A fascinating phenomenon has erupted amongst nonobservant
Israeli families who are either living abroad temporarily or
have emigrated. While they were living in Eretz
Yisroel, they felt no desire or need to look into
Yiddishkeit or to adapt a lifestyle connected to
mitzvah and Torah observance. But when they get to chutz
la'aretz, without any external pressure and strictly of
their own free will, these families soon begin to come close
to Judaism!
In most of the families, "closeness to Judaism" is
characterized in these ways: shemiras Shabbos to some
degree; synagogue attendance on the holidays and particularly
the Yomim Noraim; keeping kosher; and most
significantly: sending their children to schools where they
learn a substantial amount about Judaism and Jewish customs
(much more than what they would have learned in Israel). In
some of these schools, the students even daven and
bentch.
There is a similar anomaly amongst nonobservant Israeli youth
who are spending time abroad, searching for spiritual
pleasures in eastern countries and physical pleasures in
western countries. The whole time they were in Israel, they
had no desire or need to hear anything about Judaism. Just
the opposite -- they had an aversion to finding out anything
connected to Jewish values and rituals.
Lo and behold, on their excursions around Buddhist
monasteries or cafes in America, these young people are
suddenly infused with an incredible openness and thirst to
learn about Judaism. They stream in masses to seminars and
lectures about Judaism, and they grab any Torah tapes they
can get their hands on. A significant number of them
subsequently return to Israel in order to enter a framework
where they can learn more about Judaism and begin keeping
mitzvos.
Why these families and young people only open up to Judaism
while they are outside of Israel needs some analysis. At
first glance it would seem that the trend should be the
opposite, that a greater interest in Judaism would be in
Israel, with less of an openness abroad. The answer to this
mystery is in the self-identity that the State of Israel has
imbued in its residents.
At its founding, the State of Israel based itself on
principles of secular countries. Secular Zionists believed
that they had to replace religious identity with a secular
nationalistic identity, meaning that Jewish identity would no
longer depend on Torah and mitzvah observance or even any
attachment to Jewish heritage or tradition. The new Jewish
identity would depend on nationalistic concepts, such as
living in Eretz Yisroel, speaking Hebrew, military
poems, participation in Zionist projects, and later on in
Hebrew songs, trips throughout Israel, rooting for the
Israeli soccer team, eating falafel, plastic hammers on
Yom Haatzmaut, and so forth.
We have here a serious problem. There are many Druse, Israeli
Arabs, athletes, and other non-Jews from all over the world,
who fulfill all the criteria of "Jewish identity," even
though they are not at all Jewish. The reason for this
confusion is that Jewish identity is essentially religious,
and not nationalistic, as has been proven throughout Jewish
history. As HaRav Saadia Gaon says (in Emunos VeDei'os
the third maamar), "Umoseinu einoh umoh ello
beToraso -- Our nation in only a nation through its
Torah. Therefore, spiritual, secular people who are searching
for secular Jewish identity will always remain at a loss.
An example for this was given at a conference focusing on
Jewish identity, which took place in 5747. Kol HaIr (a
local Jerusalem weekly newspaper) summarized the conclusions
of the discussions: "Under the aegis of the Spinoza
Institute, the concerned secular public set out to search for
its identity which had been ripped up by exile, Zionism,
attempts at reviving Zionism, Canaanism, etc. The institute
enlisted Spinoza, Yirmiyahu Yovel, Chaim Be'er, A.B.
Yehoshua, Moshe Shamir, Gershom Schoken, and Saul Bellow for
marathon discussions, whose conclusion retained the same
mixed-up definition of the Israeli and the Jew. They even
concluded that perhaps no such identity exists at all."
So the Jewish State has managed to grant its citizens a new
Jewish identity bursting with nationalistic symbols. In doing
so they have cut Jews off from the Jewish religion and from
thousands of years of cultural heritage.
Therefore, as long as Israeli families and youth are residing
in the State of Israel, they feel that their Jewish identity
is very strong and sturdy. They do not feel any need to find
out more about Judaism, about their rich heritage. Nor do
they feel any need to adopt religious symbols and mitzvos.
Furthermore, some Israelis resist any connection to Judaism,
since religious Judaism is a danger and threat to their new
"Jewish identity." It is as if religious Judaism is screaming
out to them that they are obligated to reevaluate and change
their false identity, and this they do not want.
When these families and youth leave Israel for abroad, simply
by being outside of Israel they do not fit into any
nationalistic definition of Jewish identity. In this
situation, having removed external, shallow, and false
frameworks of Jewish identity, they begin to search for
deeper and more meaningful symbols. Immediately they remember
the basic foundations of Judaism, such as Shabbos, holidays,
davening, learning Torah, and the like. Furthermore,
in these circumstances, they are ready and willing to hear
about Judaism, mitzvah observance, and even doing
teshuva. They go to every lecture and seminar focusing
on Judaism that they can.
We see here an astounding trend! A Jew needs to pack his
bags, leave his home, travel hundreds and thousands of miles,
and wander for weeks and months in Buddhist monasteries or
American bars to find his true identity!
Whoever attempts to get to the root of this matter will see
something shocking. The State of Israel has managed to steal
the real identity of the Jewish people and to replace it with
a new, false identity. In doing so, the State has caused
tremendous irreparable damage to all of its Jewish citizens,
in that it has cut them off from the past, from historical
continuity, and from their true identity, which is based on
religious identity.
The most devastating result is that the greatest and deepest
assimilation is taking place in none other than Eretz
Yisroel! The Jewish State itself has consciously prepared
fertile ground on which to forget Jewish identity. Despite
this, in chutz laaretz, the Diaspora, the Israeli Jew
finds more openness and readiness to return to true Jewish
identity. We find that the most difficult and authentic
exile, characterized by mass assimilation, is found in
Israel! The worst assimilation is not when it is amongst the
goyim, but spiritual assimilation, which takes place
within this secular nationalistic culture.
Those familiar with Jewish history know that this is not the
first time this atrocity has occurred amongst the Jews. This
is explained in Sifsei Chaim by HaRav Chaim
Friedlander zt'l (Discourses on the Holidays II, page
23). "The Greek exile took place when the Jewish people were
dwelling in their own land -- because the concept of
golus is not necessarily when we are exiled from the
Land of Israel (which was the case in the Babylonian exile
and others).
Golus is essentially the exile of the Shechina,
the weakening or break of the spiritual connection between
Am Yisroel and HaKodosh Boruch Hu, chas
vesholom. This refers to when the goyim are ruling
over Am Yisroel spiritually, when the Jews are
influenced by their culture and they chart their lives along
the lifestyles of the goyim. A spiritual golus
like this takes place whenever Jews are subservient to
hashkofos and thought processes of the goyim
and conduct themselves accordingly. Consequently, they have
put themselves into exile."
