Scale It Down

A wave of Rallies, Vigils, and “Fight Violence with Kindness” events is sweeping the Nation. We had some time to register what happened in Pittsburgh.  “Never Again” is repeated with tears.  Yet, the rift among us grows even more and politics comes back in the mix.  The lesson isn’t learned.  The conclusions we reach are mindboggling.  Strangely, as my younger democrat cousins keep advocating and texting to me, I keep remembering the following song.    

Leningrad

Billy Joel

Victor was born
The spring of 44
And never saw
His father anymore
The child of sacrifice
Child of war
Another son who never had
A father after Leningrad
Went off to school
And learned to serve his state
Follow the rules
And drank his vodka straight
The only way to live
Was drown the hate
The Russian life was very sad
And such was life in Leningrad

I was born in 49
A cold war kid in the McCarthy times
Stop 'em at the 38th parallel
Blast those yellow reds to hell
Cold war kids were hard to kill
Under their desks in an air raid drill
Haven't they heard we won the war
What do they keep on fighting for?

Victor was sent
To some red army town
Served out his time
Become a circus clown
The greatest happiness
He'd ever found
Was making Russian children glad
When children lived in Leningrad.

The children lived in Levittown
Hid in the shelters underground
Til the soviets turned their ships around
Torn the Cuban missiles down
And in that bright October sun
We knew our childhood days were done
I watched my friends go off to war
What do they keep on fighting for?

So my child and I came to this place
To meet him , eye to eye and face to face
He made my daughter laugh
Then we embraced
We never knew what friends we had
Until we came to Leningrad.

What does that have to do with Pittsburgh? Maybe nothing other then the irony of how we, as immigrants were vetted to come to America.

Were you ever a member of Communist Party?  -  That item on the questioner started my grandmother’s Alzheimers.

If you were not at least a Komsomol member in the 50s, 60, 70, and even 80s forget having any career in any field in the Soviet Union.  If you are working on a classified scientific project, forget publishing anything if a party member is not on your team.  Members of my family were not in the communist party, yet were worried about that answer and how their past was verified.

Today, Communist Party in Russia is a joke.  Many Israeli Kibutzim are out of business.  Israel has proven by the purest of experiments why a Collective Farm can be beneficial only for a limited time and only in an underdeveloped and small country.  Yet those on the left who call themselves Progressive are definitely Socialist.  Berny Sanders is not afraid of being Black Listed like certain Hollywood stars of the 40s and 50s.    

Did you ever advocate or have an intent to overthrow the government of United States?

That one seemed comical in 1991.  Today, it looks like anyone from a terrorist to a Senate Member is willing to do that.

Were you ever persecuted or oppressed because of your religion?

We all answered yes on that one and had refugee status.  Yet, the extent of that oppression is relative and unique to each story.  Mine can’t compare to that of my grandfather.  It can’t compare to those perished in the  Shoah.  It can’t compare to the loss of Christian life in Syria.

Finally, we were all screened by  organization then named SANA, which was a US embassy DHAC that conducted a thorough health check, including a blood draw for HIV, Hepatitis, and many other diseases.   TravelState.gove claims to still screen visa applicants, but they can go to a network of doctors in their home country. 

Yes, now infamous HIAS was largely responsible for our coming to USA.  But, looking at their webpage today, I will not donate to that organization.  I am not thankful to a autocratic body, I am thankful for concrete individual who helped me.  Jewish women who donated household items, took me cloths shopping, tutored English, and so on.

Some time after 09/11/2001, HIAS decided to fight violence with love and started to offer services to non-Jews.  Now they “help” Globally, because they have experience. 

I see nothing about Disease Control on their webpage.  At the time when it’s a right not to vaccinate your children, it is scary.  They also have a list of organizations they partner with for the vetting process of those they help.  Well, from personal experience I give a big F- to FBI, CIA, Interpol and other 52 countries. 

Polygraphing and questioning doesn’t cut it.  Looking at documents only works with honest and hard working people who come here with the true American Dream.

I have known many immigrants.  I know those that stood in line with me and waited out turn.  I know those who’s visas expired and who payed a fine or went through the process of reentry.  I know those that have been deported.  I know who were victims of identity fraud.  I know those who survived something close to slavery here in America. 

I also know those that cheated the system and bragged about it.  I was a victim of someone who used my naivite, kindness and passivism to fraudulently get into this country.  I learned that for a bribe, you can get a new passport with a new name and a clean identity.  Vetting process will not find your criminal history and a fiancé visa can guarantee your entry into US. 

That is just one example, but make no mistake, there are plenty of countries where that is possible.  While my younger cousins now advocate to see those cutting the line as people and not “illegal aliens” like that is a new curse word, I have no sympathy for those that cut in line.

The shear number of migrants around the world makes most of these tricks simply absolute.  All it now takes a stampede of able bodied men. 

What will happen next? The Jews will be blamed yet again.  Is this about the current administration? Or is it the ever changing policies, isms, and borders? Was it in 1939 at the creation of Concentration Camps? Was it at the time of Communist Revolution in 1917? Was it in 2002 when HIAS stopped focusing on Jews?  

Each time Jewish minds either perused careers, brilliant innovative ideas, or justified it by Tekun Ha Olam to be in the thick of things.  Jews were among the Bolsheviks, so they were blamed.  Jews were in politics and business for centuries and they were blamed.  

So, what should we take from this? I think it’s not more kindness or more violence, it is the message of SCALE IT DOWN.   Scale it down and help thy neighbor.  Focus on your street, your subdivision, your Shull.

If you want to help an immigrant, find one in your Synagogue or your neighborhood.  If you want to assist with human rights, or battered women, help your local shelter.  Volunteer your time rather then money. 

And most of all, lets focus on Jews first.  That used to be the mission of HIAS.  There are Jews in Radical Syria, Neo-Natzi infested Ukraine, North Africa, and Israel who need our help.