How To Relate To Antisemitism

Anti semitism

Anti semitism is undergoing a surge all over the world. This is an attack on the Jewish identity. What does this anti semitism demand of us?

The natural response to such news is to say that we see that all the nations hate us or to say that here we see again history repeating itself. However, this will not help us.

The anti semitism is a message to us that we need to work on something. What is that?

Anti semitism targets the Jewish identity. It opposes irreligious Jews as much as religious Jews. They are targeting anyone who has a Jewish identity.

So, what is the Jewish identity? Besides for eating bagels and locks, what is it?!

The Jewish identity was formed when we left Egypt. If so, Jewish identity is not the observance of Torah and Mitzvos because already when we went out from Egypt, we were already a nation and this was even before we received the Torah.

When the Jews have nothing left, there’s still a Jewish identity

From looking at the interaction between Moshe and Hashem, when they were talking about taking the Jews out from Mitzrayim we will be able to answer our question.

Hashem told Moshe to take the Jewish nation out from Egypt. Moshe Rabbeinu, a prophet, said to Hashem that they will not believe him that Hashem is going to bring them out as a nation. Why would they not believe him? Because in Egypt our identity as Jews was removed from us. It was impossible to keep the identity when being in Egypt. Therefore, Moshe said that the Jewish nation would not believe him that Hashem would take them out and a Jewish nation would be born- they had already lost all their Jewishness, as far as Moshe was concerned!

Hashem responded to Moshe that nevertheless, there is a Jewish nation to be taken out. They do still have a Jewish identity left.

If Moshe Rabbeinu, who was the greatest of all the prophets, said that there was nothing left of the Jewish identity, this means that this wasn’t just his own perspective on the situation. Rather, it means that there was a certain truth to what he was saying. Clearly, we really had lost everything or almost everything of being Jewish.

If nevertheless Hashem said that there is still a Jewish identity left, then this means that even against all odds (that is to say when we have been basically wiped clean of what makes us special as Jews), the Jewish identity has something to it that allows it to keep surviving, even in the most hopeless situations. The belief not to give up and keep looking to a brighter future, even in the worst situations and when our Jewish identity is being challenged to the maximum, is the real characteristic of the Jewish identity.

We have something as part of our Jewish identity that isn’t really understandable. Something which even in the most hopeless situations remains unbendable.

In Egypt the meforshim explain how terrible it was. Their explanations of the circumstances were as if taken out from a description of the concentration camps in Auschwitz. Not just this, but we lived in Egypt under these terrible circumstances for 80 years. This means that there were 3 generations of Jews living there.

We might have been in a terrible state as a nation. We might have lost a lot of what it meant to be Jewish. But we refused to give up!

Receiving the Jewish identity demands work

The Jewish identity is unbreakable. In Egypt we were presented with this great Jewish identity. Like with everything when we are given it, such as the Torah on Har Sinai– it is not a matter of pride that we are now the owners of something special. Rather, it means that now we need to do work on it. So too, with our Jewish identity, we need to work on it.

Anti Semitism means that they are against our Jewish identity. Hashem sends us anti semitism as a message that there is something faulty with our Jewish identity. When Hashem speaks to us, such as through anti semitism, he only speaks to people who will listen to Him. He is speaking to us so that we will rectify the problem.

The problem nowadays is that we are ready to admit defeat. We are ready to say that the situations we find ourselves in are too difficult. We are ready to abandon our Jewish identity. However, we need to work and improve it.

(Just a small side point on all lefties throughout history. In the 60s all lefties needed to walk around with the red book of Mau. Mau was a mass murderer who killed far more people than the Nazis. He killed over 100 million people. Similarly, the lefties all supported Lenin- again a mass murderer. These so-called lefties clearly are not intelligent. So too the lefties who support Hamas, based on the common thread throughout history, are equally unintelligent).

As we said, the Jewish nation was formed when we left Egypt. Without any Torah and mitzvos, we didn’t give up despite the terrible concentration camp that we had been living in. If we would have done so, then Moshe Rabbeinu would have been right- there would have been no Jewish nation to save. We understood then, that we would grow from our terrible situation. We didn’t give up.

When people find themselves in hard situations, they have a tendency to think in bombastic terms. They try and escape from themselves. Instead of thinking what they need to do to improve their situation, they think of thoughts such as Moshiach will come soon. They think that the situation will improve anyway soon. They are correct but these are not their business though. This is Hashem’s business. Our business is to not give up and find the way to improve our situation. To have emunah that there will always be the geulah for us. This is the Jewish identity!

We are never stuck! There is always a future

Our job is to work on it, that whatever situation that we are caught in, we can work on ourselves and change. We can get out of the stuck situation that we are in. Wherever we are, it is a situation to work on and grow from. There is always a future. We are never stuck. This is Jewish identity.

In Judaism every situation can be improved for the better. Not better in terms of being more comfortable or in better physical standards. Rather, we mean better in spirituality and in content.

I had a talmid- a genius. He came from a broken home. He got married to a girl also herself from a broken home. Their house and family were run on very high standards of presentation. Everything needed to match etc.

 It was a Thursday night and they gave birth to their second child- a baby boy who was down syndrome. The father, being from a broken home had no family to call. He called me crying on the phone that they had just given birth to a baby boy, a down syndrome baby boy.

I told him that I couldn’t come right now (I was giving shiurim) but that I would come tomorrow.

I knew that their lives were going to change forever. I went to the hospital, within 24 hours of the birth. They were still in shock. They had not been pre warned about the baby. As far as they knew they were having a healthy baby.

I knew that their life was all about presentation. I said to them that they should know that this baby will never be presentable. They will never be able to show him off as being intelligent. But I told them, if you treat him well, he will smile and laugh. He will teach you that the most important thing in life is simcha, happiness!

I didn’t call him. He had my telephone number if he wanted to call me. He never called. A year later I was walking in geulah and I heard somebody shouting out ‘Rav Leuchter’. It was this talmid. He said to me ‘you know this baby has been a source of great berachah. Our family is so much happier than ever before. The baby is a real beacon of light!’

He hadn’t changed the reality of the child- he couldn’t. Rather, he worked with the given and he got out of this stuck situation. This is Jewish identity.

We have to believe in this. We are Jews. We have to believe that we have a future. Everyone has a future-not just the Jewish nation as a whole. Every individual also has a future.

The biggest novelty that the Jews brought to the world is that of future, geulah. When the Christians speak about this, they took it from us.

This belief that there is always a future does not need specifically to be part of religion. If you go to the far east and you ask a Chinese man how he is. He will answer you by saying that his grandfather was so and so and what he did. When you ask a Jew how he is, he will tell you that he has a business that he hopes will expand etc. The Far East man will focus on the past. This makes sense because after all, this is what you know about. You do not know about the future. However, we Jews believe in looking to the future. This is where work can be done to improve.

We need to invest in our Jewish identity. Not that we need to focus on our family tree, how we connect with our history. Instead, we need to work on our belief that everything that happens has with it a future. This is the beginning of the Jewish nation and this is our work.

Prepared by R Binyomin Rapport