We Stand Divided: The Rift Between American Jews and Israel

by Daniel Gordis

Overview

A bold reevaluation of the tensions between American and Israeli Jews that reimagines the past, present, and future of Jewish life.

Relations between the American Jewish community and Israel are at an all-time nadir. Since Israel’s founding seventy years ago, particularly as memory of the Holocaust and of Israel’s early vulnerability has receded, the divide has grown only wider. Most explanations pin the blame on Israel’s handling of its conflict with the Palestinians, Israel’s attitude toward non-Orthodox Judaism, and Israel’s dismissive attitude toward American Jews in general. In short, the cause for the rupture is not what Israel is; it’s what Israel does.

These explanations tell only half the story. We Stand Divided examines the history of the troubled relationship, showing that from the outset, the founders of what are now the world’s two largest Jewish communities were responding to different threats and opportunities, and had very different ideas of how to guarantee a Jewish future.

With an even hand, National Jewish Book Award–winning author Daniel Gordis takes us beyond the headlines and explains how Israel and America have fundamentally different ideas about issues ranging from democracy and history to religion and identity. He argues that as a first step to healing the breach, the two communities must acknowledge and discuss their profound differences and moral commitments. Only then can they forge a path forward, together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062873712
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	292
Sales rank:	461,674
File size:	878 KB

About the Author

Daniel Gordis is the Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College—Israel’s first liberal arts college—which he helped found in 2007. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and political currents in Israel, he has twice won the National Jewish Book Award, including the prize for Book of the Year for Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn. Raised and educated in the United States, he has been living in Jerusalem since 1998.

Table of Contents

The Rift

Introduction: "Why Can't We All Just Get Along?" 3

1 A Mistaken Conventional Wisdom 11

2 A Rift Older Than the State Itself 39

The Causes

3 A Particularist Project in a Universalist World 73

4 Idealized Zion Meets the Messiness of History 103

5 People or Religion: Who and What Are the Jews? 135

6 How Naked a Public Square: A Liberal or Ethnic Democracy? 167

The Future

7 Charting a Shared Future-and Why That Matters 199

Conclusion: "That's How the Light Gets In" 231

Acknowledgments 249

Notes 255

Index 281

Editorial Reviews

06/17/2019

A gloomy view of relations between American Jews and Israel is provided by Jerusalem Post columnist Gordis (Saving Israel) in this thoughtful examination of the history of relations between the two major Jewish communities. Gordis opens his analysis by quoting recent provocative remarks from Israeli diplomatic officials Alon Pinkas and Tzipi Hotovely. While Pinkas believes Israel’s policies stand at the heart of the divide, Hotovely believes American Jews fail to fully understand Israel’s realities. After setting up the rift, Gordis pulls back to offer a wider perspective, noting that for much of the time since political Zionism was created in 1897, the relationship between the American and Zionist Jewish communities “has been complex at best and often even openly antagonistic.” He makes a persuasive case that fundamental issues—such as the conflict between the universalist ideals of the U.S. and its Jewish population, and Israel’s particular religious nationalism—have always been at the heart of the schism. In the end, he believes the situation is not susceptible to easy resolution—even if Israel achieved peace with the Palestinians. Unfortunately, Gordis’s cogent presentation is marred by significant omissions, in particular the political alliance of President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Nonetheless, this will be a valuable conversation starter for Jewish communities within the U.S. and Israel. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

With so many worried about the growing distance between American Jews and Israel, We Stand Divided is an extremely important, timely book. Offering a sweeping history of what has always been a troubled relationship, Daniel Gordis writes intelligently and clearly about the ongoing ideological tensions and how to resolve them.” — Natan Sharansky, former political prisoner in the Soviet Union, former minister for Diaspora Affairs in Israel and former head of the Jewish Agency of Israel

“Impassioned, brilliant, and riveting, We Stand Divided is the essential book for understanding American Jewish-Israel relations. Gordis has made an outstanding contribution to the field.”

— Michael Oren, Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States

“Those anguished by the rift between Israelis and American Jews might be surprised to learn it was ever thus. With empathy and deep historical insight, Daniel Gordis traces the roots and development of this disconnect and imagines a future of deepened mutual appreciation aimed at sustaining one unified Jewish people.” — Daniel Shapiro, Former US Ambassador to Israel

“A fascinating and provocative description of the growing gap between American Jews and Israel. This book is a conversation starter, a conversation that is increasingly important.  I recommend it highly.” — Deborah Lipstadt, author of Antisemitism Here and Now

From the Publisher

Impassioned, brilliant, and riveting, We Stand Divided is the essential book for understanding American Jewish-Israel relations. Gordis has made an outstanding contribution to the field.”

Michael Oren

Those anguished by the rift between Israelis and American Jews might be surprised to learn it was ever thus. With empathy and deep historical insight, Daniel Gordis traces the roots and development of this disconnect and imagines a future of deepened mutual appreciation aimed at sustaining one unified Jewish people.

Daniel Shapiro

With so many worried about the growing distance between American Jews and Israel, We Stand Divided is an extremely important, timely book. Offering a sweeping history of what has always been a troubled relationship, Daniel Gordis writes intelligently and clearly about the ongoing ideological tensions and how to resolve them.

Natan Sharansky

A fascinating and provocative description of the growing gap between American Jews and Israel. This book is a conversation starter, a conversation that is increasingly important.  I recommend it highly.

Deborah Lipstadt

With so many worried about the growing distance between American Jews and Israel, We Stand Divided is an extremely important, timely book. Offering a sweeping history of what has always been a troubled relationship, Daniel Gordis writes intelligently and clearly about the ongoing ideological tensions and how to resolve them.

Nathan Sharansky

2019-07-15
A winner of the National Jewish Book Award urges a thoughtful reconciliation between Israelis and American Jews for the future of all Jews.

Gordis (Senior Vice President/Shalem Coll.; Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, 2016, etc.) takes up a much-used but apt simile that the relationship between the Israelis and the American Jews is like a troubled marriage: What should be done? Should they split, get counseling, or separate? As the author writes, "the American and Israeli Jewish communities total more than 85 percent of the Jewish world and are therefore likely to be the communities that determine the course of Jewish history." Surveying the landscape, the author, a lucid guide to this contentious topic, concludes that "the crux of the problem between the communities is not what Israel does, but what Israel is." American Jews freely criticize Israel and its strong-armed policies toward the Palestinians, but Israelis often believe that Americans—comfortable and not constantly faced with security threats—have no idea what it means to live surrounded by hostile countries. Gordis argues that the intense love affair of American Jews with Israel buckled in 1982, when Israeli military perpetrated massacres at the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra and Shatila, leaving American Jews "humiliated and shamed by the country to which they had once pointed with pride." This was a turning point. Yet the author also concisely highlights ongoing fundamental tension points between the two countries, including the Zionist dream that Jews can be the active agents in their story rather than passive victims. The sticking point of religion ("Who and What are the Jews?") is another point of contention, as American Jews tend to be non-Orthodox in opposition to the enormous power of the right-wing Orthodox element in Israel, who define identity as well as the role of the Hebrew language, which most Americans do not speak.

A deliberative academic work that rises above hackneyed arguments with significant research and a great deal of heart.

Kirkus Reviews