Nefesh b’Nefesh – Nebich
by: Schvach Yid

Not to be a spoil sport, not to serve as the naysayer, but really, 600+ olim from North America settling in Israel? There are 6+ million of us stewing (in a religious sense) in golus (mostly in the US), and only 0.01% of those of us in this region of chutz l’aretz have officially signed up to make this ‘big move’ via Nefesh b’Nefesh this year.

I don’t mean to be critical, and I certainly don’t mean to deride the decisions of these most recent olim from North America – kol hakavod to them, but their number is a bit thin, don’t you think?

Do we remember that the Jewish State of Israel was established as the Jewish Homeland, in part to provide a safe haven for Jewish refugees from the gleeful efforts of rampaging Jew-haters who, on a somewhat regular basis, choose to express their brand of population cropping by cropping us? There are still 6+ million Jews residing outside Israel. What happens if the 6+ million Jews living in North America and Europe suddenly ‘feel’ the need to move – you know, to Israel? Just how long do you think that would take? Go ahead, ask the airlines. I’m sure that under the appropriate circumstance, they would be eager to accommodate.

And just how long does one reckon Israel would need to settle 6+ million new olim, thus doubling Israel’s current population? Just where would Israel fit us in? What would the Sachnut use as an absorption shoehorn - the ‘West Bank’? Not with the current Israeli administration.

The fact is that aliyah en masse is a matter of mass migration – a population shift. It cannot occur as an acute event, but must be accomplished over a protracted period of time, and those of us who are so comfy here in the West, and who are so put off by current Israeli administration policies, are – to put it bluntly – loathe to even consider the possibility.

So yasher koach to those brave and idealistic few who have made the commitment, and who have made good on it. In the long run they may, in fact, prove to be the smarter ones.