When Stuart Schoffman's cover story, Israel at 52, crossed my desk, I found myself surprised at one significant -- for me -- omission. There was no mention of American Jewry. My feelings were hurt even though I realized it was foolish of me. This was no deliberate slight on his part; no rejection intended. It was not simply a careless slip of the pen. He was reflecting what has seemed evident to me for some years now: We, American Jews, are no longer a relevant factor in the lives of most Israelis.

Let me add quickly that Stuart Schoffman is no Diaspora basher. Far from it. He is an American writer and intellectual who lived in California, and made aliyah a dozen or so years ago. He has many friends in the U.S. and visits them on his frequent trips here. And also, I would contend from casual conversations with him, he has a deep and abiding affection for this country and for the Jews who reside here.

Israel, which at 52, is prospering, albeit in the midst of its own series of national crises, and its citizens find American Jews largely irrelevant. Photo from "Israel at Fifty."

What he is saying unintentionally, I think, is that Jews in America are not part of Israel's landscape; are not part of the mind and heart of most Israelis.

I am not so naive as to make that a blanket statement. Obviously some Israelis, like Stuart, are from America and have strong ties here with friends and family. Other Israelis, friends of mine in Jerusalem, for example, seem to have formed a North American expatriate colony. They speak English, read the American press -- if nothing else online -- and seem to function in a separate space. To be sure they are now Israelis and play an active role in that society, but the contours and culture and citizens of the U.S. exert a tremendous gravitational pull. They have left the U.S., but have not quite left it behind.

There are also Israelis, especially journalists and government officials, who are mindful of Israel's great need for American support, politically and militarily. It is, they understand, essential for the survival of the Jewish state. And they know that one significant reason Congress and the President, Republicans and Democrats alike, provide that support is in no small way because of Jewish American influence.

But that is a political matter; not a personal one. And, from the vantage point of many Israelis, protecting the state of Israel is our obligation as Jews. After all, they have created a state for all Jews worldwide. They represent, in their mind at least, our backdoor if and when things go awry here. So we owe them.

In the meantime, there are the quite real changes that have overtaken this tiny state of 6 million. Today about 18 percent of the Jewish population is Russian, and among this ethnic group there are only fragile ties to the Diaspora Jews outside of their native land. There is also a sizable North African and Middle Eastern Jewish population with minimal connections to the U.S.

Even among the children and grandchildren of Israel's founding fathers, the early European contingent who looked upon America as a guiding democratic model, the bonds have frayed. We opted, to the surprise of their grandparents, to let the boat sail without us. In so doing we appeared to them to give precedence to our American, over our Jewish, allegiance.

It took perhaps 30 years before Israeli officials perceived that only a limited number of North Americans were ever going to make aliyah. A readjustment in their thinking took place: We would serve as Israel's influential allies within the Diaspora. More difficult to accept was the fact that a majority of American Jews had little interest in visiting Israel. Their preferences -- in matters of culture, style and tourism -- seemed linked more to Western Europe than to the Mideast.

Perhaps because of this, a number of Israeli elites (intellectuals, academics, government officials) at times take a critical stand towards us. Not only are we irrelevant, but we are losing our connections to Judaism and to our Jewish heritage. The litany is familiar: intermarriage; no knowledge of Hebrew; little in the way of Jewish education; some questionable turns in our forms of religious observance; a mass denial of the ever-lurking presence of anti-Semitism in a non-Jewish society; and, if all that were not enough, there is our commitment to, and promotion of, a mass culture that is a blight upon the world -- not the least on Israel's own children.

The bottom line in all this is clear, though infrequently stated: If American Jews want to retain their Jewishness, they (we) must turn to Israel, which at 52, is prospering, albeit in the midst of its own series of national crises, many of which are described by Stuart Schoffman (see page 10).

But what about us? Where do we stand on this the eve of the Jewish State's 52nd birthday?

First, if the Israelis require our political and military assistance to thrive in today's not-so-friendly-to-Israel world, we need them as well. They are correct in that perception. What is unclear is precisely how they can help us find our way.

We know that in the past a military crisis in Israel alarmed all of us. American Jews with little sense of ethnic connection, most of whom had never set foot in Israel, suddenly found a visceral Jewish identity at the outbreak of war in 1967; and then again in 1973; and once more when Iraqi scud missiles rained down on Jerusalem during the Gulf War. Distant we may appear, but we hold fast to the idea that the Jewish state will grow and continue to prosper.

Part of it has to do with our desire to help maintain a Jewish homeland for others. You might say that we need Israel in order to contribute to a Jewish world, to do good as it were, and thereby retain a bond to our heritage as Jews.

And part of it, surely must be related to the Holocaust, which we survived unscathed. The image and reference of course is to the creation of a Jewish homeland that will provide safety and protection for Jews worldwide who find themselves under attack. If we can get them out, free them, they will be ensured a safe harbor, a home for future generations. Certainly we have that bond...and as some Israelis proclaim, that obligation.

Our Jewish leaders, particularly our organizational leaders, as well as many religiously affiliated Jews, have a different stake in Israel. As Jews living in the world's leading and only superpower, some want to play an active role by establishing links between Israel and America's Jews. Here the venue has to do with money and programs, covering everything from child and spousal abuse to education and student exchanges. And, not incidentally, to the current peace process.

Their concern is to find a way to bring the rest (the overwhelming majority) of American Jewry along; that is, to find ways to tap into a sense of Jewish identity without calling on the memory of the Holocaust or the threat of anti-Semitism. Or without Israel being confronted by war. In short, they must discover how to make most Jews here understand that Israel offers us an opportunity to be Americans and a part of the Jewish world. -- Gene Lichtenstein