From Financial to Human Resources Contributions
Diaspora financial contributions were a necessary phase of Israel's history. In the pre-state era and early years of statehood these contributions produced astounding results. This approach, however, has now run its course. Not only is the Diaspora financial contribution of declining importance to Israel’s economy and dysfunctional to the development of Israel’s civil society, it has also become dysfunctional to Diaspora life—concentrating on the wealthy few to the detriment of more comprehensive community involvement. Many Diaspora Jews feel neglected by Jewish organizations and alienated from organized Jewish life because they do not have large sums to give and are thus marginalized or even ignored.
The emphasis should now shift from monetary contributions to Israel’s political society to human skills contributions to Israel’s civil society. This would be of greater benefit to Israel and would also enable Diaspora organizations to widen the base of Jewish involvement. It would attract individuals and groups presently disaffected with Jewish communal life. A chronic weakness of Diaspora life has been a lack of activities that interest significant numbers of Jewish professionals and academics and that could use their skills in meaningful communal activity.
The basic principle of this approach is to leverage declining Diaspora impact on Israel into increased impact on Jewish life in general. We could do this by creating coalitions around issues and projects that bear directly on Jewish welfare, have wide appeal for non-Jews and could involve large groups of heretofore unaffiliated Jews.
The Jewish Energy Project
Energy is just such an issue. The greatest threats to the security of the Jewish People are Iran’s nuclear bomb program, increased anti-Semitism and the growing radicalism of world Islam as well as large populations of hostile Moslems in Europe and North America. Financing all these threats are Persian Gulf oil revenues.
Iran could not finance its nuclear program if it did not have the export revenues of two and a half million barrels of oil a day. Saudi Arabia (whether its government or its citizens) could not spend billions of dollars a year on distributing anti-Semitic literature worldwide or financing Taliban style school systems throughout the Moslem world if it did not have the export revenues of eight million barrels of oil a day. Would Hezbollah and Hamas have achieved such organizational vigor without the support of Iran, Wahabi clerics and wealthy laymen from Saudi Arabia? The radicalization of European and American Islam is also underwritten by Persian Gulf oil revenues.
This dictates that the Jews formulate a coherent Jewish Energy Policy aimed at creating political alliances and economic instruments dedicated to downgrading oil as the dominant international commodity. Oil must once again become a commodity on a par with coffee, sugar and tea (when was the last time the world was held hostage by the price of tea?).
Worldwide consumption of crude oil is projected to grow by 40% by the year 2020 if the consumption growth rate of the past several decades is sustained. Most of this supply increase will come from Persian Gulf countries. They have the largest proven reserves and these reserves are cheaper to develop than known and potential reserves elsewhere. Even if the real price of oil does not increase or even declines slightly, these militant anti-Jewish countries will benefit from a great increase in financial and hence political and military power. As a consequence, we may expect increasing support for terrorist organizations, anti-Semitic propaganda, and a heightened rate of development of non-conventional weapons of mass destruction.
A Jewish Energy Project would present Diaspora Jews with numerous opportunities to develop alliances with an assortment of pressure groups and economic entities thus widening the peripheries of positive Jewish influence. It would also give organized Jewish communities an opportunity to enlist uninvolved Jews interested in alternative energy and the environment.
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The Special Role of the Israeli Diaspora
The Israeli Diaspora, which may comprise as much as 15–20% of the North American Diaspora, should assume a special role in redefining Israel-Diaspora relations. Expatriate Israelis understand better than other Diaspora groups the needs and weaknesses of Israel. They are therefore less likely to be intimidated by possible protestations from Israel’s political society regarding Diaspora initiatives.
The Israeli Diaspora has long been the stepchild of Jewish life, often looked upon askance by Diaspora Jews and condemned and boycotted by “official” Israel. In the eyes of official Israel, they are yordim—people who left Israel, as opposed to olim—people who immigrated to Israel. Emigration from and immigration to Israel is not just a sociological phenomenon as it is with other nations. Traditionally, it has had explosive moral implications. For official Israel, yordim were often pictured as traitors or as weaklings.
This approach to the Israeli Diaspora must undergo a far-reaching transformation. In the future, the Israeli Diaspora must become the bridge between Israeli and Diaspora civil society. They must become an ally of reformist forces in Israel. This is a role native Diaspora Jews have been loath to play and feel uncomfortable with.
The Israeli Diaspora must also assume a greater leadership role in the social and cultural life of the Diaspora community. For the non-Orthodox Jews especially, they are the most Jewish Jews. They offer a living model for a secular Jewish culture that is an alternative to Orthodoxy and an often shallow Diaspora Jewish life.
In effect, the Israeli Diaspora might fulfill the most Zionist pioneering function of the 21st century by assuming a leadership role in Israel-Diaspora relations. The law of unintended consequences may have turned the most maligned group in Jewish life into one of the most important players in the battle for an improved Jewish future.
