The Weakest Link

We appreciate the generous, thoughtful, and challenging responses to our essay, “Can American and Israeli Jews Stay Together as One People?”

To begin with, we note that all four respondents—Allan Arkush, Elliott Abrams, Michael Oren, and Ammiel Hirsch—express greater enthusiasm for our analysis of the strains in the Israel-diaspora dialogue than for our proposal for overcoming them. And we get that. Normally, when you propose a new institution, you invest a great deal in designing it. We didn’t. Likewise, to induce (or scare) people into joining with you, you emphasize just how desperate the situation is. We didn’t do that, either.

This was deliberate on our part. Without getting distracted by details or paralyzed by hopelessness, we wanted to zero in on the question of dialogue. Therefore, in thinking about how best to propose the establishment of a Jewish People’s Council (JPC), we made two strategic decisions. First, in analyzing the Israel-diaspora relationship, we would focus on the lack of a healthy dialogue—because only those who believe a better dialogue can help will help better the dialogue. But second, along with our discussion of the forces ripping the Jewish people apart, we would emphasize the forces keeping them together—because only those who realize how solid we still are will invest enough in solidifying us further.