Michael Douglas
Edgar Bronfman Sr.
Caroline Glick
By Larry Gordon
The annual Jerusalem Post Conference is an enjoyable and informative event at which to gauge the state of the Jewish union, so to speak, both here and in Israel. It is a full-day conference that over the years has grown to be diverse in its subject matter, winding its way through topics and discussions well beyond the usual talks about peace between Arabs and Israelis.
At this year’s conference, which took place last week in New York City, there was plenty of that, and since many of the panel discussions are unrehearsed, you never know in which direction the conversation will eventually flow.
Before we get into the particular subjects addressed there, let me say that at the grand ballroom at the Marriott Marquis, with more than 1,500 people gathered, it seemed that the audience and even the tone of the presentations were mostly tipped to the right—that is pro-Likud and against Obama, Clinton, Sanders, et al.
A couple of things stood out for me, as someone who has attended these annual conferences since their inception. This year’s conference had more of a commercial flavor to it, and some of the speakers just seemed out of place among the mix of subjects, apparently being there to promote a cause, an organization, a book, a film, or some other project. Perhaps the JPost Conference had somewhat of a commercial feel to it in the past as well; it is just that this year it was more overt.
But then again someone has to pay for a production of such proportions. There are large expenses, including travel, hotels, and speaker’s fees. Realistically, that means some entities other than the Jerusalem Post need to shoulder some of the costs.
So you are sitting there basically from 9 a.m. until after 5 p.m. There is a half-hour coffee break and then a full hour lunch break. Other than that, the conference is a crash course in almost everything that ails or troubles Israel and Jews around the world, and a one-day conference is not enough to cover it all.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews spoke at length about how his organization distributes funds raised in the fundamentalist Christian community to poor and impoverished Jews around the world. He vociferously complained about the numerous mainstream Jewish organizations that make no effort to reach out to either the Christian groups or the people who need financial assistance. He maintained that both are vital: reaching out to Jews living in poverty in places like the Ukraine as well as to Christians around the world who love Israel because the Bible tells them to.
Rabbi Eckstein made a comment that caught my attention—that there are 100 million Christians residing in Communist China today, and the International Fellowship, the rabbi said, is working there with Christians and their support for Israel.
As for the things that I found troubling, one was the video on the life of Edgar Bronfman Sr., a supporter of many Israeli causes and Jewish organizations and a founder of the Birthright Israel movement. Bronfman, who died in 2013, was president of the Seagrams company as well as the World Jewish Congress.
Mr. Bronfman apparently made an important economic contribution to Jewish life, but one of his comments was troublingly absurd. The narrator of the brief biography of his life said that Mr. Bronfman maintained that “to be a good Jew, one did not have to be believe in G‑d.” A few weeks before his death, Bronfman completed a book, titled Why Be Jewish?, which the weekly newspaper The Forward called “quietly subversive.”
I know that the Jerusalem Post is just there to report the news, as diverse and liberal or conservative as it may be. They are not necessarily there to change people’s opinions, but I could not help thinking that this type of idea should be a red line of sorts. How does floating the idea of a G‑dless Jewishness help strengthen the image or the fabric of Judaism or Israel?
And then there was what arguably could be called the main attraction at the conference—the presence of Hollywood superstar Michael Douglas. The actor is the son of movie legend Kirk Douglas, who is Jewish, though his son, according to traditional Jewish law, is not. Michael is married to the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, and together they have two children.
Michael, in a dialogue with former Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde, spoke about his recent trip to Israel, in defiance of the BDS movement. The focus of the trip was his son Dylan’s bar mitzvah. As you may have deduced, Dylan is not halachically Jewish and Douglas acknowledged as much.
He added, however, that Dylan attends school in Los Angeles with many other young boys who are Jewish and who were celebrating their bar mitzvahs. He enjoyed the celebrations, Douglas said, and wanted his own bar mitzvah, and he got one—in Israel.
The public relations and good feeling that this kind of story generates is wonderful. Rick Jacobs, the head of the Reform Judaism movement, was there to introduce Mr. Douglas and talked about the wonderful inclusiveness and feel-good nature of the event. But about half an inch beneath the surface of these matters are deep problems regarding the integrity and veracity of what it means to be a Jew.
It is a nice thing if everyone can be whatever they want whenever they want, but that is where chaos and confusion begins and where the identity of future generations is called into question. I know that there are many—perhaps a majority of Jews in this country—who will disagree with this assessment, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
The issue of the Jewish gene pool is an increasingly serious one, as was discussed in one of the other panels, entitled “The Future of the Jewish People.” There are many implications, as discussed at length in the Talmud and in particular in Tractate Kiddushin, a volume that was just completed the other day by daf yomi enthusiasts around the world.
The panel discussed the fact that today there are over 300,000 immigrants in Israel—mostly from the former Soviet Union—who are not Jewish according to the fundamental interpretation of Jewish law. Those who immigrated over these last two decades or so now have over 120,000 children, some of whom are halachically Jewish, many others who are not. So where does Israel go from here on this issue? Just welcoming everyone into the tribe and proclaiming that they are Jews might be a nice gesture, but it renders being Jewish virtually meaningless.
As a result of this crisis, rabbis are uncertain about many of the weddings they are asked to perform and there are issues about burying some of the deceased from these communities in Jewish cemeteries. This is an issue that speaks to the heart and soul of Israel and Jewish life, and there are no clear answers.
There were several other important and meaningful discussions. Dennis Ross—the well-known Middle East negotiator going back to the time of Bill Clinton—said there is no peace partner for Israel to talk to at present and that the prospects of a two-state solution have been seriously diminished over the last few years.
The talks about fighting the movement for “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” against Israel were constructive. Ronald Lauder, chairman of the World Jewish Congress, said that the BDS movement is not at all about building Palestine or creating an atmosphere that forces Israel to the negotiating table. “BDS does not seek to support Palestine,” Lauder said; “the only objective is to destroy Israel.”
Other highlights included presentations by columnist Caroline Glick, UN Ambassador Danny Danon, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and others. It was worth a day to breathe in the essence of the issues that Israel and the Jewish people are busy with. I just wish the organizers had been able to resist the idea of dealing with Judaism as if it were Silly Putty to be toyed with, twisted, and shaped into anything you desire.
That is a seriously misguided approach to a conference that should take seriously what it means to be a Jew—whether religious or otherwise—and how to present ourselves to a harsh and critical world. We cannot just wake up in the morning and decide that we feel a little Jewish, so then that’s what we must be. It’s not that simple. At the end of a full day of speeches and discussions, it is easy to conclude that it is quite complicated. v
Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com.