Every time the issue is raised, whether it takes the form of classifying them in identity records, allowing them entry under the Law of Return, conversion, or issues closer to the hearts of native-born Israelis such as religious pluralism vs. religious "coercion", the right to pray at the Western Wall, and others, the issue raises heated argument among various streams of Judaism - as it rightly should. The issue of Jewish identity, after all, is the single most-important issue underpinning the purpose of the State of Israel, and it is one that can be resolved only within the State of Israel - The Jewish Homeland.
As such, the Reform community adds its voice to the fray as a party concerned over the final outcome of the debate. That voice is loud, and it is often belligerent. For each time a decision is made, stopgap though it may be, that is not to their liking, the Reform community's representatives threaten to cut off support for Israel.
For the State of Israel, the Home of the Jew, such threats are not taken lightly. After all, if Jews start severing their ties with Israel, Israel's utility becomes less central to the Jewish diaspora. So it is that Diaspora Jewry has a very prominent role in the decision of issues of importance to the Jewish State.
I have a different view, however. Yes, it is vitally important that all Jews, wherever they may live, have a right to voice their opinions about such weighty issues as the spiritual, social, and political future of the State of Israel. But those opinions must be raised from the common starting point of support for the State at all costs. When Diaspora Jews threaten to end that support unless their views are accepted, their argument loses all validity and deserves to be stricken from the debate. Support for the State of Israel among all Jews is to be considered a given if the Jews in question desire any say in the future of the State or in issues that must be decided in Israel - such as the issue of Jewish national identity.
When Reform Jewish organizations in North America started making their threats a number of years ago, a number of commentators pointed out that if such threats were being made, it was only a matter of time until they were carried out, whether their views were accepted then or not. This week, we see the prophecy in those words.
Late last week, the Reform movement announced that they were canceling all of the summer trips for youth they had been organizing for this year. They have been holding such trips for 40 years with no interruption - not in 1967 when a bloody war had just been fought, not in 1974 in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War, and not in the late 1980s or early 1990s during the first Intifadah. Such trips were not even cancelled in 1996 when busses started exploding with regularity as Arab terrorism reached new depths of inhumanity.
But in 2001, simply because the worst anti-Semite in the world has seen fit to launch a second Intifadah - one which is only marginally worse than the first one at its zenith - the Reform movement has decided to cancel their summer trips.
At the time this announcement was made, participants of another Birthright trip are currently in Israel, experiencing life in the Jewish homeland for the first time. Today, one of the Birthright figureheads, Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior, stated publicly that he "understands" the move of the Reform Movement. This followed the announcement by New York State Governor George Pataki that he will personally lead a mission of solidarity to Israel in the coming months.
So let us sort out just where the support is coming from. The Birthright participants, none of whom has ever been to Israel before, are here. They all state, each one of them, that they grow spiritually from the experience and that their identity is strengthened by the trip. They will return home and embark on adult lives informed at least in part by this newly strengthened identity and by a greater awareness of just what the issues mean that are defining the political culture in their homeland. They now have a homeland.
And George Pataki, G-d Bless him. A non-Jew who does not have to take such a stand, who likely would not lose too many votes without it, nonetheless feels the necessity to show his true friendship with this beleaguered nation. He will come to Israel, be feted across the country, and return to the United States. His identity is secure, and will not be strengthened one iota by his trip. But he is a man who values truth and fair play, one who recognizes a true historical injustice over a fabricated one, and he is prepared to physically show what others only aver.
Melchior, frankly, should be ashamed of himself. He has plainly failed at his job, which is basically to be Israel's public relations chief. When a movement as influential as the Reform Movement in America can say with a straight face that they are not interested in coming to Israel, Melchior's PR efforts are shown for the dismal failure they are.
The Reform movement has a lot to learn from Birthright and from Pataki. The students who are here, who ignore the media bloodhounds and blood libels and follow the stirring in their Jewish hearts, have a right to voice their opinions as issues of Jewish identity and security are debated. When with each successive mission the Israeli media continues to interview these participants and ask how their lives are being changed by the experience, Israelis listen and shep nachas.
Pataki too has a right to voice his opinion by this argument. He, after all, is an unabashed, unapologetic friend of Israel, who wants only to help. Friends indeed are friends to heed. The Reform Movement, however, saw fit to abandon Israel at a time of need. The more oft-heard version of the axiom is that friends in need are friends indeed. But apparently, the Reform movement simply couldn't be bothered. They have no right, therefore, to foist their opinions on those Jews and other supporters of Israel who really care.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
