“Far too many young Jews…are terribly ignorant of even the basics, with little to zero knowledge of Hebrew or of Jewish and Israeli history”

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….young Americans need a Jewish education. And here, U.S. Jewish leaders and their organizations are not doing well. Far too many young Jews — including many who are outspoken critics of Israel — are terribly ignorant of even the basics, with little to zero knowledge of Hebrew or of Jewish and Israeli history.
…
In blaming Israeli policy for the fact that on many U.S. campuses, the classmates of Jewish students “shun them for identifying with Israel at all,” perhaps American Jewish leaders are overlooking the failures at home, particularly among liberal progressive diaspora Jewish leaders. Many Jewish students are stuck entirely in an American bubble, with no understanding of the centrality of Jewish self-determination (i.e., Zionism) to our survival as a people. So how can they even begin to understand Israel, let alone give us advice?

Gerald M. Steinberg, “Why Israel Is Frustrated With American Jewish Leaders”, The Jewish Week (29 January 2016), 21.

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