Masa’s “Lost” Ad Campaign Headlines Issue of Jewish Identity
Ilana Kraus 17.09.2009
Masa’s “Lost” Ad Campaign Headlines Issue of Jewish Identity
Masa’s controversial ad campaign focused on assimilation in the Diaspora, but what do Israelis think?
The Masa/Jewish Agency campaign – intended to get Israelis to report the names of young friends and relations who have assimilated, i.e., products of intermarriages – caused an uproar in Israel and abroad, and managed to insult and offend Jews everywhere. But it propelled the issue of Jewish identity into the headlines.
In the end, after the Hebrew and English press, blogs and op-ed pieces had a heyday with the campaign, it was scrapped.
For the entire article
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3774811,00.html
In the wake of the uproar caused by the ad campaign, Y-net and Gesher conducted a survey, which revealed that
the majority of the Israeli public is indifferent towards the issue of assimilation in the Diaspora. Nonetheless, 41% saw it as an existential threat to the State of Israel.
“Gesher Founder and President Rabbi Dr. Daniel Tropper said in response to the survey that the findings indicate that Israeli identity is stronger than Jewish identity within the secular Israeli public. However, he noted that the results also show that young people view assimilation in a more serious light than older people, perhaps indicating that recent efforts to strengthen ties to Jewish identity are bearing fruit.”
For the entire article
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3775365,00.html
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