As we are on the eve of celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, it is worth considering statements which have been heard with increasing frequency in the American Orthodox community:

“With the growing antisemitism in America and the existential threats that our brothers and sisters face in Israel, why are we still living here?”

”We should all be living in Israel, where Jewish life is vibrant and flourishing, where Jewish identity is simply part of the air we breathe.”

“Being a Jew in America does not contribute in any meaningful way to Judaism or the Jewish People.”

A leading Modern Orthodox institution recently featured a conversation with six rabbis on exactly this question: What value is there in Diaspora Jewry? The overwhelming consensus was that, indeed, it is hard to find an intrinsic meaning in our lives as Jews in America.

During these conversations, it is always conceded that American Jewry has, and may continue to, serve an instrumental value for the future of the Jewish people. America was a haven for Jewish refugees and immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. Lay leaders have been critical to ensuring US support for Israel, and American philanthropy has provided it with much-needed financial oxygen. But ultimately, or so the argument goes, there is nothing to really be gained for us as Jews, or for generations to come, to be living anywhere other than in the State of Israel.

A part of me truly sympathizes with these sentiments. I........

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