THE INGATHERING CONTINUES: DR. HAIM SHINE
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6881
The sky is once again falling over Europe’s Jews. An ominous cloud of anti-Semitism is moving in and darkening the horizon. Eternal hatred of the eternal people is again rearing its head. From academia’s ivory towers to the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the cities, the slogans that led the troops as they carried out the final solution to the “Jewish problem” are chanted. In France, Belgium, Sweden and other European countries, Jews are threatened, synagogues attacked and Jewish schoolchildren are in need of protection.
Historical experience shows that one should not underestimate a frustrated comedian or a soccer player high on an energy drink. They join Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the long and worrisome list of individuals and organizations who made the connection between anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism in 2013. In the 20th century, we paid an inconceivable price for disregarding the boasting of Nazis and other anti-Semites. The Jews of Berlin refused to believe that amid the vapors of alcohol rising from the bars in Munich was an intensified Nazi ideology, leaving in its wake hardly a solitary soul. The Jews of Europe today are trapped between the sword of Islam and the teeth of the cross. As in the past, Christians and Muslims are fighting each other, and the Jews are paying the price.
This time, unlike 75 years ago, European Jews have somewhere to go. There is no longer a need to sneak through borders at night or to brave stormy seas on a ship as an illegal immigrant. Israel was established to provide all the world’s Jews with a home they can enter with dignity and without fear.
Israel is not a state of all its citizens; it is a state for all Jews, a country that is a powerful beacon for wandering brothers forced to seek, once again, respite for their tired feet. We fought and we shed our blood in defense of the homeland not only for us, those living in the country. We believed and we continue to believe that our mental strength is influenced and strengthened by the knowledge that we are the vanguard and the spearhead of the Jewish people throughout the generations.
It is the obligation of the country’s leadership to organize and make every effort to ensure that the Jews of Europe, whose earth has began to tremble beneath them, come to Israel and do not again pick up a walking stick and wander to seek out their fate in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Israel needs them just as much as they need Israel. In Raanana, the city in which I live, there is a wonderful, large community of new immigrants from France. Wonderful families connected to Jewish tradition, absorbed rapidly into Israel, making a contribution to society that is recognized and appreciated.
The ingathering of the exiles has not yet ended. The heart rejoices to see the vision of the prophets realized, everyone gathering and arriving from near and far. We are privileged to have most of the world’s Jews living in Israel. Suddenly we can understand the verse from Psalms: “When the Lord returned the exiles of Zion, we were like dreamers.”
The State of Israel today is a powerhouse of science, advanced technology and industry. The system must mobilize to build new infrastructure and affordable homes and to create jobs for the immigrants on the way — and there are many of them. Now is a golden opportunity to renew the Zionist vision, to challenge Israeli society and to express the endless talent of the Jews.
The situation today perfectly suits the words of a Naomi Shemer song: “When I suddenly bumped into the old Israel in a corner, the beautiful, lost and forgotten Land of Israel, it held out its hand to give and not to take.”
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