In the aftermath of the events of October 7, American Jews are mired in a two-edged crisis. Neither their physical home, the United States, nor their ancestral and spiritual homeland, Israel, is safe anymore. This has several implications for policy.
Successful assimilation?
American Jews have assimilated into local mainstream society with extraordinary success. A high proportion of them acquired academic degrees, an overwhelming majority work in the professions and stand on the upper rungs of the earnings ladder, and some occupy key positions in politics, media, and entertainment. The spatial concentration that used to characterize Jews has given way to countrywide dispersion amid penetration of mixed neighborhoods. Perhaps more than anything else, their acceptance in the general environment is reflected in their skyrocketing rates of intermarriage.
These achievements have not spared American Jews from prejudice and physical bullying. The 2020 Pew Survey of American Jews revealed that nine out of 10 members of this collective feel there is at least some antisemitism in their country. More than half reported having experienced antisemitism first-hand – whether it be seeing anti-Jewish graffiti, enduring online harassment, or hearing anti-Jewish rhetoric.
About three-quarters noted that antisemitism in the US has been on the rise in recent years, with adverse effects on their personal safety.
These subjective feelings have probably intensified in recent weeks in tandem with pro-Palestinian protests at America’s most prestigious universities, many of them the alma maters of established American Jews; an unprecedented increase in antisemitic incidents (more than 300% according to the ADL); and demonstrations calling for genocide of Jews. To be a Jewish student in America today, to wear a Jewish identifying mark such as a Star of David or a kippah, to affix a mezuzah to one’s doorpost, or simply to identify as a Jew arouses fears among American Jews today as it has at no other time in the past.
Israel isn't much safer
But one should admit that Israel, too, is not a very safe place. In an article that I published in this newspaper last May, I noted that in no other country have so many Jews been killed or murdered simply for being Jews. Nowhere else are Jews urged to bear arms for self-defense. Nowhere else in the world do Jews buy an apartment with a protected room built of reinforced concrete and anti-missile steel.
THIS ABNORMALITY escalated last Simhat Torah as hundreds of children, women, and elders, Holocaust survivors among them, were murdered or taken hostage by Hamas. Since then, tens of thousands of Jews from communities in the South and on the northern border have been forced to evacuate their homes, living as displaced persons in hotels and other temporary accommodations. Every day, rockets and missiles are launched at Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and even Yemen. Moreover, a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict seems more distant than ever.
The daily anxieties that beset Jews in the US and Israel are different yet both have increased greatly recently. Accordingly, I believe that the balance of advantages and disadvantages between each of these two countries for American Jews has not changed significantly. Thus, I do not expect to see any large influx of immigrants from the US to Israel. Jews will remain in the country where they were born, whose language they speak, and where they have seen much financial success.
American Jews need to reconsider values
The recent events, however, do require some rethinking and realignment on the part of both individuals and the community. First, the multiculturalism and identity politics that have taken hold in the US are encouraging a growing number of offspring of mixed parentage to express their Jewish identity publicly. This is one of the main explanations for the substantial growth of the American Jewish population in the past two decades. The upturn in antisemitism must not suppress this tendency or any other manifestation of Jewish communal affiliation and practice.
Second, although its military and political strength has been undermined, Israel offers many benefits in Jewish life and may serve American Jews as an alternative if their personal security deteriorates further. American Jews should consider what Prof. Shlomo Avineri, who recently passed away (full disclosure: he was my father-in-law), called “half-aliya.” By this, he meant that Jewish academics should spend their sabbaticals in Israeli universities, that Jewish families should choose Israel as the place for their holidays and summer vacations, and that more American Jews should acquire proficiency in the Hebrew language and culture.
Finally, centers for Jewish and Israel studies at American universities need to find ways to attract students from diverse religious, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Their curricula should offer courses that present the history of the Jewish people and of Israel in a balanced manner. Efforts should be made to raise funds and bring these students on a tour to Israel and expose them to contents that will emphasize the diversity of the population and the social, cultural, and political complexities of the region.
The writer is a professor and head of the Division of Jewish Demography at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also holds the Shlomo Argov Chair in Israel–Diaspora Relations.