“…the relevance of Israel to the younger generation of American Jews is not self-evident…”

Jewish students on campus do not need heavily curated fact-sheets or pro-Israel YouTube videos on Facebook to combat anti-Israel agitation. They need Shabbat dinners, vibrant prayer communities, opportunities for Torah study, and other circumstances and occasions that will strengthen and reinforce their Jewish identities and their pride for Judaism. If that exists, they will figure out a way to defend Israel and its reputation.

The generation for whom the importance of Israel and Israel advocacy was self-evident is gradually stepping away from the stage. This “Jewish greatest generation” built the institutions that have a allowed the State of Israel to grow and flourish and that have protected and nourished our Jewish lives in the diaspora. But the relevance of Israel to the younger generation of American Jews is not self-evident and too few, far too few, American Jews have a robust sense of Jewish identity that can sustain itself and perpetuate itself in the midst of American openness and prosperity.

Rabbi David Wolkenfeld, “My Trip to Washington” (7 March 2015) [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1xGwp0vdYtgVEpCM1YxdUJ4bW8/view]