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Last week Israelis and Zionists around the world commemorated the 125th anniversary of Theodore Herzl’s first Zionist Conference in Basel, Switzerland. That event marked the beginning of the renewal of the Jewish nation state. The Conference and subsequent founding of the State of Israel set in motion the return of Jews to their eternal homeland and the establishment of a safe place for Jews and their traditions. The new State set up and funded different communities, organizations, and provided benefits to help Jews from around the world make Israel their new home.

As I considered the remarkable achievements and passion of the organizations and people that made everything possible, I thought about the actions of those same organizations today, and if they have lost their way and original commitment to the Jewish people, its traditions, and national identity.

In 1948 Israel was a country of just 600,000. Through numerous waves of Jewish Aliyah, the young nation’s population grew to 1.5 million by 1950, 3 million by 1970, 4 million by 1980, 6.4 million by 2000 and will most likely hit 10 million in the next few years. Much of this was because of the “right of return” law set up in 1950, which allowed Jews anywhere in the world to make Israel their new home. The law was a literal Godsend for the Jewish people in wake of the Holocaust and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews from Arab countries in the Middle East. However, there was a questionable provision in the Right of Return Law which has allowed hundreds of thousands of non- Jews to immigrate to Israel and resulted in widespread intermarriage.

The Right of Return Law allows any person with one Jewish grandparent to eimmigrate to Israel and enjoy all the special privileges given to Jews who move to Israel, which is sometimes called the grandfather clause. After the Iron curtain separating Soviet Jewry and the rest of the world fell, more than a million Russians moved to Israel exercising their right to return. According to statistics published by the State, there are about 500,000 non- Jewish Russians in Israel today, serving in the Army, taking part in the workforce, and intermarrying with Jewish men and women.

Looking at the statistics over the past few years, the picture becomes very dark. On average, more than 60% of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine, the two largest sources of immigrants, are not Jewish. This is because the grandfather clause loophole allows people who are not Jewish to move to Israel for whatever reason from wherever they choose. The Ministry for Aliya and Absorption, which is controlled by left wing and politically correct clerks, not only does not question this, it encourages it, as they look to transform Israel from a Jewish state to a more diverse State which also has Jews in it.

The Ethiopian Aliyan, or “Mivtza Moshe” which rescued tens of thousands of Jews trapped in in a civil war to the State of Israel was a modern-day miracle. Israel kept its commitment and mission of being a place of refuge to all Jews wherever they may be. According to experts on Ethiopian Jewry, and Ethiopian Kessim (rabbis or leading scholars) themselves, by 2008 all who were eligible to return to Israel through the “right of return” law had already done so. Yet, the Ministry of Aliya and Absorption wanted more. In Ethiopia there is a tribe called the Pelushmura who were once Jewish, but around 150 years ago converted to Christianity to achieve better social status. Since 2015, Israel’s Aliyah and Absorption Ministry has pushed to bring tens of thousands of them and other Ethiopians who are not eligible to move to Israel under the grandfather clause.

The Jewish agency, founded in 1929 by the World Zionist Organization, has been one of, if not the flagship organization which helped establish and build the Jewish State. Its commitment and achievements in helping to rebuild the Jewish nation were unmatched. But in recent years it too has shifted much of its focus to immigration of non-Jews from Russia, Ukraine, and Ethiopia, and most recently has taken part in campaigns to help integrate the illegalimmigrants from Eritrea who crossed the Egyptian border illegally and live in Southern Tel Aviv.

Louie Malka is an example. He illegally crossed the Egyptian border into Israel and is a member of the Jewish Agency support groups. He is featured on the Jewish Agency’s Facebook page and is praised for the journey he took to get to Israel.

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs was established to help strengthen Jewish Identity, combat anti-semitsm and improve relations between the Israel and World Jewry. Currently it is led by Tziona Koenig-Yair, who was Vice President at the Hartman Institute for pluralistic Jewish Studies and led the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), a progressive organization that advocates for non-Jews, LGBT and Arabs. Just this year Nachman Shai, Minster of the Diaspora affairs office opened up a new wing for modernized Judaism to fund the Reform Movement to the tune of tens of millions of shekels. It is no secret that the Reform Movement of JudiasmJudaism has abandoned its commitment to traditional Jewish ideas and has aligned itself with progressive ideologies and anti-Israel activist groups (BDS, J Street, etc.).

The Talmud in Yevamot explains that during the time of King David and King Shlomo the Jewish people did not accept converts. The concern was that people were trying to become part of the Jewish Nation for the wrong reasons. This could be for wealth, better living conditions, honor but not to find Hashem. This was one of the rare times in History where the Jews enjoyed a golden age and the world looked at us with envy. Israel is once again an economic power offering opportunities and freedoms not enjoyed in many of the countries all over the world. I think that the time has come for us to rediscover our commitment to God and our identity like in the times of King David and Shlomo.

Benjamin Sipznermanaged the Anglo division for the Religious Zionist Party in the last election, is an Oleh from New York, and recently completed his service as a lone soldier in the Nachal Brigade of the IDF. He married recently and is learning in the Bet El Yeshiva. He can be found on Facebook and can be reached at [email protected].