October 7 Massacre Strengthens Unity Between Israeli and Diaspora Jews
A striking 74% of Israeli Jews expressed ‘feeling responsible’ for the security and welfare of Jews living outside Israel.
After 2,000 years of exile, the Jewish people worldwide share deep bonds of tradition and destiny.
Still, while Jews everywhere celebrate and mourn as one people, Israelis face unique pressures – such as the shadow of existential threat of annihilation that shapes their society and attitudes from top to bottom.
Historically, it has created an inevitable gap between those who must send their children to war and those who support from afar.
This all changed on October 7 as Hamas terrorists decimated southern Israel, butchered 1,200 innocents, and took 250 hostages into the hell pits of Gaza.
A new survey from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics reveals how the brutal attack reshaped these relationships. Before October 7, about 69% of Israeli Jews reported feeling connected to diaspora Jews.
In the aftermath, as Jewish communities worldwide rallied with unprecedented support and faced their own surge of antisemitism, that number rose to 73%.
A striking 74% of Israeli Jews now also express “feeling responsible” for the security and welfare of Jews living outside Israel, with 44% reporting this sense of responsibility “to a large extent.”
The survey also revealed that younger generations and those with family abroad feel particularly strong connections to diaspora communities.
Younger respondents were more likely than older ones to say they felt responsible for Jews living outside of Israel, with 76% of those aged 20-64 saying so, compared to 68% of those 65 and older.
Religious identity shapes these connections significantly. While 92% of Haredim and 86% of modern orthodox Jews report strong diaspora ties, the numbers decrease only slightly to 70% among traditional Jews and 61% among secular Israelis.
Shlomo Fischer, an Israeli sociologist and senior staff member of the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem, attributes this gap to fundamental differences in worldview.
“Hilonim [secular people] are the group that sees itself as Israelis — their primary identity is as Israelis and their secondary identity is as Jews,” Fischer explains to eJewishPhilanthropy.
“However, the concept of the Jewish people carries theological weight for religious Israelis.”
“Israelis don’t think about Diaspora Jews much, so I think that’s a good number,” he said.
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