Shma;An Online Journal of Jewish Responsibility

Irreconciliable Differences? The Waning of the American Jewish Love Affair with Israel (Steven T. Rosenthal; University Press of New England, 2001, 231pp.)

American Jews and Israelis are supposed to be close. All the "We Are One" talk suggests that we are friends, cousins, siblings. Unfortunately, all too often, the relationship between American Jews and Israelis is most reminiscent of a bad date, one that keeps on happening again and again, as in the movie "Ground Hog Day." Each side approaches every encounter with unrealistic expectations, an exaggerated sense of its own importance, and a distorted sense of the other side's desperation. Disappointment and anger inevitably follow.

Steven T. Rosenthal's Irreconciliable Differences? The Waning of the American Jewish Love Affair with Israel offers a depressing overview of this dysfunctional relationship. Written from the American Jewish organizational perspective, it is a workmanlike rehash of the major flashpoints, especially since the 1980s, with succeeding chapters on the invasion of Lebanon, the Pollard affair, the first Intifada, the Oslo peace process, and the "Who is a Jew?" controversy. Reading the book allows readers to relive these fights, following the same depressing pattern again and again. It all seems neatly choreographed. Israel does something "unreasonable" - placing an American Jewish spy into the nether reaches of the National Security Council, or behaving too violently in response to Arab provocation. The American Jewish establishment rallies to Israel's side, albeit grudgingly (and, in the Pollard case, only years later). Meanwhile, a group of American Jewish dissidents takes out an advertisement in the New York Times and establishes a new splinter organization. Nevertheless, the consensus holds, although with less enthusiasm than the last time. Israelis walk away unenlightened and once again disappointed by the Galut Jews' pareve reaction.Typically, even as American Jews congratulate themselves for mobilizing the troops for the recent April 15th solidarity rally, a single belated march on Washington eighteen months into the violence, these efforts do not compensate for American Jews' whole-scale abandonment of Israel's tourism industry.

Rosenthal recognizes that there is more to the story. He says at the beginning of the book that "the creation of the American Jewish consensus on Israel, as well as its subsequent breakdown, can be understood only within the context of the general relationship among American Jewry, Zionism, and the Jewish State." (p. 1) He also wants to explain the transformed relationship as part of the "larger story upon which it is based - the evolution of Jewish identity in both America and Israel." And yet, he lacks the historical sweep or the sociological insight necessary for the task. Moreover, his book is riddled with mistakes, typographical errors, and far too many misspellings of the names of the Jewish leaders he spends too much time following: Yitzhak Rabin was murdered in Tel Aviv not Jerusalem, and the labor party leader is Avraham Burg, not Avram Burg; the Reform Jewish leader is Eric Yoffie, not Yoffe or Yoffee, and the Conservative Jewish leader is Ismar Schorsch, not Schorch. Such errors undermine the author's credibility and distract from serious consideration of this important topic.

Rosenthal's earlier chapters are stronger and more provocative. Offering a perspective on the American Jewish relationship with Israel, Rosenthal says: "It sometimes seemed that for American Jews the sole purpose of the rebirth of Israel after two millennia was that suburban living rooms could sport blue ashtrays with Eretz Yisrael stamped on the underside"(p. 10). Here, Rosenthal is on target. Had he focused on this issue, it would have been a much better book.

The problems that emerged in trying to build a relationship between American Jews and Israelis were much more significant than the organizational brouhahas. Most American Jews believe that they have found their "promised land" between the Atlantic and the Pacific. As a result, at best, the promised land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean is reduced to a schmaltzy icon, a kitschy sideshow. At the same time, most Israelis believe that the existence of a strong, proud Jewish State has allowed American Jews the security to achieve their successes. To make matters worse, many American Jews are convinced that their political and financial support helps the Jewish State survive. None of this leaves much room for building a healthy and mutual friendship.

Of course, as the Jewish people navigate the hazards of the 21st century, a friendship is precisely what Israel and the various Diaspora communities need. The inevitable political, organizational, and financial ties should continue. But they must be the result of a vigorous and vibrant cultural, intellectual, ideological, and personal exchange. Without some serious rethinking - from both sides of the Atlantic - and without creative bridge-building, the American Jewish relationship with Israel is doomed to become one more dysfunctional American Jewish family saga.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author, most recently, of Why I Am a Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity, and the Challenges of Today.

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