Safe to be a Jew?

"Will this ever end?" It sure will, with the coming of Moshiah! May he come speedily and in our days!!

Yes, of course. One day, let it be soon, Mashiach will come. And we'll be redeemed. We're constantly praying for this. But in the meanwhile, until then, we're in galus.

Dear Lori, Would you give up your passports for an Israeli one?

Because we have IsraelI Passports, we value the other ones.

So touching, so true. God is our ONLY protector and only when we will acknowledge this fact that there is no one to turn to, no one but our Heavenly Father, will we be truly be protected and delivered from this exile, soon in our days...amen!

The Jewish people have contributed to humanity and so very sad to see that continue to be pursued by the mere fact of being born in Israel.

I thought one could only have two passports. They can be confiscated at the border. I know of people who have been detained at customs and their passport(s) did not protect them. When will we stop relying on what the world, this life has to offer. Why does Israel rely on America? Do we thank that countries, even America, can protect us in dire circumstances. We have to rely on HaShem. He is our protection, our defender, our deliverer. No matter what the times. They many defame us, they may persecute us, they may put us in concentration camps, they may kill us, but we will live on. HaShem is our defense against a world of hate, murder and discrimination. The Nazis failed, why? Because HaShem is our G-D! Kill my body, my soul will live on. Then where will they spend eternity when they must appear before Him to give an account of what they did to His people? Our money has the motto "In God We Trust". Well, lets do just that. Moses did.

Different countries have different laws and regulations regarding dual/multiple citizenship. While the USA doesn't encourage it, it is not illegal, and people can have more than one citizenship whether they are US citizens who obtain foreign nationality or immigrants to the USA who still keep the passport of the "Old Country" For example, if a Jew born in the USA makes aliyah and obtains Israeli citizenship he can be both, if someone with one Canadian-citizen parent, one British-citizen parent is born in the USA, then they also automatically get three citizenships, and if that person is Jewish and subsequently makes aliyah--Voila!-- four passports. I was born in the USA to parents who are Israeli citizens, so I automatically had two citizenships at birth (with no need to make aliyah to claim my Israeli passport), my mom was also born in Hungary, so I also obtained a Hungarian-EU passport some years ago as well. Why not? But some countries, for example Japan, forbid multiple/dual citizenship.(In the past, Mexico and the USA did as well.) A Japanese citizen who immigrates to the USA must give up his Japanese citizenship. There are not too many Jews that need to worry about losing their Japanese citizenship, although I know one Japanese convert to Judaism who made aliyah and he was forced to make a choice between his Israeli passport and his Japanese passport. He gave up his Japanese citizenship unhesitatingly and he is a Jew and an Israeli citizen today.

My grandmother used to say: We have to learn as many languages as possible because you will never know when you will need it. My children have also got different passports and it is so true that wearing a kippah in the streets of London makes us feel unsafe. My 10 year old son wears a tzizit but a kippah makes him feel "exposed"!

I always pray the G-d of Israel for your protection and that one day you can get to come back to the land...

If you have a connection with Hashem, you will not need a passport at all. The Zohar is my protection.

Thinking that we can outsmart fate is a waste of brain cells. G-d is the only passport we need. Prayer and faith will protect us when it's possible to be protected (even sometimes when it seems impossible). However, everyone should definitely have at least one passport. It's good to be prepared. Like lottery tickets, you need at least one, after that, they're all window dressing.

Yes it will end one day, when the hope of the Jews, the Messiah comes, one day, soon. Till then, I am sure it is a good idea to keep several passwords... Isaiah 59:20-21 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord. “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

You asked, "will this ever end?" Up until the late 1990's, I was more optimistic. I thought that perhaps most people in the western world (anyway) had finally learnt the lessons of World War Two and gotten past anti-semetism. After all, there was such an abundance of Holocaust memorials and material to be read, viewed etc. But, after seeing the anti Israel (or antiJewish) insanity of the recent past, I would say that anti semetism keeps morphing into a new creation and that it might never change. For whatever strange reason, and it is INDEED strange, Jews take the fallout for whatever evil there is in the world. Even living in Israel will not always save us. We should live there because we're commanded to but we are not always safe there either.

one can never be prepared with out learning from the past

my mother ran away from Europe on a forged passport and traveled the world with it. Some people with real passports never made it. You have to make an effort but everything has it's limits. Only God runs things

My grandfather was working in high places in the German government when Hitler arose to power. He left all and made his exit because he realized at the end of the day no matter what he did for the state , he was a Jew in their eyes. I keep my passport current. I know I am a guest and unfortunately may not be so welcome here in the states in the days ahead.

While the Torah requires that we do our part to take reasonable precautions to safeguard ourselves, ultimately, it is G-d who decides who lives and who dies, and he does not need us to hold passports of 5 countries if he chooses to give us safe passage to another country. In my view, it is dangerous to believe that a somehow we are safe if we have a foreign passport, and are unsafe if we do not. We are safe when we merit the blessing and protection of the Almighty, and we are unsafe when we do not.

I am saddened by the truth of all you said - Although I am Christian, I honour the Jewish people as "God's chosen People" and I am utterly convinced the God's Covenant with them is eternal! Whenever practical, I speak up for the modern State of Israel, and believe that anti-semitism is the outworking of satan's war against God - but God WILL have the victory one day, and in the meantime, I continue (with many of my Christian friends) for the "Peace of Jerusalem" - both literally and Spiritually. Sadly, I know you have many enemy's, but you also have many friends who you may not know about. God Bless you.

While it may be useful to have foreign passports in order to facilitate enterring countries for business or visiting, one who wants a non-Israeli passport for "safety" is doing the Sin of the Spies.

As a women who grew up in London and a grandchild of survivors there was never a time that my parents didnt have passports for us. Years I married my husband an American and came to live in the USA. We had 6 children and with every child as soon as we had tier birth certificate I ran for a passport. My husband still does not understand this mentality. Americans feel safe unlike us Europeans who were always mocked walking down the streets. Here in the USA many of my friends and there children don't get passports until they travel I think this is a mistake. We never k ow what will happen may hashem always keep klal Yisroel safe!!! As fir the person who asks were was hashem during ww11 there is a reason for everything and one day we will understand!!

How sad to read these comments :(

I was a teen Sephardi Jew from Sarajevo, surviving one step from being hunted down. Having a passport would have been dangerous: we used fake documents as fugitives in Italy in WWII. Sadly, passports don't guarantee safety: there is no escaping anti-Semitism. It lives in every country including this one. We better fight it. It will be busy next 5000 years.

The required passport which I now have besides my American is my Israeli passport. There is no other place where it is comletely safe to be a Jew.

As an ex member of the JDL, I know one must keep his weapon clean and powder dry. I am sorry, my brothers, but the world is unpredictable and can be dangerous.Be vigilant!

I grew up in New York City where it certainly was not a problem to live openly as a Jew. I had the privilege Baruch Hashem to make aliya over 40 years ago, alone. I say now what I have always felt...I just do not understand how anyone who is not involved in helping Jews find their roots (kirva rechokim) does not come home.The only passport a Jew needs is Israeli. If G-d forbid there is another Shoah, and it is sadly a possibility, the only country where a Jew will be safe is Israel. I have no doubt of this.

I would have agreed with this pre 1948. But now there's only one passport you need.

Pray for best, prepare for worst. HaShem will not save you, he only gives you strength to save yourself. Make no mistake about it, Ze'ev Jabotinsky's advice to Polish Jewry, in 1938, was correct and unheeded. Perhaps, if more listened to his ideas more would have been saved. By the way, where was HaShem during the Shoah?

He warned the Jews of Europe as early as 1927, and understood as early as 1923 that the Jewish state would only be built with an "Iron Wall." It's as true today as it was then. As for the Holocaust, in which I lost most of my family, had there been no Bolshevik revolution there would have been no fascism in response. However from 1920 to 1938 the gates of Palestine were open, but most Jews were complacent or afraid to come. Where was Hashem? Where were the Jews who should have been streaming into the Land of Israel when the gates were miraculously opened after WWI?

Where were people during the Holocaust. Hashem gave the nations several oportunities and gave individual Jews opportunities. Don't blame Hahsem for people's failings. Every one has free choice.

For YEARS, I have been telling anyone who will listen to get up-dated passports and have ready money available. Thank you for speaking out publically. Thank G-d we now have our homeland to return to because for so long, we had nowhere to go and were at the mercy of the host country.

a friend of mine, French and Israeli businessman who lives in Israel, told me few years ago that he never exits Israel without his Israeli passeport, because in case of need, the only Governement that will do something for him is the Israeli Gouvernement: do you remember the Operation of the IDF in Antebbe (Ouganda) in 1976? although it was a French plane from the Air France Company, the French Government didn't act but the Israeli did..

What is sad is that Jews are not safe even in their original country, in Israel. Will it ever end? Will the World finally begin to appreciate Jews, their culture and their great efforts to make the world better? After holocaust and all these suffering the rest of the world should treat Jews as holly nation.

he answer is that jew should be in His country!

While being a Jew born and raised in the U.S., I have also prayed that anti semitism was a thing of the past, it is sad but true , it is still alive in the world. Will it ever end?

the prophets say it will end and, furthermore, we can hasten the ending of it.

When a decision is made, ( in this case to have multiple passports), based upon fear, we need to re- examine our actions. The correct decision should be made from a position of strength; the 'cure' is not in the passport, it is in the power of our words and actions, to influence minds by our examples.

the germans would not allow husband and wife to leave if passports both passports are german. the only way my grandparents got out was one was german and one was polish. this is what I take it was meant by can never have too many passports.

Where can a passport take you that is safe?

Out of the dangerous place you are.

No need to go anywhere. We are home.

I can't imagine that it is helpful to think the world is unsafe for Jews, that we all need multiple passports, and that the world environment is similar to pre-1939. Hope! Faith! Belief! that Hashem is watching over us will help us no matter the challenges.

The Jews thought they were very safe in Germany before the war also. We are still in Galus.

It is unfortunate that we must think this way, however, we must do all we can to assure that if necessary we are armed with whatever we need for our remnant to survive. We say NEVER AGAIN but look at the ris in anti Semitism.

Hashem watches over us all. He even gives nudges when doing something that seems like unbelief is an option. I really beileve that some people will need those passports. I don't know if it will be safe anywhere, but Israel, but there may be a need to go there. I know that Jews should be in Israel, but as a non Jew who loves Israel and the Jewish people I know that I appreciate my Rabbi and his wife and appreciate whenever they can come and teach in person. (from Jerusalem) Technology is wonderful, but live contact is so much better. We have a Jewish teacher who lives here and teaches Noahides. We love him dearly and if he makes aliya (SP) I'll be happy for him but feel very deprived. Learning Torah has become very important to me and I think Hashem will allow some Jews to stay for our benefit and they may need those passports if available. As an non-Jew, I have never been able to understand the anti-semitism in the world, it just doesn't make sense at all. I pray for Israel and the Jewish people every day and thank Hashem for you all of you.too.

I believe with all my heart and my head that Hashem is watching over us. I also believe that to mean that he shows us what we should do and we need to be tuned into him, not just expect him to do for us, We need to protect our fellow Jews and we all need to take heed of messages like the passport story here today. 'Hashem will provide' means he provides in many ways, most of which is teaching us to be prepared. We will overcome all but this is a we that includes Hashem, it is not for him to do for us. B"H'

See TED Talks: Crime and Punishment featuring Sarah Kaminsky and her hero father! (Episode 5) All we have to do is look at Jewish history to know we can't get too comfortable anywhere!

Your video hit home.My nephew and cousins recently aquired German passports. The German gov't allows descendants of Germans who left or where murdered during the holocaust to become citizens.In addition to providing a possible future haven there is the advantage of being able to work legally anywhere in the EU. While I appreciate the German efforts to do the right thing I can't get myself to apply for the passport or encourage my children to do similarly. While relatively safe it's true that on the surface Israel is probably more dangerous for Jews than many Western democracies, but if one is in some danger for a worthwhile cause then it makes sense to me. From a Torah perspective it seems to me that even in Israel Jews are guests. It's plainly stated and history has shown that God will not indefinitely tolerate actions that defile the land. We were meant to be a holy people living according to Torah in our land. Why the Zionist movement with a seemingly anti religious outlook succeeded up until now is beyond my understanding ,but I appreciate the gift and today there is thank God a much stronger religious component. May the redemption come speedily.

reply to comment #3: There were great leaders at the time when Israel became a state who indeed predicted that it would never survive being that it was founded in oposition to traditional belief and Torah practice yet once again we are amzed to see that G-d does not behave according to our logic.Our tiny state of Israel has managed to survive against all odds and clearly by divine intervention. It is my hope and fervent prayer that my people will grow in understanding one another rather than imagining that they understand G-d's ways or expectations. Actions that defile the land include actions that go way beyond what is outwardly visible to all. I love My G-d, my land, my people. Indeed may the redemption come speedily.

It will change for us when Moshiach comes. Redemption is very close.

My sister claims don't bother with the passports: in this day and age it won't be anything you can run away from. Yikes!