Hatred in our Midst: The Jewish response to Anti- Semitism: Rosh Hashanah Day 1 2019/5780
As a child I remember being terrified of AIDS. I was told not to drink and drive. And I remember Nancy Reagan telling us to Say No to Drugs. I was nervous when Saadam Hussein invaded Kuwait, but I had just seen the Berlin Wall fall and I felt like America was the greatest country on earth and that hard work would get us to the next step. I wasn’t conscious of the issue of privilege, even though I certainly understood that racism was certainly present in our midst. I visited Israel for the first time at the tail end of the 1st intifada and again in the summer of 1993 when the euphoria of Oslo was about to hit the streets…though of course I didn’t know what would happen to Rabin in 1995 at the hands of one of our own…
Of course none of us know that in 1999, as I was getting ready to graduate college and all of my friends were easily getting jobs-and the presidential crisis at that point was Bill Clinton’s infidelity…none of us knew that two boys were going to walk into a cafeteria in Columbine and kill their classmates and set off decades of school gun violence. And then in 2000, the 2nd intifada would again take center stage in Israel, killing and maiming thousands of Israelis, and continuing cycles of violence that we still can’t get out of. Of course none of us know that in 2001 we would watch as towers and planes and buildings would crumble and the innocence and naivety that we had of us not being attacked on american soil would go away….And that was just the beginning.
We never would have imagined that we would be confronting measles again or the assault on women that we are seeing in states with regard to anti-abortion laws, the clear challenge that we are seeing at our borders, where inhumanity seems to reign supreme, as opposed to our government sitting down and doing the hard work of discussing immigration reform.
AND CLOSE TO HOME we are seeing challenges to Israel through the BDS, the boycott divestment, and sanctions movement. This is direct threat to Israel if successful and it is, in its purest form anti-semitism… Iran remains a threat for Israel combined with the constant barrage of rockets from gaza and occasional terrorist attacks in the West Bank…… But to be honest…the one constant is that I always felt safe as a Jew in America. I could never imagine that I would be a rabbi who would have to comfort a community when we had swastikas on our door, or worse, the fear of what it means to stand on the pulpit wondering who might come in and shoot me. When I was ordained in 2004 we talked about many issues that would confront us but rising anti semitism and guns in the places that should literally be a sanctuary was not on our radar…I didn’t think that Orthodox men would be attacked in Brooklyn, that synagogues would burn down in Minnesota, and that we would honestly wonder, is someone going to come here too?
Never did I think that being a rabbi was a dangerous job. Never did I get as many emails as I do now asking about our security and wondering if the words of those in leadership-ether by affirmation or by silence-are stoking the flames of anti semitism which will continue on our own soil to result in more murders from white surpremacists.
So all of this has led me to do a lot of thinking about anti semitism-not only where it might come from and what it might mean for us but the lessons that we must take from it.
Professor Deborah Lipstadt wrote a fascinating book this past year about anti-semitism where she outlined categories of anti semites.
First, she talked about the extremist in the street-The White Nationalists of Charlottesville who chanted, “The Jews will not replace us” or The murderers in Pittsburgh or Poway.
She also wrote about the not so obvious anti semite as she recalled the story in Gentleman’s agreement when Gregory’ Peck’s son comes home one day crying becomes some kids called him a dirty jew and a stinking kike. Peck’s Non-Jewish girlfriend says “darling, it’s not true! You are no more Jewish than I am. It’s just a horrible mistake. “ As Deborah Lipstadt writes: The girlfriend is not a nazi and she bears no resemblance to David Duke. But by telling the boy that he need not worry because it is in fact not a jew, she reinforces both degrading and hateful conceptions of Jews and the notion that there is something inherently wrong with being a Jew.
Lipstadt also refers to the Antisemitic enablers-those public figures that refuse to condemn anti semitism…or are linked to white supremacist organizations-give those people with those ideas, credence. White nationalism went from being a conversation you could hold in a bathroom to a front parlor. And of course we are seeing how Anti-Semitism is being expressed from those on the far left, though they are trying to mask it as Anti-Zionism, a distinction we know doesn’t exist. This is getting harder on campuses and we are seeing a rise in discomfort for our Jewish students.
As an example, last week, a known anti semite, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, was invited to speak to students at Columbia University as part of the World Leaders Forum.
Brian Cohen, the executive director of the Columbia/Barnard Hillel issued the following statement:
“I affirm the right to free speech on campus, but I question why the Prime Minister of Malaysia deserves a place on the dais in Low Library. This is an affront to Jewish students and to anyone committed to equality and human dignity. The Prime Minister referred to Jews as “hook nosed,” claims the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust is exaggerated and took pride in being labeled “anti-Semitic.”
The World Leaders Forum is an opportunity for students to learn from top leaders. Certainly there are others more deserving of an invitation to address the Columbia University community. I call on Columbia’s Administration to fully condemn the Prime Minister’s hateful views and past remarks, in his presence, when he comes to campus.”
Sadly, this is what is taking place and we need to speak out, against it. Not to squash reasonable debate. That is crucial. But we must empower our students to be proudly and unapologetically Jewish, even when things are difficult. It is why I am so appreciative of an anonymous donor who has provided me with funds to bring some of our SPS college students to the AIPAC policy conference this year. If you have a student in college and they would like to attend the conference this March in Washington DC, please have them reach out to me after the holidays.
In thinking about all of these threats, Bari Weiss sadly pointed out, The one place the far right and far left meet is in the hatred of Jews.
So how do we gather our strength for the work ahead?
To answer this, we must return to our texts.
In our tradition, we have Hillel’s famous dictum:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me, but if I am only for myself, what am I?
We know that we need to look out for our own. We all know the saying. We put the oxygen mask on our face before putting it on others…
And so we must look out for ourselves-as Jews and as Zionists.
We must protect ourselves. Which we are doing.
We must be proud of who we are.
We must educate about our history.
We must be honest with ourselves that maybe even in this great bastion of freedom, we, as Jews, need to look out for ourselves when people question our rightful place here or in Israel.
Bari Weiss wrote a few weeks ago:
There has not been a single moment in Jewish history in which there weren’t anti-Semites determined to eradicate Judaism and the Jews. When the Pittsburgh killer shouted “all Jews must die,” he was merely echoing a command uttered in a different tongue by Amalek, the villain who stalked the weakest of the ancient Israelites in the desert on their way to the Promised Land.
But the Jews did not sustain their magnificent civilization because they were anti-anti-Semites…
…
In these trying times, our best strategy is to build, without shame, a Judaism and a Jewish people and a Jewish state that are not only safe and resilient but also generative, humane, joyful and life-affirming. A Judaism capable of lighting a fire in every Jewish soul — and in the souls of everyone who throws in his or her lot with ours.
But that doesn’t mean closing off from others. Let’s also look at examples where people from other communities helped us put on the oxygen masks as we felt the air being taken out from around us. When we saw people stand up to Anti Semitism, to remind us, that we weren’t alone. Last October over 700 people were in this space-people of all backgrounds, races, and creeds, who came together to fight against the hatred that was seen in Pittsburgh.
Caring for ourselves means that if we want people to stand with us, as members of humanity, that we must stand with others.
Ariel Burger, who wrote Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom, a person who will be speaking here in May, thanks go the generosity of Irving Sitnick, wrote, “Being a student of Elie Wiesel means knowing that you do not have to choose between your particular identity and your concern for all people, realizing that you can speak up for your tribe as well as others, that the particular and the universal can and must be mutually reinforcing.
This reminds me of two stories where people spoke up on behalf of Jews, moments that we need to embrace. The first story is from 18 months ago where I had the honor of representing our synagogue and the NY Jewish community at Vatican City while attending a conference on anti-semitism w/the NY Board or Rabbis. Both Pope Francis, with whom I had the privilege of having an audience, and Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks spoke about this virus of Anti-Semitism in our world today. The Pope met with a group of attendees at the Vatican during the morning of the conference where his emphasis was on the responsibility to remember what had been done in the past, and not to fall prey to indifference in the face of hate. As he said “We are responsible when we are able to respond. It is not merely a question of analyzing the causes of violence and refuting their perverse reasoning, but of being actively prepared to respond to them. Thus, the enemy against which we fight is not only hatred in all of its forms but indifference, for it is indifference that paralyzes and impedes us from doing what is right.” And he raised the point that when we are faced with “the virus of indifference”, we must administer a vaccine and that vaccine is memory. He shared “We have just marked International Holocaust Rememberance Day. Memory is the key to accessing the future and it is our responsibility to hand it on in a dignified way to young generations.” I appreciated that I was invited, as a dignitary, into the Vatican, as a Rabbi, freely, Jewish, with my kippah (a symbol I spoke about last night), which the former Italian ambassador to Israel commented positively on its look. This was amazing. We know what has come forth in the past from the Vatican over the millennia and to feel that the Pope is part of they that are leading the charge to fight Anti Semitism gives me hope. But sadly just because the Pope said it, doesn’t make everything so.
As the meeting began the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Italy spoke about the great task at hand of confronting Anti Semitism. As he reminded those in attendance, “the wheel of fanaticism can start anywhere and we must be alarmed when Anti Semitism grows without any reaction since, quoting Elie Wiesel, silence favors the oppressor never the victim.” He acknowledged that the conference logo had both the arch of titus and the menorah, demonstrating that Italy, and Europe, must acknowledge its painful past of shameful racial laws, often tied back to the Jewish slaves that built the Arch of Titus 2000 years ago and the Menorah, a symbol of hope as it spreads its light. And with that a roll call began. A roll call of country after country-from Austria to Macedonia, to the Vatican to Poland, speaking about how Anti Semitism needs to be eradicated. To listen to country after country share this sentiment was important but it of course raised questions. Is affirming a stance against Anti-Semitism, enough?
Of course, the answer is no. We need to not only focus on stories where people spoke out against hate, but did something about it.
This actually brings me back to WWII and the time of our second story-a story once shared by Rabbi David Ellenson.
People often ask-how come Non Jews weren’t more righteous during the holocaust.
But the real question is, why were some righteous? What motivated them to be so?
There is a story of a professor, who, studied what occurred in a French village, Le Chambon, where, in a time of obscene wickedness, persons of conscience and uncommon courage rescued 5,000 Jews from Nazi persecution.
A Professor, Professor Hallie, was intrigued by this village and these persons, and he decided to ask and then research a question.
Professor Hallie was eager to discover, “How was it or why was it that goodness occurred in this village and what are the lessons that we can learn from that story for today?”
Le Chambon is located at a great distance from Paris in the mountainous regions of France, far removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday life in a large metropolitan area.
The leader of this village was a minister named André Trocmé, and the story that Professor Hallie tells largely centers around the figure and deeds of this minister.
When the Nazis overran France in 1940, the Vichy government — the puppets of the Nazis — was established.
On the very first Sunday after the Vichy government rose to power, Pastor Trocmé rose in the pulpit of his church and with all of the citizenry of Le Chambon present, described the creation of “cities of refuge,”-as described in Deuteronomy- where innocent persons could flee for protection from those who would do them harm.
He then told his congregants that it was his intention that their village, Le Chambon, follow the pattern the Bible here commanded and constitute itself as a modern-day “city of refuge.”
The villagers were inspired and moved by their pastor, and for weeks and weeks they planned to transform Le Chambon into such a city.
And the word of their intention went forth, and innocent Jews learned that that Le Chambon was set to become and in fact ultimately did become a city of refuge where 5,000 innocent lives would be saved.
The people in the town said that the pastor had reminded them that tradition had issued two commandments that were incumbent upon them to obey.
The first was, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”
This meant that they were required to follow the ways of God, and imitate the attributes of the Divine.
And what were these ways? What were these attributes?
Tradition meant, they told Hallie, taught, “And you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
However, it is a particular episode, related to Magda Trocme, the wife of the pastor, that demonstrates means to be a “person of refuge.”
The village had prepared for some time after the pastor had delivered his sermon on that fateful Sunday in 1940 to receive its first refugees, its first innocents, “lest innocent blood be shed.”
And finally, one night, as André Trocmé and others, including his wife Magda, sat in the Trocmé home, there was a knock on the door, and the first refugees who sought shelter actually arrived.
It was very late and suddenly everyone in the room froze, because each one understood that a Rubicon was about to be crossed.
It was one thing to talk about virtue. It was another thing to actually commit the act.
There was complete silence in the room, and everyone was immobilized with the weight of the deed they were about to perform.
However, at that moment, when time stood still and no one else moved, Magda Trocmé arose and calmly opened the door.
She saw a father, a mother, and a little baby, and, with a calm smile of greeting on her face, said the simple words, “You must be tired, you must be hungry. We have a bed, we have food. Come in.”
At that moment, Magda Trocmé, with such simple words, transformed herself into a person of refuge.
This story is not only meaningful, it is crucial. As we tell the stories of those who hate us, we must tell the stories of those who helped us. For as Elie Wiesel taught, the opposite of hate is indifference, and what we see here is not indifference, but engagement.
These stories are of course also a lesson for us not just to be appreciative of what other’s do for us, but ensure that we are allies for others. And that brings me to the 2nd part of Hillel’s statement: If I am only for myself, what am I.
Elie Wiesel, had the ability to look at the world’s chaos and say AND, YET. Meaning that we could look at our situation and the need to defend ourselves and yet have empathy for others.
Weisel would say, “Not all victims were Jews but all Jews were victims” and it was in fact the particularity of the Holocaust led him to universalist commitments.
“At the heart of Elie Wiesel’s mission as a teacher was a phrase his students heard him repeat time and time again: listening to a witness makes you a witness. Like propaganda, its evil twin, MORAL EDUCATION is contagious. And to be effective, it must be contagious. Unlike propaganda, though, which tells people what they want to hear or feeds their existing fears, moral education tells people what they need to hear, even when it is painful. Here is how you can tell the difference between false prophets and true prophets-the former, comfort, while the latter, disturb.
When moral education works, students investigate and embrace new ways of thinking….They are no longer able to pass a homeless person on a street without offering at least a smile. They speak up when they overhear a bigoted word or see a bully. “
And so Weisel was one of the proudest Zionist there was. Criticized by people on the far left for his faith in Zionism. He affirmed it all of the time including in OpEds in the NY Times. He would say we need to take care of ourselves and protect ourselves and yet, but that doesn’t give us permission to be silent in the face of hate of others. It is why he spoke out against genocide in our world, regardless of who the victims were.
How do we begin to understand what others are feeling?
How do we understand their pain without that being seen as a rejection of our own?
How do we hold pain, simultaneously, recognizing that it is not a contest? During the summer I spent time at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.
I saw artifacts that reminded me how easily people made Blacks be seen as subhuman. We know that, in our own experience as Jews this happened to us-a visit to the Auschwitz exhibit downtown demonstrates that…but have we ever really thought about our founding documents as Americans? The notion that our Founding Fathers were fighting for their own freedom while simultaneously not seeing the full humanity of others?
In the first floor of the museum, the visitors enter a hall called The Paradox of Freedom-a reminder that Freedom was, in a sense, founded on the backs of those who were only seen as ⅗ human…
This was a humbling experience for me. I walked through the hall as a white person, knowing that some might only be able to see me as that, but I held the pain of my people who had experienced subjugation as well. But I had to say to myself. This isn’t about me as a victim right now. I need to be able to walk through this museum and learn about someone else.
And I felt that pain, when an African American young girl, pointed to our founding documents, turned to her mom and said ‘mom, they really thought of us like that?”
Yes, they did. And many do. They look at the other-and fill in the blank of who that other is, as subhuman. It is what allows people to go into houses of worship, schools, movie theaters, shopping malls, concerts, and more, and kill people. If you see people as subhuman. If you see people as the other, you can do that.
But of course, that is not what we as a Jewish community will do. We will see ourselves and others as human. We will remember that we were all created in God’s image. We will think about the messages of the High Holidays, where we celebrate the creation of humanity, not the specific creation of the Jewish people…and we will speak up and speak out.
The final phrase of Hillel’s Statement, is If not now, WHEN. This means that we need to be able to call out hatred-of ourselves and others, when it happens. Not in hindsight. Not when we are comfortable. But NOW. We need to speak up for the Jews slaughtered in their sanctuaries. We need to speak up for immigrants murdered in a Walmart. We must look out for ourselves because we are a part of all of these stories.
Elie Weisel said, (147) “To be human is to share a common origin. And if we share a common origin our destinies are entwined. What happens to me will eventually happen to you. What happened to my people is a foreshadowing of what will threaten the world. Auschwitz lead to Hiroshima and who knows what else? Therefore the most important biblical commandment is Lo Taamod Al Dam Reekha. You should not stand idly by the shedding of the blood of your neighbor. Reekha. Fellow human being. It is universal. Anyone who is suffering. Anyone who is threatened becomes your responsibility. If you can feel this and act with even a little bit more humanity, more sensitivity, as a result, that is not the beginning. It is not the end. I don’t know how to end hatred. But recognizing our shared humanity is a good beginning.
And so-in this new year, what do we do? We need to speak up for ourselves, speak out for others, and I also believe, have hope in what might come.
