Distancing or Transformation? Ties to Israel Come of Age

I cannot meaningfully discuss the survey reports of engagement or disengagement. However, from my vantage point, there are broad areas in which Israel is a significant part of contemporary American Jewish life, including young Jews. The engagement with Israel that these phenomena reflect is a better informed, more pluralistic and more complex relationship that can no longer be measured on the old scale of blind loyalty and support. Perhaps that may not be much succor to the traditional organizations that currently mobilize and channel support for Israel (AIPAC foremost among them), but the relationship between American Jewry and Israel is transforming itself into something new and more mature.