Generational Estrangement 2 – the Land of Israel.

My brother and I attended the same yeshiva as children, yet we pronounce Hebrew differently. He uses the Ashkenazic pronunciation, and I use the Sephardic.

He is four years my senior. Same school and same teachers. But the Six-Day War occurred when he was ready to graduate and I was still in school.

Those six days in June 1967 changed Judaism and Jewish attitudes toward Israel. Prior to 1967, the continued existence of Israel was not guaranteed – indeed, the threat of her extinction was very real. After the war, the world Jewish community no longer lived in real fear of a pogrom that would annihilate the Israelis.

My yeshiva made a political statement and became an active supporter of Israel. No longer were we to wait patiently for the coming of the Messiah. The future was now. So from that point forward, we adopted the Israeli pronunciation.

But a consequence of this new security and political power was that my children (and yours) grew up with a different view of Israel. The dynamics changed. No longer the poor relation, hat in hand, needing support, Israel became a dominant force in the Middle East. This generation, our children, looks upon Israeli policy differently, and many do not like what they see.

Calling Israel the Jewish homeland is more than a metaphor – it is the literal truth. Our history begins with the people Israel in the land of Israel. Love of Zion is ingrained in our DNA. And our yearning to return to our homeland survived a 2,000-year Diaspora.

So it is especially painful that so many are estranged from Israel – like children estranged from a parent.

Yes, Israel has been our parent. Like a parent, she has shaped our identities as Jews. She is central to our liturgy and texts. More importantly, she has forged our world community into a family that “is responsible for one another.”

The State of Israel has been an advocate and protector of Jews the world over. She has taken responsibility for hunting Nazis and rescuing populations from persecution.

Robert Frost wrote, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” The Law of Return guarantees that every Jew (in a very broad definition) has the right to enter Israel as a citizen.

Family disputes are the norm. And it is true that not all families should stay together: abuse in any form should be neither tolerated nor enabled. But much estrangement occurs because one side is more interested in being right – and ignores context and history. That is the point where the insistence on being right becomes toxic.

Those who have declared themselves non-Zionists have judged the entire country (and its population) without regard to the totality that is Israel.

It is laziness to condemn Israel’s existence in this manner. We who remember a time when Israel’s survival was fraught understand that Judaism without a homeland places our very existence in jeopardy.