We Stand Divided

From National Jewish Book Award winner and author of Israel, a bold reevaluation of the tensions between American and Israeli Jews that reinterprets the past and reimagines the future of Jewish life

Relations between the American Jewish community and Israel are at an all-time nadir. Most explanations pin the blame on Israel's conduct: its handling of the conflict with the Palestinians, its attitude toward non-Orthodox Judaism, and the Jewish state's dismissive view of American Jews in general. Others point an accusing finger at American Jews, insisting that in embracing America's progressive values, many American Jews have become more sympathetic to Israel's enemies than they are to the Jewish state.

But these explanations, Daniel Gordis argues, miss the real causes for the divide. Gordis's new book, We Stand Divided: The Rift Between American Jews and Israel, examines the history of the troubled relationship, showing that from the very...