The whole world is closing in on the Jewish state and the Jewish people
The lies, cynicism, and blind hate from the usual places now come from unexpected ones, making us feel alone in this world.
This situation is not new to our people.
It is our history.
They do their best to destroy us, we survive, and they are brought down. Thank God and pass the *latkes or hamantaschen.
From the shelter of a cave, observing this historic dialect 1900 years ago was Rav Shimon Bar Yochai
He did not offer a logical or consequential explanation.
As the spiritual authority of his generation, he announced a halachic ruling
"Eisav soneh yaakov". Period.
Don't look for logic. Don't wonder what we did to anger them.
Public relations is not the answer.
It's just the way it is.
But where does "auto anti-Semitism" come from?
That, too, is not new.
Jewish history remembers its heroes and also its villains.
At the birth of the Nation, Jewish heroes faced Jewish villains and traitors.
The Exodus, First Temple period, the Second, Christian, and Muslim persecution, all had their Jewish heroes and martyrs, and those who joined forces with our enemies.
The Maccabees fought the Greeks and their Jewish Hellenist allies. Jerusalem fell to the Romans, led by an apostate Jewish general.
Jewish apostates tormented Jewish communities in Europe and the Muslim world
The burning of the Talmud in Europe was instigated by a Jewish apostate.
The Spanish Inquisition was abetted by apostates.
The "Jewish section" of the Politburo in the USSR, persecuted Judaism and Jews until they too were liquidated by Stalin
Jewish intellectuals and academia in the US dedicate their lives to libeling the Jewish people.
In Israel, academics and intellectuals do the same.
In the current war, former prime ministers and military chiefs libel the army and government, lending comfort and hope to the enemy.
This generation of self-haters has guaranteed a unique place in Jewish history, surpassing the villains and traitors before them.
In the early First Temple period, the prophet Isaiah (49:17) observed
"Your destroyers and those that made you waste shall go forth from you."
He knew.
As King Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs,(1:9) "there is nothing new under the sun."
He knew too.
Now that we know the historical facts, ... why?
While historians, psychologists, and sociologists ponder the phenomenon, there is at least one outstanding common denominator to all the Jewish traitors and self-haters
There is a process:
Dismissal and denigration of Torah observance.
The rejection of Jewish values and community
A desire to be accepted by our enemies
Joining the enemies of the Jewish people.
Uniquely, in our generation, there is yet another type of Jew who does not feel the need to join the Jewish people in their fight against our common deadly enemies.
They are not self-haters.
There is a Torah commandment to participate in a "Milchemet Mitzvah" ( obligatory war) in which our nation is attacked. Some Jews choose to ignore it.
When asked to join their brothers in defending our people, they generally refuse.
All our ancient Jewish heroes who fought our enemies were God fearing leaders who fulfilled the commandment of the obligatory war.
Some leaders of those who will not join this war have threatened to leave the country, go to jail, or even die rather than join the fight against our enemies.
During the harsh 2000-year struggle for spiritual survival as an insular community, they lost the DNA that is the Jewish nation-land element.
Maybe.
Is the very concept of a Jewish land, people, and army seen as a threat to a safe, insular community that survived 2000 years?
Maybe.
Enemies from without, enemies and apathy from within.
Yet, we are assured by our prophets time and again that it will all work out.
One thing's certain: we've come a very long way, seen them all, beaten them all, and shall once again
IY'H.
author
"Jews, Israelis, and Arabs"
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*and the milk and honey cheesecale
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