American Jewry is undergoing a major demographic shift. According to JTA, 1 in 6 American Jews were raised in another religion. Converted Jews, or Jews-by-choice, will soon be a large faction of American Jewry.
A political change is also afoot. Since the last Gaza operation in May 2021, American Jews are entertaining a more complicated relationship with the State of Israel
How will this demographic change inform the relationship between American Jews and Israel? I spoke to 4 Rabbis and 7 Jews-by-choice to examine these question. I found their answers surprising.
Jews-by-choice are choosing a warm, though complicated, relationship with Israel. This is in stark contrast to the polarized reactions of born-Jews, many of whom are taking an anti-Zionist or hard-right pro-Zionist position.
It’s possible this new Jewish polarization around Israel is a phenomenon of born-Jews. And, if so, the influx of Jews-by-choice may reorient the Jewish community towards a new positive, but nuanced, relationship with the Jewish state.
Jews-by-choice come to know Israel in a very different way than born Jews. Many Jews-by-choice learn about Israel in childhood or adolescence and are aware that Israel is locked in a conflict with Palestinians. But, this information is not a focal point of their politics.
“I can't say that before I converted I had a favorable or unfavorable opinion.” said Yosef, a teacher currently living in New York. “I knew that Israel existed, I knew that Palestinians existed, I knew that they were fighting over land. And that was pretty much it.”
Chris, a social worker living in North Carolina, knew that “Israel was the homeland of the Jewish people and Judaism. And yeah, there was this conflict going on, and eventually, it would get worked out.”
But, when their Jewish journey begins, Jews-by-choice begin to understand Israel in a very different context than born-Jews. For born-Jews Israel is often a fixture in their life- the place where their history and relatives reside. Many American born-Jews are told, by their elders, that Israel’s survival rests on their shoulders. I, for one, have always known what Israel was and always knew it was my responsibility to defend it. This is not the case for Jews-by-choice.
“For Jews by choice, oftentimes, discussions about God and tradition, practice and prayer, come more easily.” said Rabbi Michael Siegel of Anshe Emet synagogue in Chicago, “Whereas issues about peoplehood, ethnicity… this is a more challenging issue for Jews by choice.”
For a Jew-by-choice, Israel is a learned facet of a new identity. Even in the progressive streams of Judaism, their learning about Israel is brought into context of a larger survey of Jewish history that connects the Jewish people to Israel.
“We do a whole unit on Zionism, and Israel,” said Rabbi Neal Weinberg, of Judaism By Choice, an educational organization in Los Angeles that helps those seeking conversion to Judaism.
“Throughout the classes, I'm talking about Israel all the time, I'm showing maps of Israel, showing how it looked like when the 12 tribes came in and divided it up. …By the time I get to the end of the classes, I'm dealing with the Holocaust, I do a whole class on anti-semitism, and then the next class is on Zionism and Israel.”
What this means is that, for Jews-by-choice, Israel seems connected in a clear and legible way to the religious, racial and cultural aspects of Jewish identity.
Each Jew-by-choice I spoke with felt Israel was an important part of their Jewish identity.
“Converting made me feel attached to Israel,” said Chris. “Even though I don't live there, it’s a place where I could find family and I could find people that I could connect with. It could be mine if I decided to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) or take up citizenship… Whereas before, it was somebody else's, now it is mine. And since it's now mine, I have a stake in it too.”
“A lot of people will say it's an inherently settler, colonialist idea,” said Eddie, a lawyer in New York. “To me, it's much more of an existential idea. A place where Jews can go to be safe, and self-actualize in the way that history has repeatedly not allowed them to do. It doesn't need to be exclusive to Jews, it doesn't need to be put Jews in a place of supremacy, but it needs to be a place where they can be safe.”
But, none of the Jews-by-choice I spoke with took a hard pro-Israel position. They acknowledged the complicated nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that Israel’s actions are far from perfect.
“When people ask, ‘do you support Israel?’, there's so much loaded into that question,” said Sophie, a Jew-by-choice in Arizona.
“Does it mean that you support literally everything that they’ve done? To me its more like, I support my brother, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything he's ever done.”
Hilo, a Jew-by-choice who immigrated to Israel, spoke about her early experiences learning about the conflict in Israel itself. During her first sponsored trip to Israel “we actually got to speak to Palestinians and that was eye opening. We saw the other side.”
“I understand the need for Israel, but I also can hear the pains of these other people that are living in this situation.”
Yosef sees a general trend with Jews-by-choice- that they dislike the question of taking a polarized stance on Israel.
“ Some people go all the way in one direction, and some people can go all the way in the other direction. And I feel like I'm supposed to make this like grand choice. But I can't, and I won't. In the same way that I can't make, like a grand choice to say I’m pro America, when there's a lot of stuff here that needs to be fixed.”
When it comes to opinions on Israel “most of the American Jews-by-choice I know seem to be kind of in the middle.”
There are a few ways to interpret this phenomenon. One is that because Jews-by-choice opt-in to the Jewish religion, it would be difficult for them brush off Israel. When you actively seek a place within the Jewish people, its natural to desire connection to a Jewish State.
Another is to say that Jews-by-choice, because of their process of conversion, will sometimes have a higher amount of information and learning about Israel, as an adult, than born-Jews. It’s possible that the more adult information you have about the Jewish connection to Israel and the history of the conflict, the less likely you accept a polarized view of the conflict.
Of all the Jews-by-choice I talked to, none were anti-Zionist. From the most left wing to right wing on the subject, each of these Jews-by-choice expressed the view that some form of Jewish autonomy and self-government in the Middle East was worthy of defense.
With born-Jews we sometimes see a different pattern play out. Many Jews in leftist circles in the U.S. espouse an anti-Zionism that calls for a one-State solution or, in some other way, the disablement of an explicitly Jewish political entity in the region.
This begs the question: is anti-Zionism a phenomenon of born-Jews?
“My sons went to Berkeley and they were involved in speaking up for Israel at many anti Zionist rallies. And my sons were shocked to find that a lot of people that were anti-Zionist, were Jews” said Rabbi Weinberg.
“I’ve never met somebody who's a convert to Judaism that was anti-Israel, or anti-Zionist. It's people that are born Jewish that might take that position.”
Rabbi Neal continued, “These Jewish kids grow up and after the bar mitzvah, they're not involved in Jewish life. And then later they give up any kind of belief in G-d, because they think they thought of G-d as a bearded old man in the sky. So they don't have any theology anymore. They don’t have connection to the Jewish community. And of course, in college, they're getting all this… anti-Israel rhetoric. And they want to show that they're just caring about persecuted people. So they get involved in these anti-Israel events, but they're mostly Jews who are just ignorant of Judaism.”
Yosef saw a similar dynamic.
“A couple of (Jewish) friends that I made on campus at Loyola who would go to, like pro Palestine marches. It was almost as if they were trying to like, protest their guilt away,” said Yosef.
This divide between Jews-by-choice and born-Jews when it comes to Israel is even showing up in romantic interactions. Noa, a military contractor in North Carolina and recent convert, faced a difficult situation when she went on a date with a born-Jew.
“He was Jewish, and he actually supported Hamas.”
During their date “He (said), ‘how can you support a terrorist organization’ -meaning Israel- ‘Jews showed up to Israel, and like demanded Israel back. And Israel, or the Jews should never have done that.’”
Noa was put off by the interaction- ultimately it was a deal-breaker for her.
“I don't want to date someone who supports an organization that would murder me for making out with you (or)… murder me for wearing clothes that I did that day (or) support an organization that would let my father literally chain me and keep me at home. … So I blocked his number and dipped out.”
“Younger American Jews, who don't have any memory of the Holocaust or who don’t know Holocaust survivors (they say)…I'm perfectly comfortable in America. Thank you very much. And I don't really like the idea of you telling me that I have to be thinking about going to Israel,” said Rabbi Siegel.
“Jews by-choice are coming at this as adults, and they have a much more global perspective…And so the need for a Jewish homeland, a need for a place for Jews to go? It’s pretty obvious if you just study Jewish history. So Jews by choice are going to gravitate to (a more Zionist viewpoint), because they don't have all of the baggage of the old debate between American Jewry and Israel.”
“I don't know that anyone has finished, a conversion still holding the view of Israel should go away,” said Chris. “To me, it's like, we're a family, and that's our family's homeland. And, you know, you got to support at least some of it.”