Alarm bells in the Diaspora over assimilation

RON WEISER

THE importance of the role of Zionism in Diaspora life has increased dramatically and is even more relevant than ever.

In June 2005, when I was one of two Australians invited by then Israeli President Katsav to attend the president’s international conference on issues facing the Jewish people, during discussions on assimilation, I stated that the numbers generally given by the leadership of Australian Jewry for Australian assimilation rates were too optimistic and unhelpful.

Some people here in Australia were not too happy with that as it is easier to continue doing what we are doing without constant innovation and critical appraisal, if we can define ourselves as “successful”.

Interestingly as I head out for President Shimon Peres’ conference next week, the Gen 08 survey seems to have confirmed the “new” status on assimilation — that is, the Gen 08 survey had given us some very valuable snapshots of what is working well and less well.

Recognising that we have much larger assimilation rates than we were previously willing to admit to, is no longer controversial.

Coincidentally, in light of the recent fuss over MASA advertisements in the United States, I will also be attending the meeting of the Jewish Agency’s MASA committee of which I have been a member since its inception. This is a committee heavily dominated by representatives from North America.

Zionism has a very simple mission statement and it goes as follows:

“Zionism is about saving Jewish lives — whether from oppression or assimilation — but saving Jewish Lives.”

In an idea I have expanded upon many times, it is fair to say as a broad generalisation, that the Theodore Herzl view of the Diaspora worked well for the first act — oppression — which involved a negation of the Diaspora.

Now we see Zionism more focussed on the second part — assimilation — and the preservation of the Diaspora and have therefore moved into Achad Ha’am mode. Quite a radical change.

In truth we have been following the Achad Ha’am philosophy for over a decade now with successive prime ministers of Israel recognising this and getting actively involved.

Israel today produces a unique type of Jew — thinkers and academics, but with practical day-to-day experiences. People who present us with challenges, who think outside the box and who provide us with unusual off-the-wall insights that can revolutionise our direction.

As controversial as he is, Yossi Beilin is one such person.

The idea of Birthright, a programmatic attempt to join the fight against assimilation in the Diaspora for the Diaspora, was his.

And it coincided with a national survey of United States Jewry highlighting assimilation, prompting two prominent American philanthropists to decide to put serious money to it.

Do not underestimate this revolution in traditional Zionist philosophy that had held since 1897.

MASA, a scholarship response, as opposed to being purely programmatic like Birthright, grew from this concept.

Most American leaders that I meet are committed, thoughtful and forward looking. They are less constrained than sections of Australian Jewry’s leadership and much more open to new directions and more honest about the failings of what went before.

The forward thinkers have also come to the conclusion that whilst there are many advantages to centralised fundraising, the system also brings some serious limitations on action and innovation.

The future relies on experimentation with a whole variety of multi-layered and multi-faceted approaches.

Some will fail, some will have a greater degree of success, but the idea of a single all encompassing solution is now passé.

Centralised fundraising and control does not help this multifaceted approach.

Funding is required, of course, but it is the interaction between the donors and facilitators that is critical — and it is this which is difficult in the centralised fundraising model.

The Zionist movement has a huge role to play in contemporary Jewish life and within this current paradigm.

Time in Israel is today the best incubator to deal with the challenge of inspiring people to make the positive choice to remain with the Jewish people.

As I have also written many times before – in my view it is simply a given that the vast majority of our youth will determine whether they will continue to be part of the Jewish people based on their attitude to and interaction with the State of Israel.

And that is yet another reason why those who wish to be unfairly critical of Israel, those who demonstrate moral equivalence and those who constantly fail to understand Israel, harm not only Israel, but increase assimilation here as well and hence harm the Jewish people as a whole.

We need people. We need people to ensure we have a critical mass.

Low birthrates and high intermarriage rates mean that in the Diaspora, we are a diminishing people by choice.

We need to expand on three levels — increasing our birthrates; decreasing assimilation; and welcoming converts to Judaism particularly within family structures.

Of course in a wider view, the more Jews that go on aliyah, the better the chances of our critical mass growing, for we not only gain the individual Jew but the generations to follow.

In the Diaspora we need to struggle for each and every generation all over again.

The controversy over the MASA advertisements was really over the meaning of one word — “lost”. The advertisements called assimilated Diaspora Jews “lost”.

Bravo to Robbie Franco, executive director of the ZFA for being so forthright in his views about the MASA advertisements.

Most of us here would have defined assimilated Jews as “lost” to the Jewish people, either permanently or temporarily.

The Gen 08 survey shows that this may not worry the next generation of Australian Jews as much as it does the current one.

Some sections of American Jewry are now making a big distinction between intermarriage and assimilation and are making the claim that families with one Jewish parent should not be defined as assimilated families.

Of course, such families should never be written off by us and we should do everything possible to encourage the entire family into the fold.

But to claim that this does not represent assimilation should worry us all.

The Gen 08 survey sounds an alarm bell for us and we can see parallel attitudinal changes in US Jewry. What will we do here?

Will we simply improve our figures on assimilation by changing the definition of assimilation, or will we actually refuse to accept a deteriorating situation.

If Gur’s recent article about MASA in the AJN accurately reflects the ongoing attitudes of the American leadership, which I doubt, it would be a negative sign in terms of their leaderships’ willingness to continue to be at the cutting edge.

And a real disaster for us all as by sheer weight of numbers they will tend to be the driving force in international initiatives.

More so I suspect, it represents a temporary caution in terms of fundraising brought on by the GFC (global financial crisis) when US Jewry communally is doing it much tougher and is currently a little more careful about alienating its wider potential donor base.

I look forward to hearing and discussing their views directly with them next week in Israel.

I am sure that the only conclusion they will draw is the same one appropriate here and that is the increased need for Zionism in Diaspora life and an Israel centric identity to ensure Jewish continuity and a critical mass of committed Jews.

Dr Ron Weiser is immediate past president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and a committee member of the board of governors of the Jewish Agency (Sochnut).