“Brent A Fayeral”A Small Fire Is Burning!

I was born in Winnipeg in 1934 at the height of the Depression. For our family, things apparently got worse, and our accommodations mirrored our descent to dependence on welfare and residence beside a junk yard near the railway tracks. In spite of counting our pennies, looking back, what I remember was regular attendance at a synagogue and a Bar Mitzva, with attendant instruction, and regular after-school cheder. And Sabbath was special every week.

I learned English as soon as I got out in the street, but the language at home was Yiddish. I could read in Yiddish as well as Hebrew, and I had my share of Sholem Aleichem and Mendel Mocher Sforim, and others. My external world was all in English, but I was aware that I lived in a Jewish village with an ongoing vibrant Jewish culture leavening the life we had in our corner of the Diaspora.

There was always a fire of Jewish activism burning in Winnipeg. With the advent of Israel independence in 1948, every size, shape and shade of opinion was present in the form of fierce adherents seeking recruits to join the crusade to rescue, defend and develop the new Jewish state. We didn’t give a thought to “double-loyalty” regardless of where our bread was buttered. The fire burned in every Jew I knew. At eighteen I arrived in Israel. Daughter and grandchildren, sister, nephews and a niece reside there now.

During the years 1948 to 1951, 636,597 Jews* arrived in Israel, mainly from Europe, and Arab countries. From 1952 to 1967 some 582,000 followed, mainly from Morocco and other North African countries. But some 109, 000 came from Romania. Between 1968-88, 534,000 followed, primarily Europeans, majority from Russia, but 109, 000 came from the Americas, (50% U.S.). Between 1989 and 2000, more than one million arrived, again, primarily from Russia. Since then, until 2021, over 518, 000 have arrived from around the world.

 Israel is coming close to a total population of 10 million, including its Arab citizens, who make up about twenty-five per cent of the population. Annual Jewish immigration is running about 20,000 per year, but will obviously rise in 2022 with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

We are all aware that assimilation is a threat to Jewish numbers in the Diaspora. Although many Jewish communities are welcoming, inter-marriage has historically meant the loss of next-generation adherents. Faltering attendance at religious and community institutions is the order of the day. Sharp declines in census numbers of those identifying themselves as Jews in Diaspora countries tell part of the story. We continue as best we know to keep the fire burning, but only in Israel is there total assurance of ethnic survival. Diaspora Jewish populations are tending to shrink with each passing year. Like some other nations, a majority of its peoples have found other homes, but in the case of Israel, it is in the in-gathering phase.

Below are listed estimates of the major concentrations of Jewish population on January 1, 2022. These figures are not based on Israel criteria of Jewishness, at least one grandparent of Jewish origin. Totals would be much higher on this basis. Israel’s population includes many non-Jews as Jewish on this basis.

Country     Jewish Population, January I, 2022 (est.)**

U.S.                7.3 million

Israel               7.0 million

France              446 thousand

Canada             394 thousand

U.K.                292 thousand

Argentina           175 thousand

Russia              150 thousand

Germany            118 thousand

Australia            118 thousand

Brazil               92 thousand

South Africa       52 thousand

Hungary          47 thousand

Ukraine           43 thousand

Mexico           40 thousand

Netherlands       30 thousand

Around the world, there are small numbers rediscovering their heritage. There has been a substantial movement of immigrants from Ethiopia of peoples (Beta Israel,) recognized as Jewish by some religious authorities. Estimates range as high as 25,000 remaining there. We know there are numbers in Belgium and smaller numbers in other European countries, like Belorussia and Moldova.

There are small communities in Africa where a Jewish connection is claimed. We know of communities in India, (Bene Israel,) who follow some Jewish practices. There are individuals in Europe who were sheltered by Christian families during the Holocaust who are discovering their Jewish origins. There are individuals in Mexico and other South American countries with Jewish communities, like Uruguay, nominally adhering to other religions, who continue practices which are inherently Jewish. Individuals are being occasionally reclaimed.

Continued community vitality in the diaspora is evidenced by strong ties with Israel, revitalization of the interest in Yiddish, and the acceptance of Hebrew as a language study choice, in many Institutions of learning. Jewish organizations continue to fight the good fight in centers of substantial Jewish population. Political activism and aggressive action to counter overt anti-Semitism are the order of the day. As in the Ukraine, representatives from Israel appear ready to intervene whenever situations seem to call for action.

Differences in policy approaches internally, and with the government of Israel, are an unfortunate source of heart-burn. Individual differences in viewpoint among Jews in the Diaspora aggravate the pain. We have never learned how to circle the wagons.

The re-constitution of the Jewish people as a physical nation, dispersed as they were, (and are,) planted again in their ancient homeland, is a modern miracle made possible only as a consequence of a world where the major powers in the world have allowed small nations to pursue their own destinies as they see fit. But this can occur only when the fire of desire is strong enough within those nations to persist with their dreams. And the struggle never ends. (We will have to see whether that will be true for the Ukrainians.) Knowledge has been a mighty new force in realizing that dream in a land with little in the way of material resources.

The fire in the Jewish nation burns brightly. We never give up trying!

*Statistical Bulletin of Israel

**Jewish Virtual Library.org