By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO– Would the creation of universally free Jewish pre-schools strengthen ties between Diaspora countries and Israel? That is one of the ideas under discussion among member agencies of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and Israel’s government.
Another area under consideration is the creation of strong follow-up programs in the United States and other Diaspora countries to build upon the enthusiasm for Israel that is engendered during the 10-day Birthright/ Taglit trips to Israel that are now offered for free to Jews between the ages of 18 and 26.
Rebecca “Becky” Caspi, JFNA senior vice president and director-general of its Israel office, on Thursday, Jan. 30, described both ideas as possible ways to sstrengthen Diaspora enthusiasm for Israel during a time when, according to the 2013 Pew Research Center report on the American Jewish community, the percentage of Jews who say they are “Jewish by religion” is declining while those who identify themselves as Jews by parentage or culture is increasing.
According to the survey 76 percent of those who identify themselves as Jews by religion consider themselves “very attached” or “somewhat attached” to Israel, whereas among “Jews of no religion” that percentage is only 45 percent. The Pew Research Study of 2013 found that overall 22 percent of self-identified Jews today categorize themselves as having no religion, and that generation by generation the percentage of such Jews has been climbing, from only 7 percent of Jews born between 1914 and 1927 to 32 percent of those born after 1980.
Caspi, who attended JNFA’s recent board meeting in Los Angeles, afterwards visited with the Jewish Federation of San Diego County at which San Diego’s strong and ongoing partnership with the Sha’ar Hanegev region of Israel–lying alongside the Gaza border–was reviewed and discussed. Among other duties, JNFA’s office in Israel helps to coordinate cross-cultural contacts between American and Israeli communities.
Discussing the trends depicted in the Pew Research Report, Caspi told San Diego Jewish World that universally free Jewish pre-schools not only seems economically possible for the worldwide Jewish community to sustain, but also “because of the community-building potential for young families, that would be a great place to invest.”
Discussing the Birthright/ Taglit program, Caspi said data indicates that for participants the trip “is an incredibly eye-opening, exciting and engaging experience.” However, she said, more attention clearly needs to be given to following up that trip to keep participants engaged. “How do you provide different portals and ample opportunities for these young people when they return home to engage Jewishly in a way that works for them? There is no single prescription. You can’t say you have to take them and create a conduit that will direct them to synagogue, or Moshe House, or to Young Leadership at Federation. Each person is going to find his or her own comfort level and the place for them.”
Because the age range for Birthright Trips is 18 to 26, many participants return to college campuses, which in some cases are venues for anti-Israel agitation by pro-Palestinian forces.
“Coming back on campuses which can be hostile environments to Jews and Jewish students in a tremendous turnoff and that spark that we have managed to ignite almost goes out in a self-preservationist type of response,” said Caspi. “We can’t allow that to happen; we can’t allow the campuses to be a place where people who are proud to be Jewish feel that they have to hide that light under a bushel.”
The JNFA official said the Jewish community of Boston has developed a program on eight college campuses in which Jewish professionals “are present full time to work with returning Birthright participants to find their path on campus and they work with the different campus-based organizations–whether Hillel or Chabad.”
San Diego’s partnership with Sha’ar Hanegev is an example of how communities in the Diaspora and Israel can strengthen their relationship by developing ongoing people-to-people ties. Among other partnership projects, the Jewish Federation of San Diego County helped Sha’ar Hanegev to fund the modern, rocket-proof Yitzhak Shavit Sha’ar Hanegev School adjacent to Sapir College in Sderot.
Debbie Kornberg, director of the Israel and Overseas Center at the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, said a group of students from that community school will soon be making a 10-day visit to the San Diego Jewish Academy, with a return visit by SDJA students to Sha’ar Hanegev planned in the Spring.
Sha’ar Hanegev is a municipality that includes 10 kibbutzim and one moshav as well as the village of Ibim, which serves as a way-station for new immigrants to Israel. One of the Sha’ar Hanegev kibbutzim is Nahal Oz, which sits right on the Gaza border and has suffered so many rocket and mortar attacks that some of its residents have relocated to other areas of Israel. Among those who remain, particularly children, there is the need “to do drama therapy… to help them deal with the challenges of living there,” said Kornberg. The Jewish Federation of San Diego County “funded the drama therapy, and they made a 14-minute short film which was accepted in the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and will be screened Thursday, Feb 13, at 7 p.m. at the Clairemont Theatre.”
The student filmmakers, Kornberg added, “will go around town and talk at public schools.” She said Federation is “really excited about the opportunity to heighten awareness” about the kinds of terror that residents of Israel are subjected to regularly.
The partnership between San Diego and Sha’ar Hanegev is so strong that longtime San Diego community activist Jane Fantel serves in Israel as a professional liaison between the two communities. She has an office at JFNA’s offices in Jerusalem when she is not in Sha’ar Hanegev collaborating with two Israeli staff members from the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). The Jewish Agency helped create the partnership.
The Jewish Federation of San Diego County is one of 153 federated communities and 350 networked communities served by the Jewish Federations of North America. Caspi said federated communities are those which have their own professional staffs, whereas networked communities are those that are so small that they are run by part-time volunteers.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@djewishworld.com