Hillel Fuld Addresses Jews in The Diaspora

“Dear European Jews in the 30s,

I owe you an apology. For the last 40 years, I’ve accused you of being blind, and quite frankly, stupid!

I’ve said it thousands of times.

“Why didn’t they get out? How did they not see the writing on the wall? Were they that comfortable and assimilated that they really believed it’d be ok? And even if they believed that, when Germany started legislating against Jews, how was THAT not enough of a sign to get out??”

For years, I thought you were weak. I thought you were led to the gas chambers like sheep to the slaughter.

For years, I thought that your mistakes could never be repeated again. I thought we, the Jewish nation, would surely see the writing on the wall.

I said Never Again and deep down, I thought it would never happen again, because WE, the Jewish people would never let it happen again.

“We are not as weak as they were”, I told myself.

And now I have to say, I’m sorry. I didn’t understand you until about a month or two ago when I realized that I was wrong about you.

More precisely, I was wrong about us.

It could happen again. The Jewish people WOULD let it happen again. We ARE letting it happen again.

Antisemites in the United States congress? Yep.

Pop starts declaring their love for Hitler? Uh huh

Banning Jews from entering educational institutions? Sadly that happened too.

Jews being assaulted and beaten in the streets? Yep, so that’s now a thing.

Mass antisemitic marches across America? We are there…

Jews women being raped and murdered just because they are a Jew? Can’t believe I’m saying this but yea, that too.

So, my European ancestors, and I’m talking to you, Grandma, I’m sorry. You weren’t weak and we aren’t strong.

We are letting them do it to us again and we are again not reading the writing on the wall.

I always believed that if I, we experienced what you experienced, we’d get the hell out immediately.

I was wrong. My brothers and sisters are continuing to be sitting ducks waiting for the next attack, the next vandalism of a synagogue, the next hate crime, the next blood thirsty antisemitic march, the next murder.

It’s 2024 and we haven’t learned the lesson that Germany was not our home. Poland was not our home. Austria was not our home.

Today, America is not our home. South Africa is not our home. The UK is not our home. Australia is not our home.

We only have one home and that is Israel. Is everything perfect in Israel? 100% not. But in Israel, your people protect you and if God forbid bad things happen, and they happen, (you don’t have to tell me, my brother was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist), your government, your army, your people will retaliate and ensure it never happens again.

No one is protecting you at Harvard. Or MIT. Or Columbia. You’re on your own there and this isn’t going to end well.

So, my European ancestors, I’m sorry I judged you. You weren’t weak. You weren’t blind. You weren’t dumb.

You were Jews who refused to internalize that other nations don’t behave like us and just because we’d never try to annihilate a nation doesn’t mean they won’t.

To my brothers and sisters in 2024, please, I beg of you, internalize the lesson of history. It’s happening right before your eyes. Don’t wait till it’s too late.

Leave. Get out. Come home.

We are waiting for you with open hours. You worry about us in Israel? I get it. That’s kind. But here, our fate is in our hands (And Hashem’s) and we know what we need to do.

No one there has your back. We have your back here.

So come home. Help us help you.

Allow us to welcome you at Ben Gurion Airport with chants of Am Yisrael Chai instead of staying there to hear chants of Globalize the Intifada and From the River to the Sea.

This is your home and we want you here with us. We need you here with us.

If you won’t come home for you, come home for us. We love you and want you here safe in our embrace.

Come home. It will be the best thing you ever did!

We are waiting. I am waiting! “