The @jdforward went and asked American Jewish leaders what they think Israel should do to bridge the alleged divide.

Not one of them proposed a joint project to liberate the Menorah smh https://forward.com/opinion/460074/14-american-jewish-leaders-on-how-to-bridge-the-divide-between-israel-and/

Jokes aside, I'm not sure it's a "divide" so much as an expression of different circumstances and media consumption habits.

Would you be surprised to hear about Israelis who may be centrist or right wing in Israel and then come here and vote solidly D in America? I know them!

There are blindspots in how both sides understand the other. Many American Jews, including those who are fervently pro-Israel, don't know Israel beyond guided tours.

It's a different Israel when you're not a tourist. Much richer in some ways, much more stressful in others.

Israelis in Israel who don't come here often have peculiar questions. Why do we have the politics we do? Why do we sometimes end up on the same side of the line as people who are hostile to them?

The fun thing about these questions is they apply both ways!

Are these differences in circumstances and media consumption such an insurmountable divide? Hardly. You just have to go, form relationships, and try to see things as they experience them.

The real divide is not between those who care to do these things.

The real divide is one of literacy and imagination. On the American side, many (most?) of us are not conversant in Jewish history, language(s), and liturgy.

On the Israeli side, there's a lack of imagination about how their choices impact us.

These are both topics that are difficult to discuss publicly because

a) nobody likes airing dirty laundry in public

b) it means telling people they're doing something wrong while asking them to make it right for beneficiaries who may feel quite distant

Is it fair to ask Israelis to think about the needs of diaspora Jews while formulating their foreign policy?

Is it fair to ask us to bite our tongues on their choices, demand we become more literate in their country & our tradition, but also continue funding Israel advocacy?

There's no one right answer because the benefits and tradeoffs of these topics are really never going to be resolved.

The final point here to talk about a divide is to talk about who is experiencing it.

I'll stick here on the American side of it because, truly, nobody in Israel is losing sleep about American Jews even if many are unhappy with the current state of dialogue.

This topic is simply talked about and stressed about more in America.

I'm a Jewish American now, but for my whole life Israel has been the dominant partner. Israel literally saved members of my family.

I don't have the same anxieties as many American Jews, who went from the dominant partner to peer to lately junior partner in the relationship.

There's this formulation that either you need to support Israel uncritically or you criticize it continuously.

A lot of this is about false dichotomies promoted by those with something to gain, but a great deal is also about power dynamics in a relationship.

I criticize Israel! I regard the occupation as immoral and stupid. I despise the way the Rabbinate treats Russian-speaking Jews. I was enraged to see a government minister lecturing American Jews on our own security after Pittsburgh.

But I'm not walking away.

Part of that comes from painful knowledge: I have been a Jew who has fled. I know our history and understand what it means to have somewhere to go.

Part of it is I don't think Israel owes me something. My segment of the tribe has never bankrolled Israel. American Jews did!