Israel Insider, Israel
July 29 2004

When it comes to Aliyah, quantity is quality
By Yishai Fleisher

Recently, the Jerusalem Post printed an article titled “Quality, not
quantity, aliya.” (Jul. 25, 2004) In it, the writer Yosef Goell, a
former political scientist, claimed that while “the last thing in the
world we should want is to concentrate all Jews into tiny Israel,” he
still believes that “we should very much want to pick the cream of
the world’s Jewish crop for ourselves.”

Selection of Jews. That is what this educator thinks is good policy
for Israel.

Yet aside from this blatantly bigoted statement, the author Yosef
Goell says many things regarding the issues of the Jewish Diaspora
and Aliyah which one hears regularly.

Goell states: “In a hostile world, politically, economically and
culturally strong Diaspora communities such as in North America are
essential for strengthening Israel’s diplomatic and economic
position.”

The first misconception here is that the Diaspora communities are
“politically, economically and culturally strong.”

Are French Jews politically strong? They are being bombarded by
murderous anti-Semitism and are banned from wearing yarmulkes in
public. Are U.S. Jews strong? In the United States, seventy percent
of non-observant Jews are succumbing to intermarriage while the whole
of American Jewry is aging rapidly, with a birthrate that is below
the regeneration minimum. Today’s Diaspora Jewry is in dire straits.

The second misconception is that Israel needs a strong Diaspora to
survive.

Economically, Israel, the world’s 19th largest economy, would do
better not taking Uncle Sam’s allowance. Like a grown up still living
in his parents home, Israel needs to be weaned off U.S. money if it
is ever to have the self-respect of a grown-up nation.

Politically, a Jewish lobby is not the only reason that the U.S.
supports Israel. The U.S. shares many values and goals with Israel,
such as a free society and fighting terror. A strong Diaspora is not
what will keep the U.S. voting with Israel, rather, a strong and
healthy Israel will draw the admiration and respect of other nations.

Culturally, Israel is the center of the Jewish universe. It is no
coincidence that Birthright, the now-famous free trip, flies to
Israel, not to Brooklyn or the Lower East Side, to show young people
what Judaism is.

The State of Israel has become the center of the Jewish collective
focus. Every Jewish newspaper across the U.S. plasters pictures of
Israel on its front cover, not some local Jewish issue. Israel is
where Judaism is happening, all other places are merely satellites.

The strength of the State of Israel protects all Jews of the
Diaspora, not the other way around. Israel’s long-arm thwarts
violence against Jews worldwide. The truth is that Israel does not
need a strong Diaspora to survive, but rather the Diaspora depends on
a strong Israel to survive both physically and culturally.

Goell continues: “We are similar to other Diaspora peoples like the
Greeks, Armenians and Scots, in their relations between their
far-flung Diaspora and home countries.”

Unlike the “Greeks, Armenians and Scots” we, Jewish people, have been
pining for our homeland for the last two-thousand years, and while
other nations respect their homeland, they seem to be in no rush to
go back to Greece, Armenia, and Scotland respectively. Since the
founding of the State of Israel in 1948, millions of Jews have
immigrated to Israel, and soon the majority of the Jewish people will
live, once again, in Israel. The arrival of almost two thousand
American Jewish immigrants and hundreds of French ones this summer
attests to the fact that the Aliyah revolution continues.

Finally Goell writes: “But let’s stop for a moment and try to imagine
the implications of squeezing an additional seven to eight million
cantankerous, contentious Jews into this tiny country. Life in the
buzzing beehive of Israel would be hell” and “The last thing in the
world we should want is to concentrate all Jews into tiny Israel,
cramming everything into one basket.”

First of all Israel is not “tiny.” New Jersey is about the size of
Israel and has 13 million people in it and still has massive tracts
of open land. Israel has plenty of room for seven to eight million
Jews. From the Galil, to the Negev, from the Jordan Valley to the
mountains of Jerusalem, Israel has tons of space to accommodate all
the Jews of the world.

Second, nothing could be happier than “bringing an additional seven
to eight million” Jews into Israel.

In our daily prayers we say: “Our Father in Heaven, do kindness with
us for the sake of Your great Name that has been proclaimed upon us.
Fulfill for us, Hashem our G-d, what is written: ‘At that time I will
bring you and at that time I will gather you in, for I will set you
up for renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I
bring back your captivity, before your own eyes,’ (Zephaniah 3:20)
said Hashem.”

We also say: “Blessed are you, Hashem, Who gathers in the dispersed
of His people of Israel.”

And we also say: “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who gladdens Zion with her
children.”

We have been praying to G-d for two thousand years to reunite us in
the Land of Israel. It will not be “hell” to have all the world’s
Jews in the Land of Israel, and we need not be afraid of having all
our eggs in “one basket.” G-d has promised to set us up “for renown
and praise among all the peoples of the earth” when we are reunited
in Israel. Indeed life here will be like a “beehive” because Israel
is the Land of Milk and Honey, and bees work nicely together to
create their home.

When talking about Aliyah, quantity is quality, because every Jew is
special and important. The “cream of the crop” of the Jewish people
is the Jewish people. Today, we should be advocating Aliyah for all
the Jewish people and putting it atop our political agenda. Aliyah is
the answer to the Arab demographic onslaught, and it will save Jews
in the Galut from assimilation and Anti-Semitism. Most of all, our
destiny calls for all the Jewish people to return to the Land of
Israel, so let us work to make this vision a reality today.
Views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of
israelinsider.