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Israel is what happens when you run out of places to go.

JL;DR SUMMARY Ido Singer's essay delves into the persistent displacement and resilience of Jewish communities throughout history, addressing the oft-posed question, "Why don't Jews just leave?" A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustJewish IdentityDiasporaJewsRefugeesDisplacementSurvivalHomelandBelonging

Places mentioned

Berlin, Germany
"On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became Germanys Chancellor."
Krakow, Bavaria, Germany
"Jews in Krakow in the late 1930s felt the atmosphere changing the way you feel a storm before the rain starts not sudden, grinding, daily."
Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
"In 1935, Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship."
Lancut, Subcarpathia, Poland
"They look Polish, she told Olek. I could take them back to Lancut."
Guelmim, Morocco
"My grandparents lived in Guelmim, a small city in southern Morocco, often called the Gateway to the Desert."
Haifa, Haifa District, Israel
"After t10n weeks of walking, riding donkeys, sleeping in the backs of trucks, and sailing on a rusted, crowded boat, they finally reached the port at Haifa."
North Carolina, United States
"They go to school in North Carolina."

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