Israel On My Mind

Publication Date: January 2005

Publisher: American Jewish Committee

Author(s): Alan D. Hoffman; Arthur Hertzberg; Steven Bayme; Moshe Itzhaki

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Jewish identification; Diaspora Relations; Israel attachment; International Relations

Type: Other

Coverage: United States Israel

Abstract:

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) solicited essays from nine distinguished Jewish intellectuals and community leaders, drawn from academia, the literary world, and the Jewish public square, both in Israel and the United States.

The respondents were asked to respond to the following questions in the essays published here: 1) What role does the State of Israel play in the development of Diaspora Jewish identity? 2) How does living in a sovereign Jewish state affect the meaning and quality of Jewish identity within that state? 3) What are the benefits and challenges of the centrality of Israel in contemporary Jewish life? 4) What ought to be the responsibility of Diaspora Jewry toward Israel in the context of the collapse of Oslo and the four-year terror war? 5) What ought to be the responsibility of Israel toward ensuring Jewish continuity in the Diaspora? Does this responsibility apply differently toward smaller Diaspora communities that lack a critical mass of Jews?