By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Avraham Infeld’s booming voice resonated throughout the small living room, an intimate, salon-style venue at Hillel at the University of Washington. Twenty-four students, backpacks in tow, snacked on bagel with lox while feeding upon the wisdom of the 68-year-old educator and former international president of Hillel, who on Feb. 24 gave his perspective on Israel, its identity and its future.
Holding the group’s rapt attention, Infeld told the students that there’s nowhere else he’d rather be than speaking to today’s Jewish young adults.
“The only way to understand who the Jews are is as a family, because we’re always fighting,” Infeld began. “It’s an ethnic family that has a common memory and shares a value-carrying language. The primary condition for being a Jew, the necessary condition for being a Jew, is being a member of the people.”
An avowed Zionist born in South Africa to Jewish Zionist parents who were both Jewish educators, Infeld’s father, an atheist, instilled in him a very strong sense of Jewish identity and was fundamentally concerned about world Jewry.
“I grew up with a very strong sense of Jewish identity, and religion had nothing to do with it,” said Infeld. “It was devoid of any religious experience.”
His central view, that the Jewish people are not a religion and not a race, but a family tied together by customs and cultural traditions, seems to be the most urgent message he wants to deliver to future Jewish generations.
“We are not educating people in this country to understand that the Jews are a people,” Infeld told JTNews following his talk. “It’s a tribal family. That is why Jews pray at a minyan (a group of 10 or more). That is why all of our prayers are in the plural.”
Infeld’s visit was cosponsored by the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Hillel UW and Hillel’s Jconnect young adult program.
“Many students have heard him [speak] on Birthright and resonate with his message of Jewish people-hood,” Jeremy Brochin, interim Greenstein family executive director at UW Hillel, told JTNews. Brochin was referring to the Taglit-Birthright Israel program that has sent thousands of young Jewish adults on free trips to Israel since 2002. Infeld was the first director of the program.
“He also adds nuance and complexity to students’ understanding of Israeli society,” Brochin added.
“His message is captivating and moving to young Jews,” Jconnect director Josh Furman told JTNews. “His vision of Judaism and understanding of the Jewish future resonates with young adults.”
Infeld currently serves as the president of the Chais Family Foundation and chair of the board of Melitz, an organization he founded that helps young people build their Jewish identity based upon pluralism and the importance of Israel. He is also a senior consultant on Jewish people-hood to the Nadav Fund. At the same time, he continues to speak to Jewish students around the world.
The Jerusalem-based recipient of Hillel’s 2010 Renaissance Award also spoke to a private gathering of 30 from a Jewish Federation leadership group, who met with him that evening.
“We brought Avraham to town because of the many questions we often hear in our campaign about support for Israel, or where our dollars go,” said Keith Krivitzky, vice president of the Federation’s Center for Jewish Philanthropy. “Our giving is not political, but goes to help our extended Jewish family in need. Avraham’s talk about the importance of Jewish people-hood, and strengthening the ties between Jewish communities around the world was highly relevant and emphasized the importance of the international work we do.”
Students at the Hillel event raised several questions about Israel’s role in the Mideast conflict and about Israel’s detractors. Infeld said he considers it perfectly legitimate to criticize Israel’s behavior, but that he thoroughly rebuffs anyone who denies or questions Israel’s right to exist.
The Jewish people must continue to live in a sovereign Jewish state, he said, even though internally, its residents wrestle over seemingly conflicting ideas of exactly what that means.
“What is this thing called a Jewish state?” queried Infeld of the Hillel crowd, as he quickly answered his own question. “Israel is only one of two things. On the one hand, it is a state in which the Jewish people apply the laws of modern nationalism to themselves, or, Israel is a state in which God has returned to history and fulfilled his promise of returning his people to their land. That’s the big struggle in Israel.”