Jews throughout the Diaspora are in shock. Why is this happening? How can it be? Jewish children are spit upon. Hasidim are clubbed. Swastikas are scrolled on the walls of the train station in Washington D.C.
Like the Jews of Shushan who were aghast at Haman’s decree, the Jews of the Diaspora are dumbfounded. What has changed, they asked?
Nothing has changed. It's the same Jew hatred of old. For a few decades after the Holocaust, Hashem lowered the level of outright Anti-Semitism to give His children time to recover and to further the building of Medinat Yisrael. But now the time of respite is over,
Medinat Yisrael is a mighty state of its own, and Hashem has decided that the ingathering must continue. It is as simple as that. Hashem has released the present wave of anti-Jew hatred, allowing the eternal venom out of the sack.
Hysterical calls to educate the barbaric masses won't help. Appeals to Gentile governments won't stem the tide. When a dog gets hit with a stick, the dog bites at the stick, believing that the stick is delivering the blows.
Like with all other events in the world, Hashem is in charge. It is He who is wielding the stick of Anti-Semitism. In our very comfortable exiles in foreign lands, when we forgot the message of the Holocaust, and fell in love with America, Britain, and France, Hashem decided to remind us that we don't belong in foreign lands. Once again, He is teaching us that it is time to come home to our own special Land.
True, in Israel there are also sticks which strike at us, but here, Hashem has given us the powerful stick of Tzahal to strike back at those who rise up against us. The message of the rise in Anti-Semitism is clear. The Jews of the Diaspora must wake up from their dumbfounded slumber, and the State of Israel must initiate a gigantic emergency program of Aliyah to provide all of the necessary infrastructure and means to bring it about -
NOW!
Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook. His other books include: "The Kuzari For Young Readers" and "Tuvia in the Promised Land". His books are available on Amazon. Recently, he directed the movie, "Stories of Rebbe Nachman."
