In a speech last week marking the Day for Strengthening Ties with Diaspora Jewry, UTJ MK Meir Porush addressed the serious damage that the arrests of bnei yeshivos have caused to ties with the frum community in the US.

“The largest Jewish community in the world outside Israel is in New York and New Jersey,” he said. “Unfortunately, it seems that for certain elements here, strengthening ties with this community is not important. On the contrary, they want to weaken those ties and, chalilah, even sever them, perhaps because of its Chareidi identity.”

“The Jewish community that sends the largest number of young Jews to study here in Eretz Yisrael is the Jewish community of New York. The Jewish community that sends the largest number of couples to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and to Jerusalem is the community of New York. Enter the Mir, Belz, or Brisk yeshivos in Jerusalem and see how many bochurim and avreichim left the comfortable conditions of New York and came to study in Eretz Yisrael.”

“The state invests hundreds of millions of shekels, and perhaps even more, in Diaspora Jewry, whether through the Ministry of Aliyah with the aim of bringing them to Israel, or through the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to strengthen them abroad, and through many other channels. I doubt whether even a tiny fraction of that is invested in the Jewish community of New York.”

“Recently, U.S. Congressman Mike Lawler’s letter was published. He is one of Israel’s greatest friends in Congress and represents a significant portion of that Jewish community in New York in his district. He appealed to the Prime Minister and cried out about the absurdity: how can a group of unelected judicial clerks so severely harm the rights of the American citizens he represents, simply because they came to Israel to learn Torah?”

“The ongoing persecution by the judicial system against lomdei Torah is creating a severe rift, perhaps even an irreparable one, between us and the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora. When we gather here to speak about strengthening ties with Diaspora Jewry, perhaps we should first make sure not to weaken our ties with Diaspora Jewry.”

“Perhaps the Attorney-General shouldn’t be busy from morning to night constructing piles upon piles of interpretations explaining how, why, and in what way not to fund yeshivos that bring foreign students to Israel, students who have nothing to do with the issue of military conscription, simply because perhaps they might buy milk at a coffee corner where an Israeli ben yeshivah is also drinking tea.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)