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Commentary
Editorial
The New Danger For
Israel On Campus
S
ocial media, Federation fundrais-
sance and healing of Jewish ideas, religion,
ing videos and even the New York values, language and culture be attained.
Times have all placed a spotlight
When the Jews would be sovereign in their
on the growing BDS (Boycott, Divestment
own land, Judaism could be healed from
and Sanctions) efforts, anti-Israel resolu-
2,000 years of malaise inflicted upon it by
tions and verbal attacks that supporters of
exile and a new, moral, intellectual, spiri-
Israel on college campuses are subjected to
tual and cultural vitality would emerge.
on an ongoing basis.
The public space of Israel was to serve as
The measurable increase in
the catalyst, laboratory and
the quantity of these attacks as
ultimately the reality for this
well as in their intensity and
renaissance.
viciousness is indeed profoundly
▪
The core foundation for
fi r
troubling and requires of the
Israel alienation is that
Jewish community a significant
amongst our college students,
response. The Jewish world is
•
both meanings of Zionism are
right to be concerned and right
not merely irrelevant, but also
in marshaling forces to protect
incoherent. The essence of the
our students and Israel. The
North American Jewish enter-
frontline of anti-Israel sentiment,
prise in general and Jewish
Rabbi Donnie!
however, is more entrenched and
life on campus in particular is
Ha rt man
pervasive than that which is
to provide an alternative solu-
exhibited in resolutions or dem-
tion to the "problem of the
onstrations. Our challenge is
Jews:' Just like for their par-
not merely how to confront an enemy on
ents and grandparents before them, who
the outside, but rather how to combat an
found a safe and viable home in the United
ever-growing alienation toward Israel from States and Canada, and, in fact, in much of
within the Jewish student body.
the Western world, Jewish students' cam-
This alienation is not the outgrowth of
pus life is predicated on the assumption,
any single, particular event, such as the
possibility and indeed value of integration
latest Gaza War or proclamation du jour
of Jews into the larger and general society.
by an Israeli politician. There is something
For a Jewish student who leaves home to
more profound going on today in the lives
be absorbed within their campus experi-
of our students on campus; and unless we
ence, understanding Israel as a safe haven
recognize it, our efforts will be only par-
to protect Jews in danger is something that
tially beneficial at best.
was at best relevant in the past, but that is
completely irrelevant to their Jewish expe-
Dueling Notions
rience today.
The challenge begins not on campus, but
The same is the case, and in many ways
also with the meaning and purpose of
even more so, with Cultural Zionism.
Zionism, and by extension, Israel itself.
North American Jewish life is an attempt
Since its inception, the Zionist move-
to create a Jewish renaissance within the
ment has been divided between two dif-
context of living as a beloved minority.
ferent ideas and impulses. The first may
From the perspective of most young
be called Survival Zionism, which saw
North American Jews, Israel's past contri-
in the creation of a Jewish state the only
butions to their Jewish identities is taken
viable solution to the existential dangers
for granted and, in fact, to ever-increasing
that Jews faced when living as a minor-
degrees, Israel is the family member by
ity throughout the Diaspora. If Jews were
whom one is embarrassed. The Jewishness
to live — literally live — it would only be
of our youth is firmly embedded within a
possible in the context of a sovereign state
liberal ethos, in which tikkun olam (repair
that would serve as the homeland of the
of the world), democracy, equality and
Jewish people.
religious pluralism are its building blocks.
The second, Cultural Zionism, saw Israel While Israel's Declaration of Independence
as the place where the "Jewish problem:'
fully embraces this ethos, the perception
not the problem of the Jews, would be
from North America is that over the last 10
solved. A Jewish state is necessary because
years, Israel increasingly has been distanc-
ing itself from it.
therein, and therein alone, could a renais-
The New Danger on page 29
28
July 2 • 2015
Zionist Assembly
Commands Voice
A
merican Jewish representa-
tion to the 37th World Zionist
Congress (WZC) will have a
decidedly diverse bent, as it should,
thanks to the strong showing of left-
leaning slates in U.S. polling as well
as significant support for center and
right-leaning slates.
With delegates from many religious
and ideological streams of Judaism,
WZC – which governs the World
Zionist Organization – develops poli-
cies, appoints some leadership and
allocates funding for Zionist causes.
Jewish America's top three reli-
gious streams, buoyed by their natural
constituents, finished one, two and
three among 11 slates in the January
through April voting. That gives
them more than 70 percent of the
145 American seats to the 500-seat
WZC that will meet Oct. 20-22 in
Jerusalem. That's notable given reli-
gious pluralism is still a battleground
in Israel.
In the 2015 polling, Reform Zionists
of ARZA, with support from the
smaller Reconstructionist movement,
led the way. Their progressive front-
line planks favored religious freedom,
gender equality and a two-state solu-
tion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Reform Zionists captured nearly 40
percent of votes cast and more seats
than the next two slates combined:
Conservative Zionists of Mercaz and
Religious Zionists of Mizrachi, a mod-
ern Orthodox slate.
The Russian American Jewish
community and its natural base fin-
ished fifth. The right-wing Zionist
Organization of America came
in sixth, just behind Progressive
Zionists of Hatikvah – the slate the
ZOA had tried to disqualify via the
Zionist Supreme Court by arguing
that Partners for Progressive Israel
(PPI) was pro-BDS because it advo-
cates boycotting West Bank Jewish
settlements. The ZOA brings to the
congress supporters from across the
streams of Judaism as well as a well-
known, far-right voice.
The American delegation and its
contrasting political leanings will give
it meaningful say over the policies
and leadership of three Israeli asset-
rich institutions:
• The Jewish National Fund, which
owns 13 percent of Israel's land;
• The Jewish Agency for Israel,
which deals with immigration and
absorption as well as Zionist educa-
tion while overseeing a $475 million
annual budget;
• And the World Zionist
Organization, founded by Theodor
Herzl in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897,
to create the ideological and practical
infrastructure for the modern State
of Israel.
American election results, released
June 5, were not an afterthought;
almost 57,000 were cast this year.
Still, that's down from the peak years
before 2006 when American Zionists
would cast 100,000 ballots. This near-
50 percent dropoff should set off
alarms throughout American Jewry;
has it lost that much interest in Israel,
the ancestral Jewish homeland?
The 190 Israeli representatives are
allocated based on Knesset represen-
tation;165 delegates will represent
the rest of the Jewish world. WZC
meets periodically in the Israeli capi-
tal.
World Zionist Congress gives
American Jews a great opportunity
to share its wide-ranging ideals on
pivotal issues confronting Israel and
the Jewish people. It's not well known
and it typically doesn't grab headlines.
But it does play a key role in formulat-
ing decisions that affects hundreds of
millions of dollars in funding and paid
portfolios in the only Jewish state.
❑
U.S. Delegate
Breakdown
ARZA: Representing
Reform Judaism
Mercaz USA: The Zionist
Arm of the Conservative
Movement
Religious Zionists: Vote
Torah for the Soul of Israel
American Forum for Israel
Hatikvah-The
Progressive Zionist Voice
Zionist Organization of
America: Defend Jews
& Israeli Rights
Zionist Spring: Restoring
Vision to World Zionism
World Sephardic Zionist
Organization-Ohavei Zion
Alliance for New Zionist Vision
Green Israel: Aytzim/Green
Zionist Alliance/Jewcology
Herut North America - The
Jabotinsky Movement
— Source: American Zionist Movement
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