The 90`s

Investment in U.S. Jewry a necessity

Note: Written by Howard Barbanel, Published Week of November 3rd -9th, 1993

I remember a conversation I had some years back with then Defense Minister Moshe Arens.  "American Jewish fundraising is more important for American Jews than it is for Israelis," Arens asserted during a conversation on the state of U.S. Jewry.  What did he mean by that? He went on to say that all of the nearly $1 billion raised by U.S. Jewry and sent to Israel, this only amounted to a minute fraction of Israel's Fross Domestic Product and was really just a ripple in its economic stream.  Arens posited that fundraising for Israel did more for American Jews and their sense of self-identification and purpose than it did for Israel. He added that without Israel and a myriad of crises, what would American Jews do?

Arens made these statements several years ago before the recent blast-off of srael's economy into the First World stratosphere.  Last year, for example, Israel's economic growth rate exceeded six percent -- the highest in the industrialized world, surpassing Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the European Community.  The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) has doubled in value each of the past two years and foreign investment is pouring in. Israelis bought a record number of new automobiles, (over 200,000) color TVs, VCRs and more.  More than one million Israelis traveled abroad last year, another record.

Israelis now shop at American-style shopping malls like Diesengroff Center in Tel Aviv, the Canion Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan and the Canion Jerusalem Mall, the largest mall in the Middle East.   Israelis attend multiplex movie theaters, rent videos from video rental stores, eat at McDonald's, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, quaff quantities of Pepsi and Coke and dress better and more stylishly than ever before.  Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elton John, Bob Dylan and more have had no trouble garnering up to $50 per seat at their recent concerts. In short, Israel is no Third World developing country. The per-capita income of Israelis is very, very close behind the nations of Mediterranean Europe (Greece, Portugal, Southern Italy) and the range od social services provided by the government makes it an extremely progressive place to live.

I have always said that it is somewhat of a good thing that only 20 percent of American Jews have been to Israel, because if more went for a visit, they would find no nation of beggars, sand dines, tanks and daily combat.  The biggest daily combat these days are the legions of car-bound commuters slugging it out on Highway Four from Greater Tel Aviv (many, many office building) and the new suburbs in it periphery. In fact, the recently released study of the Greater New York Jewish Community by UJA/Federation indicates there are 145,000 Jews living below  the poverty line right here in our own backyard and the majority of American Jews are just living a middle class lifestyle.

Israel feels so flush that it isn't asking for any U.S. aid to relocate its troops as a consequence of the Rabin-Peres-Arafat pact, even though this will cost an estimated $175 million.  It gets even better, Israel is donating $25 million this year to international $650 million fund to aid the new Palestinian autonomy!

So, then, without a crisis looming over Israel every day, without Israelis scrounging around to make ends meet, what are we American Jews to do? What are we to do with our nearly $1 billion in annual largesse that's currently going to the Holy Land?

Israelis remind me of the prototypical Jewish businessman as often spooked by Jackie Mason -- when asking an American Jewish businessman or professional, "So, how's business?" the businessman will reply, "oh, terrible, terrible, you shouldn't know from my tzurris."  All this while he business lives in Great Neck, Park Avenue or wherever and is driving a new Jaguar. Israelis moan, but the fact of the matter is they have a healthy economy with low inflation, high output and a reasonably good standard of living for all its citizens.

American Jewry does need a purpose, but looking to save Israel may not be our Holy Grail anymore.  we are extremely skilled at raising charity, but in the process we bear witness to the impeding disintegration of American Jewry due to aging, intermarriage (50 percent outside of New York) lack of synagogue membership and lack of Jewish education.  We are not a community that is growing by any objective or empirical standard.

Here’s what we ought to do:

We should declare an American Jewish Marshall Plan -- let's call it "Operation Survival" or something grandiose like that.  Let's publicize this war and wide as American Jewry's confronting its own battle for existence, its own battle for its very life.

We need o shift at least half the funds currently making its way to Israel and spend them here in the U.S.  We need to alleviate domestic Jewish poverty. We need to buttress our institutions of Jewish education. We must allocate the funding to ensure that every Jewish child who wants it can attend a full-time Jewish day school -- one of the only effective weapons we have against assimilation.  The Catholic Church maintains a far more extensive school network than we do. There's absolutely no excuse for the majority of Jewish kids to attend public schools if we can offer a viable alternative.

We must allocate funds to ensure that every American Jewish teenager gets an opportunity to visit Israel before they get to college.  This will strengthen bonds between Israel and a new generation of U.S. Jewry like nothing else. It will help deter intermarriage and build a population of givers in the future.  This is such a good idea, we ought to ask the Israelis (via the vestigial Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization) to chip-in and pay a portion of this project.

We need to establish a real national Jewish television service over cable TV.  This service should offer daily news programs so that we can keep our people better informed.  This service should offer Israeli programs with English subtitles so we can finally share more culture with Israelis than just falafel.  This service must offer educational programs for kids so they don't just watch stuff like "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" on TV in December.  We need this service to bring us together across the U.S. as a solid community -- because communication is the key to community.

We need to earmark scholarship funds for young people who want to serve the Jewish people by working for our Jewish communal institutions -- and we need to make sure that those who want to teach in Jewish schools are paid competitively.

Finally, we need to democratize Jewish life -- most of us Jewish leaders are self-appointed plutocrats.  In "Fiddler on the Roof," Tevya muses of the possibilities of proffering advice and attaining stature based on wealth.  While most Jewish leaders are devoted and well-intentioned, most American Jews are out-of-the-loop and haven't a clue as to how decisions are made and who gets to make them.  We need to have election for one, central American Jewish governing body -- elections all U.S. Jews can vote in. A fantasy? This kind of institution exists in Canada, in Great Britain, in South Africa, in France and other countries.  Having elections and opening-up the process to the will of the people will energize the masses and get the decisions out from the smoke-filled rooms.

Patrick Henry said that "taxation without representation is tyranny!" Many of us pay American Jewish taxes by giving generously -- many more would give if they had a voice in how and where the money gets spent and who spends it.  It would encourage more young people to get involved in leadership roles and it would enable us to set an agenda that would appeal to the majority.

Many people are speaking about Israel's new "Peace Dividend."  American Jews fought the fight for Soviet and Ethiopian Jews. We fought the fight for Israel's survival in the corridors of Congress and by empting our own pockets to the tune of billions of dollars.  It is now time for an American Jewish "Peace Dividend:" we are entitled to pay interest to ourselves so that our future returns are highly profitable -- and while we're at it, let's ask the Israelis to lend a few hands because helping American Jewry survive and thrive is one of Israel's best possible long-term investments.