Where Do We Draw The Line?

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Yom Shishee

Friday

1 Elul 5783

August 18 2023

Tweet of the Day

Rosh Chodesh Elul prayers at the Kotel on this blessedly cloudy (and cooler) morning.

Good News

*The new light rail started regular service at 5:40 am this morning. This project has been in the making for more than a decade and at a cost of 19 billion shekels. Eventually, it will hopefully help solve the massive traffic jams that plague central Israel.

*Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv became the first hospital in the world this week to use AI Chatbox to quickly diagnose patients arriving in the emergency room there.

*According to a study at Stanford University, Tel Aviv University has recently fostered more “unicorn” startups than any other entity in the world (outside of the U.S.). 43 startups valued at more than $1 billion dollars have put TAU at the center of global innovation. Moshe Zviran, Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at TAU said this in response to the study: “We no longer wait for the magic to occur. Most students at TAU can now include a entrepreneurship cluster as an integral part of their degree program–thereby acquiring the tools for establishing their own startups.” 

The News on the Israeli Street

The war in Judea and Samaria.

Shooting attacks:

Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF troops in Jenin this morning. One soldier was wounded; 1 terrorist was killed.

Palestinian terrorists opened fire on IDF troops in Tubas this morning.

Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the Shahak Industrial Area near Gush Shaked; there were no casualties–the terrorists escaped.

“Rock”, IED, Molotov attacks:

Numerous attacks yesterday: this is a photo of a bus windshield that was hit on Road 55 in the Nabi Elias Bypass:

Fortunately, no one was wounded in this attack on Road 55 last night (photo: Rescue Without Borders SSF).

Other attacks took place at Luban al Sharqiya northeast of Ramallah, Hizma, Hawara, Shechem, Al Abud, and all along the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road.

TODAY’S BLOG

Where Do We Draw The Line?

Context: Jews from Ethiopia have arrived in waves to Israel over the last 150 years: a few in the 19th century, a larger wave in 1934, then nearly 17,000 in the 1980s, 40,000 in the 1990s, 27,000 between 2000-2009, and some 7,200 since then. It is safe to say that with each successive wave of Ethiopian immigrants, the percentage of non-Jews who have come here has steadily increased.

In fact, according to data from the Population and Immigration Authority released today, nearly 70% of the approximately 5000 Ethiopian immigrants to Israel between 2020-2022 are Christians.

Even the remaining 30% only identified themselves as having “Jewish” heritage.

None of these immigrants were eligible for aliya under the Law of Return.

Why were they admitted to the country? Mainly for “humanitarian” family reunification reasons.

It is no secret that the Beta Jewish population in Ethiopia largely converted to Christianity over the centuries.

It is also no secret that as we periodically “rescue” these Ethiopians from Ethiopia, the waiting camps of Ethiopians waiting to come here fill up again.

Dr. Yona Sharki from the Center for Immigration Policy writes: “The State of Israel must allow every Jew who wants to immigrate to Israel to fulfill his wish. The waiting camps in Ethiopia empty and fill up every few years, with each time a new five-digit number of people waiting to immigrate appears . . . [A] new project must establish uniform criteria for immigrating to Israel, which will be valid for all diasporas and conform to the provisions of the Law of Return.”

Where do we draw the line?

On the one hand, a number of Ethiopians who have come here in recent years have converted to Judaism (there doesn’t seem to be any data on how many), and the number of draft age Ethiopian men and women who serve in the IDF approaches 100%–a factor that aids in their acculturation and language learning process.

Ethiopian-Israelis are finding their way into virtually every strata of Israeli society. In the last week alone, your humble servant has met with wonderful Ethiopian-Israelis who are nurses, doctors, schoolteachers, and businessmen.

On the other hand, as we struggle with maintaining a Jewish majority in Israel, perhaps the time has come to stop the influx of non-Jews into the country.

As Shabbat approaches, what do you think?

On that note, we wish you:

SHABBAT SHALOM!