Diaspora ‘in danger’ from loss of Jewish identity, says Diaspora minister
MK Yisrael Eichler: “The State of Israel can never say a Jew abroad is a foreigner.”
By JEREMY SHARONDiaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich is among the Knesset members behind a new bill to give Diaspora Jews a voice in Israeli affairs.(photo credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90)
Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch said on Tuesday that Diaspora Jewry is “in danger” due to declining Jewish identity and said that her ministry is working to repair the situation.Speaking during a special hearing of the Knesset Education Committee for “Diaspora Day” in the Knesset, Yankelevitch emphasized the importance of formal Jewish education in Jewish schools as a critical component of reinvigorating Jewish identity amongst Jewish communities in the Diaspora.“One of our main tasks in the Diaspora Ministry and the government is to guarantee the connection between the next generation and Jewish identity and the State of Israel,” said Yankelevitch.“Over last six months I have spoken with the heads of many organizations, Jewish federations, and communities from across the entire spectrum of the Jewish community and everyone says ‘we’re in danger’, that the next generation is in true danger,” continued the minister.She said that one of the greatest challenges was the heavy cost of sending children to Jewish schools, noting that only 400,000 of 1.6 million Jewish children around the world attend a Jewish school.“In general the connection with Jewish identity has declined as a direct result of the decline in demand for Jewish education [in Jewish schools],” said Yankelevitch.She pointed to programs through the ministry’s United and Mosaic organizations providing support such as teacher training and drafting curriculums as part of the efforts the Diaspora Affairs Ministry is undertaking to help Jewish schools around the world.Also speaking in the committee hearing was Prof. Alex Pomson, an expert in Jewish education, who also underlined the importance of Jewish school attendance with maintaining Jewish identity.“Why is Jewish school so important? Because in the Diaspora it creates a Jewish space within a non-Jewish context. It’s like a small country,” said Pomson.Critically, he added that the “positive results” witnessed from Jewish school attendance were “not precisely tied to the quality of education or to literacy in Jewish schools but more a result of socialization, of being with Jews and being in a Jewish context and calendar rhythm.”
Said Pomson: “This is what influences the hearts, souls and brains of Jewish children in their lives.”Later on Tuesday, several MKs delivered remarks in the Knesset plenum on the importance of Israel’s connection with the Diaspora.Ultra-Orthodox MK Yisrael Eichler from the United Torah Judaism Party said the ideal situation within Judaism is that a Diaspora not exist and that the Jewish people be redeemed in the Land of Israel.Given that this turn of events has not yet transpired however, Eichler said that it was crucial for the State of Israel to build a close relationship with Jews in the Diaspora to ensure that the “basis and anchor” of the Jewish people around the world and in Israel remains their connection to the Torah and to the Land of Israel.He also decried “Jews who have not been here, don’t want to be here, and are assimilated” who he said condemn Israel as “occupiers in the Land of our forefathers.”Eichler also condemned the closing of Israel’s skies and borders to Diaspora Jews during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that immigrants living in the country had suffered due to the inability of their relatives to visit them.“This is terrible. We need to open the skies to all Jews immediately, while observing health regulations. The State of Israel can never say a Jew abroad is a foreigner,” the MK declared.Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata insisted that “our fate is entwined with the fate of the Jewish people around the world,” and said that the Jewish state must help Jews in the Diaspora strengthen their Jewish identity and connection to Israel.“With all the challenges, such as assimilation particularly in North America, we can do more,” said the minister.“Diaspora Jews have always stood with us. One thing which the head of the Jewish federations in North American told me recently was that the most important thing is that Israeli society become more familiar with Jews in the Diaspora, and we do need this greater familiarity because we are all the children of Ya’acov, the Bnei Yisrael.”
