By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — Members of the Knesset are discovering America, Jewish America to be precise. Prompted by Jay Ruderman of the Ruderman Family Foundation a dozen or so Israeli parliamentarians came together recently to form the Israel-American Jewish Knesset Caucus. The visit was preceded by a comprehensive US visit by six MKs from different political parties sponsored by the Foundation.
The formation of the Caucus has come about because American Jews in general and American Jewish leaders in particular know much more about Israel than Israeli politicians seem to know about American Jewry. Though many of them often speak to American audiences, they hardly ever listen to what the Jews may want to tell them.
The Caucus is also to be made aware of the shift in the way American Jews spend their money inIsrael. Until now the portion of the funds that the 160 Federations in the United States earmarked forIsrael and overseas were handed over in bulk to the Jewish Agency (70%) and to the Joint Distribution Committee (30%). In recent years, however, a growing number of American-Jewish philanthropists have come to dedicate their monies to specific causes that better reflect their own interests and concerns.
Some of these causes are non-establishment left-leaning NGOs inIsrael, such as the New Israel Fund, which some members of the Knesset have vilified in the past and even tried to outlaw. It seems that part of the agenda of the new Caucus is to impress upon the MKs that American Jewry will no longer tolerate such antics.
Jay Ruderman said as much. In an interview published Monday in The Marker, the comprehensive and highly influential business section of Ha’aretz, he admits that it was a mistake that the previous “mission” of MKs didn’t meet with J-Street, the left-of-centre response to AIPAC (the lobby that too neatly reflects the Netanyahu government’s stance). J-Street will be on the agenda of future visits, Ruderman added.
But perhaps an even more significant issue is the “Who is a Jew?” question. It’s quite obvious that American Jewry, with its high rate of intermarriage that has resulted in an ever increasing part of the community not complying with the halakhic criteria for Jewish status, will not tolerate being discriminated against by Israeli law. Ruderman seemed to be saying that the Knesset members must be exposed to this truth in their future decision making and act on it.
Already at the opening meeting of the Caucus, we’re told, there was a heated exchange on this subject between two members on opposite sides of the issue. No doubt there’re more to come. The Caucus will attempt to confront the parliamentarians with the realities of American-Jewish life and their implications for Israeli legislation.
This is very good news for non-Orthodox Jews who form the bulk of the American community and are furious about the way they’re being discriminated against inIsrael. The proposed new efforts to understand American Jewry are calculated to build bridges and for Israeli law makers to live with the truth that Reform and Conservative Judaism dominates American Jewry and expects full recognition in the Jewish state.
The other Jewish communities in the world – perhaps with the exception of Canada because of its proximity to the United States- aren’t on the agenda, because most Jews live in either Israel or North America, but all are bound to benefit from the Caucus.
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Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his time between Canada and Israel and may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com