Gidi Grinstein, The Jewish Journal of Greater L.A, November 2006
KolDor member, Gidi Grinstein argues that the key for contemporary Zionism and for the Jewish people as a whole is to rebuild the global network of Jewish communities disrupted by, among other upheavals, the success of the Zionism movement. “A strong and vibrant Diaspora is a clear Zionist imperative”. Zionism should re-evaluate its priorities and rather than seeking the negation of the Diaspora, should help build Jewish communities throughout the world, equip Jewish Israelis to be part of Jewish communities overseas and provide for the continuous movement between Israel and the Diaspora.
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Leonard Fein, The A.B. Yehoshua Controversy, (American Jewish Committee publication)
A series of articles on Jewishness, Israeliness and Identity inspired by the storm surrounding Yehoshua’s comments that were considered a negation of Diaspora Judaism and a prediction of its eventual demise. Includes Leonard Fein (pp32-35) arguing that the idea of Judaism is prior to and larger than the idea of Israel. “If there is any point to the continued use of the word [Zionism] … that point must somehow involve a link between the Jewish state and the Jewish people. If it does not … then Zionism will not merely have outlived its utility, but will have rent the Jewish people.”
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Yair Sheleg, The A.B. Yehoshua Controversy, (American Jewish Committee publication), pp59-60
Essentially agrees with the ethos of “rejecting the Diaspora” and that from the point of view of Jewish identity, life in Israel is preferable. US Jews should fight assimilation by immigrating to Israel and by integrating into their local environments only to the degree that it does not endanger their Jewish identity. Their current failure to do so threatens the urgent need to jointly cultivate a Jewish identity relevant to today.
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The Economist January 2007
Attitudes of Jews all over the world towards Israel are changing: Many are "gradually ceasing to regard Israel as a focal point. As a result, many are re-examining what it means to be Jewish". The articles raise important questions such as: "If Israel's purpose was to accommodate a nation that could never be safe or fully itself in any other place, was it still possible for self-conscious Jews to flourish in “exile”? Many Israelis are secular—but religious authority in the country is in the hands of the Orthodox. Where does that leave Jews outside Israel who practice more liberal forms of the faith? And the biggest dilemma is this: however proud world Jewry felt of Israel during its early struggle to survive, how should a conscientious Jew react to Israel's new image as military giant and flawed oppressor? Faced with these puzzles, Jews all over the world are finding new ways to assert their identity and a new relationship with Israel… Many are reacting to anti-Semitism and fears of assimilation not by moving to Israel, but by rediscovering what it means to be Jewish outside it…not by “hugging” it but by “wrestling” with it and its contradictions…increasingly, today's young Jews see the future not as a choice between Zion and exile, but as a fruitful fusion of both?"
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