KUMMUNIQUE

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Shalom From Israel!" by Adam Israel Burnat
2. "Save The Diaspora" a Jerusalem Post Editorial
3. "Save the Diaspora - Why?" by Ze'ev Orenstein

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1. "Shalom From Israel!" by Adam Israel Burnat

So I have finally made it after waiting for so long. It's truly amazing to be here. This was by far the greatest and most exciting day of my life. The good bye ceremony at JFK was nice. The flight was good and the excitement kept growing the closer we got to Israel. When the pilot announced that we were about an hour away I started to learn the chapter 31 in Yirmiyahu where it talks about the Geulah (redemption) and that's where the quote Vshovu Bonim Ligvulam (the children will return to their borders) comes from. Just learning it was so amazing as this prophecy was going to apply to me. I was going to be returning to my borders in Israel. We started getting closer to Israel and we started to see the land of Israel. The greatest view from a plane I have ever seen. We get closer and the wheels hit the ground, I am now an Israeli Living in Israel.

I don't think I have ever wanted to leave a plane more than I wanted to this time. The second we landed I had all my stuff ready and was ready to walk off the plane onto My Land. I took my first steps outside the plane at the top of the stairs. It was gorgeous. I started walking down the stairs in disbelief of what I and 272 friends had just accomplished. A lifelong dream had come true and I was living it. I kneeled down and kissed the ground. I truly took in the moment. We boarded the bus to take us to the terminal where our friends would be meeting us. But on the bus I had the strangest feeling. I was standing on the bus and it was a very surreal feeling. I'm in Israel and I just made Aliyah but I couldn't believe it. It didn't seem real. But something happened that made it real as ever. The bus was pulling up to the terminal and I see hundreds of people waiting for us. Music was blasting and people were dancing. They were all here to celebrate our Return Home. I walk off the bus and see so many Jewish faces with such joy on their face. Joy of seeing their brothers and sisters come home. I see Naftali from a distance. I couldn't believe it. I then see a sign that read "Welcome Home Adam". I run up and give the biggest hug ever to Naftali. I see Michelle who made the wonderful sign, Aliza, Laura, Perry and Pepper. It's awesome. We start singing Vshova Bonim Ligvulam and we would sing it many more times that day.

This is the greatest moment of my life.

We head on inside to the ceremony and there are so many people. There are many speakers who give such meaningful speeches. We rise to sing Hatikva, the national anthem of Israel. Perry says to me that this is the first time I'll be singing it as an Israeli. I've sang it many times before but nothing ever like this. I was living Free in My Land. There's nothing like seeing so many yiddin standing at attention to sing Hatikvah. We then had a Bnei Akiva Mifkad led by all those who just made Aliyah. I have so much gratitude to Bnei Akiva whom I gained so much from and played a major role in me making Aliyah. After we sang Yad Achim, the song of Bnei Akiva I said the Following. Rebbe Nachamn said "To every place I go, I got to Israel." But now for all of us, To every place I go I go IN Israel. It's unbelievable. I truly am home. The friends then went on their way and I took care of my paper work where I received the documents telling me I am an Israeli Citizen, something I am so very proud of. So Thank G-d everything worked out and I am now living my dream. The pictures will be online soon but the pictures don't have so much meaning to me. The memories I have I will carry for a lifetime. This is the beginning of my new life and I couldn't be happier.

Shabbat Shalom, Your Chaver (Friend) From Israel,

Adam Israel Burnat

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2. "Save The Diaspora" A Jerusalem Post Editorial
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605876930&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

It was but 55 years ago that American Jewish leader Jacob Blaustein imposed on David Ben-Gurion a written agreement in which the latter acknowledged American Jewry's exclusive commitment to the US, respected "the integrity of Jewish life in the democratic countries," and conceded that "the Jews in the US do not live 'in exile.'"

Evidently, things have changed since American Jewry was more than five times as large as Israeli Jewry, and US Jewish leaders could speak with nearly patronizing confidence to the elected head of the Jewish state. According to data presented this week by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, based on studies by the demographer Sergio DellaPergola, America's 5.28 million-strong Jewish community is but 45,000 people larger than Israel's.

Not only does this mean that we are, at most, only a few years away from Israel's emergence as home to the world's largest Jewish community, it also reflects the disturbing phenomenon of a shrinking Diaspora.

On the face of it, Israel's emerging demographic status within the Jewish world is a happy development. Who would have dreamt - not only back when the Zionist movement was conceived, but even after Israel's establishment - that the Zionist enterprise would be so successful that for the first time since antiquity the Promised Land would host the world's largest Jewish community and seem well on its way to hosting more than half of the entire Jewish people?

Yet that is precisely where things are headed, considering that Israeli Jewry is growing rapidly while the Diaspora's current population of 7.75 million Jews is already a drastic 2.25 million people smaller than a mere 35 years ago, according to DellaPergola's studies.

This is anything but a welcome trend. Like Blaustein in his time, we reject Ben-Gurion's dogmatic view that all Jews should live in their ancestral land. The way we see it, the demographic and spiritual survival of the Diaspora is vital for the future of the Jewish nation in general, and the Jewish state in particular.

It follows that Israel cannot remain indifferent as the Diaspora shrinks. We, as the Jewish state, must get down to the business of nourishing the Diaspora. This effort should not be focused on the restoration of Jewish life in countries like Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Poland that have been the historic hotbeds and stages of catastrophic anti-Semitism. Rather, it should concentrate on assisting Jewish communities across the Western world - where they are most numerous and welcomed, and are threatened by assimilation because of that very success and acceptance.

The next government should formally define the revitalization of the Diaspora as a strategic aim. Such a resolution would entail a drastic re-thinking of the relations between Jerusalem and Babylon, which remain governed by an unwritten and anachronistic distribution of responsibilities whereby the Israelis sacrifice blood and their brethren money.

Israel has matured economically, and the share of foreign aid and donations in its GDP is hardly 2.5 percent and on the decrease. Our income per capita is on a par with the major economies of Europe, even if our level of defense spending necessarily remains much higher than in other Western nations.

Accordingly, Israel should be working with the Diaspora on programs to bolster Jewish education and identity. The panoply of efforts that are known to work, including Jewish day schools, Jewish camping, and educational programs in Israel - such as the birthright and Masa programs - should be fully funded as a joint project of Diaspora philanthropy and the Israeli government.

The Diaspora played a pivotal role in Israel's founding, for which every Israeli should be eternally grateful. The Diaspora, moreover, has much to offer Israel at this moment, particularly in the realms of Jewish pluralism and the integration of Judaism with modern life. Now it is time for us to return the favor, and give back as much as we have received. For this, the Jewish state was founded and therein lies its - and the Jewish people's - future.

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3. "Save the Diaspora - Why?" by Ze'ev Orenstein
http://israelperspectives.blogspot.com/

The Jerusalem Post, in a recent editorial entitled Save the Diaspora, has found the latest cause for the Jewish State of Israel to champion:

"According to data presented this week by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, based on studies by the demographer Sergio DellaPergola, America's 5.28 million-strong Jewish community is but 45,000 people larger than Israel's... Israeli Jewry is growing rapidly while the Diaspora's current population of 7.75 million Jews is already a drastic 2.25 million people smaller than a mere 35 years ago, according to DellaPergola's studies. "

It is clear to anyone who is intellectually honest that the Jewish community of the United States is in a rapid decline, that the State of Israel is primed to become the largest Jewish community in the world (the only one with a positive growth rate), and that the future of the Jewish People is going to be taking place in the Land of Israel - which is consistent with the fundamental principles of both Judaism and most streams of Zionism.

As such, the logical conclusion that the State of Israel should be drawing from these statistics would be for her to be doing everything in her power to ensure that the shifting of the center of Jewish life from New York & Washington to Jerusalem & Tel Aviv is done as smoothly as possible, and to begin assisting American Jewry in coming to terms with this new reality and demonstrating to them that the Jewish State of Israel can be considered a viable option for those interested in continuing their Jewish lives.

Makes sense, right?

Wrong. At least if you write Op-Eds for the Jerusalem Post:

"This is anything but a welcome trend... The way we see it, the demographic and spiritual survival of the Diaspora is vital for the future of the Jewish nation in general, and the Jewish state in particular... We, as the Jewish state, must get down to the business of nourishing the Diaspora... The next government should formally define the revitalization of the Diaspora as a strategic aim."

I will be the first to admit that I would have liked to see the State of Israel become the largest Jewish community in the world through Aliyah alone, and not through the assistance of assimilation. Yet, what is the basis for the claim that the Jewish People and State can't survive without a strong Jewish presence outside of the State of Israel?

We have witnessed over and over again, throughout the long and tortuous 2,000 year Exile, that the Jewish People can not find any lasting peace and security (whether physical or spiritual), and that sooner or later, they will be asked or forced to leave their countries of residence. This was the reasoning behind the establishment of political Zionism and the quest of the Jewish People to re-establish a Jewish State in the Land of Israel; the re-established State of Israel would be a place where the Jewish People could live as masters of their own destiny and not need to rely on the kindness and goodwill of the nations of the world.

That being said, I am in favor of the Jewish State of Israel providing the Jewish communities of the world with assistance for endeavors that are meant to strengthen their Jewish identity, and their connection to the Jewish People, State and the Land of Israel. Yet, by no means should the State of Israel be interested in "revitalizing" the Diaspora, and I say this for three reasons:

1st, it's a bad investment. Despite all the resources (financial and otherwise) that the State of Israel has allocated to trying to "revitalize" the Diaspora, on the whole, there continue to be fewer and fewer Jews to show for it. Programs like birthright and MASA that strengthen Jewish identity while strengthening the connection to the Jewish People and State are worthwhile investments, and should continue to be funded, but they seem to represent the exception rather than the rule.

2nd, the Jewish People belong in Israel - both from a Zionist and Jewish perspective. Why should the State of Israel help the Jewish communities of the world do something that is contrary to their own well-being and that of the State of Israel? Granted, The State of Israel can't force any Jew to come and live in Israel, but that doesn't mean that the State of Israel needs to assist them in their decision to remain in the Exile.

The proper approach that the State of Israel should be taking is the one that was taken a few years ago in response to the economic crisis in Argentina. The State of Israel opened her doors to the Jews of Argentina, offering them a lifeline - a way to get back up on their feet, through their choosing to come home to Israel where the Israeli government was waiting with open arms to do everything possible to assist them - and many took them up on their offer.

3rd, imagine what an impact the Aliyah of 1-2 million American Jews would have on the State of Israel! Imagine the impact on the economy, on the way people do business and treat each other. Imagine the impact that 2 million Jews from AMERICA would do to the morale of this country. Imagine an Israel that can tap into the American know-how, drive, passion and creativity. Imagine the impact that 2 million Americans would have on the way Israel's electoral and judicial systems, as well as the media operated. The Jewish State would no longer need to consider retreating from parts of her Homeland due to demographic considerations. There would be enough Jews to settle the Negev, the Galil, the Golan, Jerusalem and Judea & Samaria.

Would Israel miss the millions of dollars donated annually by American Jews? Sure, but right now, Israel misses actual Jews more. Also, imagine an Israel where all of these wealthy Jews brought their capital, as well as their businesses over to Israel and invested them into the economy - that would be doing more for Israel than any check from America ever could. Additionally, with the American Jewish community in decline, and with the younger generation of American Jews showing a disconnect with the Jewish State, it can be expected that in the not-to-distant future, the stream of American $$$ is going to dry up.

For all those reasons and so many more, it is in the absolute best interests of the Jewish State of Israel to do everything it can to allow Jerusalem to become the center of the Jewish world, in mind, spirit and body. The American Jewish community is in decline, following the natural course of all Jewish communities in Exile throughout the last two thousand years.

The United States of America has been good to the Jewish People and State, and the American Jewish community has, by and large, been a tremendous asset and faithful ally, and for all of this the State of Israel should be appreciative. However, the State of Israel can't afford to let nostalgia stand in the way of Jewish destiny - and that Jewish destiny is playing itself out in the Land of Israel.

To my Jewish brothers and sisters in the Diaspora (AKA: Exile): Come home now, while good seats are still available... (Or, act now and avoid the Mashiach rush).