There's been a lot written during the past few months about the Israel-Diaspora disconnect. I see it all the time but it wasn't until this past weekend that it really struck me in a concrete manner.
Last Saturday night many of my friends were celebrating the recent engagement of a lovely neighbourhood girl. I know I should call her a young woman -- which she is, sort of -- but she is 19 years old and I am sticking with "girl" until her 20th birthday. Some day she will be glad to hear such a moniker in reference to her.
Her parents' home was packed with well-wishers coming in, having a bite to eat, a shot of something or other, a few words with the people-of-the-hour, and then heading out again. It was a friendly mob scene and I thought I would head to the kitchen for a little respite. However, when I finally made my way through the crowd and into the kitchen, I found many of the 19- and 20-year-olds that my own son has grown up with.
There were about 40 of them all told. They were all standing around laughing and drinking. It is immediately obvious that they have easy, familiar relationships with each other as many of them have been friends since they were born or shortly afterwards.
As I looked at these kids -- to me, they are all still kids -- all I could think was how happy I would be if they would all just marry each other. Needless to say, they overwhelmingly disagree with that idea; "That's gross," said one of the girls when I mentioned my great idea, "we're like brothers and sisters."
Maybe they are; maybe they aren't. But that quickly became the secondary reason.
Every one of them is finished high school. Most of the boys and some of the girls, have a year of additional Torah learning under their belts. Some of them have already begun their minimum two- or three-year compulsory army/national service stint. Some of them are committed to the Israel Defence Forces for even more years.
In other words, very few -- if any -- are in a position to really think about themselves or their life plans. Before they can even begin to think about their personal futures, they have an obligation to the State of Israel.
Now, in the event that you readers perceive a negative message in the lines above, let me clarify: NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. I am sure that there are some young people in Israel who are only doing their military service under duress and will do anything they can to get out of it. Don't bother writing me about those people -- there are haters everywhere and Israel is no different.
I am talking about a group of young people who were either born here to immigrant parents or are immigrants themselves. In the case of the English-speaking immigrants, they could have easily grown up where being 19 meant that they were sophomores in college whose biggest concern was which beer bash to attend after a night in the library. They could be living in dorms and participating in a four-year-long party with a few hours of study mingled in for good measure. Don't tell me it isn't like that -- I did it and it is.
But that is not the case with these kids. Very few of them will even begin considering college until they are 21 -- many of them will be still older. And in the interim, they are either going to carry guns and go into battle -- or support those who do -- for an idea that is much bigger than themselves. For some it will be dangerous; for others it will be incredibly stressful; but for all of them it will be truly fulfilling to know that they played their part in protecting their country and in turn, kept the world safer for Jews everywhere.
What is sad is that many of those Jews in other parts of the world -- particularly their peers -- won't give a rat's ass about the sacrifice these Israeli kids are making. Lots of them will be out protesting against Israel and joining the BDS movement. They will be too busy partying, planning their Spring Breaks and living completely narcissistic, self-indulged existences. And at the end of the day, the disconnect between Israelis and Diaspora Jews will grow even larger. The joke is that when the day of reckoning comes (and it will come for each and every one of us), the Diaspora Jews will be the net losers.
Sure, the Diaspora Jews may end up making more money and living in bigger houses; they may raise some money for an Israeli cause here and there, and they may march in the Annual Israel Day Parade, but they will have missed the greatest opportunity to be part of the remarkable history of their people.
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