The Israeli Frame

( August 5, 2010)

The frame matters. We bring our perspective, biases, judgment, and experience with us. We can't escape it, and shouldn't try. We are and become who we are through the frames that encompass our lives. Husband, Father, Son, Friend, Executive, Partner, Business Owner, American, 50-something, Jewish Community Lay Leader...I know all of these frames. I do or have worn them all.

The frame of "now" is unusually powerful. This is especially so during moments of great change or stress. My business as a value investor is actually built on this very real human tendency to overweight the present. Making good investment decisions requires a willingness to examine the investment from all sides, from near and far, and most importantly with facts. As with investing, so too in life.

Our "pilot trip" a couple of months ago coincided with the flotilla incident surrounding the issue of the Gaza blockade. Tragic loss of life, caused by a premeditated attack on the Israeli soldiers who boarded the ships. Seven ships, one partially loaded with armed members of a terrorist group aligned with Al Qaeda, nine people dead, two Israeli soldiers badly injured.

While we were there and the details were beginning to become known, it was clear that as I observed this incident from my Jewish American lens, my perception was vastly different than that of most Israelis. We all were sickened by the unnecessary loss of life and the disdain for life inherent among these terror groups. But Israelis viewed their military as having terribly botched the situation. Their frame told them that their military must not be anything less than perfect, and when they are less so, the fault is theirs.

Over the last year Israel has been beset by an internal conflict that risks tearing the societal fabric of the country. One woman was arrested for wearing a tallit. Another women was arrested for carrying a Torah. Women riding on government funded buses have been physically and verbally assaulted should they dare to sit in the front of the bus. The debate about "who is a Jew" was reopened in the Knesset and tabled only after Prime Minister Netanyahu received over 50,000 emails from American Jews concerned for their rights as Jews.

My Jewish American lens sees basic issues of religious freedom that I cannot believe exist in the country that was established for all Jews after 2000 years without a homeland. Ask most Israelis about this dilemma and they wonder what we are talking about. They have lived in a country where everyone knows there is a state-sponsored religion, and if one isn't ultra-orthodox then they are simply not welcome in the religion.

The Masorti Movement in Israel today has 55 communities spread throughout the country. The opportunity exists to build upon this and offer the 85% of the people who are not ultra-Orthodox access to Judaism in a modern context. Connection to a spiritual base while living in the modern world. The Israeli government has a religious affairs budget of over $450 million. Of this only $100,000 is dedicated to non-Orthodox streams. I look forward to helping to support the enterprise of expanding access to modern, Israeli forms of religious expression through Masorti. I look forward to engaging in dialogue with others about the imperative of religious freedom. Israel must not be allowed to become a Jewish version of the fundamentalist and religiously intolerant states surrounding her.

We teach our children about Am Yisrael...the people Israel...it is with great fear that as our family prepares to enter Israel, the country is devolving into Shtai Am Yisrael - the two people of Israel. I hope and pray that will not be the case. One Israel for the haredi and one for everyone else must not be an acceptable outcome.

So as I write this blog I knowingly bring my life's experiences, my perspective, my biases into this journey. I look forward to building on those experiences and see life through an Israeli frame.