How can one bring a sense of 'Jewish peoplehood' to Israelis?

• Published date: 28 September 2021
• Author: JEREMY SHARON
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

And that is exactly the condition of those ties between the Jewish state and the Jewish people outside of it.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post earlier this month, Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai spoke about his concerns for Israel's relationship with US Jewry, worries about declining Jewish identity in America especially among the youth, and the importance of fostering and reviving a sense of Jewish peoplehood among Israeli Jews in particular.

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Although familiar with the Jewish Diaspora, especially US Jewry, Shai talks animatedly about the ongoing series of meetings he has held, many digitally, with Jewish leaders of all stripes and ages from around the globe, to gain a greater understanding of the needs, concerns and challenges facing the Jewish people abroad.

But equally, he is still asking himself and his ministry critical questions about those issues.

"Are we losing the Jewish people? Maybe. Some, for sure. If we are losing the Jewish people, what can we do to keep us together?" he asks with a clear passion for his new job.

"Where does Israel stand vis-à-vis the Jewish people? Is it the center, is it a center?" he continues, noting recent accusations against him as "post-Zionist" after he said it was not the task of his ministry to encourage aliyah or that the message from Israel to all Jews should be to move to Israel.

"Is the Zionist dream only about aliyah or is there a wider, bigger definition of what Zionism is all about?" Shai asks.

And, notably, he questions the paradigm of the relationship itself between Israeli Jewry and world Jewry.

"What does the State of Israel expect from Jews in the Diaspora? Maybe now it's our turn to give back. How, to whom, and how much?" he questions.

And what about the concept of Jewish peoplehood, how much do Diaspora Jews feel connected to Israel, and to what extent do Israeli Jews feel an affinity and sense of duty toward their Jewish brothers and sisters in the Diaspora?

Here, the minister begins to explain in greater depth his concerns and goals, in particular what he sees as a worrying absence of such a feeling among Jews in the Jewish state.

"Most Israelis aren't familiar with the idea of [Jewish] peoplehood, they don't teach it at school," he says.

AT ISRAEL'S founding and in the next couple of decades, many Israelis still had close family abroad, which created a tangible link to the Jewish Diaspora, says Shai.

But as the generations have gone by, this is...