What is “Emotional Attachment to Israel”?

• In Event: It's complicated: Toward a more nuanced understanding of Israel Attachment in the Anglosphere

Abstract

Since 1990, most surveys of North American Jewish communities that include questions about Israel have asked some iteration of the following question: “How emotionally attached are you to Israel? Not at all attached; not too attached; somewhat attached; very attached.” The question, originally written for the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, was intended to assess respondents’ sense of connection to the modern State of Israel (Medinat Yisrael), but as written, it could refer to several other constructs: political support for the state, affinity for the people of the state but not their government, connection to the Jewish people (Am Yisrael) or the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), religious belief, and so on. Despite the apparent ambiguity of the question, there has been no significant effort to assess how respondents interpret the question.
This paper will attempt to fill that void, drawing on data from a cognitive test of four questions about Israel that appear on many surveys of North American Jewish communities. Overall, 1,803 North American Jews described in their own words how they understood the “emotional attachment” question, as well as whether they perceive any prerequisite conditions necessary for them to form an emotional attachment to Israel, however they define it, and whether there are obstacles that get in the way. The responses reveal significant diversity of opinion within the North American Jewish community and varying tolerance for divergent viewpoints, and although the data were collected prior to the present war, they have serious implications for Jewish communal planning and unity, as well as the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.

Author

• Matthew Boxer, Brandeis University