Every day, students, faculty members, and workers at universities and colleges in Israel benefit from smart classrooms, fully-equipped labs, wide lawns, and lots of other resources thanks to the generosity of Jews all over the world. Every day, they pass signs noting the names of those same generous individuals without even noticing. But does any of them ever stop to think about the person whose name is displayed on the sign? Who they are/were? What their Jewish story is? Why they donated? And what their ties to Israel were?
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Each year, Israeli and Diaspora Jews donated hundreds of millions of shekels to institutions of higher education in Israel. Past data from the Council for Higher Education of Israel indicate that donations totaled 800 million shekels ($250 million), approximately 8% of the budget for institutes of higher education that receive funding.
The support of Jewish donors is extensive and important, but Israel's relations with Diaspora Jews are much deeper than a check and a sign. Diaspora Jewry is one of Israel's biggest strategic assets. Its contribution to academia, culture, art, science, media, and other fields is critical far beyond its monetary value.
Nevertheless, the latest index published by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry indicated that only about half of Israeli Jews feel that their fate it linked to that of Diaspora Jews. The numbers also show that solidarity between Israelis and Diaspora Jews has been steadily declining. The chasm between Jews of the world – especially US Jewry, the second-biggest community in the world – is widening. Israeli youths' familiarity with and interest in the other half of our people abroad is near zero.
Diaspora Jews are not part of the public discourse, unless it's about an antisemitic attack at a synagogue abroad, the endless dispute about expanding egalitarianism at the Western Wall, or Ukrainian refugees making Aliyah under the Law of Return – even though Israel was founded for the entire Jewish people and not just those actually living in Zion. Israel's official obligation to the Jews of the world begins with the declaration of independence and continues through the Nation State Law, which declares that "The state shall strive to ensure the safety of members of the Jewish People and of its citizens … [and] shall act, in the Diaspora, to preserve the ties between the State and the members of the Jewish People." But currently, this commitment is barely acted upon. The Israeli public, Israeli campuses, and the Israeli ethos are demonstrating apathy toward, even ignoring, our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world. Decision makers aren't taking their opinions into account, or the ramifications of their decisions on Jewish life in the Diaspora.
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Isn't it time for us to rectify that? Isn't is time for us to begin conducting ourselves like a national home for the Jewish people? Isn't it time to invest more in our ties with Jews in the Diaspora? To expose our young people to the heterogeneous Jewish communities throughout the world? To these communities' deep commitment to Israel, both now and over the years? To the inspiring Jewish pluralism that exists abroad? Like Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told representatives of Jewish federations in North America, "Israel must learn from US Jewry's acceptance of everyone … We won't agree with everything, but we'll talk with each other and listen to each other … In America, even if you're Haredi, Reform, Orthodox, you accept every Jew. That's something we need to import, the fact that we accept everyone. That's the dialogue we're starting."
If the only contact an Israeli student has with Jews abroad is brushing up against a sign on a wall, we've wronged that same generous Jew, world Jewry, and even the student. We need to foster interest in Diaspora Jews and focus on Jewish peoplehood as part of our public education, and as part of young Israelis' student experience. We need to work on those ties by getting to know each other, learning from each other, and increasing awareness of Jewish life both here and there.
This week, the first week of April, marks the Diaspora Affairs Ministry's Diaspora Week, which is designed to raise awareness of the importance of this relationship. This is a good start to a process of mutual learning and awareness. We need to prioritize, fund, and promote educational activities that stress our responsibility for each other and our shared fate, and sooner rather than later, before the writing comes off the sign on the wall.
