Israel, World Jewry, and Nationality in a Global Era

SIS 150 Lecture 19Noam Pianko

In Preparation for the Final Class…On the index card provided, write one

outstanding question pertaining to this course that you would like addressed in the final lecture

Announcements

Lecture “The Women’s Movement and Religious/Secular Conflict in Israel” 7pm 220 Kane Hall Extra Credit

Final Exam: Wednesday, March 19, 4:30-6:30 Gowan 301 Review Sheet Available on Thursday

“Our Celebration Too?”

Walk the Land Video

We are One?

Attachment of U.S. Jews to Israel Falling

Israelis no longer need U.S. SupportDivergent Organizational Principles

Today’s Goals: “We are One” or “Divergent Cultures?” What is the role, past and present, that Israel

plays for World Jewry and vice-versa? How do constructions of World Jewry and the

Israel-diaspora relationship reflect each communities organization principles?

What does the case of World Jewry teach us about collective identity in a global era?

Negation of the Diaspora

“This is the doctrine of the [Zionist] revolution. Not surrendering to the Galut but making an end of it. Galut means dependence - material, political, spiritual, cultural and intellectual dependence - because we are aliens, a minority, bereft of a homeland... Our task is to break radically with this dependence and to become masters of our own fate - in a word, to achieve independence.”-Ben Gurion

“The State of Israel” or “The Land of Israel?”

Enduring Trope

“What reveals itself here is behavior of a clearly neurotic sort: the nation hates the golah and dreams of Eretz Israel, the nation rejects exile at all levels of its authentic spiritual activity, but at the same time all its historical activity is preoccupied with one end: how to endure in exile, how to continue to maintain this hated existence…” A.B. Yehoshua

Other Options

“Picture Klal Yisrael as an ellipse with two foci, Israel and Diaspora or “two that are one.” Shimon Rawidowicz

“Zion is a cultural center radiating life-giving impulses to an ongoing Diaspora… a symbolic circle with a center in Israel and a circumference in the Diaspora” Ahad Ha-am

The Limits of Negation of the Exile…

What role does American Jewish community play?

American Jewish Support

Financial support through Jewish Federations and philanthropy

Lobby U.S. Government

Post-Oslo Transformations

Israel no longer needs U.S. SupportRabin, AIPAC, and the Peace ProcessFinance Minister: Israel Bonds

AnachronismYossi Beilin-Channel Funds to Jewish

Education in the Diaspora

Israeli Diaspora and the Global AllureIsrael in Silicon Valley

Zionists and Anti-Zionists1897-1948Religion or Nation?Americanization and Dual Loyalty

Question

Zionism is Consistent with American Patriotism“Every American Jew who aids in

advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there, will likewise be a better man and a better American.” Judge Louis Brandeis. 1915

American Jews and Israel1948-1967Euphoria of StatehoodEmergence of Holocaust as Central

SymbolAmerican Attitudinal Changes

Identity Politics 1967 War and Vietnam Cold War Partnership Exodus and the Israeli Hero

Pro-Israel Consensus

Israel needs Diaspora SupportPotential Refuge for Persecuted JewsShield against AssimilationJewish Vulnerability as Basis of

Collective Identity

Changing Perception of Israel

Peoplehood to the “Sovereign Self”“Tikkun Olam” and TanksIntellectual Critique of American Jewish

Support of IsraelDivergent Cultures-Israeli and American

Jewish

The Power of Diaspora

“Indeed, we would suggest that Diaspora, and not monotheism, may be the most important contribution that Judaism has to make to the world… Diaspora can teach us that it is possible for a people to maintain its distinctive culture, its difference, without controlling land, without controlling other people or developing a need to dispossess them of their lands.” Daniel and Jonathan Boyarin

America is the Promised Land

“It’s time to say that America is a better place to be a Jew than Jerusalem. If ever there was a promised land, we Jewish Americans are living in it.”-Jacob Neusner

Is Israel-American Jewry Relationship Unique?How it it similar/different from other

immigrant groups?What does enduring attachment teach

about collective membership today?

Response to Decreased Attachment

Birthright IsraelIsrael EducationBranding Israel

Toward a Global JewryChallenge Central NarrativesFrom Ideology to Human NetworksAcknowledge Multiple Centers