annual report 2019

Jewish Peoplehood in the past did not merely assume a sense of loyalty and belonging, but a primacy of identity. One was first and foremost a Jew, a member of a people with a story of a common ancestry and a shared past who have walked together for more than three thousand years. We walked together as slaves in Egypt, in the desert for forty years, and into the Promised Land. We walked together into exile and back, into exile again, and now into our newfound homes in Israel and North America. We walked through the valley of the shadow of death, together, entering and exiting as one people.

Our shared history, coupled with the relationship to our tradition, positioned Jewishness as our principal identity. For most of our history, antisemitism made it our exclusive one. While a Jew could think of themselves as having multiple identities, such as a Frenchman, a liberal, an intellectual, a member of the middle or upper class, the antisemite declared that to be a mere delusion. A Jew in their eyes had only one, singular identity: Jew.

The latter part of the twentieth century and now the early stages of the twenty-first pose a new challenge to Jewish Peoplehood. While we know all too well that the scourge of antisemitism is alive and growing, it no longer redefines Jewish identity as a singular one. In both Israel and in North America, collectively home to ninety percent of Jews worldwide, Jews have multiple identities in addition to their Jewish one - the most significant being Israeli, American, and Canadian, and most recently, right-wing or left-wing, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. As has lately been the case, many of these identities are also increasingly the dominant one.

Jews are at home in Israel and in North America, and with their citizenship comes a transformation in their consciousness. We do not merely live in each location but see ourselves as belonging.

​

Israelis, while defining Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, very naturally see themselves as principally Israeli Jews, with consequences for their loyalties, responsibilities, and political commitments. While Israelis are committed to helping any Jew anywhere in the world who find themselves in dire need or imminent danger, as Israelis they give priority to their own needs and interests, especially in relation to Jews in North America, who do not face those challenges.

It is for this reason that Israelis choose coalition governments which support their defense and economic interests, even though some of their policies alienate North American Jews. They support diplomatic ties and relationships with countries that are pro-Israel, even though they may be, paradoxically at the same time, “soft” on antisemitism. They support “right-wing” policies which reflect their values and priorities, even though they are at odds with their liberal brothers and sisters in North America.

Similarly, North American Jews naturally affiliate with political parties and leaders who best reflect their beliefs and values about the US and Canada, even though they may be considered “soft” on Israel. They support policies in their home countries as well as for Israel, which reflect their “liberal” Jewish values and political perspectives, even when they are at odds with those of the government of Israel and the declared positions of Israelis.