Since its founding, the United States has seen itself as a “shining city upon a hill” – a nation with a moral and democratic mission meant to illuminate the world.
Over 250 years of American independence, that self-image has been translated into an inspiring reality: not only economic, military, and scientific preeminence, but also a source of values – a bastion of freedom and progress.
This milestone birthday for the American nation is also an appropriate moment to examine the relationship between America and the Jewish people.
There is no doubt that this shining beacon has cast abundant light on the State of Israel and Jews around the world. Without it, the Jewish story would have looked very different – and far bleaker.
The bond between America and the Jewish people deepened in the 19th and 20th centuries, when the United States opened its gates to some 2.5 million Jewish immigrants from Europe, most of them destitute.
As a result of this immigration – one of the largest in our history – by 1910, there were more Jews in New York than in any other city in the world. In this way, many Jews and their descendants were spared the fate of the six million who perished in Europe during the Holocaust.
President Harry Truman recognized the State of Israel 11 minutes after it declared independence and later spoke of Israel in uniquely moving terms: “I believe that Israel has a glorious future before it – not just as another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.”
These words would echo again and again from the mouths of every American president who followed him.
Relations between the two countries rested on bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans alike.
They stood on two firm pillars: a partnership of values – as Republican president Ronald Reagan put it, “In Israel, free men and women demonstrate every day the power of courage and faith;” and a partnership of interests – as Democratic president Bill Clinton said, “When people ask me what the greatest achievement of our foreign policy has been... I think of the partnership between America and Israel.”
Between these two pillars stands North American Jewry, the largest Jewish community in the world outside Israel, with a central and highly influential voice in American public life and in relations with the State of Israel.
FOR MANY years, an exceptionally important triangular relationship has existed among Washington, Jerusalem, and American Jewry. Over the past several decades, all three sides of this triangle have benefited greatly.
The United States has benefited from its connection to the other two sides of the triangle. Israel serves as a values-based and security outpost in a turbulent Middle East, helping to defend shared Western interests.
The US has also been blessed by the immense contribution of Jewish immigrants who became leaders in science, culture, technology, banking, and many other fields. It is not fanciful to say that America’s rise was strengthened, in part, by the extraordinary talent, energy, and ambition brought by Jewish immigration across the Atlantic.
American Jewry, too, flourished because of its ties to both of the triangle’s other sides. Israel served as a central focus of Jewish identity and a source of pride, while America provided a safe home that opened its doors and enabled a degree of prosperity unique in Jewish history.
The same is true of Israel: its reliance on America’s many-sided support and on the flourishing Jewish community of North America has been a blessing that scarcely needs description.
The weakening relationship with the US, Israel, and American Jews
But strength does not last forever. A sober look at this triangular relationship shows that each of its sides has weakened in recent years.
On the Washington-Jerusalem axis, American public support for Israel has declined significantly and worryingly.
Significant parts of the Democratic Party now voice sharply critical positions toward Israel, while even among younger Republicans, the once-instinctive warmth toward Israel can no longer be assumed.
On the Washington-American Jewry axis, changes are also evident. Waves of antisemitism from the fringes of both the American right and left have raised the fear that the golden age of American Jewry may be coming to an end.
Finally, on the Jerusalem-American Jewry axis, cracks are visible as Israeli governments have failed to invest sufficiently in cultivating the vital ties between the two branches of the family.
The gaps between an American Jewish public that tends toward liberalism and an Israeli society that tends toward conservatism are growing wider. The unfortunate facts are clear: Israel’s position as a central anchor of identity for North American Jewry is no longer what it once was.
The government formed after the elections will need to think anew about how to strengthen each side of this triangle.
This will require renewed investment in bipartisan support in Washington, serious engagement with younger Americans across the political spectrum, and a deliberate rebuilding of trust between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.
The resilience of “we, the Jewish people” depends on the success of this effort.
The writer is president of JPPI – the Jewish People Policy Institute – and a professor emeritus of Law at Bar-Ilan University.