Sunday, November 29, 2015

Syrian "Refugees": A La Esau, Will They Be Kissers or Biters?

Yesterday's sermon in synagogue had to do with Jacob and Esau; how, years after having his birthright stolen, Esau wanted to see his brother again. Jacob, however, was extremely reluctant, fearing that such an encounter would result in a death--his, at the hands of his vengeful brother. Finally, however, the meeting could not be put off any longer, and the two brothers had their reunion Shockingly, Esau greeted Jacob with tears and a kiss. 
 
Or did he? You see, in the Torah scroll, for some mysterious reason, there are several dots above Esau's name in the line recounting the reunion. For some rabbis for whom Esau is and remains pure evil, those aren't dots, they're teeth, and they represent the fact that that alleged kiss was actually a bite (with the dots standing in for/representing Esau's teeth).
 
We were assured, though, that that's a rather extreme interpretation, and that the lesson the Torah wishes to impart is that we should get over our fears and let the blighters kiss us. And by blighters (my word, not the sermonizer's), of course, he means Syrians, who are even now streaming to our shores, fully vetted by the UN and other deft scrutinizers, we are told.

Mark Steyn has a witty riposte for that claim:
When the US government says they'll do a two-year vetting process of Mohammed bin Mohammed al-Mohammed, it just means his application sits gathering dust for two years -- and then when it's his Mohammed bin Mohammed al-Mohammed's turn to get in, they just stamp it. There's no way to vet these Syrian refugees. It's not like you can check the Aleppo DMV or anything.
Oh, come now, Mark. It would be churlish, "Islamophobic," and, yes, unwelcoming of us (as Jacob was unwelcoming of Esau, who didn't bite him) to bar them entry.

Don't believe me? Let's hear what a Jewish leader over in Europe has to say:
Oskar Deutsch, head of Vienna’s Jewish community, told reporters on Monday that he is concerned that the overwhelming rush of asylum seekers into Austria would result in a rise in anti-Semitism, European media reported. Deutsch argued that many of the Muslim migrants have been raised on a “diet of anti-Semitism.” He also believes Austria has already “more or less” reached its capacity for new arrivals. 
Deutsch also believes that some asylum seekers in Austria are only “so-called refugees,” meaning they are not fleeing war and persecution but are merely looking to improve their economic situation. 
Meanwhile, the Central Council of Jews in Germany has also warned of growing anti-Semitism, brought in by migrants from Islamic countries where the Jewish religion and Jews are maligned regularly. They called for a limit to be imposed on migrants entering Germany. Council president Josef Schuster told Die Welt: “Sooner or later we won’t have a choice but to set an upper limit.” He added, “Many of the refugees are fleeing the terror of the Islamic State and want to live in peace and freedom, but at the same time they come from cultures were hatred of Jews and intolerance are an integral part” of life.
I understand the impulse to want to swoop in and rescue the suffering; I really do. However, I'm not given to the sort of moral preening which refuses to consider the Jew-hate we shall be importing (in the name of "tikkun olam" and because of "None is too many"), and how it is likely to bite, not kiss, us where it hurts the most.

That's a lesson that the Jews of Europe, and in particular of France, know all too well, and it's the reason why more and more of them are leaving the continent and making their way to Israel (where, in recent days, Arabs have been "kissing" Jews by stabbing them with daggers).

Update: Ezra's sermon makes more sense to me:

 
Update: Found the following montage of photos and words on the Religion of Peace site. It pretty much says it all, I think:
 
Twenty victims of the Islamic attacks in Paris, which claimed
the lives of 130 innocents - most of whom were young.
Each of the killers was - ultimately - a product of Islamic
immigration. Each was in a position to kill because
of the trust and kindness of Europeans - and the naive
belief that Islam is neither different nor dangerous.

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