How then can we integrate them into society? I think that there need to be more programs that teach Jews from abroad Hebrew. More than just Ulpan though, I think it should also be teaching about the Israeli culture and helping immigrant jews adapt to a very different society. I think a program that could be helpful would be a program that is inclusive to all Israeli immigrants. They could all have programs together that help them understand Israeli culture and are helped integrate by other Israelis. By being introduced to Israeli society together, all of the immigrants are introduced to each other and create an understanding of the culture in other places around the world and each other. It would be a great way to learn other languages and cultures.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Ethiopian Jews
I know it sounds incredibly naive, but prior to coming to Israel, I had not heard of the majority of the internal affairs in Israel that do not have to do with religious matters. I always thought that Israel was a place where any Jew could go and take refuge. It turns out, I was wrong. In the face of persecution in Ethiopia, Ethiopian Jews feed to Israel for freedom. Instead, they were not greeted as kindly. As I saw in South Tel Aviv, there are many communities that are solely immigrants. A similar thing happened in the US in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Different ethnicities moved to the same places and because of that, they were often persecuted. Because of this, the cultures of these different groups of people were limited. What is the difference between the Ethiopians in Israel and the European or Asian immigrants in the US? The difference is that the Ethiopians and the Israelis are all Jewish. Especially if we all have the same customs and beliefs, we should all be treated equally. It should not matter if one Jew is black, one is white, or anything else. The fact that Ethiopian Jews are being discriminated against is horrible.
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I definitely agree with your view. I think that the only way to integrate immigrants is to allow them to assimilate into the culture. All immigrants that come to Israel have a hard time adapting, but I think that the hardest group to accept for some reason, is the Ethiopians, primarily, because they have a different skin color. I think that Israel should invest in a program similar to many programs that help people who want to make Aliyah, by helping them learn Hebrew, find an apartment, maybe live on a kibbutz for a while, until they can get on their feet and figure out what they want to do in Israeli society. It is unfair to welcome a people into one's country and then totally disregard them once they arrive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. How is Israel considered a safehaven for jews when not all jews are accepted there? After countless pogroms and the Holocaust, how are jews still discriminated against, and by other jews? It blows my mind how even after so much has happened, we still continue to do the same things. Although I think programs should be created to help absorb the Ethiopian immigrants and others into society, I doubt how much they would help. I think that all we can give people is time and let the lessons of the past sink in.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your views. It seems completely unimaginable to me that here in the Jewish State of Israel, Jews are being discriminated against by other Jews. After all of the hardships and discrimination we have faced ourselves, you would think that all of us Jews would stick together no matter what and protect each other. The idea that this is happening even to one person in Israel, is simply unfathomble and I can't explain how much despair it brings to me. The israeli people need to allow immigrants in and protect them like they're own because all Jews need to be unified especially in the land of Israel.
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