American Jews Need a 'Zionism of the Spirit'

It is somewhat difficult to assess a foreign country or community from afar, but it has certain advantages. In particular, distance tends to give one perspective, an objective view that does not miss the forest for the trees. One can see the whole picture, rather than a morass of infinite nuance that leads nowhere. From my vantage point as an American-born Jew who has lived in Israel for 20 years, it looks to me as if the American Jewish community is at an impasse. With the rise of pernicious and violent antisemitism on both the right and the left, as well as in the Muslim community, American Jews appear embattled but terribly confused. In particular, their communal leadership seems completely flummoxed by this renewal of the old hatred, and utterly impotent in their anemic response.