Who Is a Jew? The American Jewish Community in Conflict with Israel

Abstract

Few international relationships are as close as the one between the American Jewish community and the State of Israel. Since before the existence of Israel, American Jews have been instrumental in providing resources, manpower, and moral support for the fledgling state—its founders and its citizens. Many American Jews were directly involved in the struggle to build the Jewish state and the fight for its indepen dence, finding in the endeavor in Palestine a personal and national quest for the self-determination of an ancient people. The connection between American Jews and Israel has been strengthened and nur tured over the years by the close identification many American Jews feel toward the Jewish state; the financial and charitable resources they have provided it; the tourist, educational, and religious programs through which they visit and live in it; and their pride in its strength and fortitude in the face of implacable enemies and tremendous chal lenges to its survival. As close as this relationship is, there is an issue that has been a chronic source of conflict between Israel and the organized American Jewish community. This issue is loosely termed Who is a Jew because it pertains to the legal and religious identification of Jewish nationality for the purposes of Israeli citizenship. The issue is sensitive for several reasons, all of which highlight the fundamental differences between being Jewish in America and being an Israeli Jew. Israel is a democ racy, built with the secular Western democratic institutions that charac terize other modern democracies. Nonetheless it also is the Jewish state, which implies a formal connection to the Jewish religion as well as a safe haven for Jews the world over. This dual identity as a demo cratic as well as Jewish state makes for a strange hybrid of institutions in Israel which foster religious involvement in state issues while simul taneously relegating religion to certain spheres of influence. These in stitutions formalize the role of religion in Israeli politics and legitimize