Your blog is looking great, and I agree, it should have been a component of the proposal to encourage applicants to envision their proposal from a different angle and work with it in a way that regular text to keyboarding doesn’t allow– but we all know you have to have a certain orientation in that direction to think of such a thing in the first place.

Shai is definitely amazing– I think you’ll be interested in his newly posted proposal here:

http://thenewjew.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/bronfman-big-idea-series-jewish-community-incubator-shai-litt/

Can’t wait to hear what you think of the Jewish Community Incubator idea.

I echo ARB in saying welcome to the blogosophere– you have many friends here.

Maya

Shai, you are amazing – I cannot keep up with you! There is so much I want to write. Please forgive me if I delay in directly responding to your notes. I want to knock out a few more posts on some of the concepts and models I talk about in the book. After I do that, I want to return to answering critiques of my essay as a whole. Thanks again for your comments – I sincerely appreciate and enjoy them, and I hope that you will continue to comment on what I write here.

You can view my submission summary at:

http://thenewjew.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/bronfman-big-idea-series-using-the-internet-to-fight-anti-semitism-anti-zionism-in-higher-education-by-anti-racist-blog/

The complete proposal is available here:

http://stopcampushate.blogspot.com/

It seems to me that Chabad’s “brand of chassidut” is not what they were selling. They were selling Orthodox Jewry “like your great-grandma knew”. The “brand” was buyable because people thought they knew what it was – if you knew your great-grandma, you knew “the profile”. By contrast, is “Israel” and “Israeliness” something tangibly “profile-able”? I live here in Israel, and I’m not even sure it is. In fact, I usually resent it when, as an oleh, Israelis seem to cast themselves as more authentically Israeli than olim. Even if I speak Hebrew fluently, they still tag me as an outsider because of my accent (which is something to address in the Hebrew language issue).

Nevertheless, in pursuit of the “Hebrew-nation-ness”, I can say that I love Israelis – in Israel! I find them to be, on the whole, substantive and caring, charitable, forgiving, loyal and feeling people, some of the best persons I’ve ever met, and I’m proud to be amongst them.

Unfortunately, a lot of that “character” is borne of loss, war, traditional background and conservative culture, the kinds of bonds that form amongst the “band of brothers”, that nobody chooses for themselves when they can avoid it. I even wonder if “avoiding it” is what these Israelis are doing in the Diaspora.

So, I’m wondering – Are you sure these national qualities are similar enough to those of other national groups, or even similar enough to Chabad, to be replicable in chu”l, and at least as important, desirable enough to want to identify with? Or, is it more likely that (as seems to be happening based on a news article I read last week on ynet) these Jews will assimilate, rather than spark greater Jewish identity amongst non-Hebrew-Nationals?

Regarding the Hebrew Language:

My own sense as someone who spoke not a word of Hebrew before I made aliyah is that this is a pretty steep price of entry to gain identity outside of Israel, and I wonder if you should find some kind of alternative that permits “access” to those who can’t pass this hurdle. Of course, it’d be great to encourage Hebrew speaking, but just recognize that to do it so that it requires at least 6 months of immersion. HOw’s that going to happen in the US?

Many people don’t learn languages easily, especially as they get older, especially languages that are not similar to English (and Hebrew is not at all similar). I like the idea of everyone being able to converse in one language, but believe it or not, that language (if you had to pick one that most Jews speak) is probably English.

Israel as a “structural model”:

For almost their entire history after the destruction of the 2nd Temple, Jews maintained their identity without a nation-state. After only 60 years since Israel was established, and with the ambivalent feelings about Israel that many Diaspora Jews have, I was asking how you hoped to make this a linch-pin of your Hebrew Nation building, such that Jews would “find themselves” anymore through Israel than they would, say through Judaism, and whether it’s more likely in typical American pursuits?

The Organization:

Yes, organizations are conservative when they identify their own interests as being their constituents’ interests, rather than the reverse. In politics, we call those kinds of people “dictators for life”.

Changing organizations:

You referred to “longstanding records of success”. How can we have strong organizations and weak constituents? How should we define “success”? Is it about how much money we raise, or is it a performance standard (how over time have we maintained a population with a sense of Jewish identity)?

It seems to me reform is necessary perhaps because organizations measure success differently than I do.