Every few years someone declares the debate settled.
“The future of the Jewish people is only in Israel.”
Or the opposite.
“American Jewry is the future. Israel is just one community among many.”
History has little patience for either slogan.
The Jewish story has never been built on a single city, a single country, or a single community. It has always rested on two realities that have existed in tension and in partnership: a sovereign Jewish homeland and vibrant Jewish communities scattered throughout the world.
That tension is not a weakness.
It is one of Judaism’s greatest strengths.
Zion was never meant to erase Babylon
The Jewish people first became a global nation long before modern Zionism.
After the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE, thousands of Jews were exiled to Babylon. Something remarkable happened. They did not disappear.
They built academies.
They established courts.
They preserved Hebrew.
They produced leaders.
Centuries later, the greatest work of rabbinic Judaism, the Babylonian Talmud, was written not in Jerusalem but in Mesopotamia.
The prophet Jeremiah instructed the exiles:
“Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit... seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.”
He did not tell them to abandon Jerusalem.
He told them never to forget it.
Two ideas could coexist.
Faithful Jews could flourish outside the Land while remaining spiritually connected to Zion.
The miracle of modern Israel did not replace the Diaspora
When Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in 1948, it answered a question that had haunted Jewish history for two thousand years.
Could Jews once again govern themselves?
The answer was yes.
But it did not answer every question.
It did not eliminate Jewish life elsewhere.
Nor did it intend to.
David Ben-Gurion famously declared:
“Israel needs the Jews of the Diaspora as much as they need Israel.”
That statement remains as true today as it was then.
Israel gained sovereignty.
The Diaspora retained influence, creativity, philanthropy, scholarship, diplomacy, and cultural reach unlike anything previous generations had known.
History proves that each strengthens the other
Without Diaspora Jews, modern Israel would almost certainly not exist.
American Jewish fundraising purchased land decades before independence.
European Jewish scientists built universities.
British Jews lobbied for the Balfour Declaration.
American Jewish leaders mobilized political support that helped secure recognition for the new state in 1948.
Soviet Jews fought for the right to immigrate.
French Jews revitalized communities after waves of aliyah.
South African Jews helped build industries.
Argentine Jews strengthened agriculture.
The story of Israel has always been written by Jews who lived both inside and outside its borders.
At the same time, Israel transformed Jewish life everywhere.
Before 1948, Jews often lived as permanent minorities dependent upon the goodwill of others.
Today every Jew knows there is a sovereign Jewish state that can rescue persecuted Jews, advocate for Jewish rights, revive Hebrew, and preserve Jewish civilization.
That changes everything.
October 7 reminded us of a deeper truth
The atrocities of October 7 were not only an attack on Israel.
They unleashed the largest surge of antisemitism across the Diaspora in generations.
Synagogues required additional security.
Jewish students faced harassment.
Businesses were vandalized.
Families hid mezuzot.
The hatred crossed oceans with astonishing speed.
This revealed something uncomfortable.
Antisemites do not distinguish between Israelis and Jews living abroad.
They rarely have.
When Jews are attacked in Paris, New York, London, Sydney, Johannesburg, or Buenos Aires, Israel feels it.
When Israel is attacked, Jews everywhere feel it.
One people.
Different addresses.
Shared destiny.
Escaping has never solved the Jewish question
For centuries Jews believed changing countries might finally end antisemitism.
Spain.
Germany.
Russia.
France.
America.
Each generation hoped history had turned a corner.
History often turned back.
This does not mean Jews should abandon the Diaspora.
Quite the opposite.
It means geography alone has never defeated antisemitism.
Neither exile nor sovereignty has magically solved the Jewish question.
The answer has never been escape.
It has been resilience.
Building schools.
Building communities.
Building families.
Building institutions.
Building Israel.
Building Jewish life wherever Jews live.
A strong Diaspora makes Israel stronger
Israel benefits enormously when Jewish communities thrive abroad.
Successful Diaspora communities produce:
political allies
philanthropic investment
business partnerships
scientific innovation
academic collaboration
tourism
advocacy
cultural creativity
future olim who choose Israel from strength rather than desperation
Healthy Jewish communities are not competitors to Israel.
They are strategic partners.
Likewise, a strong Israel gives Diaspora Jews confidence, identity, language, history, military protection when necessary, and a living connection to three thousand years of Jewish civilization.
One reinforces the other.
Zionism was never meant to shrink the Jewish people
Modern Zionism restored Jewish sovereignty.
It did not abolish Jewish peoplehood.
There is room for the Jew who makes aliyah.
There is room for the Jew who serves in the Israel Defense Forces.
There is room for the Jew strengthening a synagogue in Melbourne.
The teacher in Toronto.
The donor in Los Angeles.
The rabbi in London.
The entrepreneur in Miami.
The student defending Israel on campus.
The physician in Johannesburg.
The family lighting Shabbat candles in Paris.
Every one of them strengthens the Jewish people.
One nation. Many homes.
The Hebrew Bible ends with a return to Zion.
Jewish history did not end there.
Israel is the heart of the Jewish people.
A heart, however, is not meant to exist by itself.
It gives life to every limb, every organ, every distant corner of the body.
The Diaspora is not a historical accident waiting to disappear.
Nor is Israel simply another Jewish community.
They are partners in an extraordinary covenant.
The State of Israel gives the Jewish people sovereignty.
The Diaspora gives the Jewish people reach.
Together they create something history has almost never seen before: an ancient nation with both a homeland and a global family.
That is not a contradiction.
It is one of the greatest achievements in Jewish history.
The Jewish question has never been answered by running away.
It has been answered by building.
Building Jerusalem.
Building communities.
Building families.
Building institutions.
Building hope.
Wherever Jews live, when they remain connected to one another and to Zion, the Jewish story continues.
The roots of Judaism spread far and wide. The haters do not understand how Jews can have two loyalties. They are loyal to their home country, but have a deep connection to the Jewish homeland, Israel. They live in one country, but love two. We can come to Israel, then go home. We can come to Israel, then stay. It is like having a mountain or sea shore summer home, only better. And, some Jews do have homes in two countries. We are worldly citizens and citizens of the world and, of Israel.
In finance, this is called "diversification." You spread out your portfolio so if one investment tanks, the others are still OK. The premise is that the whole economy isn't going to tank at once. Sometimes that premise is off.
We've never been in this situation, where because of instant communication and ubiquitous propaganda, Jews have been dehumanized and turned into pariahs worldwide. In the past there was always some little corner that was OK.
We'll see how things go.