The Unbreakable Bond

In an article written shortly after the start of this war in Gaza, Andrew Silow-Carroll wrote about historic American Jewish philanthropy in response to past wars. “In response to the Six-Day War in 1967, American Jews donated more than $100 million — close to $1 billion in today’s dollars — in a little over two weeks. Six years later, when the Yom Kippur War punctured Israel’s aura of invulnerability, American Jews contributed $700 million in emergency aid, or $6.4 billion in today’s money.” Silow-Carroll concluded, “Both wars cemented Israel as a central component of American Jewish identity, politics, and philanthropy.”

Figures differ depending on the source of the reports, but the general consensus among those who take count of philanthropy is that American Jewish giving to causes in Israel have far surpassed a billion dollars and is quickly approaching two billion dollars. While some American communal leaders were nervous that “defensive, protective and supportive” causes will come at the expense of American organizations (in the words of one President of an American organization) in the end there was nothing to fear. American Jewry over-extended their giving to ensure the Jewish state, its communities, and soldiers weren’t in need. Reminiscent of American Jewry taking out loans to buy weapons for the Haganah before the establishment of the state, American Jewry have placed Israel and her needs above their own financial concerns.

The generous giving, the many missions, and the great lobbying American (and global) Jewry speaks to the unbreakable bond between Diaspora Jewry, Israel and the Israeli people. This isn’t a bond that had to ever be forged but was rather inherent in the Jewish people. From the establishment of the State of Israel more than 75 years ago over 90% of American Jews have supported the State of Israel. This makes the minuscule amount of Jews who identify as anti-Zionist the fringe outlying element of American Jewry.

There are some who call the choice of American Jewry to continue to live outside of Israel and their Zionism a contradiction. After all, they accuse, if American Jewry was really Zionist, they’d move to Israel. They call American Jewry’s Zionism lacking. They couldn’t be more wrong. Their understanding that dedication to Zionism as a cause can only be achieved by living in Israel reflects a misunderstanding of the Zionist movement, Jewish philosophy, and the great tradition of diaspora support of the people of Eretz Yisrael.

Joseph the righteous, Theodore Herzl, Albert Einstein, and none other than Moses, were all Jewish leaders who loved Israel, worked hard to settle the Jewish people in Israel, but who never personally lived in Israel. They are just the headliners of the many Jewish and Zionist leaders who never lived in Israel. Zionism as a movement required the support of the establishment (and today the growth) of an independent Jewish state on the Jewish people’s historic homeland, the land of Israel. It did not require moving to Israel. For thousands of years of the Jewish exile, diaspora Jews sent financial support to the small and brave Jewish communities of Israel. These donors were the known as the “Lovers of Zion,” and were lauded as the backbone of the Jewish Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael.

The foundation of Diaspora support for Israel and her people comes from the inherent understanding of all Jews that irrespective of where a Jew chooses to live, the land of Israel is home. The land of Israel was considered home for the Jewish people just as much for the 2,000 years of the Jewish exile as it is today. Elie Wiesel spoke to the Jewish people’s eternal understanding of Israel as home when he said, ‘When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time, it is a homecoming.”

Today’s Diaspora Jew understands that Israel is the past, present, and future of the Jewish people. The Jewish people’s history took place throughout much of the world but was always anchored in the land of Israel. The Jewish people’s success and potential as a nation can be seen in today’s thriving State of Israel. Nowhere but in Israel can the promise of the Jewish people as one United nation be seen as much as in today’s Jewish State. In early Zionist’s most fantastical dreams they never imagined the achievements of the current state of Israel. The hundreds of Jewish babies born in Israel every day testify to the future of the Jewish people being in Israel. Jews around the world recognize that there is a greater chance of their grand and great-grand children being raised in Israel than where they currently live. The Jewish future is being developed in Israel. The Jewish cities, towns, universities, and batei medrashim are being built in Israel today. The next generations of the Jewish people will be defined by the growth of the state and land of Israel.

The connection of diaspora Jewry isn’t measured in dollars donated but in the place Israel takes in every Jew’s heart and mind. Rabbi Yehudah Halevi, author of the Kuzari, put the connection between diaspora Jews and Eretz Yisrael best when he said, “My heart is in the East, but I am the edge of the West.” Eretz Yisrael takes up a large place in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people all around the world. The connection between diaspora Jewry and Israel manifests itself in the prayers, thoughts, and concern American Jewry has for Israel and her people. The bond between diaspora Jewry and Israel is an unbreakable bond.