Kickstarter for Bnei Menashe Aliyah?
When I read this recent article by fellow blogger Laura Ben David, I was stunned. I was sad. (I was a bit disgusted). Ok. I confess, I was a lot disgusted. I was curious and wondering where I would find the “pot under the sun” if I traced the chains of billions of dollars that pro-Israel and pro-Aliyah organizations procure annually–begging, pleading–and of course sanctifying the donors for such.
Yet the roadblock to bring the Bnei Menashe to Israel? Money.
How could this be?
And we aren’t talking ridiculous amounts of money. We are talking a few million. Duckets. Greenbacks. Dead Presidents. Bills. Some bling.
Some people in the Jewish world eat millions for breakfast.
And while I sit secure and comfortable and safe and in my Long Island home I do dream of Israel daily.
So do the Bnei Menashe.
And they are willing to leave familiar and family and fear behind.
These are Jews. They are seeking to make Aliyah. They are ready.
Would any Jews from France or California or Argentina or Istanbul be told: “Sorry. The funding just isn’t there?”
This reminds me of selling out the Hungarian Jews during the Shoah.
The history of Israel is filled with glorious moments of rescue and redemption.
Then why not now?
I understand no one will be headed to extermination but the root causes behind this delay seem rooted in a fear of the other, fear of the unknown, fear of change.
Fear of holiness.
Somehow there has always been enough money in Israel to welcome African refugees, to assist Haiti and Nepal after catastrophe, to provide healthcare to injured from Syria and to send military operations as far as Yemen.
But a million bucks for Bnei Menashe? We are talking
The catastrophe here? That the original article even needed to be written. That a donor didn’t step up immediate and say: “I got this. Are you kidding me? This is bringing Jews home!”
I recall Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu just a few months ago plead with European and especially French Jews to “come home”?
A $46 million dollar package. Just like that, eh?
Then what the hell?
Shameful. And since these European Jews aren’t “coming home” might there be 1/46th of those funds available for the Bnei Menashe?
Let’s also keep perspective: During Operation Solomon the State of Israel appropriate $26 million of taxpayer funds/debt to pay the corrupt dictator led government that had prior refused Ethiopian mass emigration. That was also in 1991.
The State of Israel doesn’t have a discretionary fund of a million bucks?
If they asked every citizen to donate a HALF a shekel to the cost they would have raised the funds overnight.
No. I am not kidding.
A campaign like via social media could explode within hours.
Hey, Jewish Agency, ever hear of Kickstarter?