The columns on the facing page talk about burgeoning Jewish life in both Poland and the former Soviet Union. The writers witnessed Jewish institutions rising after 50 years of suppression. They witnessed a rebirth of Jewish culture in places that were once considered “Jewish graveyards.”
Visit these communities on a Jewish trip and you’ll see youth singing favorite Hebrew melodies. You’ll tour the Jewish day schools and see sweet young children learning the alef-bet, and perhaps eating kosher meals. And you’ll be reminded over and over again that this rebirth can only continue with your financial support.
The images no doubt tug at the heartstrings of older American Jews who either came from the Old Country or whose parents emigrated from there. We can only imagine what watching these young Jewish children means to Koret Foundation President Tad Taube, whose philanthropy is going a long way toward restoring the Jewish culture in his native Poland from near extinction. Poland was an epicenter of Jewish life and Taube, who emigrated 65 years ago, no doubt doesn’t want to see evidence of that rich history destroyed.
But what of the remnants of that Polish community — the 30,000 Jews themselves? Should it be a priority to send American dollars to build community centers, schools and synagogues? We wonder whether many younger American Jews want their philanthropic dollars go to a cause with which they cannot personally identify.
We applaud the work of people like Taube and the Lauder Foundation. Their dollars are serving to save a culture and history that might have been destroyed or forgotten.
But at the same time we ask hypothetically if we should be supporting the people in these communities or whether they would be better off in Israel.
The Jewish state would certainly offer them a haven from anti-Semitism. It also might provide a better livelihood than a Jew can have in Krakow, Uzbekistan and Kiev.
There are those who argue that it is vitally important to rebuild the once-thriving Jewish communities throughout Europe. They don’t want Hitler’s dream of Judenrein lands to come true. This is a valid argument. But what good is it if Jews who remain in these lands must live the life of a hated minority, always scrambling for dollars to sustain their communities?
Perhaps it’s time to think about bringing those Jews to Israel and using the philanthropic dollars to build them a brighter life in the Jewish state.
We know this won’t be an idea many of our readers can embrace, but it is a discussion worth having. We welcome your thoughts.