Living here in Jerusalem, I have been reading about the rise of anti-Semitic attacks upon Jews in the United States, where there is a prevalent myth that what happened to European Jewry could never happen there. Sundry experts optimistically predict that the downturn in the economy (which has already

Have we learned nothing?

unleashed strident voices blaming Jews) will soon rebound. I shake my head in disbelief as a leader of the Orthodox Union, one of the largest Jewish organizations, reportedly called for American Jews to relocate not to Israel, but to various parts of the United States.


During the many years before my own Aliyah (with G-d's help, we will soon mark 22 years in the Jewish homeland), at the behest of the late, great visionary, Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, I would often embark upon lecture tours in which I would cite the growing preponderance of synagogue torchings, swastika desecrations and virulent physical attacks, which pose a clear and present danger to the American Jewish community. What bodes ill, I fear (and fear more instinctively daily), is an economic collapse in the United States. It could propel every Jew-hater to emerge from the woodwork and put into action that which they held in abeyance during more affluent times. Indeed, the 'prophetic' (sic) words of the founder of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, keep reverberating in my mind.


"Our battle" he said, "is not for the day when every American has two cars and a soft cushion for his lardy bottom." The battle for the mind of John Q. American, he predicted, will be won when the good life is over. Then, Americans will turn to the 'real patriots' (The American Nazi Party) and a new dawn will begin for "the idea whose time has come."


What possesses American Jews, I silently ponder, to sit in the midst of a probable financial depression and remain with anti-Semites of every ilk and stripe, both black and white, who have been waiting with bated breath for just such an opportunity to scapegoat Jews and who are joining the White Supremacist movements and militias.


Where are the voices of Jewish leaders, particularly those who saw what happened in another civilized country - Germany - barely six decades ago? There is no comparison, you say? America is a democracy with a strong Constitution, you say?


Have we learned nothing from the unspeakable Holocaust?


A constitution is only as strong as the resolve of the populace to uphold it. And so,the majority of Jews remain in the United States and worry about whether the future will restore the value of the stocks that could make them millionaires, but worry little about whether they have a future in the not-so-goldeneh-medina.


Listen to the prognosis of a Cambridge-educated economist:


"The hundreds of billions of dollars of paper wealth that were knocked off prices have disappeared in a puff of smoke. Those who borrowed or spent against it,whether individuals or corporations, are going to be in a great deal of trouble."


This dire prediction (buoyed by recent scandals in major corporations) could ignite the fuse that sets off a time-bomb of Jew-hatred in America.

Before this last remaining reminder of our holy Temple in Jerusalem, I whisper a fervent prayer.



In the final analysis, the sage Jewish adage, "Der Mentsch Tracht, un G-tt Lacht" ("Man composes and G-d disposes) is a truism that could prove more logical than a myriad of economic predictions about Wall St.
Is it not crystal clear that HaShem yitbarach is mercifully issuing a strong warning to American Jews and, indeed, to all Jews in the Diaspora: your destiny lies not with Wall Street, but rather with the Wall, the Kotel HaMaaravi in Eretz Yisrael?


As I stand before this last remaining reminder of our holy Temple in Jerusalem, I whisper a fervent prayer:


"Thank you, dear G-d for the ability you have given me to discern that which is true wealth in this volatile and unpredictable world. Not shares of stock on Wall St., which in one moment can turn to dross, but rather the sharing of our Jewish faith with my people in Eretz Yisrael - and Your Divine promise of an even greater blessing, a share in the World to Come.