Israelis are rediscovering their connection to world Jewry

The Gaza War is prompting Israelis to recognise their common fate with Diaspora Jews, writes ELAN EZRACHI.

Historically, the status of world Jewry has not been a central motif in Israeli public life. Israelis tend to be distanced and uninterested in the life and lore of Jews around the world.

Looking at more than 100 years of history, it can be said that Israelis viewed Jews around the world as either a reservoir for aliya, or as funders of the Zionist project. This is a serious "blind spot" in the Israeli discourse.

The Gaza War is opening a new level in the Israeli consciousness regarding world Jewry that will reverberate in the coming years.

Yochi Rapoport, director of Women of the Wall, expressed this change in an article entitled, “It has been proven again – diaspora Jewry is a full partner” published on N12.

She wrote that despite calls to world Jewry to stay out of internal Israeli affairs and attempts to exclude and insult Diaspora Jews, this war proved the extent of the common fate and interdependence between Israel and Jews around the world.

“This war is going to end, one day and in the ‘day after’ we will have to seriously discuss the role that we give to our Diaspora brothers and sisters here in Israel. The State of Israel cannot continue to relate to their lifestyles and beliefs with dismissal,” Rapoport wrote.

Highlighting issues such as conversion, the status of the Western Wall and recognition of the non-Orthodox streams, Rapoport added that the Israeli establishment needed to develop a positive attitude to Jews around the world and to show respect for what was important for them.

Tani Frank, an activist in state and religious affairs, has observed that Israelis are thinking about the basic tenets of belonging to the Jewish people and the meaning of this belonging.