Why Some Jews Can't Call Israel Home

On paper, we’re the poster couple for Jewish peoplehood. One of us is an American Jew, a lifetime Hadassah member, and a Hebrew-school graduate whose love for Israel compelled her to move to Jerusalem for a year. The other is a ninth-generation Israeli who completed his service in the IDF and moved to the United States to attend university. We actually met just outside the Israeli Consulate in New York, where Liel was a senior press officer. From the beginning, a shared passion for Israel helped draw us together and anchor our relationship.

Recently, however, not long after our seventh wedding anniversary and the birth of our first child, we got some unsolicited marriage advice from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. It arrived in the form of a series of videos produced by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption as part of a campaign to encourage Israelis living abroad to return to the Jewish state. Each video depicts a different scenario of Israelis in America with their American partners and families, and the threat to their national identity if they remain there. One video shows the young daughter of Israeli parents mistaking Hannukah for Christmas.