France remains the third largest Jewish community in the world (500,000) after Israel and the United States, but at the current rate, things could change within a decade or so. France is currently experiencing a Jewish exodus that is very troubling to say the least, and while it isn’t the only western European country to see a strong resurgence in immigration to Israel, it certainly yields the highest numbers.
The Jewish community of France is very old indeed. It goes back to the first century AD in Lugdunum (known today as Lyon). That same community can be traced throughout the ages as it has been punctuated by various acts of anti-Semitism. For the Jews of France the pen of the Church Fathers led to the sword of the Crusaders. Additionally, one expulsion after the next also led to the ostracizing of the Jews at a time when Europe was experiencing “enlightenment.” The Dreyfus Affair is proof that at the turn of the 19th Century, French Jews were already realizing that their safety was at risk. But of course, they could have not fathomed the great catastrophe of the Shoah when Nazi Germany saw the only solution to the Jewish question as being complete annihilation. As a result, 80,000 French Jews perished in the Holocaust.
In all fairness, we must also recognize that French Jews had a few friends amidst their many foes. Among them was French Emperor Charlemagne (747-814) as well as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) who to this day has a prayer dedicated to him in many French synagogue prayer books.
It is around the time of the French Revolution of 1789 that the French motto of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” (liberty, equality, brotherhood) was born. It continues to be the motto of the current French Republic, yet it seems to not really apply to the Jewish people so much.
Is France having a love/hate relationship with its Jews? Whatever has been happening lately would lead me to believe that the Jews of France are seriously considering giving up on France as they have started to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael in numbers higher than ever. France has seen nearly 100,000 Jewish people leave since 1919. It is estimated that over 7,000 Jews have left France in the last 3 years and the numbers continue to grow with no sign of slowing down. Over 1,400 have left in the first three months of 2014, showing a trend that had never been seen since 1948.
The cause for French Jews to have an increased desire to make aliyah to Israel is of course directly related to the recent surge of anti-Semitic acts but also to the multiple deaths connected to them.
Let’s consider some of the anti-Semitic events of the last 3 decades:
While we know that anti-Semitism is alive and well all around the world, France remains one of the most lethal hotbeds for the longest hatred. It runs very deep into the French soil and has been fertilized by Islamic influence over the last 60 years.
In 1980, in the then very Jewish Paris quarter of “Le Marais” on the eve of Simchat Torah, the synagogue at Rue Copernic was bombed, resulting in the death of 4 people and injuring over 40.
Only 2 years later, in 1982 in the same district, the Jewish deli Jo Goldenberg was attacked by terrorists who threw a grenade inside the restaurant and followed-up by indiscriminately firing their machine guns at patrons inside, resulting in the death of 6 people and injuring 22.
In 2003, French/Jewish disc jockey Sebastien Sellam was brutally murdered by his Muslim” “friend” who claimed, “I have killed my Jew, I will go to Heaven”. Amazingly, the whole tragedy was under reported at best and in most places not even connected to anti-Semitism.
In 2006, French Jewish man Ilan Halimi was tortured and killed by a group of French/north African Muslims known as The Gang of Barbarians. Halimi’s fate left the Paris Jewish community in shock and prompted many to organize for their departure from France.
In 2012, North African Mohammed Merah killed seven in Toulouse and Montauban. Four of his victims were a Rabbi, two of his children and another student from Jewish day school Ozar HaTorah.
And of course as recently as this last February on the streets of Paris, demonstrators were marching and chanting: “Jews out, France is not for you!”
It is so dangerous to be a Jew in France that religious Jews hide their yarmulkes (skull caps) when in public places. France is both the largest Jewish community of Europe and the most dangerous one to be part of. This recent surge of immigration is not an after thought or a reaction from the Jewish community of France. It takes time to prepare for such a move. It is culturally, emotionally and of course financially taxing.
France’s motto of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” sounds great on paper or etched in the limestone of France’s monuments, but on the street, it is a whole different story. The government, regardless of its political affiliations is all bark and no bite!
So if it seems like Jews of France are giving up on France lately, it is probably a response to the fact that for the most part France might have given up on Jews. This is one more good reason why we should support and protect Israel as a safe haven for the unwanted Jews of France or from anywhere else in the world for that matter!
If You Can’t Heal the Wounds, Soothe the Pain!
In a few days on the 28th of Nisan, Jewish people around the world will be remembering the Holocaust as they observe Yom HaShoah (The Day of the Catastrophe). This day of remembrance was inaugurated by Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben Gourion in 1953. At 10:00 AM local time in Israel, sirens will sound and everything will come to a halt, including motorists stepping out of their vehicles for two minutes of silence.
For several reasons, the 21st century is a very challenging time to maintain the memory of the Holocaust. For one thing, any survivor of the Shoah who is still alive today would have to be at least 70 years old if they were born inside the camps–albeit very unlikely– and made it out alive. For the most part, the dwindling number of survivors comprises men and women in their mid to late 80s. First hand living witnesses are few and far in between, and they facilitate the nasty work of Holocaust deniers and revisionists. It is estimated than between 350,000 and 500,000 Holocaust survivors are still alive worldwide. Due to their age, that number will greatly reduce within 5 years to almost nothing within a decade. Now more than ever we need to do all that we can to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.
In my opinion, doing so must include recognizing those who against all odds have helped the Jewish people and to an extent continue to make a difference. Such a group of people who need to be recognized is the organization known as “The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary”. This ecumenical organization was started in 1947 on a Lutheran foundation, by Basilea Schlink and Erika Madaus who later became nuns. While as a conservative Jewish believer I am somewhat uncomfortable with ecumenism, there is a place and a time to discuss theology and I do not believe that it is in this article.
Today, the organization has spread globally from its German inception. One location that is unique and well worth mentioning is Beit Avraham (Abraham’s House) in Israel, where the current staff of a few sisters is ministering to Holocaust survivors. Led by anguish and to an extent, the post-war German collective guilt syndrome, the two founders felt that they had to do something to reach out to the surviving Jewish community. Beit Avraham was opened in 1961. The sisters felt the need to repent to God about the way that too many Christians acted against the Jews. But asking God for forgiveness was not their only desire, they also wanted to make a difference in the life of those who came out of the camps.
Survivors like Elie Wiesel have been quoted saying that in many ways the ones who came out of the camps were worse off than the ones who perished within. In many cases, this is true because the psychological damage has remained well beyond any physical damage that was inflicted. The sisters seemed to understand that as they continuously ministered to Holocaust survivors passing through their guesthouse in Jerusalem.
I have heard it said many times that the best thing that you can give a survivor of the Shoah is a hug, not an explanation. While not guilty of any wrong doing themselves, the sisters realized that the most they could do was to hold hands and love unconditionally. One was recently quoted saying: “We can never heal the wounds. They are too deep. But we can help to soothe them”.
Today, Beit Avraham is at a crossroads. While the memory of the Shoah should persist, the last survivors are passing away. This leaves the Sisterhood with a facility that is increasingly left vacant. They have decided that it will soon be closed or possibly re-purposed.
I have much respect for such a group that in their own way chose to perpetuate the memory of the victims of the Catastrophe. I am also overcome with great sadness when I realize that within a decade or less, almost all survivors will be gone. There is a push by liberals, revisionists and deniers to re-write history belittling or in some cases erasing the Holocaust altogether. That is as ludicrous as stating that there were no Native Americans on US soil when the pioneers landed, or that Napoleon Bonaparte never existed.
Fortunately, there are also many organizations working very hard at growing and maintaining a database of pictures, films and testimonies of survivors and victims. I believe that it is also the duty of individuals to carry on the memory of the Shoah. We must do it truthfully and tactfully to avoid what some have called “Holocaust fatigue” especially with the younger generation. But we must do it nonetheless. Only Messiah Yeshua can truly heal, and while we will never be able to heal the wounds, we can certainly soothe the pain and pray that Messiah would touch the last survivors with His love.
Passover in Ukraine: Redemption or Expulsion?
Growing up in post-World War II Paris, I remember my father telling me that during the German invasion of France, all Jews progressively saw their rights disappear and property being confiscated from them. He told me of his Jewish father Lucien Melnick who fought in the Great War of 1914-1918 as a French soldier very proud to serve his country. He also told me how his dad like all Jews in France was first asked to bring his radio receiver to the nearest police station, as the Nazis were cutting the Jewish community from any communication and /or news from the Allies. Then came the bicycle confiscations to force most Jews to be on foot and slow them down considerably. Of course all these went on alongside registration of who was a Jew on their identity papers.
My paternal grandfather went along with all these requirements because in many ways he felt as French as he was Jewish and wanted to obey the law, albeit a Nazi enacted set of laws. The stamped ID papers, yellow star and requisition of property considerably reduced the freedom of the Jewish community in the 1930s and 40s. While some saw the handwriting on the wall, many simply refused to believe that humanity could have become so corrupt as to completely seek the total eradication of the Jewish people. Even as a few escaped and returned from Eastern Europe with first hand accounts of the horrors of the death trains, Camps, Einsatzgruppen and other methods of execution, for the most part, people refused to believe their stories. It was believed that these stories were either false, exaggerated or if true, that there would be enough of an uproar to stop the carnage.
By the time the rumors were confirmed, it was too late and millions of innocent people had perished including six million Jews. Those were the dark years of WWII and the Holocaust. If only they would have believed that mankind could become so depraved and rotten to the core, maybe they could have done something!
Fast forward to April 2014 in a very shaken and fragile Ukraine. The eastern Ukraine town of Donetsk has been in the news as people are fighting to either remain part of current Ukraine or become part of Russia. Donetsk is the fifth largest city in Ukraine with almost 1,000,000 inhabitants and much of the country’s heavy industry. The greater Donetsk province comprises 4,3000,000 people, including about 17,000 Jews. As recently as last week, pro-Russian protesters took over some of the administrative offices and declared that the area was now known as “the People’s Republic of Donetsk”. The move was immediately rejected by Kiev. Needless to say that “tension” is a word that comes to mind when thinking of the region. Then the unthinkable happened!
On Monday April 14th, on the first night of Passover, some in the Jewish community of Donetsk were handed out leaflets by a group of three armed men who appeared to be pro-Russian activists. The leaflets were distributed as the Jewish people were leaving their synagogue after a Passover celebration. They contained a message eerily reminiscent of early Nazi Germany. The leaflets, written in Russian (translation here) on government letterhead, were ordering Jews to register their real estate, modes of transportation and family members over the age of 16. Jews were also asked to pay $50 to have that registration processed and were told that if they failed to comply, expulsion was inevitable.
The leaflets appeared real but their authenticity has yet to be confirmed. Time will tell, and even though most news agencies have picked up the story, I suspect that the flyers will turn out to be a forgery that was meant to discredit Denis Pushilin and the pro-Russian separatist movement. But being either a forgery or a reality, where will it leave the Ukrainian Jewish community? I believe that the end result while being different in each case, will still leave us with much uncertainty about the safety of Ukrainian Jews.
Assuming that the leaflets were authentic, the Jews of Ukraine have a very bleak future in Donetsk and the rest of the region. Confiscation of property, expulsion, ostracism, demonization, forced conversions and annihilation are very familiar steps that Jews have been forced to go through over the centuries. If indeed the decision came from higher up, we could even see some modern day pogroms in Eastern Europe. But I certainly do not want to be accused of being a sensationalist. So, let’s go with the idea that the distribution was not government sanctioned.
If the leaflets end-up being a forgery, then…well I wish I could say that Jews shouldn’t fear for their safety, but I see it otherwise. The very fact that such an idea against the Jews would even cross the mind of any people group is evidence that humanity is not getting any better. The Jews continue to be the scapegoats of humanity for a myriad of reasons, each one more ludicrous than the previous. Yet, the Jews remain at risk. And if and when things heat up against my people to the level of the 1930s and 40s mass murders, it is clear that the new willing executioners will be ready, standing-by in the antechamber of anti-Semitism. See note below.
Our postmodern world is concerned with social justice, equality and peace around the world, but when it come to the Jewish people, if there is no disdain or hatred, there seems at least to be a corporate boredom that leads to apathy. And that’s of course when people are even aware of world events taking place outside of their own “backyard”. For the most part, westerners will think that Donetsk is far enough not to pose any danger to their immediate community. But the weed across the street can and will grow to come to our side and choke our own yard. It is only a matter of time.
How sad that on the day when the Jewish community gathers to celebrate Passover and God’s redemption, they would have to face such an outrage. I can’t help but wonder if even the date of distribution wasn’t premeditated.
At Passover, we invite Elijah and set a place for him at the table, because we know that according to the Tenach, when he comes, he will usher in the coming of King Messiah.
So, every year we look outside with hope that Elijah is on his way and yet, another year goes by and he is a no show. But there is one who came in the spirit and power of Elijah and who indeed heralded a king (Luke 1:17). John the Immerser was that man, and he ushered in Yeshua the Messiah 2000 years ago. Elijah’s cup is empty because I believe that John the Immerser came to drink it and the only hope for the Jews of Donetsk and any other Jews for that matter, is in the one that John introduced to us.
L’Shanah Haba B’Yrushalaim…. Next Year in Jerusalem, if not sooner!
NOTE: As of 4/18/14: As it turned out, and as I suspected, the flyers were not sanctioned by any government and were created to create tension between to sides . Yet I want to reiterate that this doesn’t eradicate the problem. The flyers were still printed and distributed. The Jewish people are being used and it won’t be long before they will could be accused and abused.
The Dangerously Changing Demographics of the New Anti-Semitism!
Demographics can tell us a lot about the way a society is evolving. Demographics can change our culture. Demographics can re-shape the political profile of a region or a country. They obviously can turn any economy around. What might be less known but nonetheless as important to understand, is that the world is currently going through a demographic shift that is affecting anti-Semitism.
The oldest hatred as some call it, isn’t going away anytime soon. As a matter of fact, I have been arguing for a while now that it keeps growing and is currently at levels rivaling the 1930s and 40s, especially in Europe.
It was only 70 years ago, the Second World War had just come to an end and the whole world was beginning to discover the horrors of the Holocaust. General Eisenhower wanted to be a first hand witness of these horrors to help preserve their memory, as he visited the camps and documented much of what he discovered.
It wasn’t long before anti-Semitism became a taboo subject. To be sure, the beast never died but it was suppressed for a while. World powers and European countries were in one accord along with the surviving Jewish community and a new motto was born: NEVER AGAIN!
It could be argued that the modern State of Israel was reborn in 1948 as a result of collective guilt, fulfilled biblical prophecy and/or fate, depending on one’s reliance on God. As far as I am concerned, I believe that God was very much involved in the rebirth of Israel, and it was no afterthought of His, but part of His plan for mankind all along.
Yet, the suppression of anti-Semitism was short lived and within twenty years, after Israel was reborn, the oldest hatred was also experiencing resurgence. Anti-Semitism was back, and this time it had returned with a vengeance–although we could argue that in essence anti-Semitism has always been a vengeance against the Jews.
Fast forward to 2014 and as the world increasingly grows into a global village, anti-Semitism is now benefiting from cyberspace and its new frontiers or lack of! There is currently nowhere in the world where Jewish people are safe, except possibly Israel in spite of all the terror and violence present there.
The demographics are shifting. Pre-World War Two classic anti-Semitism was almost purely racial. The Nazis were motivated to completely annihilate European Jews simply because of their conviction that they [the Jews] were sub-human and as such, not worthy of existing. This right-wing fascist approach to Jewish existence for the most part became obsolete or at least taboo by 1945.
Then came the liberal left-wing factions–greatly helped by Arafat and his cohorts–who within twenty years started to paint the picture of Israel, the Jews and Zionism as oppressors, occupiers and murderers of Palestinians. This picture is of course not based on any truth but on a desire to further ostracize the everlasting scapegoats of humanity. It is working very well as we can witness on campuses across America. The recent increase in popularity of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is very symptomatic of the new direction the world is taking against Israel and the Jews. Benjamin Netanyahu just spoke against BDS and other ills of anti-Semitism at AIPAC2014. He very simply calls BDS anti-Semitic and rightfully so! Israel is not South Africa, never was and never will be.
Of course the picture wouldn’t be complete without the involvement of the Christian Church. Here is another global community that has much baggage when it comes to Judeo-Christian relations over the last 2000 years. You would think that a church community that hasn’t done a whole lot to protect the Jews of Europe would tread very lightly when it comes to modern day Jews and Israel. As I spend a tremendous amount of time in speaking in churches across America and some in France as well, I am saddened by the shift from Christian Zionism to Christian Palestinianism. I still continue to meet people who love Israel and the Jews but they are no longer the majority within the Christian church as the recent “Christ at the Checkpoint” testifies.
The changing demographics of anti-Semitism are moving people towards a new unity against Jews and Israel. As a victim of postmodernism, today’s Jew doesn’t have to fit a profile to be demonized; he simply has to be a Jew anywhere in the world. Truth no longer being required and absolutes having become irrelevant in today’s world, when it comes to singling out the Jews, the irrationality of anti-Semitism goes unchecked. There is NO MORE TABOO!
Neo-Nazis, Islamists, liberals, academics, politicians, entertainers, Christians, atheists et al might have very little in common, except when it comes to ostracizing my people. Ideologies, religious convictions and cultures vary, yet there is a communal draw to single out Jewish people that defies logic on so many levels.
I always find solace and a balanced approach to mankind in general and Israel in particular on the pages of God’s Word. God also desires unity between men but I am pretty sure that the unity He speaks of isn’t at the expense of Israel! While the world might be jealous over Zion in a destructive way, God is jealous over Zion in a protective way!
Will BDS lead to the next Kristallnacht?
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