Gordis said that the conversation must revolve around the purpose for which Israel was created. It must be an entirely different conversation. American Jews under 40, said Gordis, only know a secure, highly successful state of Israel.īuilding a healthy conversation, said Gordis, won’t be by talking about the Palestinians or annexation. Unlike their grandparents, these Jews don’t remember the boatloads of Jewish refugees fleeing Europe while the rest of the world closed its doors. Gordis also spoke about the growing cohort of young American Jews who have no recollection of why Israel was created. He said that American Jews fundamentally think about religion, with the synagogue as the central address, while for Israelis, Judaism is a national idea. “We have very different conceptions of what Judaism is,” said Gordis of Israeli and American Jews. He said that in the earliest years of modern Zionism in the 19th century, American Jews had a hard time embracing Zionism as the movement for a Jewish homeland while trying to be fully American. These issues are not the relationship with the Palestinians, conversions, or the rights of non-Orthodox Jews at the Western Wall.

Gordis identified several key factors in why there is a rift between many American Jews and Israel, some of which predate the birth of modern Israel in 1948. He noted that if Israel was created to be a normal nation where Jews could live, then it is an overwhelming success. “What if we said to ourselves, ‘Is Israel a success? What was Israel created for?’” said Gordis.

The local JCRC is an agency of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey.Ī new way of thinking about Israel is needed, according to Gordis, the senior vice president and Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College in Jerusalem and the author of a dozen books, including “We Stand Divided: The Rift Between American Jews and Israel.” He said that this new way of thinking is not a left-wing way or a right-wing way, not a religious way or a secular way, and not a liberal way or a conservative way. The event, which featured Gordis live from Israel, was hosted by the JCRC’s IAI in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Delaware and its JCRC. Daniel Gordis told those gathered virtually for the Jewish Community Relations Council Israel Advocacy Initiative’s Fourth Annual Israel Education Forum on Nov. The relationship between American Jews and Israel is “fraught,” Dr. Daniel Gordis (top, left), the featured speaker at the JCRC Israel Advocacy Initiative (IAI) Education Forum, is pictured with IAI Co-chairs David Bross (top, right), and Alan Moldoff.

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