MAIN TALKING POINTS OF THE LESSON
- A. Despite being surrounded by the British Navy, rammed by British ships and threatened physically, the 4500 Holocaust survivors on the Exodus refused to listen to the British orders or let them board the ship.
- B. Even though they would see Palestine for just a short time, when the Jews in Haifa began singing Hatikva and then were joined by the passengers on the ship, it was a tearful, emotional and uplifting entrance into Palestine.
- C. The British tried to send the passengers back to France, but they refused to get off the boats for three weeks. When the British threatened to send these Jews back to the “Death Land”, Germany, it became a PR disaster for the British. Thus, these defenseless survivors were able to defeat the will of the British navy and sway world opinion in favor of the Jews for the first time.
MORAL DILEMMA
You are a British Naval Officer stationed in the port of Haifa. Your job is to prevent illegal ship from docking and to prevent illegal immigrants from entering Palestine. These are your orders – prevent illegal Jews from entering Palestine. You know that the Jews have suffered greatly and have virtually nowhere else to go to live. But you also know that your government’s policy is to placate the Arabs and that entails preventing illegal Jewish immigration, which is in the interest of Britain. An illegal boat arrives in Haifa filled mostly with Jewish women and children. Sending them back signifies relegating them to a miserable, meaningless life. Do you follow orders and turn them back or do you let them in, knowing that this one kind act will probably end your military career? List the reasons to follow orders and list the reasons to defy your orders. What do you do in the end and why?
For further information, analysis, web sites and study by teacher and or student on this topic, please refer to the Data Disk of Episode 6 Educators’ Guide. Feel free to contact
Rabbi Dr. Nachum Amsel for any questions or issues Nachum@jewishdestiny.com or phone 212-444-1656 – (note time difference to Israel when calling.)