Letters Up Front Edition

• Published in: The Jerusalem post
• Main Author: Aharon Goldberg, Joshua Goldberg, Edgar Khayat, Bruce Simkins, Jonathan B. Horen, Isaac Brooks, Gershon Jacobson, Ralph Lewinsohn, Diane Levinson
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jerusalem The Jerusalem Post Ltd 18.06.2004
• Subjects: Freund, Michael; Saud, Ibn

Sir, - In "Role reversal" (June 11), David B. Starr writes with irony: "American Jewry is more interesting today than its Israeli counterpart" because "[m]ore American Jews are working harder than ever at being Jewish." Truly ironic, however, is that what requires American Jews to work harder than Israeli Jews at being Jewish is precisely what makes American Jewry less interesting. American Jews must delve into the "mysteries of Jewishness" because they do not live Jewishness on a daily basis. Israeli Jews, though obviously some more than others, in living by the rhythm of the Jewish holidays and the Jewish week and in juggling work with Jewish life-cycle events and thrice-daily prayers, are creating a Jewish reality. The American cultural wars are waged with little reference to the shrinking minority Jewish community, while Israelis wrestle with the definition of a Jewish state. Contrary to Mr. Starr's assertions that American Jewry's efforts to hold on to a vanishing Jewish past make it interesting, it is Israeli Jewry's struggles to define and create a Jewish present and future that make it the Jewish people's cultural center.