Tune In to Your Soul, Forget Israel

• Published in: The Jerusalem report 1995-08, p.58
• Main Author: Spiegel, Fredelle Z
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0792-6049

SUPPORTING ISRAEL used be the easy way to identify as an American Jew. To be a religious Jew was more complicated. One needed to choose among different movements, and to commit oneself to a course of behavior and observance. To champion Israel was simple. For American Jews there were no competing Zionist visions, and, for all intents and purposes, no Israeli political parties. The government line - no matter what government - was Torah from Sinai. Support for Israel was as easy as eating lox and bagels. Now that Israel has exported its internal political debates, and Likud and Labor representatives flock to America seeking support for their particular policies, life is more complicated. Championing Israel can no longer be generic. American Jews are now being asked to choose which Israel they want to promote. It is even possible not to support Israel at all, as a segment of the Israeli power elite calls for independence from American Jewry, sometimes even from U.S. aid. Politics has become as complicated as religion used to be. Jews have joined the bandwagon. Adult education courses, lectures and sermons, Shabbat programs geared to discussing people's inner lives, all attest to the growing popularity of this phenomenon. From Zalman Schachter-Shalomi on the East Coast to Jonathan Omer-Man on the West, and dozens in between, teachers of spirituality are exposing the Jewish community to an eclectic mixture of Jewish mystical traditions, hasidic teachings, Eastern philosophies, therapeutic insights and pop psychologies.