Should U.S. Jews Light Israel’s Independence Day Torch?

Image by getty images

By Nathan Guttman April 27, 2017

Lighting one of the 12 torches at the ceremony marking the opening of the country’s Independence Day celebrations is one of Israel’s highest honors, so this year’s decision to invite two Jewish American leaders to participate is proving controversial.

Philanthropist Michael Steinhardt and Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Wiesenthal Center, were chosen to light together the torch representing the Jewish diaspora. But conservative columnist and author Irit Linur, writing in Haaretz had some choice words about the decision.

“I assume that both love Israel and wish it success. That’s gladdening, but they are American citizens,” Linur wrote. “In the torch-lighting ceremony on the day of the celebration of the one miracle of which there is no second, the proper place for anyone who’s not an Israeli is in the visitors’ gallery.”

The connection between Israel and the diaspora, she concludes, is similar to that of a spaceship and mission control in Houston. “The spaceship has to get to Mars safely, when all is said and done, whereas the folks in Houston will head home at the end of the day whether the spaceship lands or crashes.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO