My parents made aliya when I was 16 years old, and I was a very idealistic teenager, extremely excited and supportive of moving home to Israel, after being born and growing up in New York City.
I like to tell the story of how, as a 19 year old IDF soldier, I found a homework assignment in my parent's basement from when I was 10 years old, in 4th grade.
It was a simple homework assignment. I had to write down three dreams that I wanted to achieve in life. My answers were as follows:
Dream #1: Live in Israel
Dream #2: Serve in the IDF
Dream #3: Become really rich to give a lot of tzedaka
I'm blessed to have fulfilled two of those 10 year old boy dreams, to live in Israel and serve in the IDF, as I continue to do today in the IDF reserves.
The reason I had such dreams as a 10 year old boy growing up in New York is because I loved to read history books. I loved to read Bible stories, Jewish history stories, US history stories, stories about the Jewish people in Europe, Holocaust stories etc. And I obviously, even as a 10 year old boy, understood how blessed we were to have the ability to live in our ancestral homeland and defend ourselves with our own army, and I wanted to take be part of that, no longer a Jew remaining in the Diaspora, but a Jew taking advantage of living in our homeland and taking part in the privilege to be able to defend ourselves, finally after 2,000+ years of being defenseless.
Even as a teenager in the United States, as a student of Jewish history, it was clear to me that the golden era of American Jewry would one day come to an end.
When I used to speak about this years ago, people would respond to me "what are you talking about, there will never be another Holocaust, and definitely not in the United States". My response was that in every generation something different happens that ends the golden era of a Jewish diaspora. Jews were kicked out of Poland, out of Britain, expelled from the golden era of Spain because of the inquisition, massacred by the Nazis to end the golden era of Judaism in the "Jerusalem of Germany", Berlin, and that the end of the golden era of American Jewry would happen, albeit differently.
I do hope I'm wrong, but as we see the growth of Jew hatred on US college campuses today, with most University administrators and even local police refraining from protecting Jews from blatant discrimination, and even from violence, it is not hard to imagine a reality of BLM/antifa-like riots in the streets of Jewish neighborhoods, attacking Jews in the streets or in their homes, with local police not showing up to protect the Jews from the mob. 21st century pogroms, not done by government, but without any government authority able or willing to protect the Jews.
Again, I do hope I'm wrong, but it is so far-fetched to envision modern pogroms with the growth of Jew-haterd in the streets of America, at the same time that government and official institutions are doing virtually nothing to stop the tsunami of Jew-hatred and outright discrimination against Jews?
Hopefully I am wrong and it will never get that bad, but even without getting that bad, to me, the answer is clear. Hashem is once again sending us reminders that we don't belong in the Diaspora. It is time to come home, to the one country in the world where Jewish chiildren are brought up in a natural atmosphere where all the holidays of the country are Jewish holidays, where there is no conflict of dual loyalty, and where being a proud Jew is in the air, no matter what one's level of religious Jewish education.
Jews around the world just finished the Passover Seder saying "Next Year in Jerusalem", celebrating a holiday that was centered around Jews going up to our Holy Temple in Jerusalem. How many Jews were serious about internalizing those words, to actually take advantage of living in a generation, with our people as sovereign in our ancestaral homeland, and our own army? How many appreciate that they can move back home to be next year in Jerusalem, unlike the times of our ancestors for 2,000+ years when it really wasn't a realistic option. Today it is.
Interestingly, the answer I hear from many Jews in America today is "well, it's not even safe in Israel anymore, as was just proven on Oct. 7th, so I would rather live with the growing insecurity in America".
I have a simple answer to my fellow Jews who are thinking this. Hashem never commanded us to live in Israel for our safety. Never. That was just a modern concept developed after the Holocaust. Every Jew who knows the Torah and our prayers knows that Hashem commanded us to live in Israel in order to follow is ways, with so many of the 613 commandments intrinsically connected to the land of Israel, in order to be לתקן עולם במלכות שקי.
Living in Israel is to be part of the most amazing project a Jew can participate in, developing our promised Holy land to be the country we are supposed to turn it into, a Kingdom where the oneness of Hashem is celebrated and felt by all, for the benefit of all of humanity. That is ultimately our purpose as Jews.
We are not supposed to live in Israel because it is safer. We are not supposed to live here because it has cheaper education costs, and not because our children grow up with more independence.
There is only one reason for a Jew to live in Israel, to be part of the ultiimate task of being a Jew, creating the Jewish society in our ancestral Holy homeland in order to then make the biggest impact upon humanity in spreading the oneness of Hashem to all.
We still have many challenges along the way, including the dire need to replace many of our senior defense officials who do not understand our true purpose as Jews in the land of Israel, and are instead guided by foreign "progressive" concepts and interests, that then harm their ability to protect us.
But knowing that we still have challenges is not supposed to stop us from fulfilling our purpose as a Jew to live in Israel.
Jews are supposed to live in Israel in order to be part of the most amazing life-project a Jew, creating the Jewish society in the Jewish homeland, understanding that we have many challenges to overcome in making it happen..
That is why Jews in the Diaspora should be wanting to move home to Israel today. Not for any other reason. And that is why so many Diaspora youth are bravely deciding to stay in Israel or move to Israel in order to serve in the IDF. They want to take an active role in the most intrinsic task of a Jew, building up, and protecting, our one and only Jewish country.
It just so happens that, as Rabbi Soloveitchik used to say, that Hashem today is knocking at our door. The growing tsunami of Jew-hatred, spiraling in the West and especially in the USA, is Hashem knocking on our door, reminding Jews in the Diaspora to come home.
But I will be the first person to say, as I always do, that I want my fellow Jews to come home to Israel for the one true reason to come home, in order to be part of the amazing privilege we have been given in our generation to create the Jewish society we are supposed to in our ancestral, Holy homeland. Not to run away from the growing Jew-hating antisemitism, but to finally fulfill the Jewish dream of thousands of years to come home and take an active role in the miracle of the third Jewish commonwealth of the Jewish people, the modern state of Israel.
As Jews worldwide are about to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut, with all the pain we still feel inside because of the atrocity of Simchat Torah, on Oct. 7th, we still must be grateful to Hashem for having our own country once again, 3,000+ years old and about to be 76 years young.
Avi Abelow is the host of the Pulse of Israel daily video/podcast (PulseofIsrael.com) and the CEO of 12Tribe Films Foundation. After working as a change management consultant for Accenture in NYC and opening up their Israel office in Tel Aviv, Avi then produced the acclaimed movie “Home Game” about Gush Katif. Due to the success of “Home Game” worldwide, Avi made a career change to dedicate his time to using media, videos and social media to promote the politically incorrect truth about Israel, the Jewish people and the freedom-loving world.
Avi also is the Director of 12Tribe Films which manages IsraelUnwired.com.