A dear friend of mine was in Israel last week for a family wedding. We visited the Kotel (Western Wall) and the Kotel Tunnels and had lunch at Café Rimon in Mamilla. We packed as much conversation and updates on our families as we could into those precious hours. As we said our goodbyes, I was holding back what I had wanted to say to her the whole time: “Please come home! (make aliya) At least, make sure your passports and documents are up to date and open up a file with Nefesh B’Nefesh before you are forced to! ,” I wanted to plead. But, because I am often accused of being an “aliya bully,” I held back that request and hugged her goodbye.
The Shock of Sydney
I decided to leave a voice message for my friend and shared with her all I had wanted to say. I begged her to consider making aliya for so many reasons. The continued rise in worldwide antisemitism, prophecies and teachings that explain to us that all Jews should all be living here by now, and the teachings about the impending Geula (Final Redemption) by esteemed Rabbeim like Rabbi Pinchas Winston (Ohr Yechezkel, Emunas HaGeulah, Sanhedrin 111a, Tuv HaAretz and The Merit of Living in Eretz Yisroel Before Moshicach Arrives). For over 20 years he has been saying that the window to make Aliya (immigration to Israel) is closing. Literally 10 minutes after I left the message, I heard about the horrific attack on Sydney’s Jewish community,
The Tragic Loss of Alex Kleytman Among the 16 Jews murdered: Never Again?
Part of the breaking news about this massacre: Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman was fatally shot while shielding his wife, Larisa, during the Hanukkah terror attack in Bondi Beach. Both Alex and Larisa survived the Holocaust as children, Alex enduring “dreadful conditions” in Siberia. The elderly couple had been married for 57 years, had two children, and 11 grandchildren. Australia is home to one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors outside Israel. My friend’s parents were Holocaust survivors. I tell my husband all the time that I cannot believe how the children of survivors don’t read the warning signs of Antisemitism and get out before it is too late. Are they going to repeat “hanging in” until the bitter end, as most of the Jews did in Nazi Germany?
Voices on the Attack
- An Israeli official: “We warned the Australian authorities multiple times about an attempt to murder Jews on their soil. They did nothing.”
- Hillel Fuld: “The only thing that’s shocking about this is that anyone is shocked.”
- Paula Stern: “The painful truth we have to accept is that these terrorists were looking for a soft spot to attack Jews because they, correctly, see Jews as part of the people of Israel. And although this may sound shocking, there is another issue that needs to be made clear. The truth is obvious to Israel…and that is all that matters. This attack was directed at Israel, but there is a message for the Jews of Australia too. It’s time to pack a suitcase. Time to get ready.”
- Rabbi Josh Wander: We Forgot We Were Refugees “The saddest exile is not the one you live in — but the one you forget you’re in.”We became ‘proud Americans,’ ‘proud Germans,’ ‘proud Russians,’ even ‘proud Persians’ (and Australians). We forgot the one thing that mattered: We were never supposed to stay. There is nothing wrong with gratitude toward countries that sheltered us — America foremost among them. Jews flourished here economically, intellectually, and religiously. But gratitude is not identity. Jewish identity is destiny. There is a difference. Time to Come Home.” Rabbi Tzvi Fishman: Why would a religious Jew want to live in a gentile land inundated with spiritual impurity when he or she could live in the Holy Land????
Prioritizing Jewish Safety and Preparing to Make Aliya
Among the many memorable quotes of Rabbi Meir Kahana HY”D (May G-d avenge his blood), he said, “I prefer a powerful and proud Jewish State that is hated by the entire world than an Auschwitz that is loved by one and all.”
Yehudis Schamroth: “I, like Kahana, am sick and tired of seeing Jews targeted, attacked, and murdered in cold blood! I am sick and tired of Jews being murdered with the complicit acceptance of the world. And the world continues to get used to Jewish massacres and then whitewashes them as unfortunate incidents. Many people, including Paula Stern, noted that ‘The Guardian’s headlines rob us of our identity every bit as much as those terrorists tried (and succeeded) in robbing us of life,’ as they never once mentioned ‘Jews’ or ‘Israel’ in the headlines report of the Sydney massacre!
Perhaps if the people had been allowed to be armed, like we are here in Israel, there may have been only a few casualties. But why not come to live here, for all the right reasons, not the least of which is that you will be protected as a Jewish Israeli who is entitled to protection—you won’t have to hope it will happen.”
The Final Question leads to the Final Solution
On Chanukah in Skokie, IL, 1977, Rabbi Kahana said, “It doesn’t matter what the gentiles say, it matters what Jews DO!” “Time to go home!”
So, I say to my dear friend and to Jews all over the world when we say, “Please come home!” What will you do?
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