Israel National News spoke to Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of JFNA (The Jewish Federations of North America) at the IAC National Summit in Florida.
Fingerhut says that the summit is “very important for the North American Jewish community” with the JFNA representing 146 Jewish Federations across America – every large and small Jewish community. And it’s also important for Israelis living in the US.
“Every community now has a growing population of Israeli Americans. We want to make sure our Jewish community include and serve all in our communities,” Fingerhut said.
One of the challenges of Israelis moving to Jewish areas in America is the differing life experiences when it comes to the Jewish community, Fingerhut explains.
“It’s more that on both sides there’s some misunderstanding. I don’t think Israelis understand what it takes to organize and support Jewish communities and Jewish communal life because you don’t have to do it in Israel. In Israel, you live in a Jewish State. Here, we’re a voluntary association. We have to build the kind of infrastructure and everyone is called upon to contribute in some way or another to building and sustaining and supporting Jewish life. It’s a bit of a foreign concept to an Israeli coming here.”
Fingerhut continues: “Conversely, Americans like to think everybody is like us. We don’t realize that we have to explain ourselves differently and reach out in different ways… We need to bridge that gap.”
The situation is improving now that there are also the children and grandchildren of Israelis in America who moved to the US decades ago.
“They have a unique perspective on Israel because of their families,” he says. “The good news is that the children and grandchildren tend to understand American Judaism better. Some of that disconnect that occurred with their parents doesn’t occur with them because they grew up here.”
The growing numbers of Israeli Americans – who “maintain their commitment to Israel and Zionism” – growing up among North American Jews is very helpful, he explains.
On the subject of the role the JFNA plays today in Jewish life, Fingerhut says that it is more important than ever to support communal institutions to ensure the strength and safety of the American Jewish community.
“It’s very important for Israel to know that the Jewish community in North America played an unbelievable role throughout this pandemic in keeping our communities alive, caring for people in need, [who were] out of work, mental stress and all the challenges that came,” he says. “We’ve also been dealing with a rise in violent attacks on the Jewish community.”
He mentions the third anniversary on October 27 of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting attack in Pittsburgh, and how the years since have seen a shocking rise in anti-Semitism. “You’re looking at three years that included the most violent attacks on Jews in the history of America.”
Noting that “we’ve been in the business of building up Jewish communal security infrastructure for a decade or more but there’s obviously a huge urgency,” Fingerhut raises the fact that 45 of 146 Federations have professional community security initiatives. But more needs to be done.
JFNA is In the middle of the “Live Secure” campaign to increase the quality of current security programs and to expand coverage to all 146 Federations.
“The challenge of security is real,” Fingerhut says.