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Thursday, August 14, 2008

One Gadol's Opinion on European Emigration

a guest post by the Bray of Fundie


I must say that the intensity of the reaction to some of yesterdays post took me by surprise. There were thoughtful points that were nearly ignored while the alleged malfeasance of interbelleum Gedolim elicited a firestorm of angry and hateful comments.


Today I'd like to share a quote from one of the undisputed towering leaders of this period in which he opines about a fate that he considers worse than death, or at least, if he was unaware of the impending death, worse than horrible persecution:


After Kristallnach, the British suggested transferring thousands of Jewish children from Germany to England. This Godol then said: "If I were to know that it was possible to save all the [Jewish] children of Germany by sending them to England and only half of them by transferring them to Palestine, I would still choose the latter. Because before us is not only a responsibility to those children, but a historic responsibility to the Jewish People."


That Gadol? "Rav" David Ben-Gurion


source ?The Holocaust in American Life by Peter Novick page 50

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