Monday, October 27, 2014

When do you let go?

A year or so ago a young Israeli moved to Berlin primarily because of the high cost of living in Israel. He took advantage of a German practice that makes passports available to any Jews whose parents or grandparents were German. 

Recently, he decided that other Israelis should come to Berlin and used his Facebook page to make his case. His post featured a shopping receipt and asked Israelis to compare what they would have spent on a similar shopping outing. The page was a big hit, attracting 1,000,000 views in just four days. 

Some Israelis were upset. A former Israeli Finance Ministry director general, Doron Cohen, said “Those who want to leave Israel, and pick Berlin of all places, descend to the lowest possible moral level. This website wants to ruin the reputation of our country. I don’t think there is anything more abominable than that.” There were many other negative reactions as some see the idea as appearing to cast relocating to Berlin as moving to the promised land.

Granted the Holocaust was evil and inhuman. But WWII has been over for 69 years. It's a different Germany. Should this posting be the most abominable thing in today's world?

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