“I am Yahweh; that is My Name! I will not give My glory to anyone else, nor share My praise with carved idols.” (Isaiah 42: 8)
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The Times of Israel—JTS head says Israel’s close relations with Trump ‘delegitimize’ American Jewry:
In a stirring speech in front of the Jewish Federation of North America General Assembly this past November, President Reuven Rivlin called for a renewed commitment to bridging the Israeli-Diaspora divide — coining Jews living outside of Israel as the “fifth tribe.”
“Israeli society is going through a major change. It is changing from a society made up of a clear Zionist majority, to a society made up of four clear sectors, or ‘tribes,’ which are getting closer in size: secular Jews, National Religious Jews, ultra-Orthodox and Arabs. Four tribes, all of them Israeli,” he said.
“I believe that this challenge — of creating a partnership between the four tribes — is one of the most significant challenges that the State of Israel faces today. In order to meet this challenge we need the partnership with you, the fifth tribe, the Jews of the Diaspora.”
On Thursday, approximately 60 Jewish community leaders from Israel and North America gathered to discuss the unique needs of each “tribe” in a follow-up event titled, “Re-connecting with ‘The Fifth Tribe’: A New Paradigm for Israel-Diaspora Relations,” at Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem.
Particular focus was given on what to do on the growing divide between the Jewish Diaspora — specifically North America — and Israel.
The event was sponsored by the Jewish Federation of San Francisco and Shaharit, a think tank, leadership incubator and community organizing hub promoting a new take on Israeli liberalism.
Keynote speaker was Dr. Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Four Israeli speakers representing different Israeli communities briefly responded (in Hebrew) after Eisen’s lecture: Orly Dabush-Nitzan, a former Israeli emissary in New York, Naomi Pearl, the director of leadership development programs in the ultra-Orthodox community for the Mandel Foundation, Ghaida Rinawi-Zoabi, the Arab-Israeli director of INJAZ, an organization devoted to creating strong local Arab government within Israel, and Tehila Friedman-Nachalon, director of Shaharit’s Fellows program.
While participants agreed on the importance of proactively working to mend the relationship between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, the discussion descended into a game of hot potato as different interpretations of blame for the split emerged.
Embarrassed Jewish America
Eisen, a renowned scholar of American Judaism, went through the various obstacles facing the Israeli-Diaspora relationship as he sees them, both deep-rooted and newly-emerging.
“I do believe with every bone in my body that our two communities are inseparable. You cannot separate the fate of Jews in North America or Judaism in North America from the fate of Jews and Judaism in the State of Israel,” he said.
The main issue of today, Eisen said, was the sizable ideological and political split between North America’s vast liberal, non-Orthodox Jewish population and the right-wing, and increasingly religious, stronghold in Israel.
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SnyderTalk Comment:
As The Times of Israel pointed out,
Sixty-seven percent of Israelis approve of Trump, according to a new Gallup poll, in stark contrast to the 77 percent of American Jews who disapprove of Trump.
This makes Netanyahu’s alignment with the Republican party and Trump particularly problematic, said Eisen.
“You have a government which, to me, made a political mistake in the first order,” Eisen said, referring to Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress against the Iran Deal in 2015.
“Bibi [Netanyahu] identified the State of Israel exclusively with one of the two parties in the United States, which had never been done before, which has caused a great problem for AIPAC,” Eisen said, prognosticating a particularly uncomfortable AIPAC Policy Conference this coming spring.
According to Dr. Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, “Israel’s close relations with Trump ‘delegitimize’ American Jewry.”
There is a sharp and growing divide between U.S. Jews and Israeli Jews. See “The Growing Gap Between Israel And American Jews”.
Many U.S. Jews believe Israel shouldn’t exist. President Trump sees as a high priority protecting Israel from Islamists in the Middle East who believe the same thing.
So, in a nutshell, Dr. Eisen was saying that siding with President Trump instead of Israel’s enemies is hurting U.S. Jewry.
That’s the truth, and it’s shocking. Jewish people who don’t support Israel are worse than Balaam, because he wasn’t a Jew.
Switching Gears Slightly
No one with any knowledge can deny the importance of Jewish people to Yahweh. It’s equally true that all 12 tribes of Israel are important to Him.
Fact: Jewish people are not all 12 tribes of Israel.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
See “His Name is Yahweh”.
