![]() ![]() As John Adams, the second president of the United States said, “I’ll insist the Hebrews have more to civilise men than any other nation. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and everything to be proud of. I believe our message to them should be resounding and unequivocal. Our children are seeing it all online – there are no secrets and it can be intimidating and scary. ![]() It’s illogical, as the Torah defines it to be. The position taken by our government and the openly antisemitic rhetoric is jarring for our community and our children. We can be assured that the longer the war drags on, the further the events of 7 October will retreat and disappear in global consciousness. While civilian death is completely tragic, the rationale for this war seems lost on most and, once again, global Jewry is feeling increasingly isolated. Alliances and friends of old have quickly turned, and the narrative against Israel has strengthened in disturbing ways. A brazen attack on Jews, just because they are Jews. The events of 7 October have shaken global Jewry to the core. Pretending it doesn’t exist, or hiding our identity doesn’t inoculate us from its effects. It rears its head to shock us into action and sometimes with tragic results, but it never defeats us. ‘Judah shall live’ – thus says the candles.”Īntisemitism is a virus. On the photograph to her family she has inscribed the powerful words, “’Judah shall die’ – thus says the flag. The Nazis had just risen to power, and in the background to the picture, a swastika flag is draped over the new Nazi headquarters. There has been a moving image circulating of a woman lighting her Chanukah candles before the outbreak of World War II in Germany. They fought for their identity, and united the people in doing so. Just as the Maccabees fought bravely against the ancient Greeks – who weren’t trying to physically destroy us but to Hellenise us and disconnect us from our religious practise. Our default position would be to run and hide our Jewishness, to be more like everyone else, but the opposite it true. If that’s the case, then the real antidote to antisemitism is a mindful and deliberate increase in Jewish identity and pride. Those who hate us are sent as a stark reminder about who the real enemies are. Sometimes we fight one another over politics, religion, tradition, and even good old baseless faribels. When we stray from our traditions and heritage or when we hate one another, Hashem reminds us who we are and who our real enemies are. Some Jewish rabbis and scholars suggest that antisemitism exists as Hashem’s values-clarification mechanism. Yet that remains the pattern, even today. One would assume we would be praised and thanked, not derided and reviled. Our impact far surpasses our meagre numbers. Jews have done more to advance their countries of sojourn in the diaspora than any other minority in the history of mankind. Rationale defying, and simply beyond any reasonability. ![]() And so is born the essence of antisemitism – Illogical to the core. Why in the world would patriotic Egyptian Jews turn on their country of birth after 200 years of naturalisation? They wouldn’t. He claims that should Egypt be attacked by foreign invaders, the Jews would join forces with the enemies and revolt against the Egyptians. Pharoah somehow manages to convince the Egyptian people that their successful and fully enculturated Jewish Egyptians neighbours are a threat to national security. I heard once from local scholar Cecil Steinhauer that the first time we encounter systemic antisemitism in the Torah is in the context of the slavery of Egypt. We have a tradition that the first time something, a word or a concept, appears in the Torah is the paradigm that describes the essence of that item. It has been ever present, and it merely mutates as we traverse the passage of time. There are few societal ills as ancient and as virulent as antisemitism.
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