DEVOTED, DISENGAGED, DISILLUSIONED: The Forces that Shape a Relationship with Israel

This study aimed to learn to what extent these young people attribute their relationship with Israel to their day school education, and if and/or how they felt their day school education prepared them for life experiences after school in relation to Israel. Across the “ideal types,” Israel was overwhelmingly seen with more nuance and complexity in 2017 than in high school. Most of the participants remained consistent in their views towards Israel, even though they certainly had not remained in some kind of day school bubble — they had experienced significant life changes such as attending university, traveling internationally, and forming romantic relationships with non-Jews. In high school, these participants’ views on Israel were more black and white. In 2017, there were more shades of gray in how they saw the country. Notably, three interviewees did exhibit a significant change in their relationship with Israel. The researchers did not reference personality-related factors to try to explain these changes. Instead, the experiences, thought processes, and ideas that prompted change in these particular individuals were identified (in contrast to the majority of the interview sample who maintained similar positions despite encountering no fewer unsettling experiences). The researchers explored the reasons behind the different experiences of the interviewees, based on three broad forces each that more or less influence individuals: A) Social connections: the most common source of connection to Israel, grounded in personal relationships with specific people in Israel or in travel within the country B) Cultural/ideological associations: grounded in Jewish ideas, sentiments, and values that shape how someone relates to Israel through their identity as a Jew C) Political concerns: shaped by an individual's perspective on Jewish power, but have the power to negatively alter an individual's relationship with Israel Several additional factors moderate or intensify the impact of those forces. One such factor is place — where people are when they experience these forces. Some of the young people who had made aliyah encountered some of the most challenging aspects of Israel’s current situation, especially in their army service. Yet these did not fundamentally alter their relationship to Israel. This contrasts with those interviewees who learned about some of the same challenges — secondhand, not through experience — in a university context much less appreciative of Israel’s cultural significance and friendly to the complexities of its situation. This research indicates that these high school years seem to set most students on a multi-year trajectory, but also a strong feeling by interviewees that schools have failed their students. A rather significant finding is that the Devoted are no less familiar with Israel’s flaws and challenges than the Disillusioned. Thus, schools must cultivate meaningful social associations and deep cultural connections with Israel, especially those that are not exclusively religious.