Year: 2019

I doubt whether there was anyone on Seder night who said Next Year in Jerusalem with more conviction than Jonathan Pollard, who is still imprisoned in the United States.

True, he is no longer behind bars. However, he understands that a Jew is not considered free as long as he does not live in his own country, as the Passover Haggada teaches us: “This year we are here; next year in the land of Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free people.”

Our sages have instructed that before weekday Grace After Meals, we should read Psalm 137 in order to remember that our eternal place is in the Land of Israel and not in a foreign land: “How shall we sing the Song of G-d on gentile land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue fuse unto my palate if I fail to mention you, if I fail to raise Jerusalem to the greatest of my joys” (137:4-6).

We raise Jerusalem on a regular basis to our loftiest joy; Loftier than New York, loftier than Florida, loftier than the “good life” in foreign countries. This is exactly what Jonathan Pollard did when he risked his personal freedom in order to help the State of Israel. He knew that if caught in the course of his espionage, he would be sentenced to many years behind bars. Nevertheless, he did not put his personal life as his loftiest joy; He remembered that the Jew’s greatest joy is in the Peace of Jerusalem.

While the echoes of the Feast of Freedom still fill us, the least we can do is remember Jonathan, just as we remember Jerusalem. Each of us can write a short letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu and remind him that Jonathan wants to get home. We can send e-mails to US President Trump and ask him to send Jonathan home.

Such messages to Ivanka and her husband can also speed the day of Jonathan’s release. You can also tweet her on Twitter or send her a message via Facebook. I am sure that she and her husband will put aside all fear of signaling dual-loyalty in order to help the hero who risked so much that other Jews may live in security and freedom.

Even though Jonathan is no longer behind bars, he knows that he is still in prison and wants to live as a free man. He sees the invisible bars of his American prison. He knows that George Washington is not the father of his nation; He knows that the city of Washington D.C. is not the capital of his people; He knows that the Stars and Stripes is not his national flag, and he knows that the “Star Spangled Banner” is not his national anthem. His flag is the Star of David, and his national anthem is Hatikvah. Today Jonathan Pollard is under house arrest in New York. With G-d’s help, we can help liberate him completely.

Reprinted from Arutz Sheva.

Tzvi Fishman is a recipient of the Israel Ministry of Education Award for Creativity and Jewish Culture. His many novels and books on a variety of Jewish themes are available at Amazon Books, including four commentaries on the teachings of Rabbi Kook. Recently, he has published “Arise and Shine!” and “The Lion’s Roar” – 2 sequels to his popular novel, “Tevye in the Promised Land.” In Israel, the Tevye trilogy is distributed by Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing. He is also the director and producer of the feature film, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman,” starring Israel’s popular actor, Yehuda Barkan. He can be contacted via his website: www.tzvifishmanbooks.com

Summing up 2018, the Jewish Agency announced that 3,550 Jews made Aliyah from the United States and Canada in the past year.

I am left with mixed emotions.  On the one hand, in transcending their personal and economic concerns to join in the rebuilding of the Nation of Israel in its Land, each one of these new immigrants achieved towering greatness, fulfilling the words of the Torah and the Prophets of Israel. While man’s walking on the moon is certainly a wondrous achievement, it is dwarfed in comparison to a Jew walking even four or five cubits in the Holy Land.

Just by stepping down from their airplane at Ben Gurion Airport, each new oleh became closer to God than Neil Armstrong, even though he journeyed two-hundred thousand miles through the heavens to reach the moon. Their courage, their pioneer spirit, and their love for the Land of Israel are examples we should all admire and emulate.

On the other hand, I was saddened that last year’s total from North America was merely 3000 plus. 3000 out of 6,000,000!! I am not much of a mathematician, but a simple calculator gave me the tragic figure, a rate of Aliyah of .0006 percent.

.0006%. Gevalt!

We have been praying to come home to Israel for nearly 2000 years. Every year, at the conclusion of Yom Kippur and the Passover Seder, we say, “Next year in Jerusalem!” God, in His infinite kindness, has given us a Jewish airline, with free tickets, to take us home to a Jewish airport in the miraculously rebuilt Jewish Homeland, and only .0006% of North American Jewry comes on Aliyah!

In my humble opinion, the Jewish Agency should be closed. Imagine if we were talking about a hospital with a rate of patient survival of .0006%. Or a baseball team with a winning record of .0006%. Obviously, it wouldn’t be long before the hospital closed or the franchise folded.

Make no mistake. I am not criticizing any of the many dedicated employees of the Jewish Agency. But the Jewish Agency is obsolete. It is destined to failure. So long as the Rabbis, and Roshei Yeshivot, and parents, and the presidents of Jewish organizations in the Diaspora don’t urge their students and children and members of their Federations to go on Aliyah, the Jewish Agency is destined to a success rate of .0006.  So long as the Rabbis, Roshei Yeshivot, parents, and the heads of Jewish organizations in the Diaspora don’t teach Jewish youth that Israel is their future, the rate of Aliyah will not increase.

Believe me, the same 3,550 people would come on Aliyah every year, even if the Jewish Agency didn’t exist. It could be that even more immigrants would come, without having Jewish Agency shlichim tell them that they were too old, or too handicapped, or too unemployable. The annual budget of the Sachnut (Jewish Agency) is 320 million dollars. The Israel Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption spends another 360 million. (In comparison, the dynamic Nefesh B’Nefesh program has a budget of 20 million.) Instead of paying Jewish Agency salaries and office rentals around the world, give each new immigrant an outright cash gift and you’ll get more olim by far than you’re getting today with all of the giant bureaucracy and payroll.

But once again – the blame doesn’t lie with the Jewish Agency and its bureaucracy. The fault lies with the leaders of Diaspora Jewry, and with each and every parent, for not encouraging Aliyah. The failure lies with Jewish education in the Diaspora for not telling the truth. If Rabbis and Roshei Yeshivot tell their students that they can be better Jews in America, what chance does the Jewish Agency have? If the heads of Diaspora Jewry put the focus on continuing the exile and pouring its billions of dollars into strengthening its institutions, it is no wonder that Nefesh B’Nefesh flights are half full.

Make no mistake, my friends. The Diaspora is destined to end. The exile isn’t supposed to last forever. The exile came as a punishment, and now that the punishment has been delivered, it is time to come home. That’s what the Rabbis, presidents of Jewish organizations, and parents should be teaching, instead of trying so hard to be good loyal Jews in foreign Gentile lands, where assimilation is devastating our ranks, and where the day isn’t long in coming when the Gentiles will once again remind us that we are unwanted guests in their lands.

Reprinted from Arutz Sheva.

Tzvi Fishman is a recipient of the Israel Ministry of Education Award for Creativity and Jewish Culture. His many novels and books on a variety of Jewish themes are available at Amazon Books, including four commentaries on the teachings of Rabbi Kook. Recently, he has published “Arise and Shine!” and “The Lion’s Roar” – 2 sequels to his popular novel, “Tevye in the Promised Land.” In Israel, the Tevye trilogy is distributed by Sifriyat Bet-El Publishing. He is also the director and producer of the feature film, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman,” starring Israel’s popular actor, Yehuda Barkan. He can be contacted via his website: www.tzvifishmanbooks.com