[email protected]is a veteran popular tour guide and author of "Jews, Israelis and Arabs
It is not a new phenomenon but they tell us it is picking up steam lately.
There have always been Israelis who have left the country for what they thought greener pastures.
For some, shortly after arriving when the state was young, it was a heavy, difficult choice. Israel then was not the economic, high-tech marvel it is today, Hampered by a socialist, paternalistic system, if one was without the preferred Labor Party political credentials, one waited last in line for scarce resources, including employment. These "yordim" left their land of dreams quietly with heavy hearts, often hoping to "return one day"
By the time I moved to Israel in 1977, the situation had vastly improved in every respect, and I remember that "yerida" or "descent" from the land was a "scarlet letter' one tried to hide.
Families hid the dirty secret from neighbors and friends. They ensured all that it was only for a short time and they would be back soon. Then, it was a "shanda", a shame to abandon the homeland, the nation, the dream. Yitschak Rabin called them insulting epithets.
Today the word" yerida"("to descend") regarding moving from Israel, is no longer heard. It is considered judgmental and a rude term.
"Aliyah", the opposite of "yerida" - is (still) in use. That is what I and millions of other Jews from the far corners of the exiles have done fulfilling the prophetic rebirth of the promised land. We came because we were Jews. Period.
One makes "Aliya" into only one country - the country promised by God. One can immigrate to all other countries. The unique terminology reflects the connection between the Jewish people and the dream.
Today there are Israelis who not only don't hide their Yerida or "relocation" as they now put it, but they compare notes on which "relocation" is the coolest and who is succeeding most in the new promised land. So far.
They are gleeful about abandoning what was for their fathers a dream. How best to leave the land has become a growing service industry today in Israel.
What happened?
The "new Jew" of the "Jewish state " was engineered bereft of Torah.
That was the plan for the new utopia.
However, without our Torah, as we have seen time and again and today as well, there is no Jewish nation. It may sound simplistic or radical but Jewish history looks us in the face.
Today there are growing Israeli communities in Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Austria to mention a few choice Israeli havens. The historical irony of returning to the lands where the Jewish nation was targeted for annihilation does not bring a second's pause to the new citizens of the world, They have no sense of Jewish memory or fate. Their Jewish memory banks have been lobotomized by design.
It was engineered out of them as they were to be the "new Jews"
The term "Aliyah" has not yet been changed by the"new Jews" but I am sure they are working on it.
After all, how dare we consider our land more special than others? Why discriminate between lands and peoples or anything at all? Why discriminate? Why exceptionalism?
Now, wouldn't that be authentic Judaism?
Israel's Left is quick to defend bringing in non-Jews to Israel and fighting for illegal non-Jewish economic infiltrators to remain. The official reason is couched in humanitarian language like empathy for the stranger; tolerance for all things, except things that are "too Jewish", as they want to dilute the Jewish content of Israel. "Multiculturalism", never Judaism, is the goal.
They want a country of all nations and citizens. In other words anything but a Jewish state.
But it is clear that it is only in Israel that the future and fate of the Jewish people lies The rest of the Jewish world are at best observers, increasingly less relevant to the future of the Jewish nation. It is in Israel where the Jewish future is being determined at this historic juncture and struggle for its identity.
Historically, Jews, challenging traditional practices and solidarity, ultimately either decided to leave the Jewish people or disappeared from the nation as a matter of natural course.
Throughout history, the Jewish nation has been confronted with key crossroads where an unplanned "winnowing" of the nation transpired Many, seeking an alternative path, veered off the road completely where they disappeared. History shows us that some even joined our enemies, (BDS,..?) as the main body of the Jewish nation continued down the familiar and well-beaten road preserving Jewish unity, identity, and dreams for the next generation.
In Israel today, the "old Zionist guard": the ones who purposely uprooted Torah from the nation, the ones who then decided who would get what share of the resources see their power and nobility-like status openly challenged. And challenged by whom!
By those who were supposed to eternally appreciate and acknowledge their rightful dominance, They should have accepted the way of the future. The ingrates and the ignorant, primitive rabble who want a noticeably Jewish state will need to learn to understand.
When the elites spoke of a "Jewish" country they didn't really mean Jewish. They weren't sure what they meant but it certainly did not mean what Israel's Jewish majority wants today. The elite minority do not want a Jewish country in any tangible, traditional Jewish sense and they will not bow to the Jewish democratically elected majority that does.
It is civil war (violence and bloodshed worked for them in 1948 - when Ben Gurion, the "Israeli" sank the Altalena with the "Jew" Menachem Begin on board) for which their leadership is preparing them today, They are also prepared to allow our external enemies in as they threaten not to defend a country that is not in their image. And they are trying to weaken our economy and influence our friends to threaten us.
Or relocation.
Abdication to the Jewish majority is not an option for the elites. Working out a modus vivendi in the Promised Land does not appeal to them either.
In Israel, the old guard is on its way out and many of them go or threaten to go to Berlin, Madrid, Athens, Los Angeles, Thailand, and places that have never seen a Jew before. (will they see a Jew when the Israelis arrive?)
Finally, life amongst the Gentiles. No more Jewish nonsense. Home at last!
The old elites are a fading group and a new one is rising. The new guard is doing what the founding elites once did. They are developing the land, defending the land, and loving the land.
This is truly a historic time of transition. Those who want a Jewish country are being joined by other Jews from the lands of Exile who dream of raising their families in the land of our dreams. There are many who understand that the alternative to Aliyah is eventual identity oblivion in the best case.
The historic transition that we are witnessing is indeed bumpy and frightening. Our sages teach us that the land of Israel "spits out those who do not merit it".
Those who do merit it will earn its blessing as promised by the One who set it aside only for us. -And at that time, as the prophet Jeremiah said, "No enemy shall breach its walls".