Israel's secret? It's nothing special
It begins with the cover. The background is generic Middle East, with a palm tree, arched windows cut into stone, a hint of a crenellated wall. In the foreground, two couples, young, attractive, bareheaded, casually dressed. One of the men sports a mane of dreadlocks.
If there is something remarkable about the CD Putumayo Presents Israel, 
it is how unremarkable it is. The Manhattan-based Putumayo has been putting out collections of "world music" for years, and in packaging their new Israel collection, they've given Israel the honor of treating it as just another country.
Like the CD cover, the liner notes depict Israel as young, relaxed, even hip. They skip quickly past a sentence or two on the "Arab-Israeli conflict" to focus on Tel Aviv, a city where "a bustling nightlife, stylish restaurants, fashionable boutiques, and trendy beachside bars are far more prevalent than bombings." Jerusalem is described as an ancient city where "people of Jewish, Arab, and Christian heritage live and work together, coexisting peacefully as they have for centuries."
Above all, Israel is depicted a country of immigrants. The 12 songs chosen by Putumayo are meant to reflect a "beguiling fusion of European and Middle Eastern elements sprinkled with exotic flavors from other parts of the Diaspora." There is a Tunisian-inflected ballad by Etti Ankri, an Itay Pearl number with a samba beat. If the musicians address the "conflict," it is by indirection: "If we just dare to take a good look/ At where another one speaks," sings Mosh Ben Ari, "If we just dare understand, and in the meantime/ Cry, cry about it all/ Laugh, laugh at it all."
It's a sad statement that a simple collection of pop songs can evince such depths of gratitude. But it such a rare thing for Israel to be treated neither as a political minefield, a theological crisis, an apocalyptic staging ground, nor even a UJA fund-raising brochure. The CD is an antidote to the toxins of those who project so many of their fantasies and delusions on a country of five million. That includes Walt and Mearsheimer, the "Israel Lobby" duo who see Israel and its supporters as the pivot around which swings much of the world's current misery. Or CNN, which in a bout of either political correctness or real animus finds moral and practical equivalence between a handful of Jewish lunatics and the growing shock troops of radical Islam.
Also culpable, sad to say, are even some of Israel's Jewish supporters, who insist on making Israel bear the weight of Diaspora "identity-building." And so they —we —construct a myth that no country could live up to, and stand shocked when it seems to let us down by acting so…normally.
Who knows to what degree the various delusions and myths have contributed to what a new study says is a "growing distancing from Israel of American Jews," a distancing that "seems to be most pronounced among younger Jews." As JTA reports, authors Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman found that 48 percent of respondents younger than 35 agreed that "Israel's destruction would be a personal tragedy," compared to 78 percent of those 65 and older. Just 54 percent of the younger group is "comfortable with the idea of a Jewish State," compared to 81 percent of those 65 or older, 74 percent of those in the 50-64 age group, and 64 percent in the 35-49 group.
The authors point out that more than 60 percent of under-35 Jews show "some level" of attachment to Israel. But Cohen and Kelman are clearly nervous. They fear that "these feelings of attachment may well be changing, as warmth gives way to indifference, and indifference may even give way to downright alienation."
The reasons they cite are familiar, as the generations that witnessed Israel's birth and subsequent military victories give way to "millennials" who share none of their impressions of Israel as "socially progressive, tolerant, peace-seeking, efficient, democratic, and proudly Jewish."
And perhaps worse, the trend is clear even among younger Jews who have strong attachments to Judaism, but draw upon negative images of Israel forged by the First Lebanon War, the Intifadas, and the Second Lebanon War.
"It's worrying that young Jews may be creating a latter-day Jewish Bundism, which affirms Jewish belonging but is neutral to the Zionist enterprise," Cohen tells JTA. "We're seeing this growing phenomenon of Jews who have no problem saying the Sh'ma but won't sing ‘Hatikva.'"
The trend does seem to have one remedy: First-hand experience in Israel. The number of young Jews reporting a "high" level of attachment to the country jumps from 19 percent for those who have never been there to 34 percent who have gone once and 52 percent who have gone more than once.
Organizers of birthright israel trips are seizing on the findings to validate their work, and they should. Communities should do more to match the mega-donors who have disproportionately bankrolled birthright and help get their local kids on the plane.
I'm someone whose Jewish identity was formed by a casual decision to visit Israel just after college. And I can tell you that it was neither a mystical experience nor a political awakening. It was encounter not with the idea of a Jewish state but its reality. Beautiful, yes; inspiring, yes. But more important was the realization that millions of Jews and Arabs aren't going anywhere and have created a culture beyond the conflict.
They don't want to live someone else's dream or inhabit someone else's nightmare. They want to laugh a little and cry a little —and cry a little less.
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