By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — What we’ve surmised for a long time is now official: though the monies collected in the United States for Israel have doubled in the last 20 years (now about $2.1 billion annually), the traditional recipients (the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, the World Zionist Organization, etc.) have decreased their share from some 80 percent in 1975 to less than 10 percent in 2007. (The figures have been adjusted for inflation.)
Though there has been a dip in contributions during the recent recession, these are now picking up, according to the report in Ha’aretz where these figures are to be found. The bulk of the money goes nowadays to educational institutions (particularly universities), welfare organizations and hospitals. Political groups, both on the right and on the left, receive comparatively little – between them less than Orthodox yeshivot and allied institutions. But because of the overall increase, other than the above mentioned traditional recipients, most groups are doing well.
Thus the (allegedly left-leaning) New Israel Fund is said to collect some $30 million a year. I didn’t find any statistics about the money that goes to Progressive Judaism in Israel, but I suspect that it’s comparatively minimal. Liberal Jews aren’t good at giving to their own, perhaps with the exception of buildings named after them, but they’re very generous in giving to others, including Orthodox institutions that despise them and work against non-Orthodox Judaism in Israel. I learnt that when I was the interim director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.
The reason for the failure of Liberal Jewish institutions to gain support from their own – the Union for Reform Judaism is allegedly the largest Jewish organization in the United States with well over a million members – should be an important item on the agenda of its revamped leadership. It points to an ominous sickness. The decrease in support for the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization may have a lot to do with the disappointment with their bureaucracy and inability to speak for Diaspora Jewry. It has become the arena of small-time Israeli machers. (In comparative terms, the Jewish National Fund isn’t doing too badly.)
But the support for the State of Israel among American Jews is strong. Some 70 percent feel close to Israel; over 40 percent said they are “very close.” But theirs isn’t traditional Zionism. As the figures indicate, it’s philanthropic Zionism. As the old adage has it: it’s one Jew collecting money from another Jew so that a third Jew, preferably from far away, should settle in Israel. This is also reflected in the attitude of American Jews to Israeli politics. Though most may be prepared to give up the West Bank, at least half is opposed to the division of Jerusalem. They’ll always fight from a safe distance to the last Israeli.
Most don’t even come to visit. Though tourism has increased in recent yeas, it’s mostly non-Jews, particularly evangelicals, who make up the numbers. Of course, this is consistent with philanthropic Zionism: love of Israel from afar, like unconsummated romantic love of a bygone age. Israelis should be forgiven for appreciating the money without being touched by the love. Though the above deals mainly with the United States, the picture elsewhere is likely to be similar, even though the actual sums are, of course, very much smaller.
*
Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now dividing his time between Canada and Israel, he may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com