There's a critical point here to understanding American and Israeli Jews—especially in the generational shifts we're seeing.
The majority of non-Orthodox Ashkenazi American Jews are rooted in pre-1924 immigration (German Jews in 1st half to mid 19th century, and Eastern European Jews beginning ~1880).
So for a full century, American Jews have experienced comfort and privilege unprecedented in Jewish history, with little living memory of antisemitic persecution. Ancestors who came through Ellis Island are known only from photos and family lore.
OTOH: Israeli Jews live with the memories of the hellfires that came later. For Ashkenazim: the apex of European antisemitism, including pogroms across Russia/Poland followed by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust; for Sephardim/Mizrahim, the mass displacement after 1948. Many who have borne witness are still alive.
This means Israeli Jews are generationally far closer to the lived experience of real anti-Jewish persecution.
Then consider that Israeli Jews have never known a day of peace, with an ongoing existential threat that's as unrelenting as ever, visceral and immediate. Try forgetting it, and you're reminded in global news headlines. Tune out the news, and you're reminded with rocket attacks. Try a music festival in the desert, and that's no safe bet either.
To be sure, American Jews always felt deeply distraught over anti-Jewish persecution elsewhere, and felt (and largely continue to feel) a strong affinity for Israel.
But from a distance.
Kinship and allyship. Advocacy. Fundraisers. Donations. FIDF. AIPAC. Birthright trips, and pride over Israel's accomplishments. But with a home in America, far removed from the threats that brought Jews here in the first place, and without the ongoing literal threats of annihilation.
Add in assimilation, an attenuating Jewish identity that's a mix of Larry David and Jon Stewart, and Jewish culture as a punchline; then add 2-3 generations, a tablespoon of progressive politics, stir vigorously and pour onto an American college campus and garnish with Judith Butler.
That's the Jewish generation coming up in America.
It's not even the pressure to conform—it's never having even known that pressure.
And now their friends tell them that their people are committing genocide.
"Not in my name."
Of course that's the best some can muster, while Israeli kids go off to train and serve, bc one day 'kill or be killed' might be the only two options they have.
This isn't a criticism of American Jews. (And of course, many brave and principled young American Jews are standing up to the bullying of the anti-Israel left; I don't mean to discount that.) But the historical context is key to understanding American Jews vis a vis Israelis. Every "As a Jew" take is colored by it, as are the TikTok clips of Jewish kids crying because they "feel so alone" in their pro-Palestine activism.
I don't know the remedy, nor am I suggesting there need be one—it's not for me to say. But it is to argue that how young American Jews react to events in Israel is strongly connected to how proximate their lives have been to real episodes of anti-Jewish persecution.
At the very least, if it were up to me, I sure as hell would like for young Jews to know how they ended up here; how they were spared the anti-Jewish ravages of the 20th century, how a world of Jews weren't nearly so fortunate—and not just the Holocaust but also what came before and after—and to properly place their own Jewishness as everyday news headlines add new chapters to Jewish history.
The majority of non-Orthodox Ashkenazi American Jews are rooted in pre-1924 immigration (German Jews in 1st half to mid 19th century, and Eastern European Jews beginning ~1880).
So for a full century, American Jews have experienced comfort and privilege unprecedented in Jewish history, with little living memory of antisemitic persecution. Ancestors who came through Ellis Island are known only from photos and family lore.
OTOH: Israeli Jews live with the memories of the hellfires that came later. For Ashkenazim: the apex of European antisemitism, including pogroms across Russia/Poland followed by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust; for Sephardim/Mizrahim, the mass displacement after 1948. Many who have borne witness are still alive.
This means Israeli Jews are generationally far closer to the lived experience of real anti-Jewish persecution.
Then consider that Israeli Jews have never known a day of peace, with an ongoing existential threat that's as unrelenting as ever, visceral and immediate. Try forgetting it, and you're reminded in global news headlines. Tune out the news, and you're reminded with rocket attacks. Try a music festival in the desert, and that's no safe bet either.
To be sure, American Jews always felt deeply distraught over anti-Jewish persecution elsewhere, and felt (and largely continue to feel) a strong affinity for Israel.
But from a distance.
Kinship and allyship. Advocacy. Fundraisers. Donations. FIDF. AIPAC. Birthright trips, and pride over Israel's accomplishments. But with a home in America, far removed from the threats that brought Jews here in the first place, and without the ongoing literal threats of annihilation.
Add in assimilation, an attenuating Jewish identity that's a mix of Larry David and Jon Stewart, and Jewish culture as a punchline; then add 2-3 generations, a tablespoon of progressive politics, stir vigorously and pour onto an American college campus and garnish with Judith Butler.
That's the Jewish generation coming up in America.
It's not even the pressure to conform—it's never having even known that pressure.
And now their friends tell them that their people are committing genocide.
"Not in my name."
Of course that's the best some can muster, while Israeli kids go off to train and serve, bc one day 'kill or be killed' might be the only two options they have.
This isn't a criticism of American Jews. (And of course, many brave and principled young American Jews are standing up to the bullying of the anti-Israel left; I don't mean to discount that.) But the historical context is key to understanding American Jews vis a vis Israelis. Every "As a Jew" take is colored by it, as are the TikTok clips of Jewish kids crying because they "feel so alone" in their pro-Palestine activism.
I don't know the remedy, nor am I suggesting there need be one—it's not for me to say. But it is to argue that how young American Jews react to events in Israel is strongly connected to how proximate their lives have been to real episodes of anti-Jewish persecution.
At the very least, if it were up to me, I sure as hell would like for young Jews to know how they ended up here; how they were spared the anti-Jewish ravages of the 20th century, how a world of Jews weren't nearly so fortunate—and not just the Holocaust but also what came before and after—and to properly place their own Jewishness as everyday news headlines add new chapters to Jewish history.
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