I promptly asked, “What’s the situation?” Our shared patrimony obviated any need for further elaboration; as a European Jew addressing an American one, he knew exactly at what I was aiming. “There is no future for Jews in France,” he said.
As you know, I recently returned from Jerusalem. While I was there, I had many opportunities to talk with thoughtful Israelis on the subject of their country and its mission -- no subject seemed more dear to them. Some of them were not only thoughtful but professional historians and philosophers, who discussed Zionism from a position of personal conviction. Some were immigrants, Jews born elsewhere but who had taken advantage of Israel's open offer to all Jews everywhere to 'come home' -- the term in Hebrew means 'to go up.'
Right now the figures are tiny. 7,000 Jews out of a population of a half a million might not even interfere much with natural replacement. But I heard Natan Sharansky -- a genuine hero of anti-Communism, a man who stood firm in the prisons of the KGB on charges of being an American agent -- say that immigration from the First World was, for the first time in Israel's history, the leading source of immigration.
The people I spoke to clearly believe, and I see why they think they are right, that Israel is the only home for the world's Jewish population. They clearly believe, and I think they really are right, that having the option to resort to Israel is key to the safety of Jews everywhere.
Now, I'm not a Jew, but as long as I live I can say that Jews will be safe within the realm of my right arm. I suspect many Americans would say the same, and so perhaps this place may long be a place where they can linger, if they wish.
In another way, I'm sorry we do not have what they have: a Númenor to their Undying Lands, our ancient home now sunk in the sea, a place to which we as they might withdraw if our values came under a similar assault.
There is no such place for us. We have only the sword.
2 comments:
There is no such place for us. We have only the sword.
I know number of people who have visited relatives in the "old country"- Germany and Ireland, in these cases. One of my reactions to these visits was to observe that for me, the "old country" was merely another part of the United States. There is no "old country" outside the United States for me to go back to.
I'm with you. I hope to God, if it came to that, I'd be sheltering Jews from Nazis and their latter-day comrades in spirit.
I'm encouraged to see more European and U.S. Jews waking up from their liberal multi-cultural dream. It's a shame, in a country like France, for them to have almost no recourse except to a "right-wing" party strongly associated with anti-Semitism and other idiotic racism. I hope we continue to offer better alternatives here.
Post a Comment