Danger & Safety Ahead

After the recent horror of Islamic terrorists slaughtering four rabbis praying in a Jerusalem synagogue, one of the most revered rabbinic leaders in the American yeshiva world made a comment. He said that for Jews today, there’s no difference being in Jerusalem than there is being in Lakewood, New Jersey or Miami.
 
Meaning all Jews are in danger everywhere.
 
Today, hate crimes against Jews have skyrocketed 383% worldwide since last year, including a 436% increase in Europe and a whopping 1200% increase in South America. It now seems the grace period after the Holocaust has officially ended, and it’s open season on Jews once again.
 
In November alone, the same month as the Jerusalem synagogue massacre, a Chassidic Jew was stabbed in the neck in Belgium. Holland saw two youths “of Mediterranean extraction” attempt to run over its Chief Rabbi. In Paris, a kosher sushi restaurant was firebombed and an anti-Semitic “African” gang beat a Jewish teen. In New Zealand, a four-year old Jewish boy wearing a kippa was hit hard on the top of his head in front of his mother by a man of “Middle Eastern appearance.” And at a Brooklyn subway station, assailants knocked down an Israeli Orthodox Jew (who was in the US for cancer treatment), kicking him while shouting "(expletive) dirty Jew."
 
These November hate crimes represent just a small fraction of the anti-Semitic violence erupting worldwide every day.
 
And many fear this is just a foreshadowing of much worse to come.
 
As the time of Redemption that the prophets foresaw is fast approaching, it’s becoming more apparent that Jews living in countries outside of Israel are vulnerable exiles in lands not their own, no matter how successful or assimilated they are.
 
And Kabbalists such as Rabbi Yehuda Zev Leibowitz of saintly memory warned that the danger our generation faces is much greater outside the Land of Israel, especially in America.
 
The time to wake up is now.
 
As counterintuitive as it may sound, the Land of Israel is the safest place on earth for Jews, despite the recent tragedies, despite the current intifada and despite being surrounded by bloodthirsty jihadist enemies. Israel, as a rule, is safe because the Divine Presence never left there. Israel is the land of emuna and it’s the land of miracles.
 
Though tragedies in Israel make headlines, miracles rarely do. Yet the miracles of Jews being saved in Israel are as countless as they are dramatic. One of the most dramatic, eye-opening miracles in modern history took place in 1942 when the Jews of what was then called Palestine were saved from Hitler’s plans of bringing the Holocaust there.
 
According to historians at the University of Stuttgart, Hitler stationed a mobile killing unit of SS troops in Athens with the orders to follow Rommel’s invading Afrika Korps into Palestine, round up Jews and massacre them exactly as the SS Einsatzgruppen “action squads” had done in Eastern Europe. This Middle East death squad was even going to be led by the same SS Obersturmbannführer who helped develop mobile gas chambers that killed Jews in Europe.
 
But Hitler’s plans were miraculously foiled. In late 1942, Britain’s Eighth army defeated Rommel’s seemingly unbeatable Afrika Korps at the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa, and the Jews of Palestine were saved.
 
If 1942 sounds like distant history, then let’s return to this past November when countless Jews in Israel were also miraculously saved from untold carnage. In Afula, Israeli police seized a shipping container marked “Christmas lights” that contained an enormous stockpile of weapons intended for Palestinians in East Jerusalem to butcher Jews with. Inside the container were 5,200 knives, 1,000 swords, 5,000 electric shock devices, 4,300 taser-flashlights and around 18,000 firecrackers.
 
This is just one of countless recent miracles in a land of miracles.
 
As history now rushes towards its messianic climax with Moshiach reigning in Israel and the Third Temple crowning Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, it’s no coincidence that nearly all the world’s nations and media are currently obsessed with Israel and the Temple Mount.
 
With this Israel-obsessed climate, Jews living in Europe, South America, Turkey, South Africa and even America find themselves under administrations antagonistic to Israel — and Israel is always synonymous with Jews. These governments show support to a Palestinian government that includes Hamas, whose charter calls for the extermination of all Jews.
 
Under this climate, Jews outside of Israel are also becoming more of a minority, thanks to dwindling Jewish populations caused by assimilation and growing Muslim populations. And as a minority, Jews are more vulnerable to governments who as a rule won’t protect them, which history has proved countless times.
 
The message is that Jews have no one to depend on but Hashem, and that with more danger erupting worldwide, it’s safer to live in the Land Hashem gave the Jews.
 
If making Aliyah to Israel isn’t a possibility right now, Jews outside Israel can start living with one foot out the door. Families should have valid passports, unlocked phones with SIM cards, a decluttered house that’s easier to pack up in short notice and even a completed Nefesh B’Nefesh application.
 
Above all, Jews outside of Israel should really start yearning to return home. And if the yearning’s not there, pray for it.
 
It may mean the difference between danger and safety.