American Jewish Committee’s 2021 Surveys of American and Israeli Jewish Opinion released Monday reveal gaps in knowledge about Israel among American Jews and a lack of education and curiosity about American Jews among Israelis.
Seemingly overnight, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic incidents are being reported near and far. Many American Jews, who not so long ago thought these were threats faced by Jews elsewhere in the world but not here at home, are suddenly waking up to new realities.
Improving the reach and content of Israel education in America and Diaspora education in Israel must be an urgent priority. American Jewish Commitee (AJC) surveys of American and Israeli Jews give a holistic picture as to where improvement is needed to raise understanding about the richly complex Jewish communities in each center and to nurture opportunities for American and Israeli Jews to be lifelong learners about one another.
Surveys reveal a disturbingly large number of American Jews who feel disconnected from their Jewish identity. How painfully sad! In response, let me share the essence of what being Jewish means to me.
One of the most important and useful tools in the global fight is the Working Definition of Antisemitism.
There were over a dozen “authors” of this definition, originally issued by the European Union’s Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in 2005 — scholars on antisemitism, Jewish organizational experts and advocates in Europe, Israel and the United States. I was one of them