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OpinionLetters

Letters to the Editor, November 5, 2017

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The Jewish diaspora worldwide have built synagogues so that congregants face Jerusalem while praying. Photo: AFP
Letters

Jews have a strong sense of homeland

The article by Roger King (“Succession and innovation: a comparative study between Chinese and Jewish family businesses”, October 13), contained a rather significant inaccuracy.

The topic and research are well presented, and the misstatement is not material to the overall conclusions drawn, but the misstatement is important enough that it needs to be corrected. Professor King states that a key difference between the two groups is that diaspora Chinese all aim to return to their homeland while Jews have no concept of homeland.

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To state that Jewish people do not have a concept of homeland is to entirely negate the ­importance of the state of Israel to the Jewish people.

In 2016 alone, 27,000 diaspora Jews immigrated to Israel. ­Israel is a focal point for Jewish education. Most Jewish schools include an Israel visit as part of their curriculum. And for Jewish young people who wish to travel to Israel post-secondary school, there is Taglit-Birthright.

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Since its inception in 1999, the organisation has sponsored over 500,000 diaspora Jews on trips to Israel to learn about their Jewish heritage in Israel.

Moreover, the Jewish diaspora worldwide have always built synagogues so that congregants face Jerusalem while praying, so that all of our prayers are directed towards our homeland. At the conclusion of the Passover ­Seder, Jews sing the phrase “Next Year in Jerusalem”, an ­aspirational hope that all Jews should return home to Israel.

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