Along with appreciation for those who have set out to help the Jews in Ukraine, we must absolutely reject the effort to return them to Ukraine in the future or send them to Germany and Poland. The Land of Israel is their home. This is its responsibility and this is the mission of the State of Israel.
We all have tremendous admiration and appreciation for the dozens of organizations working to rescue Jews from Ukraine. Words cannot express our wonder at the courage, dedication, care and heroism; but regarding one matter, we cannot be silent.
Various representatives from the aid organizations have proclaimed declarations in the media, such as: “We will soon return to Ukraine and reestablish the Jewish communities that existed.”
In addition, one hears those working among the Jewish refugees to direct them to Poland, Germany or leave them where they are.
It seems that the State of Israel, with its emissaries and organizations, has forgotten its primary role, to constitute a focal point for the Ingathering of the Exiles of the Jewish people.
And we ask: Why is the aspiration to return to or repatriate Jews in Ukraine being sounded? Why send Jews to Germany or Poland ?
Why strive to reestablish communities in the Diaspora when the real home is the Land of Israel?
Since 1948, the term “Jewish refugee” should no longer exist, since every Jew has a home!
It is incumbent upon all the organizations to strive to bring all Jews to the Land of Israel and ensure a secure Jewish future for them and their families.
We are well aware of the shocking assimilation statistics and know that outside the Land of Israel, even in friendly countries, there is no future for the Jews.
Beyond the concern for the personal future of those Jews, the effort to bring them to Israel is also an essential necessity for the State of Israel itself, a country that continues to exist under demographic threat and must increase the number of Jews in it.
This call is thus beneficial and essential for both parties.
We will cite here the words of a friend who, approximately thirty years ago, served as a "shaliach", an emissary, where he was the principal of a Jewish school in one of the large communities in Europe.
He was asked what was his vision for the school. His answer was clear: that the school would close in 15 years because all the students and their parents will have made aliya to the Land of Israel. Thanks to that school principal and his clear worldview, dozens of families made aliya to Israel.
That is the true role of a "shaliach", to encourage and work toward the aliya (immigration) of all Jews to their land.
For some reason, in recent years, an erroneous and dangerous perception has taken hold that the role of "shlichim" (emissaries) is to develop, increase and perpetuate those Jewish communities abroad.
The historical and moral role and mission of the State of Israel is to serve as an actual home for all world Jewry, and not merely a distant and unrealized vision.
However, the shlichim of the State of Israel are afraid to articulate the call to the Jews of the Diaspora: “Come home. The Land of Israel belongs to you and you belong to it.”
Instead, they are busy preserving Judaism somewhere overseas. That is not why the State of Israel, which sent them on their mission, was established.
It is incumbent upon us to internalize the significance of the hour. Indeed, a horrific human tragedy is transpiring in Ukraine, but latent in that tragedy is another opportunity provided by G-d to gather the dispersed of Israel in their land.
This is the moment to proclaim in a loud voice to all Jews, wherever they may be: “Come home.”
It is the time to condemn the Diaspora and unashamedly warn people about it, without succumbing to the dictates of the politically correct and to the efforts of organizations rich with foreign capital that seek to transform Israel into a state of all its nations in order to dilute the Jewish identity of the State of Israel.
This is the time to return to the true Zionist-Jewish vision.
We have the ability to bring another quarter of a million Jews to the Land of Israel now, as part of a Jewish immigration drive that will bring many more good and beloved Jewish brothers and sisters from all over the world to Israel.
"If you will it, it is no dream," said Theodor Herzl. It is rather our duty to will it and to take action!