Some issues in Israel are complicated.
Let’s face it, most issues in Israel are complicated.
Sometimes we do not do them or us justice when we skim through only a headline.
In this new section, Pushing the Button, we hope to take a headline further, inviting different voices and different media to shed light into unexpected areas.
There are times when a short article or gathering of responses are not enough. Israel’s current affairs are such that occasionally an explosion of interest emerges from a small and ephemeral issue. There are other times when deep, long-lasting, and ethically complex issues arise, and a thicker in-depth response is required.
For these moments Makom creates a Briefing. A Briefing engages with larger questions, draws on texts and documents from around the subject, offering Jewish thinking and educational directions for work.
Three times a year the Jewish Agency gathers Jewish leaders from around the world for deep consideration of the pressing issues of the Jewish People. Makom designs and facilitates a day dedicated to moving beyond the communal headlines to examine the deep issues that drive them. At the GJF International Jewish leaders deliberately does not take decisions, but together decides to deliberate… Young committed adults sit around the table with institutional leaders, sharing perspectives and gaining understanding.
In 2010 Peter Beinart wrote an article about what he saw as Israel’s failing liberal credentials. Its most stinging line, refuted by some researchers yet endlessly quoted, touched a raw nerve: “For several decades, the Jewish establishment has asked American Jews to check their liberalism at Zionism’s door, and now, to their horror, they are finding that many young Jews have checked their Zionism instead.”
Since then the powerful and disruptive effect of and response to his consequent book has been impossible to ignore. Similar phenomena have arisen in Europe (JCall and Yahad), Australia (NIF and Limmud), and elsewhere.
At the third Global Jewish Forum on June 25th 2012 we chose to address what we see as three key issues revealed in these storms:
Through fascinating speakers, interactive presentations, and round-table discussions we explored ways in which reasonable discourse might replace painful conflict.
Here is the annotated video of Gadi Taub’s presentation on Liberalism and Zionism:
Here is the annotated video of Suzanne Last-Stone’s presentation on Liberalism and Judaism:
Here is the full presentation of Michael Sandel on the Law of Return and the Right of Return:
You can also download the source booklet here – for educational purposes only.
Three times a year the Jewish Agency gathers Jewish leaders from around the world for deep consideration of the pressing issues of the Jewish People. Makom designs and facilitates a day dedicated to moving beyond the communal headlines to examine the deep issues that drive them. At the GJF International Jewish leaders deliberately does not take decisions, but together decides to deliberate… Young committed adults sit around the table with institutional leaders, sharing perspectives and gaining understanding.
The phenomenon of Israelis living outside Israel has been a loaded one throughout Zionist history. In the days when the Zionist enterprise was built upon a deep and heartfelt rejection of the Diaspora, the idea of a “sabra” choosing to live permanently in this “exile” was seen as the ultimate betrayal.
As understandings of Jewish Peoplehood have developed, as key strands of Zionism have evolved beyond the negation of the Diaspora, and as the world has become more fluid and interconnected, attitudes towards Israelis leaving Israel have likewise shifted.
With this in mind on October 29th 2012 the fourth Global Jewish Forum chose to address the identity issues that Israeli Jews engage with when bringing up their children outside of Israel.
While most Israeli emigrants show high indicators of Jewish engagement – often higher than locals – research shows that their children tend to distance themselves from Jewish life at a dizzying rate.
Click here for free download of the source book
All opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of Makom!
Now that the ceasefire has gone into effect, Israel educators around the world have much work to do. As tends to happen in the Jewish world, when the fighting is over, the questions begin.
It was important for us to create educational materials relating to the recent conflict with Gaza. At the same time, we were aware that many educational and governmental organizations have already created materials about the fighting. We saw that the “Israel advocacy” work is being admirably covered by others.
At Makom we see our role as slightly different.
Instead of thinking about what our leaders need to be saying to non-Jews, we try to imagine how our leaders ought to be listening to their Jewish constituents: older teens and young adults.
Much research suggests that the vast majority of young adults in the Western world live what Zygmunt Bauman calls a “liquid life” – commitments are short and rarely inherited, communities are interchangeable, as are moral values. That is – they live in a world very different from the one in which most of our leaders grew up.
We don’t believe it is enough for leaders, or for learned columnist Rabbis, to expect that what worked for one generation will work for the next.
What burning or troubling questions are going unanswered and unexplored?
What are the unasked or unarticulated questions that lie at the heart of the relationship between a Jew and Israel?
We refer to these questions as the Elephants in the Room, and our video points to three in particular.
We believe that in the world of adult learning there is no such thing as ignoring the question of the learner. The work is in trying to find the deeper question underlying the learner’s unease, and giving the learner deep ways to explore it.
If we ignore the learner’s questions, they will not go away (though the learner might!): they will just be answered in a thinner way. Our job as adult educators is to embrace the tough questions that are important to the learner, and address them in a multi-vocal, nuanced, and Jewish way.
Do we pinpoint the correct questions? Are there more questions to tackle? We’d love to hear your opinion.
We created the following materials for the Jewish Agency’s exploration of solutions for the Western Wall, in February 2013, and thought they may be of more general value. Since then, Natan Sharansky, the Chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, moved forward with his recommendations for the Prime Minister, and Rabbi Yitz Greenberg called for the orthodox establishment to support it. This additional article explores the Israel-Diaspora divide on the subject. As of mid-June 2013, significant concerns about the feasibility of Sharansky’s plan have arisen.
This was the opening video at the start of the Town Hall Meeting convened by Natan Sharansky and the Committee for the Unity of the Jewish People.
This is a thought-sheet, meant to be printed on A4 paper and folded in two. Click here for a free printable download.
This is a timeline, also for an A4 fold. Click here for a free printable download.
Talking Israel is a series of video conversations between R. Marcelo Bronstein of Bnai Jeshurun in New York, and an Israeli personality who both embodies and engages in Israel’s vibrant complexity.
Mahatma Gandhi once said: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
Equally profoundly, the Rav Kook taught about “אחדות ההפכים” – the unification of opposites, as a paradoxical route to a higher understanding of peace.
This is a project initiated by BJ and run with Makom, that combines video dialogue followed by study in New York with a group of invited guests.
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