Today, Donald Trump killed the dream. He sentenced nearly 1-million American children to exile. Their parents had the good sense to want a better life for them than what they could offer in their homelands. Except they had the misfortune of not waiting till they arrived in this country to birth those babies. That is the only difference between Citizen Dreamers and the DACA “deadbeats” whom Trump has consigned to exile.
What these parents did, the ambition and yearning for a better future that drove them here, that is the American Dream. Our own immigrant ancestors lived it . Mine came from a variety of eastern European Jewish communities: Hungary, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Austria. Of course, they came before 1924, when American Nativists made Hitler proud by shutting the Golden Doors to all eastern European (read, “Jews”) ‘undesirables’ through the Immigration Act of 1924. Our grandparents were the lucky dreamers. They arrived in the nick of time and we reaped the reward.
That’s why we have a moral obligation to fight for today’s Child Dreamers. We were once strangers in a strange land ourselves. We had Americans who helped us find our way then to a better future. We must be those Americans of an earlier era. We must fight against this immoral, un-American denial of rights to children.
But let’s look even farther back in Jewish tradition for precedents. Traditional Jews who say the Birkat HaMazon (Blessing after Meals) on Shabbat sing Psalm 126 to a lovely melody. In it, the Jews preparing to return to Israel from Babylonian exile (or having just returned) anticipated their joy in seeing the Alt-Neue land:
Dreamers driven from their homes: detail of frieze from Assyrian bas relief showing Jews driven into exile after the destruction of the First Temple
A Song of Ascent:
When God brought back those who returned to Zion–we were as dreamers.
Then were our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with song.
Then they said among the nations that our God did great things with them.
God did great things with us and we rejoiced.
Transformed our captivity as [flooded] streams in the Negev.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joy.
He who goes on his way weeping, carrying his measure of seed
Shall return home in joy, carrying his sheaves [of wheat].
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This is the quintessential prayer of the immigrant. It’s equivalent to the dreams of early 20th century Europeans that the streets of America were paved with gold. Of course they weren’t. But that dream is what drove them to America, or in the case of the Jews of ancient Babylon–to the Land of Israel. A dream of prosperity, happiness and security.
As we were once dreamers, so must we protect this new generation of dreamers. We must not permit a Pharaoh like Trump to deny them their right to their own Promised Land.
A word of warning to any who might confuse this Psalm with a justification for latter-day Israel. It is not. It does not say the Israel that these Jews return to should be a racialist, intolerant, hateful society or that it should kill its non-Jewish neighbors with impunity. This is an argument for another day and a different post.
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13 thoughts on “We Were as Dreamers – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم”
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“or in the case of the Jews of ancient Babylon–to the Land of Israel. A dream of prosperity, happiness and security.”
– what brought the Jews back from Babylon wasn’t ‘prosperity’ but old fashion Zionism.
How can you compare people who wish to RETURN HOME to people who want LEAVE HOME behind and move to a different country?
@ Shachar David: It’s bad enough that Hamilton fuses Revolutionary-era America to hip-hop but your anachronism is even worse. The returnees from Babylon were not Zionists. There was no Zionism. They were Jews offered the opportunity by a benevolent Persian monarch to return to their former homeland. They, unlike you or I, had a direct connection to that homeland because their immediate ancestors had been exiled from it several generations earlier.
And you’ve also botched my comments on Dreamers, who’ve only known a single home, America. They will only be “leaving their home behind” when they are rounded up, deported & exiled from the only home they’ve ever known, this country. You are confusing the Dreamers with their parents, who came to this country from another country seeking a better life.
״exiled from the only home they’ve ever known״
-but that is exactly the point. The ancient dreamers wanted to go back to their original homeland though their families were in exile for decades so obviously many of them were born in Babylon while modern dreamers wish to stay in exile.
I feel for them but the analogy you’ve made just doesn’t make sense.
@ Shachar David: This was your last comment in this thread.
modern dreamers wish to stay in exile.
Dreamers are not in exile in America. America is their home. You again are confusing Dreamers with their parents. I’m afraid it’s you who make no sense.
Is this question aimed for me? Because Richard was the one to bring up the Jews of Babylon dreaming of getting back to Zion
Yes, and you must have been suffering from a touch of the Zionist vapors when you were having those hallucinations and waxing lyrical about modern Jews living “in exile” in their own damned countries.
Too bad you have issues understanding a simple sentence.
At no point was I referring to ‘modern jews’. There were ancient Jews from Babylon and modern immigrants.
I like you snappy language!
Too bad you have issues understanding a simple sentence.
I understand you, perfectly.
At no point was I referring to ‘modern jews’. There were ancient Jews from Babylon and modern immigrants.
Then please point to one of your earlier comments containing the phrase “modern immigrants”.
I like you snappy language!
Why thank you very muchly!
Small “tikkun”, it’s מזמור קחו – Psalm 126. canticum graduum cum converteret Dominus captivitatem Sion facti sumus quasi somniantes but the American Dream died a long time ago, Trump is replacing what little is left with a vacuous nightmare.
Trump cannot kill the American Dream, nor is it dead. I’d say the Dream of Zion is closer to being dead than the American Dream. THough we can argue about that one (not now or here, please).
@ gefilte: There’s a time and a place. That’s not here or now. And I promised nothing so please don’t put words in my mouth. The subject’s been discussed here multiple times & probably will be again some time in the future.
“or in the case of the Jews of ancient Babylon–to the Land of Israel. A dream of prosperity, happiness and security.”
– what brought the Jews back from Babylon wasn’t ‘prosperity’ but old fashion Zionism.
How can you compare people who wish to RETURN HOME to people who want LEAVE HOME behind and move to a different country?
@ Shachar David: It’s bad enough that Hamilton fuses Revolutionary-era America to hip-hop but your anachronism is even worse. The returnees from Babylon were not Zionists. There was no Zionism. They were Jews offered the opportunity by a benevolent Persian monarch to return to their former homeland. They, unlike you or I, had a direct connection to that homeland because their immediate ancestors had been exiled from it several generations earlier.
And you’ve also botched my comments on Dreamers, who’ve only known a single home, America. They will only be “leaving their home behind” when they are rounded up, deported & exiled from the only home they’ve ever known, this country. You are confusing the Dreamers with their parents, who came to this country from another country seeking a better life.
״exiled from the only home they’ve ever known״
-but that is exactly the point. The ancient dreamers wanted to go back to their original homeland though their families were in exile for decades so obviously many of them were born in Babylon while modern dreamers wish to stay in exile.
I feel for them but the analogy you’ve made just doesn’t make sense.
@ Shachar David: This was your last comment in this thread.
Dreamers are not in exile in America. America is their home. You again are confusing Dreamers with their parents. I’m afraid it’s you who make no sense.
And precisely who are these “people who wish to RETURN HOME”?
Is this question aimed for me? Because Richard was the one to bring up the Jews of Babylon dreaming of getting back to Zion
Yes, and you must have been suffering from a touch of the Zionist vapors when you were having those hallucinations and waxing lyrical about modern Jews living “in exile” in their own damned countries.
Too bad you have issues understanding a simple sentence.
At no point was I referring to ‘modern jews’. There were ancient Jews from Babylon and modern immigrants.
I like you snappy language!
I understand you, perfectly.
Then please point to one of your earlier comments containing the phrase “modern immigrants”.
Why thank you very muchly!
Small “tikkun”, it’s מזמור קחו – Psalm 126. canticum graduum cum converteret Dominus captivitatem Sion facti sumus quasi somniantes but the American Dream died a long time ago, Trump is replacing what little is left with a vacuous nightmare.
@ gefilte: Oops, typo. Thanks for the correction.
Trump cannot kill the American Dream, nor is it dead. I’d say the Dream of Zion is closer to being dead than the American Dream. THough we can argue about that one (not now or here, please).
I await your next post on this subject as you promised!
@ gefilte: There’s a time and a place. That’s not here or now. And I promised nothing so please don’t put words in my mouth. The subject’s been discussed here multiple times & probably will be again some time in the future.