eretz

our Israeli homeland

IDF Soldiers
Need To Quit

Nearly 40 percent of Israelis are
smokers by the time they finish
their compulsory army service,
says a new study reported on by
JTA.
That is twice as high as the
overall national rate and dra-
matically higher than among
American soldiers, stated the
study published late last month
in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco
Research.
Researchers at Tel Aviv
University, the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem and the University
of Haifa conducted the study
in cooperation with the Israel
Defense Forces’ Medical Corps.
Data came from nearly 30,000
soldiers between 1987 and 2011,
JTA reported.
About 37 percent of Israeli
soldiers are smokers when they
are discharged, compared to 26
percent of new recruits, the study
found — a 42 percent increase
over the course of service.
The researchers behind the
study called for the creation of an
anti-smoking body in the Israeli
army to address the problem.
“The use of tobacco harms IDF
soldiers and security in general,”
lead author, Dr. Leah Rosen of
Tel Aviv University, said in a
statement. “The government and
the Ministry of Health need to
cooperate with the IDF to reduce
the number of soldiers who start
smoking, to encourage soldiers
to quit smoking and to protect
non-smokers from exposure to
cigarette smoke.
“We should take an example
from the United States, which
conducted extensive changes to
the smoking policy in its military
to protect its soldiers and to
improve the readiness and per-
formance of its combat units.”

30

February 9 • 2017

jn

U.S.-Israel
Relationship
Changing

The Ruderman Family Foundation released
an academic paper that outlines reasons
behind an increasingly complicated rela-
tionship between American Jews and Israel.
Published by the Ruderman Program for
American Jewish Studies at the University
of Haifa, the research paper, written by Alon
Pinkas, former Consul General of Israel in
New York and foreign policy adviser to four
previous Israeli Foreign Ministers, indicates
Israel is no longer in the top five issues that
influence American Jewish voting patterns
in U.S. elections.
In the study, Pinkas claims Israel plays
neither a distinctively unifying nor patently
divisive role in American-Jewish life, and
while the bond between American Jews and
Israel remains strong, the ties are fraying and
recurrent friction on important issues has
weakened the link over the last 10 to 20 years.
The study also cites a shifting mindset
of Israel among the new generation of
American Jewry. Memories of Israel’s heroic
and miraculous victory in the Six-Day War
and tragic remembrances of the Holocaust
are simply further removed from today’s
young Jews, who, therefore, see Israel in a dif-
ferent light than their parents and grandpar-

Steinhardt
Supports
Tel Aviv
Museum

ents. Now, Pinkas claims, “U.S. Jews’ concerns
are specifically American and their lively
involvement and participation in American
politics is not usually motivated by Israel-
driven causes.”
“The American Jewish community and
Israeli society exist in very different realities,
and these differences have been shaping the
worldviews of these two communities,” said
Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman
Family Foundation. “Despite the differences
between American Jews and Israelis, the two
communities are intimately connected as
the two largest Jewish communities in the
world, which mutually benefit each other. As
we move into a new political era, it is more
important than ever for Israelis and American
Jews to try to better understand each other
and treat each other with mutual respect.”
In the study, Pinkas finds that most
American Jews were relative latecomers
to Zionism and only reluctantly embraced
the movement. Well into the 1930s, most
American Jews were outright hostile to the
idea of Zionism, which they saw as a form of
socialism alien to their attempt to assimilate
in America and saw no compelling reason to
support the ideology before 1948.

Judy and Michael Steinhardt with their daughter, Sara Berman

American Friends of Tel Aviv University cel-
ebrated the opening of the new Steinhardt
Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv
University, the first and only center for
natural history research and outreach in the
Middle East, at its 2016 Annual Gala on Dec.
7 in New York City.
The dinner honored Michael Steinhardt,
philanthropist, financier, investor and one
of the founding patrons behind Birthright
Israel, whose vision and commitment made
the museum possible.
“The Steinhardt Museum will transform

Israel into an academic global hub for natu-
ral history research, attracting hundreds of
visiting scientists,” said Joseph Klafter, TAU
president.
Steinhardt said, “I believe the 5 million-
plus specimens that will be in the museum
on opening day are already a dynamic record
of Israel’s biodiversity and the history and
evolution of humankind in the Middle East.”
He celebrated his 76th birthday the night of
the gala.
The Steinhardt Museum is set to open in
the summer of 2017.

