in the Sinai during the Six-Day War in 1967
I love Evolution. Not only is it one of the most brilliant theories
in the history of science, fundamentalists of every kind just hate it and Charles Darwin is not
Jewish, not even a little!!
As a Jew, I have heard the sub-text of criticism of science all my life. Sigmund Freud,
Albert Einstein, brilliant Jews without number have been disparaged for their work by
people who hate Jews. But the man fundamentalists hate the most is as thoroughly English as Windsor Castle and the family that lives there.
Darwin, the reclusive English gentleman, developed a theory
of life so sweeping that critics, especially religious conservatives, are still
trashing his theory 150+ years later: a theory that has proven as tough and
durable and resistant to flame as cast iron frying pans.
Most of all, I am delighted at examples of Evolution working
right in front of our eyes. The way to see Evolution work is to take a
population of any living thing, separate it into two or more parts as far away
from each other as possible, a water barrier is especially good, and watch the two populations change.
Darwin famously illustrated his theory with Galapagos
finches. Gil Hoffman, politics reporter at the Jerusalem Post, showed me how evolution occurred with Jews living in Eastern Europe, primarily Poland and Russia and nearby
countries, for hundreds of years before the 20th Century, when everything changed.
At the end of the 19th Century, that population
began to divide into two parts. Zionists
left to restore Israel as a nation. Others, like my own
grandparents, left for America.
You could say there were three groups: those who left for
America, those who left for the land that would become Israel, and those who
stayed. In 1939, those who stayed were
the largest group. By 1945, millions were slaughtered and many survivors fled
Europe for the Middle East or North America.
Beginning in the 1970s, more than a million Russian Jews would flee to Israel and America,
continuing the trend.
But the early Zionists and my grandparents in America were
the populations that separated and evolved.
Jews who fled for America largely assimilated. The tailors
and shopkeepers and laborers had children who became doctors, lawyers and the writers
who shaped American literature, Broadway and Hollywood. They were American success stories. The
Zionists became pioneers, making the desert green, fighting for survival,
eventually gaining independence and becoming one of the fiercest Armies in the
world.
One culture produces Moshe Dayan and Ariel Sharon. The other
gives the world Jerry Seinfeld and Philip Roth.
All four brilliant in their own way, but no doubt who you would call if
you were under attack.
American and Israeli Jews speak a different language, eat
different food, celebrate the same religious festivals in different ways and in
this century are increasingly separate on politics.
Gil Hoffman travels regularly between Israel and
America. He spoke at my Synagogue this
year. He worries about the increasing
divide between Israel and American Jews.
He did an excellent episode on the subject on his podcast “Inside IsraelToday” on the Land of Israel Network.
In America, three of four Jews identify as Liberal and/or
Democrat and in the same numbers, loathe President Trump. Israel, in sharp contrast, is one of just
three countries in the world that have a positive opinion of Trump: nearly 70%
of Israelis have a favorable view of Trump. The other two countries positive about Trump are
the Philippines and Nigeria. Apart form those three nations, the 192 member countries
of the United Nations have a negative opinion of America’s chief executive,
including America.
As more anti-Semitic incidents happen in America, the gulf
between the two communities continues to grow.
Over the last century, American Jews have become much more American:
rich, largely insulated from the virulent anti-Semitism of the rest of the world, and driven by personal ambition.
Trump made the alt-right and white supremacists his base, infamously saying there were “fine people on both sides” at an event with one side waving Nazi flags and chanting “Blood and Soil.” Anti-Semitism in America increased rapidly as Trump ran and won his racism-centered campaign.
Trump made the alt-right and white supremacists his base, infamously saying there were “fine people on both sides” at an event with one side waving Nazi flags and chanting “Blood and Soil.” Anti-Semitism in America increased rapidly as Trump ran and won his racism-centered campaign.
In Israeli society, universal conscription means the path to
power and influence is through the Army.
Israel is under constant threat and defines itself by its readiness to
fight with enemies on every side. For Israel, surrounded by enemies, Trump is an ally who moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and pulled out of the Iran treaty that was so unpopular in Israel.
The political differences between American and Israeli Jews
are likely to get worse no matter what the future holds for the two countries.
When groups split and grow apart, the usual trajectory is to
grow further apart. When Gil Hoffman
speaks on this topic, he hopes to be a small part of bringing the two groups
closer together, even as he reports the news that shows Jews separated by six
thousand miles in distance are separating even further in politics and
practice.
I am going to try to live part of my life on both sides of
the divide. I am planning to spend the first three months of 2020 traveling in
Israel. For Jews, anti-Semitism is a
question of if, not when. Israel is a place of refuge for all Jews everywhere.
So I want to know and experience more of the Land of Israel. We’ll see how my thinking evolves.
