Saturday, July 23, 2022
From Ian:
Reclaiming Jewish advocacy beyond Zionism
Reclaiming Jewish advocacy beyond Zionism
Data conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and other leading research centers form the necessary CT scan of the Jewish American body today.Natan Sharansky urges Russian Jews to move to Israel before possible shutdown
We can see the malaise, identify the various tumors: namely that a vast 73% of American Jews view their Jewish identity as an expression of religion, or that despite a plethora of Jewish teen organizations, Jews are less likely to become involved in Jewish life as adults, and more likely to intermarry (42% of all currently married Jewish respondents indicate they have a non-Jewish spouse).
And in regards to Israel, American Jewish teens struggle to support and feel affiliation in the midst of a social media propaganda campaign that paints the Jewish nation state as guilty of apartheid and Zionism as racism. We must use catheters – innovative pedagogies – to reach and confront the root of the problem: a generation that is confused about their identities, a generation that unwittingly deploys moral equivalents, a generation that is triggered by the word “truth.”
We are losing the ideological war not because we do not have better social media posts or better counter-arguments; we are losing the war because our children are marinating in a neo-Marxist framework that primes them to view power as evil, or the concept of truth an assault on narrative.
In the past four years that I have been teaching Zionism, I have noticed how rapidly things have deteriorated. If four years ago I could “sell Zionism” and inspire teens to become Zionists, today things are different. And I dare go one step further: selling Zionism has very little to do with Zionism.
Recently I had the privilege of hearing former ambassador Ron Dermer speak to a group of teens. To the question posed by one teen about how to get people to be more pro-Israel, Dermer announced: “When I gauge whether I am dealing with an ally or foe to Israel, I ask two questions and neither have anything to do with Israel or Zionism. First I ask, do you believe in a right and wrong, and second, is America a force of good for the world?”
Let us aim higher, dare to be better by reclaiming western civilization and its moral fabric by teaching that there are fixed axioms such as right and wrong, truth is objective, language shapes reality and that equality and equity comes at a cost to freedom. Dare I say, the solution is not more Zionism, but a reset button: a reclaiming of the morality narrative deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian values.
Russian Jews should move to Israel as soon as possible, former Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky urged on Friday, less than a day after Moscow called for the aliyah organization’s liquidation in Russia.Jewish Agency in Russia is secretly planning on relocating to Israel
In a Facebook post, Sharansky, a former “refusenik” who was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities for nearly a decade during the late 1970s and early ’80s due to his human rights activism, framed the move as part of the ongoing Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine, which has seen a surge in immigration to Israel from both countries.
“Since the beginning of Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, Israel has taken a cautious stance and offered only limited support to Ukraine,” he wrote, echoing earlier criticism of Jerusalem’s Ukraine policy, which he had previously told Haaretz stemmed from former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s fear to call out Putin.
“In the past days and weeks, Russia, isolated as it is from the free world, strengthened its military and political alliance with Iran and Syria. At the same time, it took steps to stop the operations of the Jewish Agency, the central organization connecting Israel and the Jews of the Diaspora, in its territory,” Sharansky went on to say.
He called Russia’s actions a reminder that Israelis “must protect our interests in ways that don’t rely on relinquishing our moral positions but rather on insisting on upholding them and to join the free world’s fight to stop Russia’s aggression.”
And while the Jewish Agency does important work in Russia, “it behooves us to remember that Israel knew how to fight for immigration even when the Jewish Agency and all Israeli diplomats were barred from Soviet Russia, just as it knew how to defend its security interests successfully even when all the best Soviet weapons were delivered not to us but to our enemies,” he said.
“I want to finish this post with a message to all of our Jewish brethren in Russia who are seriously considering immigrating to Israel: I urge you not postpone the implementation of your plans,” Sharansky added.
The Jewish Agency has secretly launched a plan to move its operations in Russia to Israel and to run the aliyah process remotely, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The decision follows the Russian Justice Ministry’s request on Thursday to shut down the agency’s activities in Russia. In the meantime, there will be a court discussion on the case this week, the Post has learned, and until then, the agency is trying to fight its case.
“The Jewish Agency employees are working on packing up, metaphorically, and re-evaluating their challenges and work,” said a source close to the agency.
The understanding is that there is no solution for the complicated legal situation in Russia, and therefore there is a need to create a system that will enable long-distance aliyah applications.
Even though the aliyah process is able to move to an online platform, it won’t be convenient for the elderly, because face-to-face connections will no longer exist.
A source in the agency explained that without the ability to promote aliyah in Russia, the immigration rates will drop dramatically in the coming years.
The agency has just a few Israeli shlichim (emissaries) in Russia and about 100 local employees. It is unclear if there will be a solution for these employees if it is forced to close its operations there.
