough to realize that terror-
ism strikes at our children even when they stay at
home — and we should be creative and committed
enough to make sure it doesn't have the last word.
A Stronger Partnership
Jerusalem
0 ver the last 53 years, Israel and world
Jewry have created a unique partnership.
Together, we have worked to ensure the
survival and vitality of Israel — and to
ensure that no Jew in the world is at risk. Together,
our partnership has recently been focusing more of
its efforts on the issues of social justice and welfare,
Jewish identity, renaissance and religious pluralism.
However, the failure of world Jewry to come to
Israel these last eight months, I believe, is threaten-
ing this partnership and its work — and is under-
mining the meaning and vitality of Jewish life. It is
Rabbi Donniel Hartman is the associate director of
the Shalom Hartman Institute, which advocates plural-
istic Jewish thought and education. The Web site
address is www.hartmaninstitute.com
mistaken and shortsighted to
focus our attention on this
summer's youth trips. The truth
is that world Jewry en masse has
stopped coming to Israel; if
adults and leadership are not
coming, it is wrong for their
children to come.
The absence of world Jewry
travel to Israel this year, howev-
DONNIEL
er, is not the problem. It is but
HARTMAN
the symptom of a profound cri-
Special
sis in our relationship. Nor is
Commentary
world Jewry only to blame.
Israel and world Jewry alike are
at fault, for we have let our relationship become
trivial and meaningless.
As long as the defining aspect of Jewish life was to
participate in overcoming the crisis of Jewish sur-
vival, the precarious reality of Israel and Israel's role
in ensuring the safety of Jews at risk everywhere,
ensured that the relationship had both a purpose
and a content. Israel, however, is on the road to suc-
cess; many today want more from their Judaism
than only to participate in a struggle for survival.
For them, the central question is not what Israel
needs from me, but what Israel means to me — a
question that we have greater difficulty answering.
Growing Awareness
This is a tragedy for us both. While crisis was the
major carrier of the relationship in the past, it did
not define the importance and purpose of the rela-
tionship. For the past 53 years, to be a Jew was
enriched and shaped by the reality of Israel.
PARTNERSHIP on page 29
c.
6/22
2001
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