The Incredible Comeback
“Everything is impossible until someone does it.”
Kamil, the Lyft driver who picked me up from O’Hare last night is a young Palestinian from Hebron who just came to the U.S. four months ago. He’s at Loyola, going for his MBA in finance. We had a friendly chat about if the Jews have any rightful claim to the Land of Israel. (He calls it Palestine.) Kamil stated as a fact that the Jews have no connection, and it was the Europeans, who felt guilty about the Holocaust, that legitimized the Zionist narrative. The Palestinians shouldn’t have to suffer, he insisted, because of what Hitler did to the Jews. I shared with him the historical facts for which there is universal consensus, the proof, and even quoted him a Chapter in the Koran that talks about the Divine rights the Jews were given over their Arabic cousins.
The truth is, however, that it’s understandable why so many find it hard to believe that Jews are a people returning to their homeland after two millennia in exile. There exists no nation in the history of humanity that speaks the same language, observes the same religion, and in the same country, as they did 2,000 years ago. Not even one ancient Chinese civilization or Amazon Jungle tribe has survived with their language, customs and culture intact. Certainly, those languages that ceased to be used ever experienced a revival (though not for lack of trying). And no native people have ever returned to their homeland. They simply disappeared into the dustbin of history. And we’ve done it not once, but twice! When Cyrus decided to allow the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild the Second Temple, little did he realize the ramifications of that decision. Historians have posited that had he not done so, the Jews would have disappeared like every other nation, and as a result, there’s be no Judaism, no Christianity, no Islam, and no Western art. But our destiny isn’t left up to chance, and as improbable as our survival and revival has been, we tend to take it for granted.
To put things in perspective, there’s been an astonishing pattern unfolding over the last 80 years. Even with the mass exodus of Jews from Europe from 1929-1939, over 90% of Jews still resided in the Diaspora. After the State of Israel was established, nearly a million Jews were expelled from or left Arab countries and settled in Israel. There was still a sizable Jewish population in Iran until the Islamic Revolution in 1979 when most fled and another wave of immigration to Israel ensued. Then, in the 80’s, came the rescue of Ethiopian Jews bringing tens of thousands of Jewish African refugees to the Holy Land. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought another million Jews to Israel. French Jews are the most recent group to return in large numbers as a new wave of anti-Semitism sweeps through Europe. With 6.4 million Jews now living in Israel (up from 83,000 in the 1920’s), Israel is poised to have more Jews living within its borders than outside them.
G-d told Moses thousands of years ago that at the end of time, the Jews would be gathered from the four corners of the globe into Israel. That prophesy was reiterated dozens of times throughout the books of the Prophets and Writings. But for two nearly 2,000 years it seemed impossible as millions of Jews lived around the world in well-established communities and every organized effort to promote a return to our homeland either failed or had very limited success. Then, in just my grandmother’s lifetime, a series of seemingly unrelated events around the globe have led to Israel having the largest Jewish population in the world. Against all odds from the moment Israel declared its independence, it continues to thrive and grow. Now that prophesy is becoming true before our very eyes. Ben Gurion was an ardent secularist who disdained religion. But he wasn’t blind or stupid. Even he understood that Israel is a living miracle. And that miracle has outgrown even his vision.
Tonight is the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av. It’s a day that we normally mourn the destruction of both Temples and every other calamity that has befallen us, which unfortunately are too many to count. Because it falls out on Shabbos this year, we postpone the fasting and mourning until after Shabbos.
The Sages of the Talmud have taught that those who mourn the destruction of Jerusalem, merits and sees it in its happiness. It seems they should have said “will merit to see” in the future tense. Perhaps the intent is that a person who tries to understand the magnitude of what we’ve lost, attempts to understand why it happened, works to correct those iniquities, and yearns for the ultimate redemption, will see the unmistakable signs that it’s coming. When is it coming? Nobody knows, but anyone can see clearly that it’s happening. (Oh, and by the way, I’m going out with Kamil for coffee next week…)
Kamil, the Lyft driver who picked me up from O’Hare last night is a young Palestinian from Hebron who just came to the U.S. four months ago. He’s at Loyola, going for his MBA in finance. We had a friendly chat about if the Jews have any rightful claim to the Land of Israel. (He calls it Palestine.) Kamil stated as a fact that the Jews have no connection, and it was the Europeans, who felt guilty about the Holocaust, that legitimized the Zionist narrative. The Palestinians shouldn’t have to suffer, he insisted, because of what Hitler did to the Jews. I shared with him the historical facts for which there is universal consensus, the proof, and even quoted him a Chapter in the Koran that talks about the Divine rights the Jews were given over their Arabic cousins.
The truth is, however, that it’s understandable why so many find it hard to believe that Jews are a people returning to their homeland after two millennia in exile. There exists no nation in the history of humanity that speaks the same language, observes the same religion, and in the same country, as they did 2,000 years ago. Not even one ancient Chinese civilization or Amazon Jungle tribe has survived with their language, customs and culture intact. Certainly, those languages that ceased to be used ever experienced a revival (though not for lack of trying). And no native people have ever returned to their homeland. They simply disappeared into the dustbin of history. And we’ve done it not once, but twice! When Cyrus decided to allow the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild the Second Temple, little did he realize the ramifications of that decision. Historians have posited that had he not done so, the Jews would have disappeared like every other nation, and as a result, there’s be no Judaism, no Christianity, no Islam, and no Western art. But our destiny isn’t left up to chance, and as improbable as our survival and revival has been, we tend to take it for granted.
To put things in perspective, there’s been an astonishing pattern unfolding over the last 80 years. Even with the mass exodus of Jews from Europe from 1929-1939, over 90% of Jews still resided in the Diaspora. After the State of Israel was established, nearly a million Jews were expelled from or left Arab countries and settled in Israel. There was still a sizable Jewish population in Iran until the Islamic Revolution in 1979 when most fled and another wave of immigration to Israel ensued. Then, in the 80’s, came the rescue of Ethiopian Jews bringing tens of thousands of Jewish African refugees to the Holy Land. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought another million Jews to Israel. French Jews are the most recent group to return in large numbers as a new wave of anti-Semitism sweeps through Europe. With 6.4 million Jews now living in Israel (up from 83,000 in the 1920’s), Israel is poised to have more Jews living within its borders than outside them.
G-d told Moses thousands of years ago that at the end of time, the Jews would be gathered from the four corners of the globe into Israel. That prophesy was reiterated dozens of times throughout the books of the Prophets and Writings. But for two nearly 2,000 years it seemed impossible as millions of Jews lived around the world in well-established communities and every organized effort to promote a return to our homeland either failed or had very limited success. Then, in just my grandmother’s lifetime, a series of seemingly unrelated events around the globe have led to Israel having the largest Jewish population in the world. Against all odds from the moment Israel declared its independence, it continues to thrive and grow. Now that prophesy is becoming true before our very eyes. Ben Gurion was an ardent secularist who disdained religion. But he wasn’t blind or stupid. Even he understood that Israel is a living miracle. And that miracle has outgrown even his vision.
Tonight is the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av. It’s a day that we normally mourn the destruction of both Temples and every other calamity that has befallen us, which unfortunately are too many to count. Because it falls out on Shabbos this year, we postpone the fasting and mourning until after Shabbos.
The Sages of the Talmud have taught that those who mourn the destruction of Jerusalem, merits and sees it in its happiness. It seems they should have said “will merit to see” in the future tense. Perhaps the intent is that a person who tries to understand the magnitude of what we’ve lost, attempts to understand why it happened, works to correct those iniquities, and yearns for the ultimate redemption, will see the unmistakable signs that it’s coming. When is it coming? Nobody knows, but anyone can see clearly that it’s happening. (Oh, and by the way, I’m going out with Kamil for coffee next week…)