155: American and Israeli Jews don’t understand each other, with Ed Rettig

Haviv Rettig Gur (0:05)

Hi, everybody. Welcome to a new episode of Ask Haviv Anything. Today is a special one. It is my distinct pleasure to tell you that I am going to be recording a conversation today with my father, Rabbi Dr. Ed Rettig, who has promised me he won't reveal anything embarrassing.

My dad was born in Santa Monica, California, but actually grew up in Philadelphia. He then at the age of 18 in 1972, moved to Israel. Within a few months of being an Israeli, found himself serving as a combat soldier on the front lines of the Yom Kippur War.

Welcome to Israel. He then became an attorney, worked as a prosecutor in the Jerusalem police, and pivoted at some point to religion and became a rabbi.

He has since done a doctorate in Jewish history and sociology. A fascinating, wonderful doctorate that I have taught on this podcast and in many classrooms. Today, we're going to discuss a topic that has been his subject of expertise, subject of interest for at least 20 years, but also is kind of his lived experience, his life. And that is, what the heck is up with American and Israeli Jews?

Why are American and Israeli Jews so different in their culture, in their identity, in their understanding of history and politics, in their communal life, in their worldview? They have different historical experiences, but also fundamentally different assumptions about identity, about power. And we're going to get into all of these questions because it's enormous. Before we do, I want to tell you this episode was dedicated by Michael Kapnick in memory of Max Steinberg. This is a particularly touching dedication for me personally. I remember when Max Steinberg died and I remember writing about it, and I remember the emotion of it and the connection that I felt to this family I'd never met.

Thank you, Michael, for this dedication. I want to just read a little bit from the family about Max. Bear with me, this matters to me. There is a debt that I never really feel like I can repay to Max and to people like him. Max Donald Steinberg was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. And as his mother, Evie, described him, he was a silly, laid-back kid with a contagious smile. Max was small in stature, five foot four, but what he lacked in size, he made up for in courage. A 2012 Taglit birthright trip to Israel, taken at age 22, changed the course of Max's life and inspired him to consider making aliyah and enlisting in the IDF. Despite attempts by the IDF to persuade Max to enlist in a combat unit, Max was determined to join the Golani Infantry Unit and ultimately did. Serving in Gaza an Operation Protective Shield in 2014, Max understood the danger he had undertaken. The night before his death, he called his parents about some of the dangers he was facing. His mother wanted him to delay returning into Gaza, but Max would not. He was killed the next day. Over 30,000 people showed up to his funeral, and to this day, Israelis come to Max's grave site to pay their respects, including visitors to Israel on their own birthright trips. Every year, Max's family returns to Israel for his yard site, and the entire family have always been touched by the way Israelis responded to news of Max's death. Max's life and his death in combat at the age of 24 remind us the Jewish dignity and Jewish freedom in this world come with a great sacrifice. His courageous defense of Israel and the response by Israelis to his sacrifice remind us of the oneness of the Jewish people, that our fates are inexorably linked, and we can and must confront threats to world jewelry together.

Thank you, Michael. Thank you to the Steinberg family. I can't imagine a more beautiful dedication and a more apt dedication for this conversation. Friends, I'd also like to invite everyone to join our Patreon. Subscribe to our Substack if you're interested in asking the questions the guy at the top could choose to talk about. That happens at the Patreon and at the Substack. If you join the Patreon and Substack and help keep the lights on over here, you also get to enjoy the monthly live streams where I answer your questions live. That's at patreon.com/askhavivanything or havivgur.substack.com. Those links are in the show notes. So let's get to it. Abba, how are you doing?

Ed Rettig (4:31)

How am I doing? As long as I don't watch the news, I'm doing fine.

Haviv Rettig Gur (4:39)

When did you become an old Jewish man? I don't understand.

Ed Rettig (4:43)

Your introduction of me reminded me of something my professor used to say. Jacob Rader Mark was probably the preeminent American Jewish historian of his day. He died in his late 90s and he was still publishing. And when he used to get a flowery introduction like this, he used to stand up and say, I now rise in rebuttal.