8 | NOVEMBER 25 • 2021 PURELY COMMENTARY In the meantime, those praying for an airlift to Israel are facing an increasingly vol- atile security situation as the civil war raging in the country closes in on them, while, of course, also contending daily with abject poverty and serious health issues, exacerbated by the COVID-19 economic fallout. So why the delay? Clearly there are those in positions of power who do not want them here at all, arguing that it is not Israel’s duty to open its gates to non-Jews, nor is it Israel’s responsibility to shoulder the social and economic burden of absorbing them. A rather spurious position under the circumstances. Though indeed the prevailing rabbinic opinion is that those awaiting permission to come are for the most part not halachically Jewish, the overwhelming major- ity of the community’s members maintain a strictly traditional Jewish lifestyle and 95 percent of them convert under the auspices of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate within a year of their aliyah. Furthermore, this is no lon- ger an argument that any of us should countenance. It is far too late, and completely irrelevant, to ask if those awaiting aliyah in Gondar and Addis Ababa are Jewish, because what clearly isn’t Jewish is sustaining people’s hopes for 20 years, tearing fam- ilies apart and then reneging on promises to reunite them out of concern for polluting the Jewish gene pool. An argument, by the way, never raised in regard to the more than half of the immi- grants from the FSU who have arrived over the past few years who are also not halachically Jewish and who overwhelmingly do not convert, but who never- theless are welcomed — as they should be — with open arms. Besides, anyone not convinced that these Ethiopian immigrants are bona fide Jews even after their conversion need not marry them. As to those who are afraid that 14,000 more mouths to feed and souls to house will break the economy of our 9-million strong Start-up Nation, well, I’ d suggest taking a look at the state bud- get just passed and calculating how very little of the earmarked “coalition funds” it would take to absorb them. The ongoing procrastination, then, in bringing home the remnants of Ethiopian Jewry should be a cause for profound embarrassment, and their aliyah a cause we should all embrace. This is not a peripheral paro- chial issue, but a national moral imperative. The plight of those left behind is a blight on an otherwise stellar chapter in the annals of the Zionist enterprise, and it is our collective respon- sibility to right this wrong — as one. If Israel’s social fabric cannot be woven seamlessly of strands of black and white, it may well unravel altogether. None of us should be prepared to tolerate any longer a situa- tion in which Israel remains in the business of tearing families apart. Dr. David Breakstone recently completed a term as deputy chair of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel. He previously served as deputy chair of the World Zionist Organization and conceptual archi- tect and founding director of the Herzl Museum and Educational Center in Jerusalem. A woman at the demonstration Yiddish Limericks Chanukah We add a lichtl yeder nacht It’s ein, tzvay, dri, until it’s acht. Ich hob azay lib the Chanukah food Dos vareme latkes, they taste so good. Nu, kum arayn, ess vos ich hob gemacht. lichtl: little candle Ein, tzvey, dri: one, two, three Acht: eight Ich hob azay lib: I love so much Dos vareme latkes: the warm latkes Kum arayn: come in ess vos ich hob gemacht: eat what I made. By Rachel Kapen Thanksgiving On Thanksgiving Day A shaynem dahnk we’ll say. Far alle gutte zakhn nisht ein, nisht tzvay. Far yingalakh un maydalakh, far alle zisse kinderlakh Nisht nor haunt, but every day. A shaynem dahnk: a nice thank you Far alle gutte zakhn: for all the good things Nisht ein nisht tzvay: not one, not two ingalakh un maydalakh: little boys and little girls Far zisse kinderlakh: for sweet children Nisht nor haynt: not only today. continued from page 6