Daniel Gordis' book consists of two unequal parts. One, in which he analyzes differences between American and Israeli Jewry is lucidly descriptive. The other, in which he expresses his laments about the relationship between American Jews and Israel is darkly prescriptive.
The first part of the book explains that for the American Jews the chief goal was to stay on the equal footing with the dominant WASP elite. Once this goal has been achieved they began their own search of identity.
For the Israeli Jews, the chief goal was to maintain their own nation-state and assure its security. Now, Israel is as secure and prosperous as it never had been.
The conclusion, which is drawn by Gordis in the second part of the book is paradoxical. In his view, the American Jews must now adopt the worship of the State of Israel as their highest aspiration in life. He blames lack of enthusiasm of the American Jewry in that regard on lack of acquaintance with Jewish values, etc. For instance, he mentions that the majority of Birthright students do not have elementary knowledge of the Torah, Talmud, the history of Palestine or Israeli politics. He supposes that more indoctrination will make American youngsters more devout... with respect to the ideology of the Netanyahu government. But it could be that the youth most acquainted with Jewish values and Israeli politics will assimilate Gordis' views less not more.
In other words, Gordis insist that the worship of Israeli State must replace the Jewish G-d as the central part and parcel of the Jewish consciousness all over the world. This exercise of state idolatry, unachieved even by Mussolini regime could only be found in the thought of Evola, early theorist of fascism. For comparison, in the German Nazi pantheon "race" took precedence to the state and Soviet ideology differently emphasized Marxist version of world history, called by them "an inevitable historical process", "Communism" or the "Party" as the ultimate object of worship or the source of epiphany.
Yet, Gordis, a contributor of "Bloomberg" and other media sources, is smarter and more profound than most Netanyahu apologists.
