A snowy February hit New York while we were at the World Zionist Organization’s (WZO) shluchim (teaching emissaries) conference in New Jersey. On the last day, the local news channel announced a “Snow Day,” meaning all schools would close and parents and children would have to stay home.
A school principal, who received instructions to close his school, had planned to hold a festive reception that day for the school’s Israeli shliach. The emissary had just returned from Israel after war-intensive IDF reserve duty, having left his family and his role at the school.
The principal (after some phone calls and a little pressure) managed to obtain special permission from the district supervisor, and the school opened during the Snow Day just to hold the reception for their hero from Israel.
The school gymnasium was packed when the shliach, dressed in his IDF uniform, entered to the now infamous tune of “Even in the Dark Hours of the Night.” The entire teaching staff, eyes sparkling, gave him a guard of honor, applauding and welcoming him with warm hugs.
He then rushed to his waiting students and joined their singing with great emotion. This is just one story that illustrates how Jews around the world identify so strongly with the State of Israel.
Since October 7, there has been a renewed closeness between Diaspora Jewry and Israel. Issues that previously created division – such as the Western Wall arrangement, the Law of Return, and judicial reform – have been pushed aside in favor of renewed partnership between parts of the Jewish people in Israel and abroad.
It is commonly said that the rise of global antisemitism strengthens our shared fate, but besides that, one can see an awakening and renewed search for Jewish identity and meaning among Diaspora Jewry, as well as a closer connection to the State of Israel.
IN A REPORT published in September 2024, the Jewish People Policy Institute presented a complex picture of the Jewish people’s situation after October 7. By most metrics, the Jewish people are struggling. However, according to three metrics specifically addressing Diaspora Jewry, things are improving:
Cohesion of the Jewish people: There is a renewed closeness of Jewish people in Israel and abroad. A study determined that 8 out of 10 Jews from Israel agree with the statement, “All Jews, in Israel and the Diaspora, have a shared future.”
Identity and identification: There is a significant increase in the number of Diaspora Jews who identify with the State of Israel and show increased involvement in Jewish activity in their community.
A Rosov Consulting study led by Dr. Alex Pomson dealt with, among other things, responses from American Jews regarding their relationship with Israel after October 7. Some 36% said their relationship remained the same, compared to 46% who said they now feel more connected to Israel.
Jewish demographics: The institute’s report found that the Jewish population in Israel grew by 1.4%, there was positive migration to Israel, and the natural growth rates of the population increased.
There was also a significant increase in opening immigration files – 318% in France and 46% in the US, for example. (It is still difficult to know the correlation between opening immigration files and actual immigration.)
Dr. Daniel Gordis, a research fellow at the Shalem Center, points to two crises experienced by the Jewish world in the post-October 7 period. First, Israeli society is experiencing a crisis of loss of confidence in the Zionist enterprise that promised “never again” after the Holocaust.
Second, American Jewry is experiencing a crisis in feeling that the Jewish population in the Diaspora is in safe territory and Jewish life is not under threat. With the emergence of antisemitic incidents all over the world, this feeling has been significantly undermined.
The conclusion arising from both crises is that this tragic day bonded World Jewry with the story of the State of Israel.
LAST WEEK, Dr. Gordis spoke at a strategic thinking conference in Jerusalem involving leading Israeli organizations dealing with Jewish education in the Diaspora. Participants gathered to discuss the educational opportunities arising after October 7. For example, how can we capitalize on the renewed closeness between Diaspora Jews and the State of Israel?
The conference was jointly led by the Education Department of the WZO and the Pincus Fund and was attended by representatives from the Jewish Agency, UnitEd, the ANU Museum of the Jewish People, the Lookstein Center, and more.
At the conference, Dr. Micah Goodman proposed a new narrative that the State of Israel can offer Diaspora Jewry. He described Israel as a society that successfully balances individual achievement with collective responsibility.
This unique hybrid model combines technological innovation and personal growth – exemplified by the IDF’s military advances – with deep social cohesion, demonstrated through national mobilization and mutual support. The ongoing campaign to free the hostages further illustrates this collective commitment to shared values and sacrifice.
According to Goodman, few societies are capable of offering such a path. There is a built-in assumption that the State of Israel has a unique story to offer Diaspora Jews who want to identify with it.
Participants agreed there has been a new awakening and search for meaning, manifested in the desire to return and connect to a shared story that can revitalize every Jewish life with meaning and purpose. Values such as self-sacrifice and mutual responsibility, as well as dealing with identity questions about an individual’s relationship to Judaism and to Israel, are all a platform for the search for meaning, which expresses a deeper, growing desire to belong to a larger story.
What does this shared story contain?
Well, different answers were raised. Is the shared story of the Jewish people the “love” that needs to be rekindled? Has the time come to offer expressions of commitment to the State of Israel by creating programs that include “hands-on” missions to express that long-standing connection?
Or perhaps the call is to retrace the Zionist story back to its original roots – roots that do not begin with Herzl and the Zionist Movement but were planted more than 4,000 years ago, with God’s call to Abraham the Hebrew, “Go forth to your land and your birthplace.”
These recent findings demonstrate how our reality has presented us with a historic opportunity. We must pave new paths to leverage this moment in time for a renewed connection to an ancient story, the transformative partnership between the State of Israel and Diaspora Jewry.
The writer is head of the Education Department at the World Zionist Organization and deputy chairman of KKL, as well as a Mizrachi Movement representative in the National Institutions.