Six Israeli lawmakers are headed to the United States this weekend for an intense study of American Jewish life amid concerns about a growing gap between American and Israeli Jews.
The members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, are expected to arrive tomorrow at Brandeis University in Waltham, then head to New York midweek as part of the Ruderman Fellows Program.
The six-day program aims to give the legislators a detailed understanding of the structure and history of the American Jewish community. Each day is devoted to a single aspect of it, such as “How the Case of Israel is Made in United States,’’ and includes lectures and meetings with American Jewish leaders in academics, business, philanthropy, and even entertainment. A town hall-style meeting at Brandeis will let critics of Israeli policy question the lawmakers.
Avi Dichter, one of the fellows, said he hopes the group returns to Israel as “ambassadors . . . about what it means to be a Jew overseas in general and in the United States in particular.’’
The founder of the fellows program, Jay Ruderman of the Ruderman Family Foundation, moved to Israel from Boston in 2005 and said it quickly became clear that Israeli lawmakers often misunderstand basic aspects of American Jewish life.
The Ruderman fellowships target influential Israelis to ensure that different perspectives do not harden into permanent divisions within the small global Jewish population, which “would be disastrous for the Jewish people,’’ he said.
“The future unity of the Jewish people — that’s what’s driving me,’’ Ruderman said. “In order to have unity, you have to have an understanding.’’
The six lawmakers were recruited from a range of Israeli political views and experience. Eitan Cabel and Daniel Ben Simon are from the liberal Labor party, Dichter and Ronit Tirosh from the centrist Kadima, and Tzipi Hotovely and Carmel Shama from conservative Likud.
Hotovely, 30, is the youngest member of the parliament. Dichter, 59, was a longtime member of Israel’s internal security service, then its director, before being elected to parliament in 2006.
Ruderman hopes this year’s fellows are the first of many who eventually have a major impact in the 120-seat Knesset.
The global Jewish population is estimated at 13.4 million, with Israel (5.7 million) and the United States (5.25 million) home to nearly 82 percent of the total.
Numbers are not all that make the communities vital to each other, said Brandeis professor Jonathan Sarna, a specialist in American Jewish history who helped design the program.
Israel sees itself as a physical and spiritual homeland for Jews worldwide, and the American community is by far the most influential outside Israel. Meanwhile, American Jews expect understanding from its government the same way American Catholics expect the Vatican to try to understand them, Sarna said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/02/6_israeli_lawmakers_to_visit_us_for_study_of_jewish_community/
Israeli Lawmakers To Visit Brandeis
Six Israeli lawmakers are headed to the United States this weekend for an intense study of American Jewish life amid concerns about a growing gap between American and Israeli Jews.
The members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, arrive Sunday at Brandeis University, near Boston, then head to New York City mid-week as part of the inaugural Ruderman Fellows Program.
The six-day program aims to give the legislators a detailed understanding of the structure and history of the American Jewish community. Each day is devoted to a single aspect of it, such as “How the Case for Israel is Made in United States,” and includes lectures and meetings with American Jewish leaders in academics, business, philanthropy, even entertainment (at a Broadway play).
Avi Dichter, one of the fellows, said he hopes the group returns to Israel as “ambassadors … about what it means to be a Jew overseas in general and in the United States in particular.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/04/02/israeli-lawmakers-to-visit-brandeis/
