IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES? The Waning of the American Jewish Love Affair with Israel.(Review)(Brief Article)

STEVEN T. ROSENTHAL. Univ. Press of New England/Brandeis Univ., $24.95 (248p) ISBN 0-87451-897-0

Until the 1970s, American Jews and American-Jewish groups avidly supported Israel, via political lobbying of the U.S. government and financial contributions to the Israeli government and other institutions. Yet in most cases, explains Rosenthal, who teaches history at the University of Hartford, "the Jewish state has had relatively little effect on the religious and cultural life of American Jews"; rather, it served as a comforting source of identity for those in the diaspora. With balance and clarity, Rosenthal charts the gradual erosion of the "black-and-white morality" …