I’ve been reading The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible. It’s a really great book and a full review is forthcoming. Something struck me as I was reading the book that is relevant to Israeli politics. In light of the UNGA I thought I would share my observations.
One of the biggest obstacles to peace in Israel is purportedly “the refugee problem”. Thousands of Arabs were displaced from their homes during the wars of 1948 and 1967. They hope to return to their homes which are now occupied by Israel. Those thousands of refugess have morphed into millions of refugees over the years.
In The Aleppo Codex, we learn one particular Jewish community in an Arab country, Aleppo Syria. As in many Arab countries, the Jews of Aleppo Syria dated back to Second Temple era over 2000 years ago. There were many ancient Jewish communities in Arab lands. Unlike the regular persecution threat to life that Jews experienced in Europe, many Jews in the Arab lands thrived as members of society. It is fascinating to read about a completely different social experience in the Arab lands than my personal history and heritage from the European lands.
That all changed when the State of Israel was born. In response to the Jewish state, many citizens of Arab countries rioted and made life very uncomfortable for the Jews living in those countries. Although no one was killed in Aleppo, the Jews felt unsafe and had to flee. The same thing happened in other Arab countries. The Jewish homes were looted and Jews were forced to leave.
This got me thinking. Why is this never mentioned? The Palestinian refugees are not the only people who lost their homes when the State of Israel was granted to the Jewish people. All the Jewish communities in the Arab countries lost their homes as well! The entire Syrian community of Brooklyn and Deal, NJ is a big refugee camp. The Persian community of Los Angeles are a giant refugee camp too! And there are many others.
My point is quite simple. Yes, it is true that many Arabs lost their homes in 1948 and 1967. But hundreds of thousands of Jews lost their homes as well.
This means two things. Thousands of years of wandering has taught our people how to pack up and start over somewhere new. Not everyone is capable of doing this. Preventing people from starting over with [false] hope that they will get their homes back from half a century ago is a form of tyranny. It also means that any conversation about refugees “returning” should begin with a modest proposal that the Jews who were ousted from Arab lands get their homes back as well.
Like I said, the book is excellent. Check out The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible and stay tuned for the full review.
In doing a little research for this post I came across this site: http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com. Check it out.
