Study: Israelis and U.S. Jews no longer seen as one nation

[tocqueville]

By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent

Two recent studies challenge the customary perception that Jews living in Israel and the United States, which make up 80 percent of the world's Jewry belong to the same nation.

One study indicates that Israel occupies a marginal place in the younger generation's Jewish identity. The other finds that Israeli pupils' knowledge of American Jewry is negligible.

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The study held in the U.S. summed the findings of all the studies conducted among 1.5 million American Jews in their twenties and thirties. They all concluded that Israel was not a central component in the young
people's Jewish identity. For example, in a study conducted in 2000, Israel was placed 11th out of 15 identity components presented to the interviewees.

All the studies found that the younger the interviewees, the less sympathy they felt for Israel. The sense of belonging to the Jewish nation also fell with age. For example, a study from 2001 found that less than 30 percent of the young people felt they belonged to "the Jewish nation" compared to 42 percent of the 65 year olds and older people.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/779468.html

[Poll_Blind]

1. Maybe U.S. Jews are finding a deeper connection with the Torah than...

...the actions of the Israeli government? Now that out-in-the-open racists like Avigdor Lieberman (who advocates executing Arab MKs and expelling all Arabs from Israel unless they pass "loyalty tests") are part of the government, why would anyone expect U.S. Jews to identify with that sort of sickness?

PB