Just to be clear, I don’t blame the religious leaders. They had no way of knowing about the ‘Final Solution’. That wasn’t even decided until 1942 at the Wanasee Conference. But the fact is that they were wrong and Jabotinsky was right.
Why were the Gedolim opposed to running away from Europe? They feared that leaving the confines of the Shtetl and moving to a free America or a Zionist Palestine would destroy the Yiddishkeit of most Jews. What good was it, they asked, if their lives were saved but their souls weren’t?
But as we all know now, those fears never materialized. The very freedom they feared would destroy Judaism actually enhanced it. America has proven to be a haven for the Jewish people unlike any country in history even in the best of times. The same thing is true of Israel. Torah Judaism is flourishing in both countries like at no other time. There are more Jews learning Torah in these two countries than at any other time in history.
True, assimilation is a problem derived of that freedom. Both America and Israel allow us to choose what kind of life we want to live. The draw of a free lifestyle is very strong. But as I said instead destroying us that freedom has allowed us to flourish.
Back to Europe. The Antisemitism that exists in Europe today is not government policy. Nor is it even government sanctioned. It is in fact not tolerated. Whereas in pre Holocaust European governments were anxious to rid themselves of Jews, and collaborated with the Nazis, today’s European leaders are begging the Jewish people to stay.
After the attack in France, their Prime Minster Manuel Valls said that “France without Jews is not France.” Denmark’s Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt said: “The Jewish community has been in this country for centuries. They belong in Denmark, they are part of the Danish community and we wouldn’t be the same without the Jewish community in Denmark…”
My message to Prime Minster Netanyahu is… Yes! Urge the Jewish people to make Aliyah. But urge them to do it for the right reasons. Jews should not make Aliyah to run away. Europe of 2015 is not the Europe of 1939. They should do it because they want to live in Israel. That would be the right thing to do. Urging them to do it now – saying it is no longer safe for Jews to live there now, is not the way to relate to nations from whom you seek support.