To be a Jewish person is to understand the dilemma of being in a foreign land lacking access to a visa to a passport or even to a country that can be called your homeland. During the 1930s thousands of Jews were forced to flee Nazi Germany or Austria in search of a nation that would allow them to get a home and work. To be a Jew is to know the meaning of being a refugee in a strange land. We are the proverbial stranger cast alone in a land that does not have a welcome sign.
The Israel government is rounding up refugees from Africa, many from the Sudan. Police dashed through the streets of Israel towns grabbing dark skinned people from the streets. Reporter Toni Liss described the scene: “the people were taken on buses to detention centers. Mobile phones were confiscated. Many immigrants are hiding in their homes, not daring to go out until things calm down.”
Such is Israel in the year 2012. Such was it for their grandparents in the 1930s. Oh, the difference was their parents were the refugees being rounded up.
