I am a passionate supporter of Israel and, unlike Michaelson, I love Israel with every fiber of my being - yet I have no doubt that we Gen Xers, Gen Yers, Millenials, do take Israel for granted. The problem is one of narrative. The great conceit of Jewish tradition is that we inherit experiences like memories - we personally were delivered from slavery in Egypt; we personally stood at Mount Sinai. The reality that while we Jews feel profoundly connected to the past, our pain, our loss, our joy will never be as intense or as real as it was for those who lived through it.

Therefore, if Israel is to be relevant to the next generation of Jews, those in their 50s, 60s and up must stop assuming that those in their 20s and 30s feel allegiance to it for the same reasons they do. I was born in April 1976, less than three months before the raid on Entebbe. By the time I was born, the State of Israel was a fact. Whatever doubts there had been in the minds of American Jewry about Israel's importance or capacity for survival were dispelled through the crucibles of the Eichmann trial in 1961 or the Six Day War in 1967. With regard to these seminal events, we younger Jews respond, "We can relate to them. We cannot remember them."

Whereas in the past, Americans saw Israel as the young David fighting off the mighty Goliath of the Arab world, many in my generation no longer know what to believe. Which is David and who is Goliath? The myths of years past are not sufficient for most younger Jews to create an enduring love of or identification with the Jewish state. Without a relevant narrative, younger Jews are confused, and they are slipping far too quickly into the quagmire of self-doubt and shame.

We need to write a new chapter, one that responds authentically to a new generation of American Jews. And this next layer of narrative must ultimately emerge from a willingness among those of each generation to come to terms not with what they think they know, but with what they do not know.

Here's what we younger Jews don't know: Younger Jews don't know just how much we need Israel. We have never known a world without Israel so we cannot imagine the fear and impotence Jews felt before the founding of the Jewish state. We must understand the real existential threat that Israel faces every day from the Iranian nuclear program. We must confront the injustice of Hamas state-run propaganda that sows poison among the next generation of Palestinians.

But more than this, we younger Jews need to appreciate the value of a national Jewish homeland not just for Judaism to survive but for it to flourish. The best way to do this is to get young Jews to Israel, not just for brief trips where grays and doubts are overlooked and left to fester, but for extended periods, with thoughtful follow-up where American Jews can grapple with the reality of Israel in all its complexity and struggle with how to love Israel so that we never struggle with whether to love Israel.

Here's what I think older Jews don't know: Older Jews don't know that many young Jews love Israel. Focusing solely on evidence of waning support for Israel dismisses every young Jew who truly does care. There are plenty of younger Jews who not only follow Israeli events in the paper or online, but who do write checks, attend conferences and advocate on college campuses. Older Jews should be very careful before dismissing this fact.

Older Jews also don't appreciate that for many younger Jews, critiquing Israel is how we express our love. The world is getting smaller. One need not even spend time in Israel to have access to openly critical articles, websites, Facebook pages and You Tube videos from within Israel itself. What is intended for an internal audience, in one language, is instantaneously available in real time, all over the world and in several translations. Younger Jews who exist so comfortably in cyberspace are aware of this and find it unfathomable that they should be chided for joining these conversations.

Judaism has survived and thrived for thousands of years because we understand the power of narrative. Abraham's journey is our journey, and his land is our land. But loving Israel simply because our ancestors did has never been sufficient. Each generation of Jews from Abraham's day to our own has had to find ways to keep Israel relevant to it, to avoid taking it for granted. It is time to write a new chapter.

Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg is a rabbi at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago.