A century ago, an event occurred that profoundly altered the course of our history. The fate of millions of European Jews, who were killed in the Holocaust, and perhaps even the establishment of the State of Israel, were influenced by an American law, known as the "Immigration Act of 1924." As war rages today, stirring the entire Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, it's worth revisiting what happened then, what has transpired since, and what is happening today.
The law emerged against the backdrop of two parallel processes. At the end of the 19th century, millions of Jews began a rapid and massive migration to the United States. From 1881 until the law passed on May 26, 1924, around 2.5 million Jews crossed the sea – nearly a quarter of the Jewish population worldwide at the beginning of the 20th century.
Concurrently, European antisemitism began to seep into America. Thus, the notion arose that Jewish immigration should be restricted, fueled by stereotypes that Jewish migrants were criminals and carriers of diseases. Of course, there were those engaged in criminal activities, many women fell into the cycle of prostitution, and Jewish mobsters - Meyer Lansky perhaps being the most infamous among them - operated in the early decades of the century. Yet, there was an undercurrent of hatred toward Jews – one of its outcomes being the notorious Immigration Act that put a near-total halt to Jewish immigration to America, stipulating that only a minimal number of Jews could migrate.
In hindsight, this law sealed the fate of millions of Jews by sending them to their deaths - as they were forced to remain in Europe and were murdered with the Nazi invasion of Poland and later the Soviet Union. Moreover, as a result of America's closing its gates, immigration to Israel flourished; In fact, the year following the law marked the first year when the number of immigrants to Israel exceeded those migrating to the United States.
Additionally, the immigration restriction led to a situation that persists to this day, where the Jewish people have two main centers: the State of Israel and the United States. Almost half of the Jewish people reside in Israel today, while the other nearly half reside in the United States.
There were critics of this dynamic. For instance, in his famous poem "New Promised Land," Shalom Aleichem criticized the clear reluctance of the Jewish community to immigrate to Israel. David Ben-Gurion himself engaged in a fierce confrontation on the subject with the Jewish community in the United States, which culminated in the Blaustein-Ben-Gurion agreements in the 1950s. Their main implication was: you don't interfere with us, we won't interfere with you.
But much water has passed under the bridge since then, and in the words of Shalom Aleichem, "perhaps indeed, until wise men come, we need two centers." This is evident at all times, but especially during wars - as in the recent one: American Jewry led a massive emergency fundraising campaign for Israel, totaling over a billion dollars. This is a historic amount, the highest ever raised in an emergency campaign in any war or military operation (and there have been many such campaigns).
All of this is donations. Not only that, American Jewry rallied for us in the war for public opinion, in public action, and in protests (including the largest Jewish protest in American history). On the other hand, Israel has contributed to American Jewry over the years in strengthening Jewish identity, in the fight against antisemitism (not enough - but still), and in educational and social activities in Jewish communities (for example, the thousands of emissaries sent each year from Israel to the United States, or other joint educational and discovery initiatives).
Looking back over the long century since that discriminatory law altered Jewish history, it's impossible to say that "sweet came out of bitter," not after millions perished in Europe. However, there is a glimmer of light that emerged from there - with resilient Jews who survived the greatest catastrophe. With those who managed - may they succeed - to survive the current turmoil as well.