American Jews, Israel: Navigating growing post-war divide - opinion

I recently had the opportunity to spend time with thousands of America’s most involved pro-Israel activists.

American Jews emphasize universalism, individualism, and liberal democracy shaped by the US experience, while Israeli Jews prioritize particularism, collective survival, and a nation-state rooted in Jewish peoplehood. Rabbi Gordis traced these roots historically, urging mutual understanding to preserve Jewish unity despite growing estrangement.

Seven years after the publication of We Stand Divided, an entirely different fissure has developed. The division isn’t based on differences in values, history, and identity, but rather from vastly different experiences of each community during the Simchat Torah rampage of October 7, 2023, and the two years of war since the massacre. Each community experienced its trauma differently.

Many in Diaspora Jewry, especially American Jews, feel deeply underappreciated by Israelis. Despite pouring billions in donations to Israeli causes, organizing massive solidarity missions and volunteer trips post-October 7, relentlessly lobbying policymakers, and making frequent visits, they often sense little public gratitude or recognition from Israeli society and leaders. This perceived ingratitude widens the growing rift, as their sacrifices for Israel’s security and survival go largely unacknowledged amid Israel’s focus on internal challenges.

Many Diaspora Jews also feel Israelis don’t take their concerns, perspectives, or contributions seriously. They sense condescension, dismissal of their lived experiences with rising antisemitism, and a patronizing view that only those in Israel truly understand Jewish survival or security.

This perceived arrogance deepens alienation, making Diaspora voices feel marginalized in the broader Jewish conversation despite their advocacy and support.

Many Israelis feel deep bitterness toward Diaspora Jews, viewing themselves as the true front line of Jewish survival. They bear the brunt of the war, including existential fear, while American Jews remain safe, distant, and largely untouched by the same daily peril.

This stark asymmetry in risk and sacrifice breeds bitterness, as Israelis question why their ultimate burden isn’t more fully acknowledged or shared by those who claim solidarity from afar.

Many Israelis feel that Diaspora Jewry has effectively opted out of the Zionist project. While offering financial aid, advocacy, and solidarity visits, few choose aliyah or permanent relocation to share the risks, sacrifices, and daily realities of building and defending the Jewish state.

This perceived detachment, remaining comfortably abroad while Israel bears the existential burden alone, fuels resentment, as Israelis see it as abandoning the core Zionist commitment to live Jewish destiny in the homeland.

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik addressed the need for Diaspora Jews to participate – on the ground – with the Zionist project. He wrote, “The Torah will not find its actualization in the Land of Israel through rabbinical assemblies, nor through advice given by privileged New Yorkers to the fighters on the barricades in Jerusalem, nor by writing flowery articles. Rather, it will be achieved only through participating in the building of the land, by hewing stones and draining swamps, defending cities and colonies, through work and self-sacrifice. Neither Zionist political leaders nor plain intellectuals will impart their seal upon the Land of Israel.”

Rabbi Soloveitchik also warned against an Israeli-Diaspora divide, teaching, “We often say that we, the Jews of exile, dare not mix ourselves into the affairs of the Land of Israel. This is simply because, in a formal-legal sense, we are citizens of another country! On a social-philosophical level, too, will the Jew in exile have nothing to do with the political nation-state that, over the course of time, will appear in the Land of Israel? Does this mean that there will be a split in the Knesset Yisrael, and we will be classified into two groups? Heaven forbid! The Knesset Yisrael must remain united.”

The growing estrangement felt by many Diaspora and Israeli Jews today stems from divergent traumas. Diaspora Jews feel underappreciated, dismissed, and ignored despite massive financial, advocacy, and solidarity efforts amid surging antisemitism, while Israelis resent the asymmetry in sacrifice, bearing frontline risks, reservist duties, loss, and existential peril, viewing Diaspora commitment as detached from true Zionist participation on the ground.