Have you seen this video?

This is the new video from MASA that has aroused a huge controversy. MASA just publicised that they are pulling the plug on the ad (link.) If you haven't seen it, watch it now. Questions below...




(Who uploaded that with a spelling mistake?)

Is this ad offensive?
Does it assume that Jews cannot survive w-out assimilation outside Israel? - Is that incorrect?

So, the blogosphere is filled with discussion on this. See this and this.
Others simply raise the huge cost of this campaign and wonder whether MASA is using its money wisely (link).


But what struck me is the basic philosophy, this confidence that the greatest solution to stem assimilation is to come to Israel! I know that this is the premise upon which Birthright and other programs are predicated. I know the statistics show that it is successful. (This video is like a Zionist version of Aish HAtorah!)



But is Israel enough?

Is Israel alone the answer to assimilation?

And what of Judaism?

I recall, as a 16 year-old chanich in Bnei Akiva, discussing "Is it better to be a religious Jew in England or a secular Jew in Israel?" It was a silly discussion because one doesn't get that choice in life, but nonetheless, it raises the question.