WhatsappThe conclusion of this video is clear, “The Jews should go back to where they came from.” That is exactly the story of the last 150 years. The Jewish people have returned to where they came from, partially out of an age-old connection to our ancient Homeland, and partially because we were kicked out of everywhere else.
The Jewish people did not all live in Poland and Russia before the State of Israel was established. Actually, the Jews were literally scattered all over the globe. That is a result of the Jewish people being kicked out of the Land of Israel and nearly every European country – at some point over the last 10 centuries. This led to an exile that spanned many countries in Asia, every country in North Africa, South Africa, many countries in the Middle East, and everywhere in North America, South America and Australia.
But for most of these locations, Jewish life did not last very long or it did last very long and then came to a sudden and terrible end. The country that perhaps was most hospitable to the Jewish people for the longest was Poland. Poland had a sizeable Jewish population for many hundreds of years. That is what partially explains how the Jewish population of Poland ballooned to more than 3 million Jews before World War II. But that, of course, ended horribly with the German invasion and the destruction of most of European Jewry by the Germans and their collaborators.
The exile in North America has also been one of the best, if not the best place for the Jewish people in the last few centuries. But it has been much shorter than many realize. Before 1900, there were approximately 1 million Jews living in North America. Before 1880, there were far less. The pogroms in Russia brought waves before and after the turn of the century. The mass number of Jews who immigrated to North America came right before or after World War I. Then, another large wave came during the interim years between World War I and World War II. 1 million Jews in North America grew quickly to 3-4 million within less than 50 years due to immigration, natural growth and a low rate of assimilation. The last massive wave of immigration came after World War II from the hundreds of thousands of Jews who miraculously survived World War II and immigrated to the West. But the natural population growth of Jews in North America has been stunted at around 6 million Jews for the last 40-50 years due to large scale intermarriage and modern trends of smaller families.
Today, the scenes of antisemitism that are spreading across much of North America are not an aberration of history. They are a continuation of world history. What was an aberration was the length of time that the Jewish people have lived in North America with relatively little anti-Jewish sentiment and genuine freedom to flourish. But it has been little more than one century that more than a million Jews have thrived in North America, and already, the skies are beginning to darken.
The one place the Jewish people have that is not temporary is the Land of Israel. That’s where the Jews come from and that is where ultimately all paths lead to – sooner or later.
