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this time based on fiscal constraints.
Liora Shimoni, director of the State
Comptroller’s social welfare division,
explained that this discrepancy is based
on a 2008 position paper drafted by the
State Comptroller’s Office defining these
remaining members of the community
as “Falashmura,” Ethiopian Jews who
assimilated or converted to Christianity
and were, therefore, not entitled to
come to Israel in conjunction with the
Law of Return. She agreed with MK
Yachimovich that Israel’s subsequent
demand that Ethiopian Jews prove their
mothers’ Judaism to qualify for the Law
of Return did not apply to any other
group of immigrants.
Yahimovich noted that her refugee par-
ents (like my own) would not have come
to Israel from Europe after surviving the
Holocaust — nor would a million immi-
grants from the former Soviet Union and
hundreds of thousands from Morocco
— had financial cost to the state and
strict proof of Judaism presented similar
obstacles.
Were assimilation a disqualifying fac-
tor, many members of Israel’s largely
secular founding generation and their
offspring would have also failed to make
the cut. Many of us are far less religious-
ly observant than the “Falashmura” Jews
remaining in Ethiopian transit camps
who adopted Christianity in name
only to avoid the retribution of their
Christian neighbors — like the celebrat-
ed Anussim of the Spanish Inquisition
who are the ancestors of many unques-

tionably Jewish Israelis.
Moreover, Ethiopians are the only
Jews for whom the principle of family
unification does not represent an incen-
tive to bring them swiftly and safely to
Israel. That this is about race was made
all too apparent by the heart-wrenching
stories told in the Knesset committee by
Israelis who have been separated from
their loved ones for years:
Fate Fantawe, a 23-year old biotech
student at Bar-Ilan University, arrived
here with her aunt when Fate was 9. Her
mother was already dead. Her grand-
mother joined them in 2008. Yet, her
father has been waiting for 10 years in
Gondar to come to Israel.
During her first visit to Ethiopia
since she arrived, she realized that she
has been yearning for 17 years for her
long-forgotten father’s embrace and a
clear image of his face. No reason has
been given by the Jewish Agency for the
denial of his repeated requests to come
to Israel, the most recent filed by her
grandmother in 2014. Her aging grand-
mother’s flagging health was recently
compounded by the loss of her youngest
daughter and caretaker. Fantawe hopes
that her grandmother will live to see her
only remaining son, Fantawe’s father.
People have suggested that her father
come as a tourist for a month and work
out his status from here.
“But no,” says Fantawe. “My father is a
Jew. He deserves to live here.”
First Sergeant Ejetta Shiloh arrived
at the Knesset in uniform. She serves

in an IDF Search and Rescue combat
unit. The 21-year old hasn’t seen her
father in 12 years. She arrived here with
her mother. Her parents divorced when
she was 1. Her father, a Jew, remarried
a Christian woman with whom he has
three daughters. The family is so poor
that Shiloh must send part of her mea-
ger IDF salary to them. She only asks
that her father join her in Israel.
Surafel Alemo, a 22-year old from
Haifa, came to Israel in 2006. He, too,
served in the IDF. His father died 11
months ago. He has a sister living in
Israel and three remaining siblings “left
behind” in Ethiopia. Alemo says that
when he and his sister left Ethiopia,
they were told, “They [your remaining
family] will arrive in a month or two.
Since then I have been waiting 11 years.
I call [immigration authorities] every
day to ask what is happening — where
does it stand? My father didn’t have the
privilege of reuniting with his family
because of you. I served in the army. I
fought in Operation Protective Edge.
What more do you want? All we are ask-
ing is that you bring our families.”
Let’s leave aside for the sake of argu-
ment the validity of the Law of Return
granting automatic citizenship based
on religion. Let’s leave aside the pend-
ing deportation of refugees and foreign
workers to African nations in which
they are not welcome and their lives
may be threatened. And even worse,
let’s leave aside the deportation of our
own “dreamers,” their Israeli-born chil-

dren who speak Hebrew as well as my
own and are culturally sabras.
Let’s even leave aside the Torah’s
injunction to “show your love for the
alien, for you were aliens in the land of
Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19).”
Let’s say that our first obligation is
to our own and that, as history taught
us after the Holocaust, if we fail to take
care of our own, no one else will. Let’s
go so far as to call the Law of Return a
Jewish form of affirmative action.
Does that basic tenet of Zionism not
apply to all Jews, regardless of the color
of their skin? Can we permit racism to
call into question our right to exist as a
homeland for the Jewish people?
As the U.S. observed Martin Luther King
Day, I was reminded of my favorite MLK
quote: “Everybody can be great. Because
anybody can serve.” I hope that by writ-
ing this blog post, I have in my small way
fulfilled Coretta King’s wish that we com-
memorate her late husband Dr. Martin
Luther King’s day by being of service.
Let us all be of service on his day
and every day, doing everything in our
power to bring the Jews of color who
want to come here to Israel and by
caring for the strangers of color in our
midst. Let us all be great. •

Varda Spiegel was nurse-director of the Bedouin
Mobile Unit of the Negev, later serving as mater-
nal-child health director for the Ministry of Health
Jerusalem District. This essay first appeared in the
Times of Israel.

guest column

Homeless ‘New York Dwayne’ Freezes To Death

I

n furnishing meals, clothing and toi-
letries to Detroit’s homeless, Heart 2
Hart regularly comes to know many
of the people we serve.
Many of them are often anxious to
talk to us, to laugh
with us and express
their appreciation. One
of those persons was
“New York Dwayne,” an
extraordinarily friendly
guy with a wide smile
and a gift for gab.
New York Dwayne
Mark Jacobs
had a dark past.
According to him, more
than 30 years ago, he
caught a man with his
wife and a fight broke
out. Things escalated, and the man
died. Dwayne was convicted of homi-

8

February 1 • 2018

jn

cide and spent 30 years in a
and thousands of other home-
New York prison. When he was
less people in the city were bat-
released, he moved to Detroit,
tling deadly conditions.
hoping for a fresh start in a new
We just learned that New
city.
York Dwayne died last week.
But with few job skills and
We’re told he got drunk, passed
a taste for alcohol, New York
out and froze to death. We
Dwayne found himself alone
don’t know the details, and
and living on the streets,
New York Dwayne it really doesn’t matter. What
just like thousands of other
matters is that a poor, lonely
Detroiters.
soul died an inhumane and
We connected with New York
horrible death in the world’s wealthiest
Dwayne. He was sweet to us and never
country.
showed the slightest hint of anger or
At Heart 2 Hart, we don’t care about
hostility. We gave him a new coat just
someone’s past misdeeds or mistakes.
weeks ago, and he was so touched he
We don’t care what their political views
agreed to make a videotape for us to
are, if they’re drug addicts, alcoholics
thank us for all we do for him. It was a
or ex-felons. We don’t judge. They’re
very happy day for him.
human and they need help. And helping
people in need is our simple mission.
And then the brutally cold tempera-
New York Dwayne probably made a
tures arrived in Detroit, and Dwayne

million mistakes in his life. Some will
say he paid the price for poor choices
made over the course of a lifetime. We
don’t see it that way. We see a cruel soci-
ety that refuses to take care of its most
vulnerable people.
We are grieving for the loss of our
friend New York Dwayne, and once
again we ask how this could happen
in America. And we suspect that as
Dwayne lay freezing to death in the
mean streets of Detroit he was asking
himself the same question. •

Mark Jacobs is a lawyer, community activist and
chairman of Heart 2 Hart - Detroit, a nonprofit
serving Detroit homeless people. To help, logon to
http://h2hd.org.

See a video of “New York Dwayne” thanking
Larry Oleinick, founder of Heart 2 Hart – Detroit,
on the JN website, thejewishnews.com.

