CSM: Are American Jews unfit to marry Israelis?

[Poll_Blind]

From http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/1202/Are-American-Jews-unfit-to-marry-Israelis?google_editors_picks=true">The Christian Science Monitor:

Israel has pulled a controversial series of ads that portrayed American Jews as out of touch with their roots. The flap illustrates a growing distance between US Jews and Israelis.

--snip--

The flap illustrates a growing reality – that there are real and growing differences, of both style and substance, between American Jews and the Israeli state. The rise of the ultra-orthodox right in Israel is having an influence, and younger American Jews don't appear to identify with Israel in the same way that their parents and grandparents did.

The underlying message of the campaign certainly seemed to be you can't really remain Jewish in the US. The Jewish Channel called it a "semi-covert national campaign" carried out in at least five US cities with large Israeli populations to "convince them that their heritage will be lost if they don't soon go back to Israel."

The Jewish Channel said the ads suggest that "marrying American Jews could make Israelis lose their sense of identity" and ended the segment by segueing into growing Israeli complaints that it's hard to live there unless you pursue an "ultra-orthodox lifestyle."

Much more at the link- and it covers more ground than the snippet would imply. I have to admit, I was more than a bit caught off guard by the ads. On one hand, adherents of any religion could probably poke at America because we are a great melting pot (or at least salad) of different beliefs when it comes to religion. On the other hand, the actual message conveyed through the three commercials is much more pointed and, IMO, condescending to the point of malice. I'll quote Jeffrey Goldberg (which the piece also does), because he seems to sum it up best (from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/11/netanyahu-government-suggests-israelis-avoid-marrying-american-jews/249166/">The Atlantic):

I don't think I have ever seen a demonstration of Israeli contempt for American Jews as obvious as these ads.

--snip--

These government-sponsored ads suggest that it is impossible for Jews to remain Jewish in America. How else are we supposed to understand the "Christmas" ad? Obviously, assimilation and intermarriage are issues in America in ways they aren't in Israel. Israel has other problems of course, such as the fact that many of its rabbis act like Iranian mullahs. ...

--snip--

The message is: Dear American Jews, thank you for lobbying for American defense aid (and what a great show you put on at the AIPAC convention every year!) but, please, stay away from our sons and daughters.

How does one classify this? Sort of like an American Catholics versus Irish Catholic kind of thing? I'm not even sure such a rift exists, just trying to find a comparison. With evangelical Christianity in America, something I grew up around, the sniping isn't based so much on geographic location as belief-based friction: Methodists vs Southern Baptists (or whatever).

?

PB

[no_hypocrisy]

1. They're even grouping the Hasidim in Williamsburg in Brooklyn as "American Jews".

Oy vey . . . .

[LeftishBrit]

2. There has always been a tendency for some Israelis to disapprove of Diaspora Jews, especially those

who could live in Israel and choose not to.

To be fair, some Diaspora Jews look down on Israelis.

[MADem]

3. See, every country has their ultra-nutty fundy nitwits~!!! No nation is immune! nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. The rift exists, but they've got it ass-backwards.

The American Jewish community is not much changed from what it was 50 years ago. Israel is the entity which has forgotten its roots, in the diaspora. Israel has forgotten that the majority of its people prior to the establishment were not ultra-religious conservatives, but mostly secular liberals and socialists, who had a strong understandinf of and connection with the underdog - as most of them were the underdog before Aliya.

Israel is a haven for ALL Jews, not just the ultra-Orthodox. Even Jews who smoke pot and go dancing on Friday night.

[saras]

5. This is sufficient - the rest is noise. "please, stay away from our sons and daughters."

[applegrove]

6. Perhaps meant to worry American Jews into being more conservative. After all

the GOP in the USA use the fear of being separated from the herd every day, why wouldn't the right wing in Israel do the same.