US Jewry’s attitude toward Americans fighting in IDF has changed since 1948

Max Steinberg’s death triggered a public outpouring of admiration and grief from just about every Jewish organization, spokesman and member of Congress.

By TOM TUGEND
Max Steinberg (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
Max Steinberg
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
LOS ANGELES – Reading about the mass outpouring of mourners at the funeral for St.-Sgt. Max Steinberg, the 24-year-old Angeleno killed fighting for Israel in Gaza, I was struck by a routine mention toward the end of the report.
It read, “US Ambassador Dan Shapiro extended a message of support and condolences on behalf of the American government and people.”
This nondescript line tells perhaps more about the sea change in the attitude of the United States – and of its Jewish community – in the 66 years since Israel’s birth, than a stack of academic surveys.
Back in 1948, when the first wave, or trickle, of overseas volunteers arrived to aid the newly born state in its lifeor- death struggle, a statement from Washington would have taken a much different tone.
A hypothetical news story about the death of a young American fighting for Israel might have read this way: “Shortly before he was killed in action, Sgt. X was notified that the US government had initiated proceedings to strip him of his US citizenship for serving in a foreign army.”
The law at the time stipulated that any American could lose his or her citizenship, not only for joining a foreign military, but for merely voting in a foreign election.
Although the law was rarely enforced, and then mostly against men like Al Schwimmer and Hank Greenspun, who smuggled weapons and aircraft to Israel, the prospect of losing their citizenship was quite real for Mahalniks (the Hebrew acronym for “Volunteers from Abroad”) serving in Israel’s armed forces.
That went double for someone like me, a refugee from Germany who became a naturalized citizen during World War II, after I enlisted in the US Army.
Even when writing to my parents from Israel about the war, I warned them never to use my name if they shared my report with friends.
But the contrast is even more startling looking at the attitude and behavior of the American Jewish community in 1948, and again in 2014.
Steinberg’s death triggered a public outpouring of admiration and grief from just about every Jewish organization, spokesman and member of Congress.
In parallel, criticism by Jewish organizations of President Barack Obama and his administration for alleged insufficient support of Israel has become a daily ritual.
Compare all this to the situation in 1948. American Jewry, not nearly as wealthy and infinitely more timid than now, of course supported the emerging Jewish state with its heart and money. But with few exceptions, the top priority was not to make waves or antagonize the powers in Washington.
While in other English-speaking countries, Jewish communities openly encouraged their sons and daughters to fight for Israel, organized American Jewry, fearful of the dreaded charge of “double loyalty,” generally averted its collective eye and prayed that those crazy kids going over would not prove an embarrassment.
For example, while 1,400 American volunteers joined the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces during the War of Independence, South Africa sent 700 top-notch men and women out of a Jewish population one-50th the size of the American colossus.
There is one other major distinction between the Mahal contribution in the War of Independence and the current hostilities.
In the late 1940s, the overwhelming majority of Mahalniks had seen active service in World War II and their experience was invaluable to the emerging Israeli underground fighters, especially in the air force and navy. By contrast, hardly any of the current crop of volunteers has had any military experience and they has much to learn from the IDF, one of the most sophisticated military organizations in the world.