What makes these beautiful people move to Israel from America?
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Could it be religious fanaticism? From their covered heads and beards, it appears that these are all modern Orthodox, who form a tiny percentage of American Jewry. Please show me some bare headed Jews getting off that plane to make Aliyah and I will be suitably impressed.
Maybe things will change in the future, but as things stand now, 99.9% of American Jews are not even considering Aliyah. These are lovely people and I admire their willingness to uproot themselves for the sake of Yiddishkeit, but for the tenth time, they are NOT representative of anything other than their small group. It is propagandistic for you to keep harping on these few people who are outliers. Maybe they will turn out to be wise trend setters but if so only by accident, like those people who stepped out of the WTC not because they knew a plane was coming but because they need to run some trivial errand.
These are not mainstream American Jews, if they were, it would not be a planeload by month but by hour. These people are "halutzim", "pioneers" or "avant-garde", those who precede the masses. By definition, they cannot be like the average American Jew, they are different in some way, but nevertheless, they are American Jews.
Think. The great migration of European Jews to America proceeded by the same process, first a few exceptional individuals or families, who established themselves and prospered. The people who reminded behind, when for one reason or other (such as military conscription) decided to move for a short time, they had relatives or landesmann in the other place. It took a few pogroms to get the masses moving.
The immigration to Israel proceeded mostly by the same process. Say the rich and old Jewish community of Egypt. The country underwent a nationalist phase and made life uneasy to all foreign communities (Greeks, Italians). Two or three bombs exploded in cinemas and suddenly Egypt emptied of Jews. Most went to the USA but some came here. Iraq's Jews, a community of three thousand years, ended the same way. Romania's Jews as well Ethiopian Falashas were sold by their rulers. The last of the Polish Jews cought the idea when Gomulka defenestrated their leaders. French Jews are buying homes in Israel, just in case. Argentina's Jews, like me, started feeling uneasy when the government expropriated their bank accounts. Rhodesia and South African Jews go with the middle class and some prefer Israel instead of Australia. We are mobile people, almost nomadic, with weak roots, it takes little for us to change domiciles.
Maybe I am foolish but I like to think that the US is different from the various 3rd world dictatorships and Communist hellholes that you mention. It seems to me that if the situation in the US has deteriorated to the point where the Jews find it wise to leave (a situation that has not existed for even one day in the last 200 years+)then the security of the Jews of Israel (which, as you allude to in your other post, is very much tied to that of its great patron & friend the US) will not be far behind. As a Jew one must always be realistic and not get too comfortable anywhere, but I really don't see any storm clouds on the horizon - Jews in America today are in as good a situation as they have ever been in its history - anti-semitism is considered thoroughly declasse' and is found mostly among poor blacks and their ministers. The US Constitution is strong and protects all minorities including the Jews. I pray that John McCain picks Joe Lieberman as his VP and then drops dead of old age.
I understand and respect your opinion, and I am unwilling to engage in a debate, because my position may be interpreted as if I "want" bad things to happen to American Jews and to America. And that is not the case. I want them to prosper for ever and multiply like the sand on the beach.
But CHANGE cannot be stopped. America of today is a place unimagined and unimaginable only a generation ago. Look a hundred, a thousand years back. There is no minyan in Warshaw nor Lodz, the Habsburg Empire fell apart, the French King was beheaded, Rome was sacked, the glory that was Greece is no more. The Akkadean kingdom has been forgotten and we dont even know who Amalek was or is. The have brit written in stone that the Jewish people is eternal, but the contract says nothing about Brooklyn or Bronx.
What makes these beautiful people move to Israel from America?
4 comments:
Could it be religious fanaticism? From their covered heads and beards, it appears that these are all modern Orthodox, who form a tiny percentage of American Jewry. Please show me some bare headed Jews getting off that plane to make Aliyah and I will be suitably impressed.
Maybe things will change in the future, but as things stand now, 99.9% of American Jews are not even considering Aliyah. These are lovely people and I admire their willingness to uproot themselves for the sake of Yiddishkeit, but for the tenth time, they are NOT representative of anything other than their small group. It is propagandistic for you to keep harping on these few people who are outliers. Maybe they will turn out to be wise trend setters but if so only by accident, like those people who stepped out of the WTC not because they knew a plane was coming but because they need to run some trivial errand.
These are not mainstream American Jews, if they were, it would not be a planeload by month but by hour. These people are "halutzim", "pioneers" or "avant-garde", those who precede the masses. By definition, they cannot be like the average American Jew, they are different in some way, but nevertheless, they are American Jews.
Think. The great migration of European Jews to America proceeded by the same process, first a few exceptional individuals or families, who established themselves and prospered. The people who reminded behind, when for one reason or other (such as military conscription) decided to move for a short time, they had relatives or landesmann in the other place. It took a few pogroms to get the masses moving.
The immigration to Israel proceeded mostly by the same process. Say the rich and old Jewish community of Egypt. The country underwent a nationalist phase and made life uneasy to all foreign communities (Greeks, Italians). Two or three bombs exploded in cinemas and suddenly Egypt emptied of Jews. Most went to the USA but some came here. Iraq's Jews, a community of three thousand years, ended the same way. Romania's Jews as well Ethiopian Falashas were sold by their rulers. The last of the Polish Jews cought the idea when Gomulka defenestrated their leaders. French Jews are buying homes in Israel, just in case. Argentina's Jews, like me, started feeling uneasy when the government expropriated their bank accounts. Rhodesia and South African Jews go with the middle class and some prefer Israel instead of Australia. We are mobile people, almost nomadic, with weak roots, it takes little for us to change domiciles.
Maybe I am foolish but I like to think that the US is different from the various 3rd world dictatorships and Communist hellholes that you mention. It seems to me that if the situation in the US has deteriorated to the point where the Jews find it wise to leave (a situation that has not existed for even one day in the last 200 years+)then the security of the Jews of Israel (which, as you allude to in your other post, is very much tied to that of its great patron & friend the US) will not be far behind. As a Jew one must always be realistic and not get too comfortable anywhere, but I really don't see any storm clouds on the horizon - Jews in America today are in as good a situation as they have ever been in its history - anti-semitism is considered thoroughly declasse' and is found mostly among poor blacks and their ministers. The US Constitution is strong and protects all minorities including the Jews. I pray that John McCain picks Joe Lieberman as his VP and then drops dead of old age.
I understand and respect your opinion, and I am unwilling to engage in a debate, because my position may be interpreted as if I "want" bad things to happen to American Jews and to America. And that is not the case. I want them to prosper for ever and multiply like the sand on the beach.
But CHANGE cannot be stopped. America of today is a place unimagined and unimaginable only a generation ago. Look a hundred, a thousand years back. There is no minyan in Warshaw nor Lodz, the Habsburg Empire fell apart, the French King was beheaded, Rome was sacked, the glory that was Greece is no more. The Akkadean kingdom has been forgotten and we dont even know who Amalek was or is. The have brit written in stone that the Jewish people is eternal, but the contract says nothing about Brooklyn or Bronx.
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