[hardbass]

You were the one repeatedly saying all jews have some sort of magic connection to Israel. If I misread and you meant Israelis have a connection to that land, that still begs the question. Not everyone purportedly "Israeli" made the transition there and the question still remains valid, more concretely to people with dual citizenships.

[gershy]

Israeli culture is roughly jewish + middle-eastern culture. American jews have jewish + american culture. American jews would find they read the exact same prayers as israeli jews, can immediately feel comfortable in synagogue; relate to israeli jews in terms of values and religion and desire for a homeland on the mediterranean coast, but would be shocked by, e.g., the middle-eastern-style haggling in israeli markets, the directness of israelis, etc. The judaism is the overlap, otherwise very different.

[hardbass]

Yes without doubt, obviously a person from NY would have a different culture than a person from Haifa or whatever. I think I misread you on that.