Israel vs. America

After re-reading my last post, I came to a better understanding of my question.

Our Torah describes a certain life. Sefer Devarim is written almost as a constitution of sorts - it provides the legal framework, the rights of each individual, the separation of powers between the Religious (kohanim and Beis Hamikdash), Legal (Sanhedrin/court system), and Executive (the king) functions of the state. It subscribes to the "ish tachas gafno v'tachas t'einato" ideal of a landed citizenry who inhabit homesteads of their making within a greater system of individual and communal goals (the shevatim).
It is this life, I believe, we are meant to live.

Israel AND America fall short, for different reasons. They each (and yes, I am overgeneralizing here) aproach the fundamental "What does it mean to be a Jew" issue differently.
In America, we see ourselves as the continuation of the Jewish religion that began with Avraham Avinu. We have taught the world morality, monotheism, religious life; we are committed to being model citizens, an example of a g-dly people, and hope and pray each day for the time when all can see g-d is One.
We also see ourselves as Americans, as members of the democracy, as contributors to society, and as a part of the American people. We follow their sports teams, create businesses, run candidates for office, and partake in the public debate of values and ideals. However, culturally and religiously we are different, we revel in that difference, and it provides a key component of our identity as Jews.
Americans want their children to be successful as Americans as well as Jews.
In America, our Judaism is an identity component, a conversation piece, a religion. We talk about "staying sane in an insane world", we gapple with issues that arise from living in two different worlds at once (internet bans, shidduch system, movies, music, jobs, praying on airplanes, etc.). We try to define everything within halacha and live in black and white terms (muttar/assur) and build walls around our communities to block out the "outside world" and its bad influences. Our children grow up confused by the contradictory positions of their parents and learn to live this dichotomous life - or leave, either the religion or society.

In Israel, we see ourselves as a nation, with a rich national history that goes back to Avraham Avinu. We teach the world morality, we invest ourselves in maing the world a better place, and we try to create a fair and just society for all.
We see ourselves as Israelis, as a democracy in the Middle East; we identify with the West while also embracing our Middle Eastern roots and culture. We have sports teams, lead the world in hi-tech businesses, invent medical solutions that help all of humanity, and field an Army that is dedicated to the sacredness of human life (paradoxically). We debate nationally our own existence, the rights of those we may have displaced, the citizen fatalities on both sides of the conflict we find ourselves in, how to create a long and lasting peace with our neighbors, and how to balance the democratic ideals of the state with its religion. We believe we are different than the other nations, and we revel in that difference.
Israelis want their children to be successful as citizens of the world as well as Jews.
In Israel, our Jewishness is an identity component, a religion, a perhaps archaic tie to the "Mickey Mouse Rabbis" of the past. We grapple with issues of living in two worlds at once (Torat Eretz Yisrael, abolishing kitniyot, reinstating the korbanot we can, representing ourselves to the UN). We define everything in black and white terms (will of G-d, security, PR) and build walls around our communites to block out the outside world (terrorists, secular culture) and their harm. Our children grow up confused by the importance of a Land, and wonder if its price is worth paying - and leave for America, or leave the religion.


The legacy of the Jewish People is the near inability to reach any sort of concesus as all about anything. We embrace each individual's right to an opinion, and look at concensus as the deciding factor only because of the imperative to have a conclusion in practical matters. Whether this is expressed in a Beis Medrash or in Knesset elections, we believe the only way to live is one where you are alive - "u'bacharta b'chaim l'maan tichyeh" is not a pun or nonsensical non sequitur, it is a definition of the Toras Chaim we are meant to live by, live with, and partner in creating through Torah sheBaal Peh. The "third dimension" of life, the "electricity" we feel when we know we are alive, the "being there" in the moment where our decisions matter and we are engaged in creating ourselves together with the Creator - this is the background, the context, the basis of Torah, and of Judaism. And it is this path that leads to that idyllic life of "ish tachas gafno v'tachas t'einato".

So to revisit the question - when looking to plant roots, which one is a better option? What is a better recipe for our children to find their way under their vine and fig tree?