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שטעטל בייגל בייסבול
אחרי 2,000 שנות גלות ורדיפות הם מצאו לעצמם מקלט בטוח. מדינה שבה הם יכולים לצעוד זקופים ברחוב מבלי להתבייש בדתם ובאמונתם, לפסוע במסדרונות השלטון בגאווה, כאדונים בארצם, לשגשג מבחינה כלכלית כפי שלא שגשגו מעולם. תכירו את יהודי ארצות הברית של המאה .ה-21. יהודים של גולה, גולה כמעט מאושרת אז מדוע לעתים נוצר הרושם שעוד דור או שניים ויהדות אמריקה תיעלם? קל מאוד להיות היום יהודי באמריקה, אבל קל לא פחות להפסיק להיות יהודי. נ ישואים מעורבים חדלו מזמן להיות טאבו. השייכות לדת, לעם, לשבט, לא נתפסת עוד בקרב יהודי ארצות הברית ככורח, אחדות גורל, גזירה קדומה, אלא כאופציה, אפשרות אחת מני רבות על המדף. וכך גם הקשר עם ישראל. אוי, ישראל. ישראל, שעד לא מזמן הסתכלו עליה בגאווה מעורבת בשמץ רגשי אשמה, נתפסת בעיני יהודי ארצות הברית בעשור האחרון כמקום שמומלץ לבקר בו, אבל שאפשר גם לוותר על כל קשר אליו בלי להתנצל. אז איך זה שלמרות זאת היא עדיין מתפקדת כמכנה המשותף החזק ביותר של היהודים שם? ואיך זה שהמרשם הטוב ביותר שמחלקים מנהיגי הקהילה נגד התבוללות הוא עדיין נסיעה לישראל? בעין סקרנית, ידענית ואוהבת מלווה שמואל רוזנר את סיפורה של יהדות ארצות הברית. סיפור שמתחיל בבדיחה, ממשיך במריבה, נגמר בבכי, או להפך. זה סיפורה המרתק של היהדות שבמראה שלנו. היהדות שהיתה יכולה להיות יהדותנו אילו עלו הסבים והסבתות שלנו על הספינה לניו-יורק במקום ליפו. שמואל רוזנר הוא חוקר, עורך ועיתונאי. עמית בכיר ב'מכון למדיניות העם היהודי' בירושלים, ראש מחלקת ספרי העיון של הוצאת הספרים כנרת-זמורה-ביתן-דביר, בעל טור בעיתונים ״ניו יורק טיימס״, 'מעריב' ו'ג´ואיש ג׳ורנל'. מחבר הספר: ״היהודים: 7 שאלות נפוצות (דביר 2016)
14 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Shmuel Rosner
7 books4 followersShmuel Rosner (Hebrew: שמואל רוזנר) is a Tel Aviv based columnist, editor and think tank fellow. He is currently a Senior Fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in Jerusalem, as well as an analyst for Kan News TV (Israel’s public television). He is the founder and editor of the data-journalism initiative themadad.com, the founder and editor of the nonfiction imprint "The Hedgehog and the Fox", and writer of a weekly column for The Jewish Journal in L.A. and for Maariv in Israel.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 3, 2014
Rosner, a Ha'aretz journalist, tackles for the Israeli public the eternal question: what are these American Jews, and what do you eat them with?
Apparently, with pretty much anything. American Jews come in a wide variety of flavours - salty, sugary, tangy, fruity, and, occasionally, even traditional.
Food metaphors aside, the one main theme underlying the entirety of Rosner's varied and sundry investigations is the impossibility of determinning much of anything concerning the "congregation" of American Jewry - to the point where it is unclear, even, just how many American Jews there are, who counts as one, and who is likely to count as one by the time you've finished reading the book. Answers appear to involve politics, religion, temperament (optimistic or pessimistic) and perhaps also a tiny grain of competitiveness with that other other Jewish place - Israel.
The relationship to Israel and its Jewish culture and population takes up centre stage for Rosner, understandably, as he is writing for Israelis, as an Israeli. And it sure takes time to cover, again, because the Jewry of America can't quite make up its mind. He's not afraid of laying out the demands of partisan politics, the conflict and insecurity of dual-loyalty, and the proprietary feeling that prevails in the congregation concerning Israel - though most of the people do not see it as central, or important to them.
It tackles the issues of what American Jews believe and how they believe it, what they choose in order to touch upon their Jewish identity and Jewish practice, and even - slightly redundantly for me, but perhaps not for other readers - the emergence of the Orthodox Feminist revolution.
Rosener likes the American Jews, admires them, engages with them, but also obviously fears them, and for them, both as unbridled agents of influence in Israel without genuine understanding or investment - promoting their principles and agendas for their own reasons, including the need to appear loyal to America, liberal and enlightened, and as possibly a community with severe identity crisis. He is, of course, stil an Israeli, and sees Israel and the U.S. Jewish centres in a competition - a practice, by the way, old and much entrenched, as testified by the political games and machinations between Judea and the diaspora centres in Babylon. When one side loses, the other side "wins", and vise versa.
Being an Israeli myself, I tend to see his point, perhaps too much so. But I cannot help but take to heart his concluding remarks about why we, Israelis, can and should like the American community: "They are willing to support Israel and hope for its success, even though that success is liable to embarrass them and prove them wrong. And in Jews, this is no small thing."
Admitting that, in an Israeli, is no small thing either.
Apparently, with pretty much anything. American Jews come in a wide variety of flavours - salty, sugary, tangy, fruity, and, occasionally, even traditional.
Food metaphors aside, the one main theme underlying the entirety of Rosner's varied and sundry investigations is the impossibility of determinning much of anything concerning the "congregation" of American Jewry - to the point where it is unclear, even, just how many American Jews there are, who counts as one, and who is likely to count as one by the time you've finished reading the book. Answers appear to involve politics, religion, temperament (optimistic or pessimistic) and perhaps also a tiny grain of competitiveness with that other other Jewish place - Israel.
The relationship to Israel and its Jewish culture and population takes up centre stage for Rosner, understandably, as he is writing for Israelis, as an Israeli. And it sure takes time to cover, again, because the Jewry of America can't quite make up its mind. He's not afraid of laying out the demands of partisan politics, the conflict and insecurity of dual-loyalty, and the proprietary feeling that prevails in the congregation concerning Israel - though most of the people do not see it as central, or important to them.
It tackles the issues of what American Jews believe and how they believe it, what they choose in order to touch upon their Jewish identity and Jewish practice, and even - slightly redundantly for me, but perhaps not for other readers - the emergence of the Orthodox Feminist revolution.
Rosener likes the American Jews, admires them, engages with them, but also obviously fears them, and for them, both as unbridled agents of influence in Israel without genuine understanding or investment - promoting their principles and agendas for their own reasons, including the need to appear loyal to America, liberal and enlightened, and as possibly a community with severe identity crisis. He is, of course, stil an Israeli, and sees Israel and the U.S. Jewish centres in a competition - a practice, by the way, old and much entrenched, as testified by the political games and machinations between Judea and the diaspora centres in Babylon. When one side loses, the other side "wins", and vise versa.
Being an Israeli myself, I tend to see his point, perhaps too much so. But I cannot help but take to heart his concluding remarks about why we, Israelis, can and should like the American community: "They are willing to support Israel and hope for its success, even though that success is liable to embarrass them and prove them wrong. And in Jews, this is no small thing."
Admitting that, in an Israeli, is no small thing either.
November 4, 2023
בספר יש מידע רב אך הוא מתעלם מן התפתחויות היהדות ועבריות חילוניים, אולי בכוונה תחילה.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews