Antisemitism is clearly on the rise. How do we need to relate to this? Improving our image in the eyes of the non-Jews is futile. So, what do we need to do?
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Antisemitism is clearly on the rise. How do we need to relate to this? Improving our image in the eyes of the non-Jews is futile. So, what do we need to do?
Shiur 16 – How to relate to the growing antisemitism
Antisemitism is rising rapidly. We will try to understand what is happening and, from that, see what we need to work on.
When a navi reveals something to us from the world of ruchniyus, it must fit perfectly with reality. We, on the other hand, are unable to know exactly what the reality is. I heard from my Rebbes that the reality of olam hazeh is not as the Torah clearly states. The explanation for this is that since our world is made up of aveirahs and evil mixed with mitzvos and good, our world is ‘twisted’!
Subsequently, if a person thinks he can explain or relate to the reality of the world through certain possukim or gematrias, etc., this, to put it mildly, arouses suspicion. A person who thinks they can pin something happening in the world on a specific possuk has a problem with their Emunah. He believes that the clarity (without evil mixed into it) which is expressed in the Torah is manifesting itself perfectly with our reality of the world. He cannot be right because our reality of the world is that of a mixture of good and evil. In truth, the reality of the world is just a picture of what is expressed in the Torah.
Similarly, I hold that you cannot even learn Torah directly from the binyan of the body of man. Even though he is built betzelem elokim, nevertheless in olam hazeh the whole tzelem elokim is contaminated from the evil which is mixed with the good.
Due to the twisted nature of our world, we cannot know exactly what Hashem‘s plan was in any given historical event.
In summary, we are unable to explain any hashgachah we observe in our world in a clear, Torah-based way. Whilst what we see is based on Torah ideas, it will not be manifested with perfect clarity due to the twisted nature of our world.
What is advantageous about antisemitism?
1)Let us discuss the advantages of antisemitism.
The Russian Jews asked the Baal Hatanyah who to daven for between Napoleon and the non-Jewish Russians. He answered that life under Napoleon would be easier. But life under the Russians would be better for the Jews. The Russians oppress the Jews, and this is advantageous for the Jews. If everything is too free, then everything is acceptable, and this is dangerous for Yiddishkeit.
There is a culture war worldwide. The Muslims believe that only certain behaviours are acceptable-hair must be covered, etc. They do not tolerate anything else. They do not believe in freedom.The Western world, on the other hand, desires freedom. This culture war does not have anything to do with antisemitism, but nevertheless, the Jews are caught in this war.
Arabs want to kill lefties. They are totally intolerant of the lefties. Nevertheless, the tolerant lefties are seen making pacts with them. This doesn’t make any sense. In places where these pacts are occurring, antisemitism is flourishing.
This means that there is no explanation for the antisemitism besides the halachah that ‘esav sonei es yaakov’. Being a halachah means that the hatred of antisemitism is not something psychological. It’s also not something sociological. It is not ingrained in the neshamas of western society. There is no reason behind the hatred. Instead, it is simply a halachah from the Torah. It is a gezeirah min hashomayim.
If so, the hatred is not at the surface level, and attempts to explain the unexplainable (a halachah and a gezeirah) are futile. Similarly, to try to explain to the non-Jews how we Jews are good and to try to influence them to like us is also useless since there is no way of changing the halachah.
No newspaper will follow this halachic approach. As far as they are concerned, the more chitzoniyus the better. They want to be able to offer explanations for everything. However, antisemitism is not chitzoni and has no explanation.
If antisemitism is a deep penimius issue, then the demand that it places on us is to dig deeper in our Yiddishkeit. It demands that we think about our chalokim in Torah, which are, so to speak, invisible. It requires us to daven in an invisible way. We do not need to daven in a way to impress the onlooker. Instead, we must daven as if no one sees our tefillah.
When we talk about Yiddishkeit being invisible, we are not speaking in a technical sense, whereby people don’t actually see us. Rather, an example of what we are talking about in Torah is that we don’t always need to say everything that we know.
2) The mix of Zionism into Judaism
Zionism is a political concept, whereas Judaism is not. Nevertheless, inevitably, there is a merging between Judaism and Zionism. The whole point of being political is to have followers. To the contrary, in Judaism, we discourage anybody who wants to convert. We don’t want followers. Judaism is based on Kabbolas hatorah, bein odom lechavero on a higher level etc. Judaism is apolitical.
Politics is based on chanufa, sheker, and many other bad things.
We may like to ignore the political part (Zionism) of the picture and say that this is not our religion. However, the reality is that it merges with our religion and is grouped together. Those who hate Zionism hate us.
There is antisemitism, which is of a political nature. Since our nation is Zionistic they hate our nation. This is why the Arabs, who are not Esav and are not part of the halachah of ‘esav sone es yaakov,’ hate us.
Now I want to say something off the record. There is a parallel in our tzibbur. Torah has become something of the tzibbur, rather than guiding the individual himself.
I remember 50 years ago when Rav Shach was mechadesh the concept of ‘daas torah’. We think that Torah is a guide for the tzibbur. This is incorrect. Beis Din or the king guide the tzibbur. Torah itself is for the individual. Matan Torah was 600000 ways of Torah, whereby each neshamah had its own way in Torah.
Yesterday, while learning, I learnt that Matan Torah was not something klali for Klal Yisroel. This klaliosdika face in Torah had not yet been revealed. The Nefesh Hachaim says that at matan Torah they were only masig the neshamah but not the neshamah leneshamah. They were not above their own individuality. Rather, they each were masig their own individual way in Torah. Torah was given in a way for each individual.
We do not mean that Torah is given over to each person’s creativity to form their own opinion in Torah as they see fit. However, there is, nevertheless, a place for each person’s individuality in Torah.
Zionism is a political and public thing (not individualised). Judaism, on the other hand, is a deep thing in the neshamah of every individual Jew. Therefore, Judaism cannot become a general political idea. So too Torah is a deep part of a Jew, and it cannot become incorporated into general rules of Torah. We in the charedi sector are becoming more and more involved with the klaliosdika aspect of Torah and less with its individualisation.
Another problem is that some people do focus on the individualised aspect of Torah, but among them are those who do so incorrectly. In so doing, they produce Torah that has very little Torah content.
Somebody called me up and said that he went on a shidduch and felt that the girl he had met must be destined to be his zivug. I told him that he takes his feelings too seriously and that there were no real indicators that she was the one. He responded to me ‘But whatever you (Rabbi) say in your Vaadim is also your feelings.’
The fact that I say original chiddushim that don’t necessarily fit the ear that has been trained in a yeshivah doesn’t mean that what I say are my personal hergeshim and not Torah. When people think that Torah can only be in one general way, this is an example of making Torah into a seichel of politics. We believe that Torah is not meant for the individual.
Torah became a political seichel. This means we think of Torah in a political way, as if everyone must think the same way. The truth is that Torah is for every individual.
__________
Written by Rabbi Rapport
Shiur 16 – How to relate to the growing antisemitism
Antisemitism is rising rapidly. We will try to understand what is happening and, from that, see what we need to work on.
When a navi reveals something to us from the world of ruchniyus, it must fit perfectly with reality. We, on the other hand, are unable to know exactly what the reality is. I heard from my Rebbes that the reality of olam hazeh is not as the Torah clearly states. The explanation for this is that since our world is made up of aveirahs and evil mixed with mitzvos and good, our world is ‘twisted’!
Subsequently, if a person thinks he can explain or relate to the reality of the world through certain possukim or gematrias, etc., this, to put it mildly, arouses suspicion. A person who thinks they can pin something happening in the world on a specific possuk has a problem with their Emunah. He believes that the clarity (without evil mixed into it) which is expressed in the Torah is manifesting itself perfectly with our reality of the world. He cannot be right because our reality of the world is that of a mixture of good and evil. In truth, the reality of the world is just a picture of what is expressed in the Torah.
Similarly, I hold that you cannot even learn Torah directly from the binyan of the body of man. Even though he is built betzelem elokim, nevertheless in olam hazeh the whole tzelem elokim is contaminated from the evil which is mixed with the good.
Due to the twisted nature of our world, we cannot know exactly what Hashem‘s plan was in any given historical event.
In summary, we are unable to explain any hashgachah we observe in our world in a clear, Torah-based way. Whilst what we see is based on Torah ideas, it will not be manifested with perfect clarity due to the twisted nature of our world.
What is advantageous about antisemitism?
1)Let us discuss the advantages of antisemitism.
The Russian Jews asked the Baal Hatanyah who to daven for between Napoleon and the non-Jewish Russians. He answered that life under Napoleon would be easier. But life under the Russians would be better for the Jews. The Russians oppress the Jews, and this is advantageous for the Jews. If everything is too free, then everything is acceptable, and this is dangerous for Yiddishkeit.
There is a culture war worldwide. The Muslims believe that only certain behaviours are acceptable-hair must be covered, etc. They do not tolerate anything else. They do not believe in freedom.The Western world, on the other hand, desires freedom. This culture war does not have anything to do with antisemitism, but nevertheless, the Jews are caught in this war.
Arabs want to kill lefties. They are totally intolerant of the lefties. Nevertheless, the tolerant lefties are seen making pacts with them. This doesn’t make any sense. In places where these pacts are occurring, antisemitism is flourishing.
This means that there is no explanation for the antisemitism besides the halachah that ‘esav sonei es yaakov’. Being a halachah means that the hatred of antisemitism is not something psychological. It’s also not something sociological. It is not ingrained in the neshamas of western society. There is no reason behind the hatred. Instead, it is simply a halachah from the Torah. It is a gezeirah min hashomayim.
If so, the hatred is not at the surface level, and attempts to explain the unexplainable (a halachah and a gezeirah) are futile. Similarly, to try to explain to the non-Jews how we Jews are good and to try to influence them to like us is also useless since there is no way of changing the halachah.
No newspaper will follow this halachic approach. As far as they are concerned, the more chitzoniyus the better. They want to be able to offer explanations for everything. However, antisemitism is not chitzoni and has no explanation.
If antisemitism is a deep penimius issue, then the demand that it places on us is to dig deeper in our Yiddishkeit. It demands that we think about our chalokim in Torah, which are, so to speak, invisible. It requires us to daven in an invisible way. We do not need to daven in a way to impress the onlooker. Instead, we must daven as if no one sees our tefillah.
When we talk about Yiddishkeit being invisible, we are not speaking in a technical sense, whereby people don’t actually see us. Rather, an example of what we are talking about in Torah is that we don’t always need to say everything that we know.
2) The mix of Zionism into Judaism
Zionism is a political concept, whereas Judaism is not. Nevertheless, inevitably, there is a merging between Judaism and Zionism. The whole point of being political is to have followers. To the contrary, in Judaism, we discourage anybody who wants to convert. We don’t want followers. Judaism is based on Kabbolas hatorah, bein odom lechavero on a higher level etc. Judaism is apolitical.
Politics is based on chanufa, sheker, and many other bad things.
We may like to ignore the political part (Zionism) of the picture and say that this is not our religion. However, the reality is that it merges with our religion and is grouped together. Those who hate Zionism hate us.
There is antisemitism, which is of a political nature. Since our nation is Zionistic they hate our nation. This is why the Arabs, who are not Esav and are not part of the halachah of ‘esav sone es yaakov,’ hate us.
Now I want to say something off the record. There is a parallel in our tzibbur. Torah has become something of the tzibbur, rather than guiding the individual himself.
I remember 50 years ago when Rav Shach was mechadesh the concept of ‘daas torah’. We think that Torah is a guide for the tzibbur. This is incorrect. Beis Din or the king guide the tzibbur. Torah itself is for the individual. Matan Torah was 600000 ways of Torah, whereby each neshamah had its own way in Torah.
Yesterday, while learning, I learnt that Matan Torah was not something klali for Klal Yisroel. This klaliosdika face in Torah had not yet been revealed. The Nefesh Hachaim says that at matan Torah they were only masig the neshamah but not the neshamah leneshamah. They were not above their own individuality. Rather, they each were masig their own individual way in Torah. Torah was given in a way for each individual.
We do not mean that Torah is given over to each person’s creativity to form their own opinion in Torah as they see fit. However, there is, nevertheless, a place for each person’s individuality in Torah.
Zionism is a political and public thing (not individualised). Judaism, on the other hand, is a deep thing in the neshamah of every individual Jew. Therefore, Judaism cannot become a general political idea. So too Torah is a deep part of a Jew, and it cannot become incorporated into general rules of Torah. We in the charedi sector are becoming more and more involved with the klaliosdika aspect of Torah and less with its individualisation.
Another problem is that some people do focus on the individualised aspect of Torah, but among them are those who do so incorrectly. In so doing, they produce Torah that has very little Torah content.
Somebody called me up and said that he went on a shidduch and felt that the girl he had met must be destined to be his zivug. I told him that he takes his feelings too seriously and that there were no real indicators that she was the one. He responded to me ‘But whatever you (Rabbi) say in your Vaadim is also your feelings.’
The fact that I say original chiddushim that don’t necessarily fit the ear that has been trained in a yeshivah doesn’t mean that what I say are my personal hergeshim and not Torah. When people think that Torah can only be in one general way, this is an example of making Torah into a seichel of politics. We believe that Torah is not meant for the individual.
Torah became a political seichel. This means we think of Torah in a political way, as if everyone must think the same way. The truth is that Torah is for every individual.
__________
Written by Rabbi Rapport