The True Future of Diaspora Jews

 

The Jews residing outside of Israel run a great risk of assimilation and leaving the faith as described in the article “Dear Israelis, America is not Israel.” This is even more likely when they live outside a traditional Jewish neighborhood, defined as, where all the children attend a Yeshiva, the family attends religious functions, the boys attend daily services preferably with the father and the home is kept properly kosher, will likely leave the religion within the next generation or two, three at the outside barring outside intervention. This will get a howl out of many who will claim that they have the magic formula by which to instill the balance of Judaism and secular community involvement. They may keep kosher at home; but not necessarily when eating out, especially at that great Chinese restaurant that all their friends rave about and where they eat with other families on special occasions. Perhaps the non-kosher outing is monthly pizza night. What about their children when attending school, do they necessarily keep kosher or might they sneak a non-kosher snack every now and again? Are their children hanging mostly with other Jewish children or a mixed crowd? When dating starts, are their dates from known families or sometimes are they dating from an unknown family and if so, what guarantees assure the person they are dating is Jewish? The potential for dangerous situations which will grow more and more prevalent as time progresses and once they are away at college it has become far too late to make corrections. The truth is even if your children are presently retaining a Jewish lifestyle while under your roof, will it be strong enough that they will do the same with their children, and then again through to their children? From what we have seen and even personally witnessed, this is not the case.

 

Youth who were raised with a complete Jewish background, Bar Mitzvah, president of their B’nai B’rith youth chapter, hooked into the Hillel House when attending university, and intermarried and children brought up in both religions which is almost the same as no religion; their children’s children will likely not be Bar Mitzvah and will float even further adrift with the generation after that not even knowing they came from a Jewish background looking back a few generations. We have a Mormon friend whose grandmother in his mother’s side was Jewish. Legally, he could make Aliyah to Israel on his maternal grandmother’s having been Jewish. They are but one example of how quickly a family can drift from Judaism. The reality can be seen ever so clearly just by looking back into Jewish history. The first mass scale assimilation came early on in Egypt. The Jews may or may not have been slaves or an indentured workforce and may have simply been workers whose only available employment was working on the construction projects. This was apparently the case for many Egyptians, so why not the Jews in Egypt. The truth according to most recounting is that a mere 20% of the Jews left Egypt while the majority preferred the security of what they knew over their faith. Then there was the sorry story about the Ten Lost Tribes which went into exile under the Assyrians and were never heard from until the present day. There is no proof these tribes of Jews coming from all corners of the earth are from the Ten Lost Tribes, but it makes for a very romantic tale. Finally, we have the Babylonian Exile. This was brought to an end by the conquest by Persia under Cyrus the Great. He was named Cyrus the Great by the Jews because he permitted their return to their homelands and with instructions to rebuild their Temple, what would in time become the Second Temple. Here the Jews were liberated from a cruel exile and still, once again, 20% returned to Israel, then known as Judea. The rest saw the wealth and glitter of Persia and decided to take their chances with a complete unknown rather than return to their homeland and rebuild their lives. It was easier to simply melt and assimilate into Persian life. Why should this return be any different other than we have already had more than 20% of the Jewish population, perhaps we should say known Jewish population, return to modern Israel. The number is still under 50%, but at least this time it will end up being over 20% and for that, we can be thankful. The sad news is that mostly parents who are not residing in a close knit Jewish neighborhood and whose children are not attending Yeshiva, the likelihood that their grandchildren will be within the Jewish fold is a slim bet. Yes, some will manage to hold on to that slim thread of tekhelet (blue) from their father’s or grandfather’s Tzitzit, but most will lose their grip and wander astray. This will be the sad end of many a Jewish family line.

 

But this is not the only influence that America has on Israel. Much of Israeli culture is Middle Eastern but with a definite American flavor. Nowhere in Israeli law is there a guarantee of free speech yet that is often part of a judicial ruling. Now if only Israel would write a Constitution and even include much of the Bill of Rights as there are worse examples of governmental theories. Israel is a liberal democratic nation with many of the equalities written into her laws. Many come from Britain while others from America and the Weimar Republic, the German governance before the Nazi hijacked the nation and too many of its people. There is also the fable that the United States has supported Israel from her inception. There is a partial truth to that as President Truman did advise the American Ambassador to the United Nations to vote in favor of the formation of Israel, or at least the UNGA Res 181. What people are less aware about is that Truman then immediately signed an arms embargo which included Israel. During the Eisenhower administration there was still an arms embargo on Israel including for the duration of the 1956 Suez War. Israel was also insisted upon to return all lands and properties to Egypt at the conclusion of that war by President Eisenhower. Truth be told, the start of American aid to Israel came in the 1970’s with the initial trickle in the late 1960’s. The earnest beginnings of the aid to Israel came during the Yom Kippur War where Israel was desperate for a resupply of arms from anywhere willing. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger advised President Nixon to wring some concessions from the Israelis before sending any aid. President Nixon ignored him and commanded the Secretary of Defense to send whatever the Israelis required immediately. That did run into a small problem, Europe. Every American base in Europe was immediately closed by their hosting nation to any aircraft resupplying the Israelis. The Europeans saw this as finally the opportunity to have Israel removed from the map and their “mistake” of allowing her formation erased. This threatened the entirety of Operation Nickel Grass as the United States could not fly these provisions directly and air refueling was not a viable option. In the end, despite every European nation refusing American use of their airspace for this operation, Portugal was willing to help allowing the aircraft landing and refueling permission at Lajes Field in the Azores Islands. This was the start of the American-Israeli cooperation and interdependence as Israel provides the United States with a good amount of intelligence which they otherwise might not have and cooperation on some operational missions providing deniability for both nations. Still, the United States is dearly loved by the average Israeli. Even during the Obama administration there was the feeling that Israel would not be sacrificed, as the American people would never stand for such. This was the general belief and it has definitely carried over to the Trump administration whose moving the embassy to Jerusalem sent waves of joy and appreciation of the promise fulfilled through the tiny nation.

 

There are things which can reinforce one’s connection to the Jewish faith, though such is not the desired means of having one return to the faith. There are many in Europe who are finding that they are very Jewish, at least as far as those who find hatred of a Jew as part of their callings. When Synagogues in your town or the city just down the highway is being firebombed and Jews who wear an identifying piece of jewelry or clothing are being attacked regularly as happens in certain places and cities in Europe, then one remembers their attachment to Judaism, as they have no choice. It is known that anti-Semites will check birth certificates and trace people’s heritage back even two or three generations and if anyone in your family was Jewish, to the anti-Semite you are Jewish and are a target. Some places in Europe rabbis are advising their congregants not to wear a kippah in public and to remove them when they leave prayers for safety’s sake. When the people around you in the public start to treat you differently because, as they would state it, you have Jewish blood, then you realize that for many once your family was Jewish always your family is Jewish, and this includes you. Even those who intermarried are not free of such hatred but their non-Jewish spouse will be considered contaminated by marrying you. This anti-Semitism is returning to Europe in all of its ugliest phenomena. This disease is growing and it is infecting the youth in Europe, especially the Muslims but it is far from limited to just Muslims. There are still the old right wing anti-Semites, some neo-Nazis and others just neo-fascists. The problem is that there is another form of anti-Semitism rising in Europe which many have tried to ignore or even claim cannot exist, but the reality is there. Anti-Semitism is becoming adopted by the far-leftists and even some presumably liberals. These groups include pro-Communists and socialists as well as the militant left. In too many places the name Jew and Israel are used interchangeably and with equal animosity. Jews will soon come to a choice in Europe, either go underground and hide their having Jewish roots until they are found out or get out of Europe. If leaving Europe is your choice, a small piece of advice, choose Israel for reasons we are about to make evident.

 

The United States also is facing increasing anti-Semitism. Most of it is in the form of anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism, but in the end, it will be played out as anti-Semitism. Even in New York where Joe Crowley in the 14th congressional district just lost the primary to challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an outspoken BDS supporter who is strongly pro-Palestinian and believes Israel is illegal. Our bet is she probably does not like Jews period. Ocasio-Cortez spoke out strongly against the Israeli army’s actions on the Gaza border on May 14, tweeting, “This is a massacre. I hope my peers have the moral courage to call it such. No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as anyone else. Democrats can’t be silent about this anymore.” When asked about the Tweet, Ocasio-Cortez replied, “I think I was primarily compelled on moral grounds because I could only imagine if 60 people were shot and killed in Ferguson. Or if 60 people were shot and killed in the West Virginia teachers’ strikes. The idea that we are not supposed to talk about people dying when they are engaging in political expression just really moved me.” She also claimed to support Bernie Sanders who is also outspokenly anti-Israel, and yes, he is supposedly Jewish.

 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tweeting as an Outspoken BDS Supporter

 

The waves of anti-Israel protests on major American college and university campuses as well as intimidation of Jewish students with mostly verbal abuse but some numbers have been spat upon and more recently attacks have taken place. Those inciting such actions against Jewish students will also be amongst the leaders in the future after these students graduate and take their place in the society. These positions are taking on a following strongly along the lines of the activist left. Apparently, if one is a Zionist, you cannot be an honest feminist, honest. Some say that supporting Israel bars one from all pro-rights and leftist protests and movements. The writing is on the wall even in some high schools where anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head. These types of things grow slowly and almost unperceived and eventually hit a tipping point, and then people turn around and start asking things like how did this happen and where did it come from. It came from not paying enough attention to what was growing in the shadows simply waiting for the best time to jump out and take center stage. The United States is approaching just such a tipping point when it comes to Jew hatred. This hatred has been festering in the background since the early 1980’s, and had never completely disappeared. Now it is growing with the aid of Islamist groups who are painting hate for Israel as protecting human rights and using that as the introduction to all Jews equal Israel. Even Courtney Love has referred to Linda Sarsour as an “anti-Semitic terrorist” stating in a Tweet, “I won’t follow anything that’s being led by an anti-Semitic terrorist that’s using feminism as a tool to promote her radicalism.” This is going to heat up and catch many Jews, especially those who have wandered from the religion and are completely unaware of what is coming their way.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Secondary Effect of Israeli Founding and Other Truths

 

Let us first speak about the misconception that Israel was founded by Europeans as an apology for the Shoah, the Holocaust. The idea and beginning of the Mandate given the British to establish the Jewish State began during World War I and was part of a series of peoples returning to their ancient homelands. The Arabs had been promised lands and numerous tribal leaders were promised to have the rule over lands and there were promises to many Balkan nations and across the entirety of the MENA States.* These regions were divided up and were to be established by different nations who were amongst the victors of World War I. The nations from Europe established colonial governments which tied these nations to their European nation and were eventually granted independence and Israel was amongst those nations declaring their independence mostly after World War II (see map below). Surrounding Israel, who declared their independence on May 15, 1948, we have other nations who also declared independence with Jordan in 1946, Lebanon in 1946, Syria in 1946, Egypt in 1922, Saudi Arabia in 1932 and Iraq in 1930. Looking at the map, we see there were other MENA States whose independence was after Israel such as Libya in 1951, Yemen in 1967, Algeria in 1962, as well as Bahrain, UAE, and Qatar all in 1971. So, Israel declared her independence in the second wave but there was a third wave which came much later with all having reached independence by 1975 with Iran having gone from the Pahlavi Dynasty which was Persian rule to the Mullahs which is Islamic Theology in a coup which occurred in 1979. Iran was never held as a colony by the Europeans as they did not take part in World War I and were never subdued and conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

 

Dates that the MENA nations received their independence after colonial rule many since the times of the Persians or even earlier

 

There is another map of the MENA States which shows a different reality which many either have never known about or have ignored as it breaks with their preferred notion of Israel as a purely European peopled nation with none living in Israel from outside Europe and North America. That is a falsehood which need be eradicated from the conversation of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the realities. The reality was that by 1960 the population percentage of Jews expelled from Arab nations made up between thirty-five to forty percent of the Jewish population in Israel. As time has continued, with the Aliyah of the Ethiopian Jews brought to Israel in three operations named Moses, Joshua and Solomon, and the Aliyah of the Bnai Menashe from India, the numbers of non-European Jews has reached close to fifty percent if not over half. Further, there has been a fair amount of mixing through marriage with Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi Jews as well as Mizrahim, Bene Israel, Bnei Menashe, Cochin Jews, Bene Ephraim, Ethiopians, Yemeni, and other even smaller populations all within Israel with others coming from places which stretch the imagination even to include from Japan, China and the Philippines. The world must disabuse themselves of the misconception that Israel is simply a place where the European Jews fled and are still fleeing from Europe, Russia, North America and the Ukraine. The Jews from many Arab nations across the width and breadth of the MENA Nations did not flee; they were expelled by threats, pogroms, expulsion where they were forced from their homes which they had held for some thousands of years and most many hundreds of years. They were denied taking their wealth and their businesses were left to be spoils for the Arabs as well as their homes, farms, herds, jewelry, money and anything else of any worth. They often were allowed one suitcase each which were searched and anything within the searcher desired, they took. These Jews landed in Israel next to destitute with their skills and nothing more. Israel in the 1950’s was not the economic powerhouse she is today; she was a farming economy which did not even have sufficient housing for these over half a million Jews. These Jews were refugees which outnumbered the Arabs displaced during the 1948-9 attempt by six Arab armies to destroy Israel in her cradle. The difference is the Arabs placed their brothers and sisters displaced by their war to annihilate Israel that failed, though they did take control of Gaza and regions of Judea and Samaria which Jordan renamed West Bank, placed them into camps and refused to permit them to work, own land, vote, have citizenship or anything resembling a normal life while the Jews who were expelled and came to Israel were given homes and accepted into Israeli society and treated as any normal society treats their kinfolk. That is why there are Palestinian refugees and not MENA Jewish refugees also in equal numbers in camps. If the Arabs would treat their brothers and sisters as family as Israel did their refugees, there would be no problem. But the Arabs demand that there be a problem and that Israel is to blame, refusing to accept any responsibility themselves.

 

Jews forced from Arab World Between 1948 and 1972

 

Still, the constant BIG LIE is told over and over and over until the world has come to believe and repeat as if an actual known fact that Israel is a European Colony and has no history or reason to be in the Middle East. This BIG LIE ignores the half of the population in Israel which has at least one parent whose lineage comes from other than Europe, Russia, Ukraine or North America. This must be corrected and the reality is that first, even the European Jews have a genetic link to the Middle East and the other half of the population is from the Middle East or North Africa. Half of the Israeli population originates from the Arab and Islamic world where they resided for centuries upon centuries. They had times where life was very good and they were treated almost equally and there were times when they faced pogroms and forced conversions and even times they were forced to flee the persecution of one area leader and reestablish themselves under a different Sheikh or Mufti where they would be treated better. Often the position of Dhimmi was the best the Jews could hope to find. Many of these Jewish families had histories which went back in their location to the time of the Caliphs and the Islamic conquest and back before Islam with some residing in what became the Arab and Muslim world even before the time of Jesus. We know this because of writings from the Talmud and other Jewish texts and historical writings. Additionally, there have been Jews living within the Promised Lands since the establishing of the initial conquest by Joshua. These are Jews mostly from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the Priestly classes of Kohanim and Levites. The main cities where these Jews lived included Jerusalem, Hevron, Shechem, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheva and the other ancient cities of Eretz Yisroel (see map below).

 

Important Cities of Ancient Israel

 

These Jews which were expelled from the Arab World were almost as numerous as were the initial influx of European Jews by around 1955. This is the truth which the world ignores when they demand that the Jews simply return to wherever they came. Let’s imagine the Jews trying to return to the place they originally came from. Well, if you track the Jews back through their family tree say to around 1000 B.C.E., then you will find that their family origins is in the holy land as ruled by King David. Jerusalem has been conquered and is the capital city and declared to be the Eternal Capital of Eretz Yisroel. This was the beginning of the Israelite empire which eventually reached the Euphrates River in the area which is northern Syria near Iraq (see map below). This was the highpoint in the history of the Jewish People which then divided when the Northern Ten Tribes refused to accept the son of Solomon as King and broke from Judah which then established the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judea. Israel fell in 722 B.C.E. to the Assyrians and the people were assumed to have assimilated and all but disappeared. Judea fell in 597 B.C.E. to the Babylonians leading to the Babylonian Exile which ended when Persia under Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and bid the Jews to return and rebuild the Temple and worship Hashem in their custom but were required to pay a tax to the Persians as their rulers with Judea being a province. Eventually came the Romans who, after the Jews had revolted and thrown off Roman Rule twice, decided to disperse the Jewish People throughout their empire as was the Roman method of destroying a people removing them from history. This was how the Romans dispersed the Carthaginians after the Third Punic War.

 

Eretz Yisroel as formed after the conquests by the Kingdoms of King David and King Solomon; both of whom allowed the Principalities of Edom, Moab and Ammon to be semi-autonomous as long as they and their armies supported Eretz Yisroel

 

We wish all the best of luck in finding any Carthaginians in the modern world. The Jews only survived because, though our religion is based on our ancient lands and Jerusalem and the Temple, it is also centered on the Torah and the rules it gives us in the form of six-hundred-thirteen Mitzvoth, rules by which to live. This provided the core of the Jewish People for close to two-thousand years along with the knowledge that Hashem promised that we would be returned to our homelands miraculously and our dispersal and exile would end. The promise gave a date according to Ezekiel who said the Jews were to be punished for 430 years because they had turned away from Hashem. This was to become the Babylonian exile. The Persians under Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonians and freed their Jewish captives about 70 years after Judah lost independence to Babylon. This left 360 years which the Jews would require a second exile to fulfill as one must pay Hashem when one strays. In Leviticus 26:18, Leviticus 26:21, Leviticus 26:24 and Leviticus 26:28 the Torah spells things out quite clearly, should the Jews not fully repent their sins they would be punished increased by a factor of seven. Since most of the Jews freed from Babylon decided to live in the Persian society and adopted pagan ways, which is not exactly repenting, their remaining 360 years were multiplied by seven meaning their time in the Diaspora or under foreign occupation became 2,520 years on the original lunar Jewish calendar which translates to 2,484 years. Count from 536 BCE forward 2,484 years and you arrive at 1948. Further, Isaiah’s prophecy Chapter 66:8 states: “Who has heard of a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will a land be brought forth with labor pains in one day? Or will a nation be born at one time? For Zion has come into labor pains as well as given birth to her sons.” Israel was established exactly as Isaiah prophesized in a single day. These are just two prophesies which predicted the return of the Jewish People and the reestablishing of the state of Israel. There are a whole series of prophesies which tell of the future of Israel and the events which will transpire. A partial list can be found here. We figure this would be a great place to simply remind everyone that the Jews are being gathered literally from the four corners, or the far corners of the globe from every nation and every region. The miracle which Hashem promised is being realized and Israel is anything but a European colony, it is the realization of the promise by Hashem, it is that simple.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

MENA States = the region and nations in the Middle East and North Africa

 

Please Excuse Our Temporary Difficulties

Beyond the Cusp has changed office locations and our internet access has been delayed from original arrangements but we expect to be back by Wednesday, November 20^th. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We look forward to rejoining you as quickly as we are able and wish to thank you again for your understanding.

 

Beyond the Cusp