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Dateline Jerusalem — Like the United States, Israel is a melting pot of many nationalities, ethnicities, religions, and cultures. Although most of the Jews were either killed or exiled after the destruction of the First Temple and Second Temple, some Jews remained in the land. In fact, there has always been a Jewish presence in Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel).
Since coming to Israel, I have met Jews from all corners of the world. In fact, there are very few countries that are not represented. I have personally met Jews from Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Rhodesia, Morocco, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon, Russia, Poland, France, Chili, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, India, Ethiopia, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Japan, China, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Gibraltar, Island of Rhodes, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Bosnia, Greece, Turkey, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Panama, Guatemala, Canada, Italy, Mexico, Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and of course the United States.
Returning Home
In addition to the countries I listed, there are Jewish immigrants representing other countries of the world. I just haven’t personally met them yet!
Because of the exiles, crusades, jihads, forced conversions, pogroms, expulsions, slavery, exterminations and a myriad of other events causing Jews to be displaced from their homes, many Jews sought refuge in Israel.
This is not just a phenomenon resulting from the establishment of the State of Israel after World War II. Jews made their way back to their homeland prior to it becoming a state. Although some countries permit freedom of religion, most do not. Sometimes Jews were allowed to remain in their adoptive countries, but often they did so as second-class citizens.
In the United States, where Jews probably have more freedoms than anywhere else in the world other than in Israel, there has been discrimination against Jews.
Even after the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Jews were excluded from voting and/or running for election.
In fact, it wasn’t until 1828, over 50 years after the birth of the U.S. that the state of Maryland extended voting rights to Jews. Between the 1920s and 1950s, there were quotas on the number of Jews who could be admitted to universities, medical and dental schools. This was especially prevalent in the northeast in schools like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. Besides quotas in Ivy League universities, there were also quotas in public colleges.
He Was a Minority
In the 1990s, a friend’s son thought he was discriminated against by being a Jewish male. He told me the following story. When applying to graduate school, he checked the following boxes:
African-American because the Jews came out of Egypt with Moses and Egypt is located in Africa; Asian-American because Israel is in Asia, and he has Israeli citizenship; Mexican-American because he was born in California and it was once part of Mexico. That young man is currently a successful professional who attributes his success to being able to get into a prestigious graduate school as a “minority.” Though, he claims being a Jewish male is more of a minority than any of the others he claimed to be. Jews only make up one-half of 1 percent of the world population, but are not considered a minority.
And, of course, there are those who return to Eretz Israel because their souls yearn to come “home.” That is the case with me.
I have a difficult time explaining why and how I feel, but there is some kind of magnetism that draws me to Israel. I miss my family and my friends, but I love being here. Life may be more difficult here, but it is definitely worth the effort.
L'hitraot. Shachar
Shachar is the Hebrew name of a California-based attorney and former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who moved to Israel last year.
