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Why are Jews hated by so many people? Why are so many people anti-Semitic? How and why did anti-Semitism start? Is there a solution to anti-Semitism?

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THE WORLD, THE JEWS AND THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN SURVIVAL

Anti-Semitism, division, separation, violent conflicts and a general breakdown of the institutions of human society.

Is there a science that can explain the laws that govern our development as a society, as a species? What can 4000 years of human history and big data tell us about ourselves? Why is it that despite our technological advancement we’re still facing the same issues that have been plaguing our society for millennia? And what do the tales in the Bible have to do with it? Could there be a deeper meaning to the texts that have been capturing our imagination, uniting us and separating us at the same time? Is it possible that science, religion and human history are not at odds with each other but are actually different points of view of the same thing? Different points of you? We promise to answer these questions and many others about the origin of the Jewish people, their unique role in humanity and how can we come out of the crisis that is gripping the world today.

Here’s the Core Reason

Why People Hate Jews

That No One’s Talking About

THIS ARTICLE HAS APPROX. 5,000 WORDS

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 18 MIN.

Throughout history, never has a nation been more persecuted than the Jews. Throughout history, never has a nation survived every single persecution and emerged stronger.

Jews are a living testament of resilience. We have been persecuted by the Romans, the Spanish Inquisition, the Russian Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and of course, Hitler … yet we have survived. Modern-day challenges will also not destroy us unless we sit idly by and fail to use anti-Semitism as a wake-up call. To answer the call and make sure that a slaughter of Jews does not happen again, we must understand who we are, why we are here, and what is our role on this planet. Only then will we be able to comprehend why we experience so many trials and tribulations, and how to reroute our nation to a positive course. So, let’s start by asking ourselves the million dollar question: Why do people hate Jews?

THE MYSTERY OF THE SURVIVAL OF THE JEWS

mark-twainIn “Concerning the Jews,” Mark Twain mused on the hatred of the Jews, on one hand, and their persistence, on the other hand: “…The Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. …Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of… The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone. Other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out… The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies… All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”[1]

Not less bewildering than the survival of the Jews is the fact that from Pharaoh to Hitler, virtually every detractor of the Jews sealed his doom in persecuting them. Some were even aware of the fact that the Jews are indestructible, yet could not help themselves, as if compelled by a force greater than themselves. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler wrote, “When … I scrutinized the activity of the Jewish people, suddenly there arose in me the fearful question whether inscrutable Destiny, perhaps for reasons unknown to us poor mortals, did not, with eternal and immutable resolve, desire the final victory of this little nation.”[2] Despite this premonition, Hitler tried, and almost succeeded in exterminating European Jewry. But he, too, eventually failed and will go down in history as the epitome of evil.

Hated or loved, Jews were always treated as different. They are judged by different standards, revered, admired, and hated more than any other nation.

British Bishop Thomas Newton wrote about the Jews: “What but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved?”[3] French Mathematician Blaise Pascal pondered the formula that has kept the Jews thus far: “This people are not eminent solely by their antiquity, but are also singular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin till now… in spite of the endeavors of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them.”[4]

Illustrious Russian author Leo Tolstoy pondered the survival of the Jews, but also sensed that their existence had to do with a unique purpose: “What is the Jew?…What kind of unique creature is this whom all the rulers of all the nations of the world have disgraced and crushed and expelled and destroyed, persecuted, burned and drowned, and who, despite their anger and their fury, continues to live and to flourish? …The Jew is the symbol of eternity. … He is the one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all humankind. A people such as this can never disappear. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.”[5]

Jew Hatred Makes No Sense

tolstoiPerhaps the most striking aspect about Jew-hatred is its irrationality. There are as many reasons for hating Jews as there are people. Everything that upsets, offends, hurts, or otherwise displeases people they often attribute to the Jews. Jews have been blamed for usury, blood libels of various forms, well poisoning, dominating slave trade, disloyalty to their host countries, manipulating the media, organ harvesting[6] and AIDS spreading.[7]

Moreover, Jews are often accused of conflicting “crimes.” Communists accused them of creating capitalism; capitalists accused them of inventing communism. Christians accused Jews of killing Jesus, and acclaimed French historian and philosopher François Voltaire, of inventing Christianity. Jews have been labeled warmongers and cowards, racists and cosmopolitans, spineless and unbending, and the list could go on and on.

Clearly, Jew-hatred is irrational and deep. Yehuda Bauer, Prof. of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, believes that anti-Semitism remains latent until it is triggered, usually during crises.[8] The multiple crises we are seeing the world over are therefore expected to continue to exacerbate the current wave of anti-Semitism.

A Deeper Reason Behind Hatred of Jews

newtonThe most important point to take from this brief review of anti-Semitism is that if we are to find the reason for anti-Semitism, we must look beneath the surface, since rationalizations cannot explain its existence, persistence, and diversity. A deeper root is at play here. When anti-Semitism awakens, it is justified according to its particular milieu and therefore takes on different forms and manifestations at different times.

The Torah [Five Books of Moses] asserts that the Jews are “the chosen people,” chosen to be a “light unto nations.” However, today Jews are blamed for doing the exact opposite. In Hebrew, there is a famous truism: “Enters wine, out comes a secret.” Several years ago actor Mel Gibson was stopped[9] by traffic police on suspicion of DUI. His response to the officer was cursing the Jews and declaring, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?” Malaysia’s former prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, was presumably far more sober than Mr. Gibson when he spoke at the Conference for the Support of Al-Quds on January 21, 2010. Yet, sobriety did not inhibit his declaration that “Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they [Jews] survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world.”[10]

Under certain circumstances, even people who are not known for harboring explicitly anti-Jewish sentiments will express thoughts that can only be interpreted as anti-Semitic. When reporter for Israeli National News Henry Schwartz approached retired General “Jerry” Boykin, he was met with a surprising observation: “The Jews are the problem. The Jews are the cause of all the problems in the world.”[11]

Such generalizations should tell us something: If people believe that Jews are responsible for every problem in the world, they must also expect the Jews to fix them. Because there is such a conviction that the Jews are responsible for the well-being of the world, as long as there are problems in the world there will be hatred of Jews. And the more pain there is, the more the anger will turn on the Jews. If Jews are responsible for every problem, then any problem is the fault of the Jews. AIDS—it’s the Jews’ fault; earthquakes—the Jews’ fault; terrorism—the Jews’ fault; financial crises—certainly the Jews’ fault! Whatever the plight—it’s the fault of the Jews.

A conviction that Jews are responsible for all the problems and must therefore fix them implies that anti-Semitism does not arise during crises because Jews are easy scapegoats, as some believe. On the contrary, in people’s eyes Jews are indeed the perpetrators. When things are fine, people let Jews be. But when troubles ensue, the Jews are blamed for causing it.

Evidently, willingly or unwillingly, Jews never stopped being the chosen people—chosen to fix the world. And the reason why there is anti-Semitism is very simply that the world is still not fixed.

The Jews: Chosen Against Their Will

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Being “the world’s fixers” is a tall order for anyone. It is especially so when you have no desire to be one, and even if you did, you have no idea what it means or how to go about it. For the most part, today’s Jews have no idea what it means to be a chosen people or a “light unto nations,” nor do they want anything to do with it. When Jews are left in peace, they tend to assimilate. But Jews are never left in peace because they have a task to carry out. At the height of the convivencia [friendly coexistence] between Jews and Christians in Spain, the Inquisition erupted and mercilessly extinguished the Jewish community. Five centuries later, when the Jews in Germany were almost completely emancipated and strove to dissolve in the German society, the Nazy party came about and nearly eliminated the Jews throughout Europe.

Today, the U.S. Jewry is in a similar situation to that of pre-WWII German Jewry. Until recently, American Jewry was largely confident that seeing toxic anti-Semitism of the kind we see in Europe is unlikely on the other side of the Atlantic. However, the reality of increasing anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses[12] and escalation of anti-Semitic violence, such as the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting,[13] indicate that Jews have once again fallen into the trap of complacency. As it happened in Spain and in Germany, the harder U.S. Jews try to assimilate, the more painfully they will be pushed away. It is already happening, and the similarity between past processes and the current process in America makes the state of U.S. Jewry a very precarious one.

Similar to its diasporas, the State of Israel wishes only to be a nation in the family of nations. Instead, it is rebuked time and again, especially by the entity representing the entire world: the United Nations. The below report by UN Watch demonstrates the inexplicably disproportionate and negative attention given to Israel[14]: “The U.N. General Assembly’s 2015 session is adopting 20 resolutions singling out Israel for criticism — and only 3 resolutions on the rest of the world combined. …The three that do not concern Israel are: one on Syria, a regime that has murdered more than 200,000 of its own people, one on Iran, and one on North Korea. Not a single UNGA resolution this year (70th session) is expected to be adopted on gross and systematic abuses committed by China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Yemen, Zimbabwe, or on dozens of other perpetrators of gross and systematic human rights violations.”

And if this is not enough, the rapidly spreading[15] BDS movement is working very hard to isolate Israel economically, politically, culturally, and academically. To put it simply, the harder Israel tries to “blend in,” the more ferociously it is pushed away.

However hard Jews try, they will not be able to avoid doing what they must. They may not know what it is they must do or how to do it, and people may tell them that they do not believe they are the chosen people, but the existence of global, ever-present hatred toward Jews proves that they have been singled out as the world’s worst wrongdoers. Now, either we realize what is the wrong we are doing and right it or the world will take its anger out on us once more.

ATTACK THE REASON WHY PEOPLE HATE JEWS AT ITS ROOT

graphTo understand what is the inadvertent wrong that Jews are doing, we need to look at how, and especially why the Jewish nation formed. The father of Judaism, and of all Abrahamic religions, is Abraham Our Father [Abraham the Patriarch], the symbol of mercy. The Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah) writes that when Abraham saw his countryfolk arguing and quarrelling, he tried to make peace and help them unite. In the words of the Midrash, he tried to “patch up” all the people in the world.

The book Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer describes how Abraham once walked next to the Tower of Babylon and watched the builders lifting the heavy stones one at a time. He noticed that if a stone fell, the workers mourned its loss, but if one of their coworkers fell they utterly ignored it. When he saw this he cursed them and wished them failure.

When Abraham discovered that the problem of his countryfolk was fragmentation and alienation, he began to urge them to unite. Even when he was deported from his homeland he kept calling out his message, and anyone who resonated with the message of unity above all differences was welcome to join him. Maimonides, the great 12th century scholar, describes Abraham’s efforts to spread his message of unity and bequeath it to his descendants until his tiny entourage had become a nation based on unity and brotherly love: “[Abraham] began to call out to the whole world … wandering from town to town and from kingdom to kingdom until he arrived at the land of Canaan… And since [people in the places where he wandered] gathered around him and asked him about his words, he taught everyone…until he brought them back to the path of truth. Finally, thousands and tens of thousands assembled around him, and they are the people of ‘the house of Abraham.’ He planted this tenet in their hearts, composed books about it, and taught his son, Isaac. And Isaac sat and taught, warned, and informed Jacob, and appointed him a teacher to sit and teach… And Jacob the Patriarch taught all his sons…”[16]

No other nation was forged in this manner, where people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and faiths become a nation based on brotherly love, transcending different origins, beliefs, or any other dissimilarity. They did this because they sensed that this was, as Maimonides put it, “the path of truth.”

Abraham, an inquisitive person by nature, discovered that the enormous diversity before us derives from one source—a creative force that manifests in myriad ways, yet keeps everything within one united system. He realized that the indifference and alienation of his people, as he witnessed in the builders of the tower, could be mended if they united around the aspiration to grasp that force, as he did. But because they were unaware of its existence, they became separated and alienated from one another, believing in different things, aspiring for different things, and oblivious to the singular power that engendered them.

At the time, the Babylonians were not ready for the idea that one force comprised the whole reality. As the Midrash and Maimonides tell us, Abraham was expelled from his country because of his ideas. But as he wandered, he gathered followers, planted brotherly love in their hearts, and they became a nation committed to passing on his method for happiness through unity.

 

A Light unto Nations: to Show the Way to Unity to the Whole World

graph-ch6The arrival of Moses introduced a new phase in the development of the Israeli nation. Self-centeredness and alienation increased in the world around them as it did in them. At the time of Moses, Israel had amassed such a level of division that they needed a new method in order to unite above it. There were also far more Hebrews than the tribe that went into Egypt. By Moses’ time there were three million of them, far too many to be taught the way Abraham had taught his disciples.

As the saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” The necessity to find a new way to teach people to unite resulted in the giving of the Torah, the Pentateuch, a.k.a. The Five Books of Moses. But the reception of the Torah came with a prerequisite: You must first agree to unite “as one man with one heart.”

Once the Hebrews united, they revealed that uniting force that Abraham had taught his contemporaries how to reveal, and that revelation is called the giving of the Torah. Because that force unites all of creation, when the Hebrews discovered it, they were united into a nation.

Yet, that nation was like none other. Being founded upon the principle of unity and love of others, they were entrusted with a task to pass on the method for achieving unity, for loving others. This is when they were told that they must be “a light unto nations,” namely to show the way to unity to the whole world, just as Abraham had tried back in Babylon and wherever he went.

Abraham did not intend to unite explicitly the Jews. In his days, Judaism as we know it did not exist. As we quoted above, he tried to “patch up all the people in the world.” All of Abraham’s successors knew it and continued his legacy. The great Kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lozzatto (Ramchal) wrote in his book Adir BaMarom [The Mighty One On High]: “Noah was created to correct the world in the state that it was at that time.”[17] In The Commentary of Ramchal on the Torah, he wrote that “Moses wished to complete the correction of the world at that time. This is why he took the mixed multitude, as he thought that thus would be the correction of the world … However, he did not succeed because of the corruptions that occurred along the way.”[18] Still, the world was not ready to embrace unity wholeheartedly. As a result, those who pledged to be “as one man with one heart” became the people of Israel and were entrusted with the duty to treasure the method of achieving unity until the world is ready.

The people of Israel worked hard to keep the tenet of unity. They had to fight their own growing egos and the attacks of other nations. But as The Book of Zohar tells us, “All the wars in the Torah are for peace and love.”[19] The Book of Zohar also speaks about the importance of rising above hatred, not just for the divided parties but for the whole world. In the portion Aharei Mot, The Zohar writes, “‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together.’ These are the friends as they sit together, and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another. Then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part … And by your merit there will be peace in the world, as it is written, ‘For the sake of my brothers and my friends let me say, ‘Let peace be in you.’’”[20]

Why Unity Is Necessary for the Jews and for the World

graph-ch7The ruin of the Second Temple marks a key point in the history of the world. Not only were the Jewish people exiled from the land of Israel, they also lost their war against self-centeredness. Jews still had high regard for unity, as they still do to this day, but they began to use it to gain self-centered purposes instead of as a means for the correction of the ego and as an asset to be passed on to all of humanity.

In the time since the ruin of the Temple, countless Jewish sages recognized the absolute necessity of unity for the Jews and for the world. Regrettably, their voice was not heard because the Jews were too preoccupied with themselves. The book Shem Mishmuel tells us, “The intention of creation was for all to be one bundle… but because of the sin [of egoism] the matter was spoiled. The correction began in the generation of Babylon, meaning the correction of gathering and assembling of people which began with Abraham. …And the final correction will be when everyone becomes one bundle.”[21] Similarly, Rav Kook wrote in the early 1900s: “In Israel is the secret to the unity of the world.”[22] Rabbi David Solomon wrote in Willows of the Brook, “Israel are commanded to unity of the hearts, as it is written, ‘And Israel encamped there,’ in singular form [in Hebrew] … meaning they had unity.”[23]

Notice the power and importance that the book Maor VaShemesh ascribes to unity: “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them. …When there is bonding among them, and no separation of hearts, they have peace and quiet … and all the curses and suffering are removed by that.”[24]

Alas, very few listened. And when the Jews do not listen to the call for unity, they are punished. During WWII, Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote in a paper he titled “The Nation”: “It is clear that the immense effort required of us on the rugged road ahead requires unity as strong and as solid as steel, from all factions of the nation without exception. If we do not come out with united ranks toward the mighty forces standing in our way then we are doomed before we even started.[25]

The Mounting Pressure on the Jews

graph-ch8As long as humanity was fully engaged with its self-centered trajectory, rewarding personal accomplishments with accolades, the pressure on the Jews was relatively tolerable. Still, because whenever there is pain the Jews are to blame, the Jews did suffer persecutions and expulsions wherever they went. Since hatred and disunity are at the heart of every problem, the Jews were always viewed as the perpetrators, even though the persecutors could not rationally explain why they blamed the Jews and had to fabricate absurd rumors about them. But however painful, these persecutions did not intend to annihilate the Jews altogether, not yet.

In the early 20th century, matters took a different course. Europe was locked in rivalries and alliances, and tensions ran high. The hatred culminated in the outbreak of World War I. Chemical warfare was used for the first time, dozens of millions of people died, and many more were left destitute and hopeless. Germany was brought to its knees, but all of Europe was in ruins. No one was happy. When Hitler rose to power and blamed the war on the Jews, the German people cheered him and other countries did not protest. Initially, he did not plan to exterminate the Jews, but only to expel them from his country. In the summer of 1938, when Hitler heard there was a conference in Evian, France, to discuss the possibility of helping the Jews move out of Germany, he said, “We are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships.”[26] But the conference was lip-service; as the nations do not want the Jews today, they did not want them then. With conceit and indifference, country by country excused itself from taking in Jews. The Australian delegate, T. W. White, sarcastically noted, “As we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one.”[27]

Even after the Evian Conference, Hitler did not give up and sought to accelerate the pace of forced Jewish emigration from Germany. On May 13, 1939, he did what he had promised, and 900 Jews left for Cuba,[28] hoping to eventually enter the U.S., on the luxury transatlantic liner, the S.S. St. Louis.

But Cuba denied them entrance. Desperate, they tried heading straight for Florida, but the Americans would not let them dock either. Left with no choice, they returned to Europe where hundreds of them perished in the Holocaust.

The Holocaust gave the Jews a pause from hatred and helped turn the sympathy of the nations toward them enough to vote in favor of establishing a Jewish state. But that pause was short-lived. Since the Six Day War in 1967, the world has been turning against the Jews once more, and specifically against the State of Israel. Abraham Foxman, former national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), aptly defined Israel as “the Jew among the nations.”

As the world deteriorates into chaos crisis by crisis, the pressure on the Jews will continue to grow. A few years ago, a second Holocaust was unthinkable. Today, it is a concern that people are expressing openly.

In the early 1950s, Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote The Writings of the Last Generation,[29] in which he describes the progression he saw for the world’s political development, especially in the Western world. The world erroneously considers Nazism a particular offshoot of Germany. In truth, it is the offshoot of a democracy and socialism that were left without … manners and justice. Thus, all the nations are the same in this, and there is no hope at all that Nazism will perish with the victory of the Allies, for tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will adopt Nazism, since they, too, live in a world of democrats and Nazis.[30]

 

ANTI-SEMITISM WITHOUT JEWS

Today, in some cases, there is anti-Semitism where there are no Jews at all! A report titled “Anti-Semitism without Jews,” by writer, editor, and photographer Ruth Ellen Gruber, details the prevalence of anti-Semitism in Europe, even where there are no Jews whatsoever. According to Gruber, “I’ve been asked to discuss the phenomenon of ‘anti-Semitism without Jews’ in historical terms, but also within the context of what has been called the ‘new anti-Semitism’ that has manifested itself in Europe—and, indeed, elsewhere… I have to say that I am not really comfortable with the term ‘new anti-Semitism.’ As the London Jewish Chronicle put it in an editorial, anti-Semitism is a ‘light sleeper,’ easy to rouse. It is also often referred to as a virus, a protean virus which, like disease-causing viruses in the human body, is able to mutate in an opportunistic fashion to defeat whatever defenses or anti-bodies have been built up against it. It has done so many times, even in post-Holocaust countries whose Jewish population is practically invisible. And it is doing so now.”[31]

Evidently, even the Holocaust did not change people’s minds regarding the Jews. Since around the turn of the century, anti-Semitism has been on the rise once more, this time the world over. The specter of Jew-hatred has taken root worldwide. The sympathy the Jews had after World War II was evidently short-lived. Just as in past centuries, because of the growing abyss that separates us as a nation, a new, more wide-ranging and precarious than ever wave of anti-Semitism is on the rise.

THE JEWS OWE THE WORLD A BETTER SOCIETY

Over several essays, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, whom we mentioned before and who authored the celebrated (and complete) Sulam [ladder] commentary on The Zohar, expounded on the reasons why there will not be peace in the world until there is unity and brotherly love the world over. Ashlag also explains that the more the world suffers from the adverse consequences of what researchers Twenge and Campbell call “the narcissism epidemic,”[32] the more people will turn their anger against Jews. As ever, people subconsciously expect the Jews to pave the way for a better society, to be “a light unto nations.” Until the Jews live up to it, the animosity and accusations against them will not stop.

Renowned English historian Prof. Paul Johnson wrote in A History of the Jews: “No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny. At a very early stage in their collective existence they believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot.”[33]

Acclaimed British historian Sir Martin Gilbert wrote in Churchill and the Jews about former United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s keen perception of the importance of unity to the Jewish people: “The Jews were a lucky community because they had that corporate spirit, the spirit of their race and faith. [Churchill] would not … ask them to use that spirit in any narrow or clannish sense, to shut themselves off from others … far from their mood and intention, far from the counsels that were given them by those most entitled to advise. That personal and special power which they possessed would enable them to bring vitality into their institutions, which nothing else would ever give. [Churchill believed without disrespect that] A Jew cannot be a good Englishman unless he is a good Jew.”[34]

Even Henry Ford, whose notorious anti-Semitic publication, The International Jew—The World’s Foremost Problem, made him the object of Hitler’s admiration, wrote in that infamous composition: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems on paper, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”[35]

No one but the Jews is expected to be a role model society. The light that the Jews are obliged to bring to the nations is the light of a united society, where mutual responsibility and friendship prevail, where “love your neighbor as yourself” is the motto, the foundation, and the goal that individuals in the society aspire to achieve.

Not only The Book of Zohar, but numerous Jewish scholars and sages wrote that the unity of Israel will save them and save the world. The book Sefat Emet states, “The children of Israel corrected the world … when they returned to being one nation and one language. And also individually … the correction should be that we are rewarded with correcting ourselves and finding the root of unity out of the separation.”[36]

Because the Jews have a mission to carry out, author Michael Grant, wrote about them: “The Jews proved not only unassimilated, but unassimilable.”[37] However unclear the way may be, the only solution to anti-Semitism is for the Jews to bring the light of unity to the world by establishing a role model society, and sharing its principles with the world. They will not be able to avoid this mission by assimilating.

It has been two millennia since the ruin of the society that Ford so praised. Unlike Abraham’s time, or Moses’ time, the world is ready to hear why things are not working out. The Jews must introduce once more the method for uniting above differences. Indeed, the key is the word, “above.” The Jews did not suppress their differences, but used them to the benefit of the whole of society. In this way, they connected to the creative force we mentioned earlier, which manifests in myriad ways yet keeps everything within one united system.

Today the Jews must teach themselves once more how to conduct themselves this way, and thereby become a role model society. Indeed, the best way to achieve unity above differences is by focusing not on uniting the Jews, but on building an example of unity for the world, so that the world can unite. The world will not tolerate the Jews as long as they do not unite among themselves because only then will the rest of the world be able to learn and implement the way to unity and peace. If the Jews unite in order to help the world, not in order to help themselves, they will be viewed favorably by all the nations, without exception. In the words of the book, Sefat Emet [True Language], “The children of Israel became guarantors to correct the entire world … everything depends on the children of Israel. To the extent that they correct themselves [and become united], all creations follow them. As the students follow the teacher, the whole of creation follows the children of Israel.”[38]

If Jews bring unity to the world by uniting among them and setting an example, they will never have to ask, “Why do people hate Jews?”

About the Author

Michael Laitman is a Professor of Ontology, a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah, and an MSc in Medical Bio-Cybernetics. He was the prime disciple of Kabbalist, Rav Baruch Ashlag (the RABASH). Prof. Laitman has written over 40 books, translated into dozens of languages; he is the founder and president of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute, and a sought after speaker. His book, Like a Bundle of Reeds, explains the root, cause and solution to anti-Semitism.

References

[1] Mark Twain, The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, “Concerning The Jews” (published in Harper’s Magazine, 1899), Doubleday, [1963], pg. 249.

[2] Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (US, Noontide Press, 2003), p 64.

[3] Quoted in The Treasury of Religious and Spiritual Quotations (US, Readers Digest, January 1, 1994), 280.

[4]Blaise Pascal, Pensees, trans. W.F. Trotter, Introduction by T.S. Eliot (Benediction Books, 2011), 205.

[5] Leo Tolstoy, “What is the Jew?” quoted in The Final Resolution, p 189, printed in Jewish World periodical, 1908.

[6] Press Release: “The Big Lie Of Israeli ‘Organ Harvesting’ Resurfaces As YouTube Video On Haiti Earthquake Goes Global,” Anti-Defamation League (January 21, 2010), http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/miscellaneous/the-big-lie-of-israeli-organ.html

[7] “New antisemitism,” Wikipedia,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_antisemitism

[8] Yehonatan Tommer & Tzvi Fleischer, “Hate’s Revival,” AIJAC, http://www.aijac.org.au/news/article/hate-s-revival

[9] “Mel Gibson,” Wikipedia,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson

[10] Dan Goldberg, “Former Malaysian leader: Jews cause world’s problems,” JTA (January 27, 2010), http://www.jta.org/2010/01/27/news-opinion/world/former-malaysian-leader-jews-cause-worlds-problems

[11] “General ‘Jerry’ Boykin Jokes That Jews Are The Cause Of ‘All The Problems In The World,’” Huffington Post (updated March 12, 2014), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/12/jerry-boykin-jews_n_4952126.html (link contains audio of statement, made at 1:52 min).

[12] JPOST.COM STAFF, “2015 saw spike in anti-Semitic incidents on US college campuses,” The Jerusalem Post (January 22, 2016), http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/2015-saw-spike-in-anti-Semitic-incidents-on-US-college-campuses-442482

[13] The deadliest attack on a Jewish community in the United States occurred at Tree of Life – Or L’Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 27, 2018. Eleven people were killed and seven were injured. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_synagogue_shooting

[14] “2015-2016 UNGA Resolutions (70th Session) Condemning Countries,” UN Watch (November 25, 2015), http://www.unwatch.org/un-to-adopt-20-resolutions-against-israel-3-on-rest-of-the-world/

[15] Noah Klieger, “It’s time for an Israeli counterattack against BDS lies,” Ynetnews (June 2, 2015), http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4663944,00.html

[16] Rav Moshe Ben Maimon (Maimonides), Mishneh Torah (Repetition of the Torah, a.k.a. Yad HaChazakah (The Mighty Hand)), Part 1, “The Book of Science,” Chapter 1, Item 3.

[17] Rav Moshe Chaim Lozzatto (Ramchal), Adir BaMarom [The Mighty One On High], “Explanation of Daniel’s Dream” (Warsaw, 1885).

[18] Rav Moshe Chaim Lozzatto (Ramchal), The Commentary of Ramchal on the Torah, BaMidbar [Numbers].

[19] Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Book of Zohar with the Sulam Commentary, BeShalach [When Pharaoh Sent], Item 252.

[20] Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Book of Zohar with the Sulam Commentary, Aharei Mot [After the Death], Item 66.

[21] Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, Shem MiShmuel [A Name Out of Samuel], Haazinu [Give Ear], TARAP (1920).

[22] Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook (the Raiah), Orot HaKodesh [Lights of Holiness], Vol. 2, 415.

[23] Rabbi David Solomon Eibenschutz, Willows of the Brook, Nassoh [Take].

[24] Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Halevi Epstein, Maor VaShemesh [Light and Sun], Nitzavim [Standing].

[25] Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Writings of the Last Generation & The Nation (Canada, Laitman Kabbalah Publishers, 2015), 144.

[26] Ronnie S. Landau, The Nazi Holocaust: Its History and Meaning (US, Ivan R. Dee, 1994), 137.

[27] Yad Vashem, “Related Resources, Evian conference,” url: http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/resources/evian_conference.asp

[28] “Voyage of the St. Louis,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267

[29] “The Writings of the Last Generation” & “The Nation,” https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/oIrPpKn2

[30] Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Writings of the Last Generation & The Nation (Canada, Laitman Kabbalah Publishers, 2015), 88.

[31] Ruth Ellen Gruber, “Anti-Semitism without Jews,” url: http://www.annefrank.org/ImageVaultFiles/id_11774/cf_21/Gruber.pdf

[32] Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement (New York: Free Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 2009)

[33] Paul Johnson, (Christian historian), A History of the Jews (New York, First Perennial Library, 1988), 2.

[34] Martin Gilbert, Churchill and the Jews (UK, Simon & Schuster, 2007), 16.

[35] Henry Ford, The International Jew—The World’s Foremost Problem (The Noontide Press: Books On-Line), 7.

[36] Yehuda Leib Arie Altar (ADMOR of Gur), Sefat Emet [Language of Truth],Beresheet [Genesis], Noah.

[37] Michael Grant, From Alexander to Cleopatra: the Hellenistic World (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1982), 75.

[38] Yehuda Leib Arie Altar (ADMOR of Gur), Sefat Emet [Language of Truth],Shemot [Exodus], Yitro [Jethro].

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