Hanging On by a Thread

I know, this isn’t the first time I’m writing about the subject, but nothing seems to have changed for the better since our last installment — so here we are, presenting the sad facts once again.

I’m talking about approximately a million Jews, Israelis who have left their homeland in search of the opportunities beckoning to them in the United States. Once settled in America, these Jews often find more opportunity than they bargained for, and the painful result is that these families, innocently seeking what they thought would be a better life, are on the verge of disappearing into the melting pot of assimilation. But this is not what they wanted, not what they had in mind when they came to America, unlike other groups of Jewish émigrés who had few regrets about casting off their ties to Judaism once they tasted the freedom of American life, or who even came intentionally with that purpose in mind.

The average Israeli yored living in America may go around with his or her head uncovered, but these people are not necessarily chilonim. They aren’t interested in alternative Jewish movements, they observe Jewish tradition to a greater or lesser extent — and they can certainly be brought closer, if only we would reach out to them.

The vast majority of Israeli-Americans lived a traditional Jewish life in Israel. They weren’t very learned and didn’t keep Taryag Mitzvos, but they cooked for Shabbos on Friday, made Kiddush, perhaps went to the beis knesses Shabbos morning (even if some of them would go to a soccer game later in the day). They kept a basic level of kashrus, observed the basics of family purity, avoided chometz on Pesach, crowded around the neighborhood shul for Ne’ilah, still fasting, and had respect for rabbanim. They most certainly don’t want to leave the Jewish People, and they hope and pray that their children will marry Jewish and give them Jewish grandchildren. In short, they came to America hoping to find “the good life,” and innocently expected to continue the Jewish life they had in Israel.