The Three Urgent Challenges Jews Need to Confront This Year
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Antisemitism throughout Jewish history is the norm. The Golden Age of American Jewry is the aberration.
“I can’t believe what is happening on college campuses.”
“It’s crazy that this could be happening in 2024.”
“I thought the world had evolved. To see antisemitism today is shocking.”
These are sentiments I have heard from many Jewish friends and family, people concerned, frightened, and confused by the onslaught of Jew hatred seen today across the United States.
My response: We shouldn’t be surprised. Bothered and upset? Yes. Angry and concerned? Yes. But surprised? No, for the following three reasons:
The last 75 years of Jewish history have been an aberration, not the norm. The sentence from the Passover Seder, “In every generation they rise against us to destroy us”, is not meant as a dramatic exaggeration – it’s a fact.
From our slavery in Egypt, where it was said about the Jews that “if a war will occur, they may join our enemies” (Exodus 1:10); to Persia after the destruction of the First Temple where Haman attempted a genocide against the Jewish people; to the Greeks who imposed social segregation against the Jews for rejecting pagan ways; to the expulsion of Jews from Rome in 139 BCE; to thousands of Jews killed in the Alexandrian pogrom in 38 CE; to the banning of circumcision by the Romans Emperor Hadrian in 119 CE; to Constantine’s expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem in 325 CE; to Jewish book burnings in Persia in 351 CE; to the centuries of Jews being forced to convert to Christianity or face expulsion; to the decapitation of 600 Jews in Medina in 624; to the pogroms committed by both Christians and Muslims over the centuries; to the Crusades of the 11th and 12th centuries; to the frequent blood libels across Europe; to the expulsions of Jewish communities from almost every country across Europe; to the burning of the Talmud ordered by Pope Innocent IV in 1244; to the Black Death persecutions that destroyed entire Jewish populations across Germany in the 14th century; to the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; to the Hebron and Tzfat attacks of 1517; to Martin Luther writing “On the Jews and Their Lies” in 1543; to the massacre of over 100,000 Jews by Ukrainian Cossacks in the mid 1600’s; to the blood libel of Damascus in 1840; to the Dreyfus Affair in France in 1894; to the Kiev pogroms of 1919; to the printing of Henry Ford’s “The International Jew” in 1920; to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 leading to the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
And I left almost everything out – the list is endless. This is the history of the Jewish People.
Since the Holocaust, the majority of the Jewish community in the west – certainly in the United States – has not faced real antisemitism. Possibly due to a feeling of guilt because of the Holocaust, antisemitism laid dormant.
For anyone born from 1970 on, antisemitism was something of the past, read about in textbooks, or maybe in the testimony of grandparents who had family in the Holocaust.
How wrong we were. Antisemitism is a pillar of Jewish history; it’s the norm. The Golden Age of American Jewry is the aberration.
Another reason we shouldn’t be surprised by the outward antisemitism of today is that the haters of the Jewish People have been very clear and vocal about their intentions. Many have just not wanted to listen.
Adolf Hitler was evil, but he was not crazy. Crazy people pick up a gun and start shooting people. Adolf Hitler had a plan. He said and wrote exactly what he intended to do in his book Mein Kampf and elsewhere. Many didn’t want to believe him or take his words literally. But he meant every word.
The haters of the Jewish People have been very clear and vocal about their intentions. Believe them.
Our enemies today are also very clear.
The Hamas charter written in 1988 quotes a Muslim hadith saying, “The Day of Judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslim, O servant of God, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'”. Their intentions are clear.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei in 2014 described Iran’s 9-point plan to destroy Israel, stating the “barbaric” Jewish state “has no cure but to be annihilated.” Pretty clear.
Nick Fuentes, a popular right-wing Christian nationalist has stated that Christians are in a holy war with Jews saying, “We're in a holy war and I will tell you this. Because we're willing to die in the holy war, we will make them die in the holy war. And they will go down." He’s not mincing his words.
When Israel haters are screaming on campuses for the erasure of Israel through chants like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”, “By any means necessary” and “Long live the Intifada” – we should believe them. They mean what they’re saying – they want to destroy Israel.
Perhaps the most surprising reason we shouldn’t be surprised about the wave of antisemitism is that Judaism predicted this would happen. In the Torah, as well as the Talmud, multiple references to antisemitism are found.
In Leviticus (26:36), the Torah prophesizes that Jews in exile will live under tremendous fear and horror: “I will cast a faintness into your hearts in the land of your enemies. The sound of a rustling leaf shall put you to flight. Fleeing as though from the sword, you shall fall though none pursues.”
In Deuteronomy (28:32), the Torah continues, “You will become an object of horror, an example, and an abject lesson among all the nations.”
And in Deuteronomy (28:65-67), the Torah says: “Yet even among those nations you shall find no peace, nor shall your foot find a place to rest. The Lord will give you there an anguished heart and eyes that pine and a despondent spirit. The life you face shall be precarious; you shall be in terror, night and day, with no assurance of survival. In the morning you shall say, ’If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you shall say, ’If only it were morning!’ – because of what your heart shall dread and your eyes shall see.”
According to the Torah, Jewish existence in the exile will be one of persecution and terror.
Why should this be?
There are two traditional approaches, and each one presses some politically incorrect buttons. So gird yourself and invest some time delving into them before rejecting them out of hand.
The Torah’s descriptions of terror in exile is a result of what will happen if the Jewish people remove God from the picture. If instead of seeing God’s Hand in our personal lives and national events, we view events as random and happenstance, God says He will fulfill our wish. “You want to take Me out of the picture, then fine, I’ll remove Myself and see how that goes for you.” When God’s protection is removed, chaos ensues. The solution? To realize there is an Infinite, Loving Being Who watches over every iota of existence, and that we are only protected from the whims of the world if we have God’s protection.
Of course, we must do our part in confronting antisemitism. Lobbying our elected officials, writing letters to the editor, organizing protests, posting on social media, speaking up whenever we can. This is all crucial. But the Torah is teaching that our ultimate success in battling antisemitism is ensuring that God protects the Jewish People by our choosing to bring Him into our lives.
The second explanation for antisemitism is explored in the Talmud. The question is asked: Why is the mountain where the Jewish People received the Torah called “Sinai”? The Talmud answers: Because when God gave the Torah to the Jewish People, hatred “sinah” in Hebrew, towards the Jews descended. Why would receiving the Torah solicit hatred? Because the Torah conveys an all-encompassing code of ethics and morality that demand selflessness, humility, sacrifice and self-restraint. While many embrace this opportunity for self-perfection and making the world a better place, many reject the responsibilities and expectations as too onerous and burdensome. Stamping out the message requires stamping out the messenger – the Jewish People.
Ironically, antisemitism can spur Jewish pride.
The Talmud’s message is that antisemitism can teach us about the essence of the Jewish People. If they hate us because of the morality and ethics we have brought to the world through the Torah, then we have the opportunity to respond by embracing the mission of the Jewish People.
Ironically, antisemitism can spur Jewish pride. When it becomes clear that the battle is against the ethics and morals the Jewish People represent, then we see the nobility and importance of standing up against antisemitism. The answer to antisemitism isn't to run and hide; it’s to be even more strong and proud to part of the Jewish People's role of being a light onto the nations.
In the 1945 Libyan riots the British also blamed the victims • Point of No Return
I
should Zohran Mamdani BECOME MAYOR OF NEW YORK AND SHOULD HE ARREST BIBI IF HE COMES TO NEWYORK, I CALL ON THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND OUR FRIENDS OF ALL FAITHS TO LOCK DOWN NEW YORK FROM DOING BUSINESS. AND FUNCTIONING ,RABBI
in Antisemitism - It should be also noted that - DAILY - in this modern day world - there is a plethora of VERY ACTIVE sources - in educational institutes - media & or scientific venues - which feeds the UNINFORMED PUBLIC - hundreds of historical documentaries etc., - that offer INTENTIONAL vague - altered - misrepresented - redefined evidence - debunking G-D's Written Torah claims of how life began - & Jewish miracles of G-D's Written Torah. Investigation has shown that - much of this is funded by nations - that deny G-D & outlaw religious practices such as Judaism. With so many false evidence sources & teachings - HOW DOES ONE CHOOSE - WHO'S TELLING THE TRUTH? It's then used as a source of denial - including Antisemitism.
Reply to Philip, can't reply directly:
The rabbi is explaining why antisemitism exists.It needs explaining because Jews don't go on crusades or do jihad, Jews don't randomly stab people or hijack planes, have always contributed positively to their host societies, and when allowed to return to their homeland, have made a great success of it. None of this holds for Palestinians. So it is the existence of antisemitism that needs explaining, not anti-Palestinianism.
As a 16 year old with an Iranian Jewish father, I sounded the alarm on what was to happen. In 1979, no one listened and people like me and Meir Kahane were called every name in the book. Now the hatred is mainstream and everyone wonders why this happened. Duh. It happened because in your naiveté, you actually believed this was the fringe. The Jews and Israel have always been the canaries in the coal mine. Now it is here and you can't stop it. Europe has fallen and the U.S. is next.
How true. There is no answer to anit-semitic rabble. We can only strengthen our emunah and our religious practices - for oneself- and bring oneself closer to Hashem.
I think every one of these young people should have their citizenship revoked and be sent to Gaza to be experience what they are protesting for!!! All the LGBTQ that think it’s so noble to stand with Gaza and the Palestinian cause needs to personally be exposed to this cause they are so adamant to align themselves with. Perhaps only first hand experience will help them understand that they support a sick and violent cause.
How would you revoke citizenship? I understand your emotions, but in the US, there’s no way to revoke citizenship of US born citizens.
It is so sad to say in the 80 year of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birneau, there is a lot of anti semitism in the world, the world was hiding their anti semitism until 10/ 07/ 23 now if Jews/ Israel fight our enemies the world has a problem
NO i'm NOT SURPRIZED
It's not the case that these last few been an aberration.
It's always been a cycle. Jews have always enjoyed a certain
prosperity and acceptance,in certain parts of the world followed
by persecution, e.g. in Spain and pre-war Germany.We just haven't
bothered to study history and become lulled into a false sense of
security
Yes of course all of the events are predictable as per Torah sources. But why are they happening? We just had Bayn Ha Metzarim, from the Fast of Tammuz to Tisha B’Av a sad and reflective time for the Jewish people. We suffer this situation because as detailed in the Gemora we are basically bad to our fellow Jews; we do not apply V Ha Havta Reyecha Kamocha…I personally know this is not easy. But when tested by GD, we need to avoid arguments, heal rifts between family members, let go of grudges- emphasize pursuing peace on all levels. And yes- break the pattern of speaking Loshon HaRah. One we try to break these self destructive patterns, maybe Hashem will raise his people to their once lofty place.
Question: Why is this happening?
The time of Moshiach is upon us.This is the 11th hour.
Why wouldn't the non-Jewish world be working diligently to undermine us?
The Moshiach will change the world. The world by majority does not want this change, no different than their rejecting Torah when HaShem first offered it to them.
Stop being surprised and get to work.
Be stedfast. Be pious. Be confident. Be brave. Be fearless. Be joyful.
We have less than 16 years to do our job well.
I agree. Why be surprised? The world is like a big washing machine on an endless wash cycle, agitating back and forth, back and forth. Separating the dirt out to make what remains clean.
Human nature is the same too. Always doomed to repeat its mistakes, never learning from the past. Back and forth; back and forth.
A little breeze comes along (and, yes, October 7th was little compared to what is potentialed); and, blows everyone over so easily.
And people become indignated: How dare you disturb my peace, my easy life?
Yet where were you ever told to let down your guard?
All these problems are on repeat. Why have you not learned the problem source and solutions; and, to be working on them all along?
Stop playing the victim card; and, get to work.
We were afficted with Jew hatred in Mitzrayim, when we started to assimilate into the Egyptian society.
The CURE for Jew hatred is to behave as the Torah tells us to behave. To not assimilate into other people's society. Rather, to behave as Jews , According to the Code of Jewish Law.
In my opinion, this article delvers a confusing message.
On one hand, antisemitism occurs because Jews have spiritually lost their way and therefore lost Gd's protection.
On the other hand, antisemitism occurs because we are so ethical and lawful that other nations hate us and feel threatened by us.
So...any time bad things happen to the Jews, couldn't someone just as easily say "We are being too good, it's pissing others off" as "We are being too bad, we're losing the favor of Gd"? Or maybe someone could think "Well people hate *me* because *I'm* a moral Jew...bad things happen to *other* Jews because they are Godless and lost. *They're* Babylon; *I'm* the Canary in the Coal Mine!"
But maybe there is more nuance I am missing.
Thank you for ur response! My understanding is that the 2 'reasons" work differently. The fact that antiSemitism exists as a response to the Jewish People's role of being the messenger of the Torah's morals exists whether we live up to that role or not. Once the Jews received (or accepted) that role, there would be a degree of hatred that exists no matter what. It's a natural response to the morals brought into the world. It also serves as a reminder to the Jewish People of what our role is. The second reason for anti-Semitism, which is that it happens when we remove G-d from our lives, does repond to our actions. So yes, the more we connect with G-d and bring Him into our world, then anti-Semitism should decrease. But it won't disappear b/c of the 1st reason. I hope that explains a little
Very, very, very bad.. The author correctly delineates the rise of anti semitism in the Goldene Medina, the insane hate of the Gentile Nations for the Jews and how we will not find rest in the Golut. So instead of telling the readers that the answer is .. of course - leave the Golus and go home/better yet run - save yourself and your family.. come to the Holy Land of Eretz Yisrael..
Any Jew with a Yiddisher Kopf knows where we are supposed to be (remember Rashi stated - one who lives outside of Israel.. is like one that has no G-d) .. the author concludes.. as most of the American rabbis do these days.... stand tall, have faith, say tehillim. etc.. and in turn .. sentence (heaven forfend) our brethren to the same fate as happened in Europe.. . very bad indeed.. Time to Go Home!!
Thank you for your comment! Yes, I believe every Jew should live in Israel if they can. But that is not practical for everyone, so just giving that response is not always helpful.
With all due respect, that's the standard answer when Jews are invited home – and it's understandable.
But too many Holocaust victims made a similar mistake when others pleaded with them to leave Europe.
I realize it's easy to speak up with hindsight, but anyone who denies there's an eerie parallel in what's happening in America to what happened in Germany in the 1930s is simply sticking his/her head in the sand.
In fact, our situation is more worrisome in a way: Hitler ym"s instigated his followers' innate antisemitism, but now it's the people themselves (mostly Moslems, but they've got a following) who are stirring up serious trouble.
It's all very ugly but, as you say, unsurprising.
Very powerful, enlightening, thoughtful, well-written and so true,but also very, very hard
Said like it is. I just don’t have the guts to tell this to others neither those who faithfully adhere to Torah nor those who choose to modify the holy script or deny it entirely.
Thank you AISH for this article
My sincere thanks for such an inspirational and significant analysis. It gives me courage to go on in a world that is driven by anti-antisemitism.
Thank you for this wonderful history and analysis.
I really cannot under Jew Hatred. Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all of the Disciples were Jewish.Jews have contributed so much to the world. The New T estimate was write over 100 years after the Romans killed Jesus.And the Jews got the blame.I tell anyone who does not Jews that they should not sing any Christmas song as most were writen by Jews like White Christmas and so many others.
G-d was very clear as to why we suffer in the diaspora. Our ancestors did not follow the laws. In fact the laws regarding giving the land it's Sabbath's, was particularly aggravating.
Thankfully he did promise to leave a remnant us to survive.
He then promised to find us wherever we are under the heavens and return us to the land of inheritance.
Interesting that He promised to do it. Nothing about a human interlocutor.
Today more than half the Jewish People live in the Land of Israel. So far He has kept His promises.
Most people in the Western world are free from religious beliefs and haven't even read the Bible. So all you write means nothing to them. They do not hate Jews or Muslims and do not seek any power over them. They probably wouldn't know the difference between the two philiosophies.. so it is not right to stir it up as you seem to be doing. All they want is for the desecration of the Palestinians to stop and also the death of Jewish soldiers. No war, jaw, jaw.
It's obvious that you're right only about most people not knowing the difference between Jews & Muslims because if they did bother to learn the truth, their hatred wouldn't be directed at the former!
Jews are interested to live, and Muslims want death, and Jews protect their children and Muslims use their kids as human shields
True!
fanatic Muslims strongly revere death, with that said why aren't they all commit suicide? that it's a form of death.
Imach shemam!
No,Beverley. You have it all backwards. The war against the terrorists stops,and they live to fight another day. Read the article,i.e. Believe what they say
Send the hostages home and the war will be over.
According, to children of Holocaust survivors are there any hostages still alive, or R " L come back in body bags and have to be buried in Israel
Thank you for your response! That's why I gave 3 reasons we shouldn't be suprised. Some might not be open to the 3rd reason I explained, but I think they would be to the first two. thank you!
Actually, Jews are the real Palestinians the others are Muslim Arabs, and these people are a fake people fake land and this bologna people came on 1967 Yasser Arfat( may his name be erased) a relative of " grand mufti of Jerusalem( may his name be erased) that planned the " final solution" with the Nazis( may their name be erased) both are Amelak
btw, שִׂנְאָה and סִינַי are nothing alike, in hebrew at least.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch days that the meaning of words that sound similar is related.
My mom( obm) said " jealousy leads to hatred" when the Jews got the Torah the others got jealous and started to hate us( Jews)
Face down the anti-semites!
Chant!
"From the River to the Sea!
Israel shall always be!"
Also chant " Am Yisrael Chai"
News like this: As of 13 May 2024, over 36,000 people (As of 13 May 2024, over 36,000 people (35,233 Palestinian and 1,410 Israeli) have been reported as killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 97 journalists (92 Palestinian, 2 Israeli and 3 Lebanese) and over 224 humanitarian aid workers, including 179 employees of UNRWA. Doesn’t help! They use it to be against us Jews… before we had a good system working, maybe it looked like some kind of apartheid but it wasn’t like that it was just to protect us from them. We can’t live together Israel is for the Jews we deserve a country!
Kahane Tzadak....But it's too late now. Everyone is going to have to learn to live together. Nobody's leaving.
On Succot they talk about a prophet that speaks about Gog and Magog which says the world will be against Jews and Israel, also Tehillim 83 talks about the same subject about the nation's are against Jews/ Israel and Hashem
The rise of antiSemitism is the yellow canary in the mine shaft signaling that a society/civilization is in failure.
True, in America for numerous reasons our society has been and is coming apart.The voices of antisemitism are now out from the shadows, and very proud of their hatred. There is only one choice, which is to fight against antisemitism loudly and fiercely.
How will that help the situation?
The loudest voices today belong to the worst of the human race!
Better to fight against the root cause of antisemitism and realize that when we turn away from Hashem, we lose His protection, cv"s!
Let's be different than our lowlife enemies by fighting evil with good -- that has always been the Jewish way.
Worthy people will stand with us, and the others will reap the reward of the havoc they sow and waste away, as they deserve.
In the prophets it is written before the Moshiach comes, we will have lots of problems with Ishmael about the inheritance of the land of Israel and the Jews are the rightful owners of the land
It happened during the Holocaust it starts with the Jews, and eventually the rest of the world will be involved, when Jews have trouble then later on it spreads to non Jews and everyone else
Very insightful article. True Christians are always thankful to Jews. May God keep Israel and all Jews from their enemies. Long live the Jewish State!!!
We need to have faith in God. As in Isaiah Chapter 2; 2 -5
This essay made me think about the dual nature of our religion. Eerie yet uplifting at the same time. This essay was a disturbing, honest history.
Excellent article. Thank you.
What the Koran forgets to say is that the Jew behind the tree is holding a gun at the ready - B”H!
This article totally ignores Israel and the clear signal that God wants us home .
I think it's dangerous for Jews to concentrate themselves in one place. After all, "concentration" camps made it easier to kill us.
it didn’t stop the nazis, ym”sh, did it? they diverted scarce military resources to rounding up and murdering jews, even when the war was already lost.
We never had the IDF or State of Israel during the holocaust
With due respect, it's not the IDF or the Israeli govt. that alone determine the Jewish state's successes!
Everything comes from Hashem, Jews and Israel live on miracles
Right, that is why our enemies have a problem, we are in our homeland
Actually, the Nazis(may their name be erased) gathered Jews from different countries for instance from Holland, Greece, when the Polish Jews ran to tell Hungrian Jews what is going on they did not believe the Polish Jews until they were in concentration camps, they took lists of people that are Jewish, people that had family in the Holocaust did not like to fill out the census for this reason, my mom(obm) knew German and Polish, the people that didn't know German or sometimes Polish had trouble, when my mom(obm) was in Auschwitz- Birneau concentration camp when a Greek Jew tried talking to her(obm) he only knew Ladino( a mixture of Spanish and Hebrew) and this language did not help him there, sadly a lot of Jews met their death, by Dr. Joseph Mengele( may his name be erased)
Thank you for writing this excellent article! I have believed in G-D from the time I was a child.
"The answer to antisemitism isn't to run and hide; it’s to be even more strong and proud to part of the Jewish People's role of being a light onto the nations"
Great article and spot-on conclusions. The problem is that one must first accept and understand "the Jewish People's role of being a light onto the nations," namely "the morality and ethics we have brought to the world through the Torah," before they can embrace it.
This will be an uphill battle because progressive dogma which inverseses darkness and light has become so many of our people's default reality. But maybe October 7th and its aftermath has started to shake their faith.
It seems to me that the Tora prescribes fear and "faintness of heart". How is that goes with the conclusion and prescription of this article?
That's only when we turn away from Him and don't acknowledge His providence & beneficence.
The antidote is clearly to turn back to Him and be grateful for His protection; also to realize that miracles abound if we but open our eyes: For example, the statistical probability of the outcome of the recent Iranian attack was zilch, but they prefer to pretend that they just wanted to "scare" us; otherwise the incident is a great blow to their pride!
Let's not make the same mistake and boast that Israel's superior air force (or whatever, though indeed they are b'ez"H strong), with the help of a few (usually quite fickle) "friends" managed to overcome the enemy.
Ultimately, spiritual superiority is what really counts.
“you can go a lot further with a smile and a gun, than with just a smile.” - al capone. don’t knock “israel’s superior air force”.
If you had bothered to read the parenthetical comment, you might have understood that I was surely not "knocking" the air force; the point is clearly that nothing, no matter how good, is successful unless the Master of the Universe wants it to be!!
Right, I agree 100%
Look where Al Capone ended up. I won't be taking lessons from him, thanks.
Because many are atheist and they refuse to recognize God as creator, they will also hate the Jewish people. I'm not a Jew I am an African American woman and I truly believe that the Jews are God's chosen people and I believe that God will step in for his people.
Thank you Denise. We need more people like you
a very important principle of the talmud is, “one doesn’t rely on miracles”.
Indeed, we do our hishtadlus / due diligence but without our Creator's assistance, it's essentially worthless!
the shtetl mentality never worked, so maybe we should try something else.
Ha, without Torah-true Jews, there would be no Jewish state in the real sense of the term!
The kibbutzim and yishuvim that suffered the brunt of October 7 were about as far from shtetl mentality as you get. That didn't work either. Maybe we should try something else.
My response on this is yes, we should be surprised on the resent antisemitism. Instead of keep talking about all the terrible things that we have been through and try to make people feel sorry for us we should emphasize on teaching people others and our own Jewish contributions around the world. What we did every spot that we have touched.
it has become obvious that nobody feels sorry for us. We remain scapegoaties. We should change our approach about education in order not to let this ever happen.
we have many teachers, educators, writers, who can accomplish all that but this will take years.
this is my humble opinion.
We can change holocaust education week to “Jewish education week that will include holocaust education as well as our teachings about morality, kindness, and many more. This is G-d’s purpose for us .
Teach our children and grandchildren to be proud Jews and why we should be proud of being a Jew.
Thank you for raising the questions, stimulating many wonderful opinions.
I agree