University of Virginia Library

Jews Welcomed

One of the first laws passed by
the new state in 1948 was that any
Jew would always be welcome in
Israel; if there had been a place for
Jews to go in World War II, a lot of
lives would have been saved. It was
a courageous law to pass since that
time, the population has tripled.
Most of those who come arrive
without any money, education or
skill. Imagine the United States
absorbing 600,000,000 new settlers
in he next 21 years who speak no
English have no education,
backgrounds, and no experience in
a modern society. This is, proportionately,
what Israel has done in the
past 21 years.

Planeloads of immigrants, mostly
from eastern European countries,
arrive every week. They are made
full citizens of the country within
15 minutes after landing, are given
apartments, a 5 month course in
language and civics, and are trained
for a trade. All are completely
assimilated within a generation,
something the United States, Great
Melting Pot that it is supposed to
be, was never able to do. Most of
the reason for is that the army
gives everyone a basis of common
experience that makes assimilation
possible.

Dinner over, the General and I
go into a bar for a couple of drinks.
A couple of privates are there; the
General invited them over to join
us. The privates call him Asher,
which really blows my mind, since
they have just met. What would
happen if some raw recruit called
General Westmoreland "Bill?"