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U.S. Jews and Israel by PHILIP RUBIN * —JERUSALEM Having now been living in Is rael for several months, I have been asked by the editor to write a piece “on how little or how much the Israelis understand the American Jew.” This is, indeed, a tall order, because as soon as you begin to reflect on the mat ter, you ask yourself: Which Is raelis? Which American Jews? Israel is a land of immigrants, and wants to remain that kind of land for a long, long time— it wants as many Jews from abroad as possible to come here to settle. Half of the Israeli pop ulation is of "Ashkenazi,” that is, of European and American ori gin, while the other half is of "Sepharadi” and Oriental origin. Half of the population is Ortho dox. while the other half is neith er non-Orthodox or non-religious altogether. According to the latest Government Statistics the native- born “sabras” constitute only 33 per cent of the total population. American Jewry, on the con trary, is now overwhelmingly native-born—some 80 per cent of American Jews were bom in the U.S.A., according to recent sta tistics. American Jews are nearly all of European-Ashkenazi origin, those of Sepharadi-Oriental ori gin being a tiny percentage of the U.S. Jewish population. There are far more non-Orthodox Jews — Conservative, Reform, non-affili- ated—in America today than there are Orthodox, who cannot even dream of wielding the same power over other American Jews as the Orthodox in Israel wield. In the economic sphere Israelis are overwhelmingly workers, farmers and small shopkeepers who might be called poor, at least by American standards, though they are better off than people in most Asian and Afri can countries. Still, at least 20 per cent of Israeli families today * A native of Burlington, Ver mont, Mr. Rubin is a veteran Anglo-Jewish journalist whose critical pieces on American Jewish life have attracted wide attention. He has served as edi tor of a number of English- Jewish publications and was for many years a contributor to the Sunday Book Review Section of the New York Times. He now lives in Israel. own private automobiles and many more have lesser luxuries, such as frigidaires, washing ma chines, etc. American Jews are today over whelmingly an affluent middle class. It is safe to say that the poor Jew in America, while he no doubt exists, is in the minority in U.S. Jewry. Nearly all Ameri can Jews outside of New York City proper, but including the New York suburbs, have private cars, own fairly expensive homes, and send their sons and daughters to college. In Israel, where you have to pay for secondary school ing, most parents can’t even afford to send their children through high school. From all the above irrefutable facts and statistics it should al ready be evident that it is no easy matter to give a simple ans wer to the question as to how much or how little Israel under stands American Jewry. The East- European Jews in Israel who mix a great deal of Yiddish with their Hebrew naturally have a greater bond in common with that seg ment of American Jewry, the older generation, which also stems from Eastern Europe and mixes a great deal of Yiddish with its English. The Orthodox Israeli will find a common bond with the Orthodox American Jew but will find it harder to understand the American Jew who is not Ortho dox. The middle-class Israeli member of the Liberal Party would like to see more private initiative in this country and icss Government and Histadrut con trol of industry will naturally understand better the middle- class American Jew who shares his economic philosophy than will the member of the three or four, if you count the Communists— labor parties in Israel. And so on, and so on. Perhaps the only way in which we can even attempt to answer the question of how little or how much the Israeli understand the American Jew is to take a bird’s eye view of the two forests—the general environments of the Is raeli and the American Jewish populations — and ignore, or at least not notice too closely, the various trees — the different com munities, generations and individ uals—of which they are com posed. While varied histories and varied cultural traditions serve to keep communities separate, New Year Greetings AIR CONDITIONING Residential and Commercial Cools in Summer . . . Heats in Winter • Complete Engineering • Installation • Service WE SERVICE ALL MAKES OF EQUIPMENT Dial PLaza 5-5725 Morgan Heating & Air Conditioning Co., Inc. 780 GORDON ST., S. W. ATLANTA, GA. y. ear People Who Know Use DeVoe Quality Paints 229 Techwocd Drive, N.W. 3261 Roswell Road, N.E. 1825 Delowe Drive, S.W. 2800 E. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur, Ga. DEVOE PAINT SERVICE STORES PLENTY FREE PARKING JUSTRITE ENVELOPE MANUFACTURING CO. 523 Stewart Ave., S.W. JA. 3-1571 Atlanta, Georgia The Southern Israelite 15