Monday Dec 10, 2007
Posted by Haviv Rettig
Often, and especially with politicians, what is not said in a speech is more important than what is.
The only discernible actionable statement to come out of the speeches of the three non-Russian-speaking Israeli politicians at Wednesday's Tribute to Soviet Jewry was about bringing more Russian-speaking Jews to Israel. This speaks volumes about the extent to which Israeli officialdom is blind to the broadest and most worrying trends of the Jewish world.
This was noticed by the Russian-speakers in the room at the Jerusalem International Convention Center and by veterans of Jewish organizational life. This is significant because the deepest troubles afflicting world Jewry today - assimilation, lack of identification with Judaism and Israel - have hit the Russian-speakers hardest. And Israeli officialdom's only solution on hand seems to be encouraging everyone everywhere to make aliya.