By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — Isaac Herzog is a prince in Israel. His father was the country’s sixth president, his grandfather its first chief rabbi. He himself was a Member of Knesset for 15 years, some of it as a cabinet minister. As the head of Israel’s Labor Party he was also the Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset.
Last year, reportedly at the behest of Jewish leaders in the Diaspora and against the wishes of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Isaac Herzog became the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). Writing in the Times of Israel, Ben Sales had this to say about the organization:
“The quasi-governmental Jewish Agency is usually described as the functional bridge between Israel and the Diaspora, getting a significant portion of its funding from Jewish federations and communal funds. It has traditionally been tasked with facilitating aliyah, or Jewish immigration to Israel. In addition, it helps fund long-term programs to bring Diaspora Jews to intern or study in Israel and sends a network of Israeli emissaries to countries abroad. Within Israel, it operates programs that aid disadvantaged populations.”
The growing gap between Israel and the Diaspora in recent years should have presented JAFI with an added challenge. Whereas the right-wing governments led by Netanyahu have become increasingly close to the Republican Party in the United States, especially so in the ostensibly special relationship between the current president of the United States and the current prime minister of Israel, most American Jews are Democrats, critical of both Trump and Netanyahu.
While the Netanyahu government has become more and more beholden to the Orthodox and reactionary members of its coalition, most of American Jewry identifies with Reform and Conservative Judaism expecting its adherents in Israel to be treated as even-handedly and fairly as they’re treated in the United States and elsewhere in the Diaspora.
I’m among those who believe that the imperative to narrow the gap, even if it cannot be removed, should be on top of the agenda of JAFI. That’s what I wrote recently in the Canadian Jewish News:
The Jewish Agency for Israel was an essential force in the creation of the Jewish state. It brought Jews from around the world and built bridges between Israel and the Diaspora. Its mission has been to ‘inspire Jews throughout the world to connect with the people, heritage and land, and empower them to build a thriving Jewish future and a strong Israel.’
“Today, this may mean not only helping individuals and groups feel at home in Israel, but also putting pressure on those in power to achieve this goal. The Jewish Agency has the experience and the resources to help bring it about. The question is whether it also has the will and the imagination to adapt its mission to the needs of today.
In the hope of finding out I attended last Thursday a public conversation at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem between its director and Isaac Herzog. The latter came across, as he invariably does, as the nice man he is, open to dialogue and compromise and respectful of all branches of Judaism. However, I didn’t hear anything new and constructive. The will may be there, but the imagination is lacking. This gives cause for much concern.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada. Now a resident of Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com