PRAY FOR their souls. It may be all you can do. Never again? It is happening again.
The massive death of innocents.
Almost every day.
On the high seas.
On unmarked or boobytrapped trails.
We are witnessing the largest migration of peoples since WW II.
People are leaving everywhere, from Syria and Senegal, from Ethiopia and Sudan, and, of course, from Mexico.
Call them hordes, call them masses, call them what you want, but the numbers add up to the thousands and the tens of thousands.
Overall, a million or more.
Every few days, another tragedy.
People want to get to Europe.
Want to get to the US.
Want to get out of poverty.
Or, in some cases, want to escape madmen making war, dropping barrel bombs and slicing peoples heads off.
The migration to the US from Mexico and to Europe from places like Algeria is an old story.
The current migration to Europe is new, triggered directly by the civil war in Syria, itself prolonged by American inaction in Syria.
We failed to supply substantial armaments to the opponents of Bashar Assad. Iran and Russia moved into the vacuum. Hezbollah rejoiced. We left the arena to others — the inhumane and the violent who are only too happy to see the West flooded with immigrants it does not know how to handle. We told the Syrians: Have no hope.
The Syrians began to flee, first in the thousands, then the hundreds of thousands.
First to Turkey and Jordan.
Then to Greece and Libya, ultimately to Italy and other European nations.
These fleeing Syrians became role models.
Other nationalities followed.
The good life looked attainable, even if achieved only in danger.
In possible drownings on the high seas.
In possible pillage on the trails to Turkey, Jordan, Libya or other points West.
Yet, the people keep coming, choosing to leave home and hearth, seemingly oblivious to the risks.
Do you have a solution?
I do not.
Years ago, a swift end to the Syrian civil war would have precluded the idea of massive migration.
Now, the cat is out of the bag.
Pray for the souls of those who didnt make it and for the safety of those who wisely or unwisely, realistically or unrealistically are still trying.
Oh, yes. Also this: foreshorten the vision. It wasn’t too long ago when those desperate to escape were Jews. Just because I cannot devise an answer does not mean that you cannot.
THOSE WHO do succeed in reaching the US or Europe raise issues, especially in Europe, though difficulties hang over us all.
The biggest issue is economic. It is one thing for a country to be open to immigrants; it is quite something else to be open to a massive influx overnight — a million people in Germany, for example. Those fortunate enough to have escaped the dangers have come for jobs. Recipient countries have no choice but to create them, somehow.
Most of these immigrants are good people seeking a better life for their families, often left back home, hoping to join the breadwinner when he establishes himself a venerable pattern established by the male head of Jewish families who emigrated from the shtetl to the US 100 years ago.
But not all of the current immigrants are good people.
Not all have any interest in democracy.
Not all shed the culture of violence or intolerance whence they came.
Exhibit A: France and its unintegrated Muslim neighborhoods, many rife with anti-Semitism. They need not be terrorists to undermine French and, by extension, European democracy.
Belgium? Its no go zones germinate terrorism. Not only are the Belgian authorities unable to stop this terrorism in advance, they cannot even catch the perpetrators handily after the fact.
It is not only the innocents for whom we must pray and hope, but for ourselves, unless we become adept at meeting the challenges of this massive population shift.
Ideas, anyone?
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg may be reached at [email protected]
Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News
