Hamas War

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Who Should Be Offended? Israeli Aliyah Campaign


I'm glad I waited until now to write about Israel's wimpy response to the complaints about the aliyah campaign.  Dry Bones, as usual, hit the nail right on the head and is the perfect illustration to my post.

It's almost Chanukah 5772, 2011, and the modern Helenists are raging.  Chanukah is the Jewish holiday celebrating religious freedom and the defeat of the Greeks who tried to stop us from observing our religion.  Helenism was the ideology of those who attempted to replace Jewish values, customs and religion with those of the ruling Greeks.

The secular Left head today's Helenists who try to impose their values life-style on us all.  The IDF's punishing of religious soldiers who don't want to listen to women's singing is an example.

Those Liberals aren't very liberal when it comes to Judaism!

And another example is the quick capitulation of the Israeli anti-assimilation aliya campaign.  Bibi and gang gave victory to the Helenists on the Eve of Chanukah.  He's no Judah Maccabee for sure.

17 comments:

Yocheved Golani said...

Batya, failing to support religious soldiers is 100% consistent with the liberal POV. Whatever can be done to denigrate, humiliate and discourage Jews from honoring moral codes advances Hellenism.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
The ads were a case of being right, but not smart. Yishai Fleisher wrote a very nice article in the Jewish Press defending the ads, apologizing if anyone had been offended, but explaining why the ads were correct. http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/editorial/dear-american-jews/2011/12/06/2/

Anonymous said...

@Batya,


The uproar,the stupid commotion from the liberals increased the success of this ad campaign !
They hit the hammer on their heads once more ....

Trumpeldor

Anonymous said...

this is a great dry bones.
hazony wrote a great response to the uproar in the forward.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
And you can read it here:
http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/147247/

Anonymous said...

My response to YF's article

For years the Israeli government has been calling on American Jews to return home, only to be met with an almost blanket refusal. (Those of you who have made aliya or who truly wish to do so are a tiny minority). In the meantime the Israeli diaspora has grown, and the Israeli government is calling on those Jews to return home, and American Jews are insulted. It's a little bit rich.

To American Jews who are insulted by this campaign, you should get a grip and realise that it's not about you. The whole of Israel is waiting for you to come home too, but you have chosen not to. We can't force you to, but apparently you can force Israel not to call on Israeli Jews to come home. This is outrageous. Yischai Fleisher should not be apologising in the name of the State of Israel. He should be telling it like it is.

Furthermore, so deeply ensconced in your dominant culture are you, you expose your ignorance of the experiences of ex-pat citizens anywhere in the world. Children are heavily influenced by their peers and the dominant culture. In an extreme case, I met a Spanish woman married to a Chinese man, living in China, who could hardly communicate with her own children as their knowledge of Spanish was limited, as was her Chinese. And as for the bruhaha about the Yom Hazikaron advert, just how many of the "insulted" commemorate the day and give respect to the Israeli war dead? The response is obvious. They are more likely to be attending a rally protesting the "plight of the Palestinians".

Batya said...

to all:
I learned about aliyah, lashevet ha'aretz about the same time I was beginning to keep kashrut and shabbat. It was the icing on the cake, and I told my parents that like they couldn't force me to eat traif, they couldn't keep me in the states.

Daniel said...

While I have very little respect for the non religious or twice a year American Jews, it's been my experience that the vast majority of Yordim are of the hiloni, "I'm not Jewish I'm Israeli" types.
In my opinion twice a year American Jews are culturally more Jewish than Yordim and even if the Americans have an intermarriage rate of upwards 70%, I wouldn't be surprised if Yordim is even higher.
Are there any published stats?

Robertcw72 said...

So many questions. :) Remember we started kinda talking about this subject because I know I am a totally assimilated American Jew. I dont think its entirely liberals that are upset. My question is are there Jews in other countries that are just as offended and it just isnt getting publicity?

Batya said...

Daniel, Robert, good questions. I don't know

Susan B said...

Cute cartoon, but there are plenty of non-secular Jews who objected to the ad, myself and DovBear.com among them.

There is nothing wrong with an ad campaign that asks Israeli Jews to return to their homeland using truthful information (such as the economy is better there right now)

However, it is inaccurate and insulting to make ads that incorrectly imply that American Jewish kids don't know the difference between Christmas and Chanukkah, that Americans are incapable of understanding when their partner wants to observe the Israeli memorial day, or that parents outside of Israel are incapable of teaching their kids whether they want to be called "Abba" instead of "Daddy"

Batya said...

Susan, In my own family, there are many in the states who know much less than that about Judaism and Israel. As you probably know, a sizable proportion of Jews aren't members of a synagogue or any Jewish organization. Their children don't have a bar/bat mitzvah, and in some cases don't even know that they are Jewish.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
What one writer pointed out in an article (I've read so many on the subject that I can't always remember who said what.) is that the yordim are not accustomed to being a minority. They are not accustomed to Yom HaZicharon not being a national day of remembrance. They are not accustomed to being surrounded by a holiday "competing" with Hanuka, and may not have given much thought as to how to deal with it, unlike Jews born in America who are confronted with it every year.
This is my observation: The child who responded the holiday was "Christmas" may well have been telling her grandparents what the NATIONAL holiday is. And in America, it is. The yordim are being asked do you want your child's national holiday to be America's Christmas or Israel's Hanuka?
No American Jew, even in Israel, feels the same way a Sabra does on Yom HaZicharon, unless he or she has somehow, and that's extremely unlikely, had as many family and friends involved with Israel's wars and terror attacks. I've lived in Israel for slightly over 20 years and mourn the loss of many close friends and neighbors on Yom HaZicharon, but I know that my feelings are NOTHING compared to those of my neighbors whose families have lived in Israel for several generations - or more.

Hadassa said...

Oops, that last one was me, not my husband.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
It's not that "parents are incapable of teaching their kids whether they want to be called "Abba" instead of "Daddy", but rather pointing out to yordim living in America that their children will almost certainly AUTOMATICALLY call their father "Daddy". In Israel (outside of a few enclaves of non-Hebrew speakers) no-one HAS to TEACH their children to call their father "Abba". In America "Daddy" (or "Dad") is the default. In Israel "Abba" is the default. The question posed in the video is which country's default do you want to be your default?
If the impression I've received from the many articles and comments that I've read is anywhere near correct, Jews born and living in America have indeed misunderstood the message.

Anonymous said...

well Batya, let's look at YOU. You came from a non-religious, non-zionist family, but you made up your own mind to be your own person. Honestly, what makes you think that you're so special - that other children will never do the same?

Anyway. why do you think that for a yored to spend Xmas day checking out bikinis in Honolulu is more horrible than to spend Yom Ha'atzmaut grilling a steak and checking out the slightly-clothed frech-iot at a park in Bat Yam?

Batya said...

a, are you commenting on what I wrote or what Hadassa or someone else wrote?