The Hijacking of Young American Jewish Adults
The Hijacking of Young American Jewish Adults

The next generation of American Judaism has been hijacked. More specifically, the notion of what it means to be a good young Jewish adult in the world today.

It’s not a new phenomenon, and not all are guilty but after reading a recent commentary in Time magazine by one Dana Goldstein (“Why fewer Young American Jews Share Their Parents’ Views of Israel,” Sept. 29), now more than ever, and in particular for Jews living under the Iranian nuclear threat, and the threat of local terrorism, there is room for grave concern.

Goldstein,in her article,seeks to explain why recent surveys show that support for Israel among American Jews under the age of 35 is waning. The main reasons,according to those interviewed for the article,can be summarized by key words, words used by the Arabs in their 24/7 propaganda battle to delegitimize the State of Israel – ‘Palestinians,’ ‘occupation,’ and ‘settlements.’

And as they say, if you repeat a lie over and over again it is believed to be the truth.

One who has the facts could write for hours on these three key terms alone, but the point is that Goldstein and the thousands of other brainwashed or ignorant young American Jews have taken the bait. They have accepted the Arab narrative as fact while ignoring the realities.

Those realities are based on the fact that the Jewish People after suffering unimaginable strife for 2,000 years are finally home in Israel. In other words, Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people both in Biblical times, but more relevant for our purposes, in modern times from a legal perspective, designated as such following World War I.

But poor Goldstein, proud of her  “liberal, humanist worldview”, describes how hard it was for her to write “harshly” about Israel’s actions in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza in 2009 because she says that speaking her mind on these topics, while difficult (boo hoo), is “a very Jewish thing to do.”

In reality it probably wasn’t that hard after all, since she admits her exposure and college friendships with Muslims who taught her that “the Jewish state of which I was so proud was occupying the land of 4.4 million stateless Palestinians, many of them refugees displaced by Israel's creation.”

And that quote, that hits the nail on the head of how Judaism has been hijacked.

Israel, winning a defensive war of survival in 1948, establishing itself on its G-d given Land,   land, as I mentioned above, designated for the Jews as a State, this Israel in Goldstein’s view is the guilty party.

Firstly and most obviously, there was no State of ‘Palestine’ so Israel is not ‘occupying’ anything, and I could very easily dismiss the whole claim that it’s Israel's fault for the so-called refugee issue, but secondly, and more importantly for our purposes, is Goldstein’s  ‘guilt.’

Where in Judaism does it say that we should be guilty for surviving? Doesn’t Judaism value life above almost all other things (there are only 3 exceptions in the Torah when death is chosen over life)?

But that’s part of the disease, the disease that apparently many Jews in America have, in needing to be the victim. Goldstein goes on to essentially admit this disease exists.

She claims the support for Israel in the “era of the 1967 and 1973 wars” was great because Israel was “less of an aggressor and more of a victim.” It’s very sad to believe, but maybe she’s right. Maybe Jewish America did view Israel as the victim back then. I have serious doubts, but if Goldstein were true to that credo, she would open her eyes and realize that nothing has changed and ISRAEL TODAY IS STILLTHE VICTIM!

Rockets in the south, rockets in the north, shootings, lynching, deadly rock attacks, kidnappings, suicide bombings, etc. etc. those are all realities in this generation, not in her parent’s generation.                       

However, unlike those with the disease, the difference is, that we in Israel don’t want to be the victim in order to warrant support! 

Israel deserves the support of those “liberals” because we are the owners of morality and truth. We are the only democracy in the Middle East, which respects human rights, minority rights (and yes, ARAB rights), freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and on and on. In fact Arabs here on both sides of that imaginary ‘Green Line’ have more freedoms here than any other country in the region.

And that is what Goldstein and her ilk have no problem ignoring.

More reason for concern: one of the surveys Goldstein reports on was conducted amongst rabbinical students affiliated with the Conservative Movement. A startling finding was that 70% of those surveyed reporting feeling ‘disturbed’ by Israel’s treatment of its Arab neighbors.

In the article, one of the students who took the survey even had the gall to quote the Torah when justifying his critique-laced survey answers, implying that “settlements” were anti-Jewish, and that establishing a Palestinian State would be the Jewish thing to do.

Really? Does the Torah call for the transfer of the Land to a foreign entity, particularly one that incites to destroy the Jewish State?

I must have slept through my yeshiva courses because I never learned that. I have yet to come across a passage in all the Torah or Jewish Law on the need for taking risks (which history has proven to be deadly for Jews in Israel) by giving away Jewish Land.

As an aside, but a significant one, it should be mentioned that the polls quoted in the article show that young orthodox Jews have a very strong connection to Israel. Could it be that their education still emphasizes the importance of the Land of Israel in Judaism? It does.

This decline in support is disheartening. I hate to say that Israel is at a crossroads, since after 63 years we have been in an official state of emergency every single day (It’s like living in the US and having a constant ‘red’ threat level).

But whether it’s the UN September, terror attacks, or Iran now is not the time for the next generation of Jews in America to waver. Now we need and expect their support more than ever. Of course Israel isn’t perfect, nobody is, but this is above and beyond legitimate criticism.

Perhaps it’s partially our own fault. Maybe Israel’s message isn’t being heard.

On the other hand, maybe it’s being heard but simply ignored.

While many pro-Israel Hasbara organizations are active in the United States, especially on campus, it doesn’t seem to be enough. We need to figure out communally how to rescue the next generation of Jews from being held hostage.

The first step is for those who have been abducted to at least understand and admit that they’ve been captured.