Jews returning

It makes sense that Israel, as a Jewish state, should want to encourage Jewish immigration. It also makes sense that the Jewish community in Germany should want to see its numbers increase: the growth and flourishing of that community can't undo a tragic history but it can contribute to restoring a significant Jewish presence within German life. The two different agendas shouldn't create a difficulty. Individual Jews contemplating migration to one country or the other can make their own choices. But a difficulty has in fact arisen: an Israeli agency, Nativ, is to expand its activities amongst Russian Jews who have emigrated to Germany, and to do this under the formula of 'confront[ing] the dangerous assimilation of former Soviet Jews in Germany'. Germany's Central Council of Jews takes exception, and they're right to. The encouragement of Jewish immigration to Israel shouldn't be undertaken in a spirit that would treat Jewish life elsewhere as intrinsically problematic. (There is some background here and here.)