Opinion
OTHER VIEWS
Losing Demographics
I
sraeFs economy is strong. Its road sys-
tem is amazing — new, wide highways
with new bridges and others under
construction. Many cities are bursting with
beautiful high-rise apartments and condos.
And yet, on a recent trip, I sensed a different
attitude among friends and relatives.
Most continue to yearn for peace but
the belief that it is possible has greatly
diminished. Since 9-11 and the Lebanon
War, Israelis seem cautious and worried.
In spite of the evidence of prosperity, com-
plicated issues absorb the country.
One of the prickly problems involves
Israel's desire to remain a democracy and
balance the needs of a slipping Jewish
majority.
More than 10 years ago on a Women's
Mission to Israel, our group was given
questions to ask our Israeli counterparts.
I was paired with a sweet and attractive
woman named Shosh. I learned that she
had arrived in Israel as a child from an
area in Transylvania. We soon discovered
that she was from the same tiny town as
my father.
"Our grandfathers might
have been close friends:' she
said beaming. It was the begin-
ning of a wonderful friendship.
Shosh gave me a tour of her
neighborhood in Nazareth Ilit
(Upper Nazareth). Her com-
munity in the Galilee in the
north of Israel snuggles in the
hills overlooking Nazareth, the
town known for its Christian
churches and shops run by
Christian Arabs.
Pointing to a lovely house
amidst a flowering garden which had been
recently purchased by an Arab, Shosh told
me she never expected her neighborhood
to include Arabs, but the family seemed to
be good neighbors.
We talked about the dwindling Christian
population in Nazareth and other Christian
centers in Israel. More and more Muslims
were moving into Nazareth. Christian Arabs
who could afford to buy in Nazareth Ilit were
moving there; others were leaving
the area.
I recently returned to
Nazareth Ilit and learned that
the town is now 25 percent
Arab. In Nazareth, a Christian
school connected to a historic
church has, for years, provided
vocational training to needy
boys. The school was built
to serve Christians. Now the
majority of the students are
Muslims.
In 2003, the High Court of
Justice issued an order to the
Israel Lands Administration to set aside a
plot of land in the community of Katzir for
an Israeli Arab family whose application
to live there was rejected because they are
Arabs. Jews living on a moshav or kibbutz
worry about the effects of this ruling. It is
startling to think that residents of a moshav
or kibbutz would not have the ability to
decide who would have membership rights
in their communities.
Even prior to 1948 and the establish-
ment of the State of Israel, Jews, Arabs and
Christians lived in their own communities.
Some of these communities have existed
side by side for decades. But the demo-
graphics in Israel are changing.
Israel is proud to be a democratic state;
and within a democracy, people have free-
dom of movement and the ability to live in
any neighborhood they can afford.
But Israel is also a Jewish sanctuary, a
tiny spot of land where Jews can live with-
out fear of discrimination. Jews wish to
live peacefully with their neighbors while
maintaining their specific cities, towns
and other entities for themselves and
future generations.
In Nazareth Ilit, another friend summed
it up this way: "We may not have to lose a
war to lose our country. We may be losing
our country one house at a time' E
Jeannie Weiner is a West Bloomfield resident
and former president of the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
Nurture Strangers Among Us
New York City/JTA
A
s we engage in our time of col-
lective Jewish reflection and take
stock of the past year, one issue
of social justice jumps ahead of other strong
competitors: For most Jewish Americans,
5768 was the year immigration came of age.
The luxury of musing about our grand-
parents and great-grandparents who arrived
in this country with nothing but hope and
a prayer is a thing of the hazy past. We have
long since established ourselves as fully
integrated, high-achieving contributors to
American society. It is time for us, a com-
munity of successful immigrants, to focus
our energies on the gritty realities of 21st
. century immigration.
One of this year's blessings in disguise
was the federal immigration raid at the
Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in
Postville, Iowa. Though it is deplorable that
our federal government — absent fair and
compassionate immigration laws — chooses
to regulate immigration through a policy
of punitive enforcement, the wake-up call
that this raid presented for our community,
especially, has moved immigration and
immigrants out of the shadows into the stark
light of day.
For the first time, Jewish Americans
realized — in dramatic terms — that in
A36
October 9 • 2008
fisi
order to be true to the intent of
humane working conditions.
our traditions, kashrut must not
And there is much to do.
only incorporate compassionate
Last year's collapse of compre-
behavior toward the animals we
hensive immigration reform
kill, but towards those who work
has left us with a broken
in our slaughterhouses.
system. To counter the legal
The newspaper descriptions
vacuum, local communities
and personal accounts of the
across the land are passing ad
raid are emblazoned on our con-
hoc ordinances aimed at taking
sciences: small children separated
the problem of immigration
from their jailed parents; mothers
into their own hands. As a
Gideon
with tracking devices strapped
community, we need to advo-
Aronoff
to their ankles; workers with no
cate with members of Congress
Special
facility in English and no detailed
to pass fair and humane leg-
Commentary
knowledge of U.S. immigration
islation so that otherwise law-
law undergoing harsh interroga-
abiding citizens, working to
tions; under-age workers forced to slave long sustain themselves and their families, are
hours for subsistence wages.
not regularly threatened with deportation
For many of us, it will be difficult to ever
and criminal prosecution because they are
enjoy a piece of meat again without wonder- undocumented.
ing about the living and labor conditions of
Postville offered another valuable les-
the workers who brought it to our tables.
son: Its tiny faith community, not rich in
During the great waves of 19th century
resources to begin with, stepped forward
European immigration, advocates from
to provide food, shelter and babysitting
the established American Jewish commu-
services for the nearly 400 arrested in the
nity, like early HIAS volunteers — Emma
raids. In areas around the country with a
Lazarus among them — helped our newly
high concentration of immigrants, con-
arrived relatives. Today, it is our moral, ethi-
gregations and social service and legal
cal and spiritual responsibility to do no less
aid agencies are desperate for volunteers
for the newly arrived of all faiths and back-
to help workers operate within the frame-
grounds, who likewise need strong advocates work of the law, to offer food and clothing
to protect their rights and ensure safe and
to those in need, to tutor English, to care
for children while their parents work and
to mentor entire families.
In recent years, synagogues have not only
appealed to our pocketbooks during the
High Holidays but to our conscience. Many
of us now have the opportunity to make
ethical commitments for the new year — to
define and name the social action we pledge
to repair our world. This year, thanks to the
raid at Agriprocessors, there is a clear call to
action to welcome the stranger and make
certain that his world more closely resembles
our world.
As we enter 5769, let us build upon the
knowledge gained in 5768 by making it
a year that signals the end to raids as a
solution to immigration problems and
a beginning for a national Jewish immi-
gration movement. Let us re-dedicate
ourselves to the vulnerable immigrants
among us and turn our energies to posi-
tive action on their behalf. Let us fill an
urgent need by building a sukkat ger a
sheltering presence that protects and nur-
tures the newest Americans.
In doing so we will bring renewed honor
to our relations with our fellow man, our
country, and our faith. ❑
—
Gideon Aronoff is president and CEO of HIAS,
the international migration agency of the
Jewish people.