Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful comment, Neil. Especially your point about the increasing awareness, on both sides, of the need and support Israeli and diaspora Jews have of each other.
We Jewish educators (high school in Baltimore) always try to explain to our students how precious the modern State of Israel is in all of Jewish History. However, in truth we really can't and/or couldn't for several generations until now.
It is a painful paradox -- how can we appreciate something until we can actually envision it not being here? The only way to explain is to say that the modern Jewish nightmare scenario -- Israel attacked by Gaza, the West Bank (after Jordan's monarchy falls to radicals) and Hezbollah -- as American Jews lose political power, is far closer to reality today than it was a year ago.
That is not meant to frighten us or put us in "shrei gevalt" mode -- so common for so many, but to make us think long, hard and creatively. We continue to have more friends in the American Diaspora than in any Diaspora in the history of Diasporas. And we do live in a world in which while we need the State of Israel to survive in a healthy way, it is now increasingly recognized (in Israel) that Jews there need us for them to survive. It is the next phase in our inescapable relationship. (We love each other -- whether we like it or not.)
While I still don't see all of our nightmare scenario coming to pass, I now with great fear must at least admit that the possibility is stronger than it has been since the State of Israel came into existence (in large part due to the increasingly prolonged nature of this current conflict and its impact on western society).
Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful comment, Neil. Especially your point about the increasing awareness, on both sides, of the need and support Israeli and diaspora Jews have of each other.
B'shalom, Gary
Nailed it, which is terrifying.
We Jewish educators (high school in Baltimore) always try to explain to our students how precious the modern State of Israel is in all of Jewish History. However, in truth we really can't and/or couldn't for several generations until now.
It is a painful paradox -- how can we appreciate something until we can actually envision it not being here? The only way to explain is to say that the modern Jewish nightmare scenario -- Israel attacked by Gaza, the West Bank (after Jordan's monarchy falls to radicals) and Hezbollah -- as American Jews lose political power, is far closer to reality today than it was a year ago.
That is not meant to frighten us or put us in "shrei gevalt" mode -- so common for so many, but to make us think long, hard and creatively. We continue to have more friends in the American Diaspora than in any Diaspora in the history of Diasporas. And we do live in a world in which while we need the State of Israel to survive in a healthy way, it is now increasingly recognized (in Israel) that Jews there need us for them to survive. It is the next phase in our inescapable relationship. (We love each other -- whether we like it or not.)
While I still don't see all of our nightmare scenario coming to pass, I now with great fear must at least admit that the possibility is stronger than it has been since the State of Israel came into existence (in large part due to the increasingly prolonged nature of this current conflict and its impact on western society).
My God, you could have written this yesterday...