When the Jews stood at Mount Sinai, the newly-freed Hebrew people - whom the Egyptians had beaten and tortured for centuries - were transformed into a Nation. The Jewish Nation.
Interestingly, the Talmud teaches us that G-d hard-wired Jew-hatred into the world at that very same event. We got our greatest gift, Jewish identity, together with a built-in challenge of the ages. It’s not that every non-Jew hates Jews, G-d forbid. But Jew-hatred is always out there, somewhere.
Someone recently told me about a childhood friend, Jacob Goldstein. Jacob’s family was devoutly catholic (the Goldstein name came from a Jewish ancestor several generations back), he was quarterback of the high school team and dated the most popular cheerleader. But he still endured anti-Semitic taunts at their rural Pennsylvania school.
No one thought he was Jewish. Why the hate?
When Haman wanted to exterminate all Jews in the Persian empire, he explained: “they are spread out through all the nations, and their customs are different than everyone else’s.” He hated us because Jews (ever since the Romans chased us from our homeland in Israel) are dispersed to communities throughout the world. In the 1930’s, US newspapers were criticizing Jews for being too clannish. Is it that we’re blended in other communities or that we stick to ourselves?
Our traditions are different? True. But why do you hate Jacob Goldstein?
In 1989, I witnessed signs in Moscow saying ‘kill the communists and the Jews,” and then signs in Minsk: “kill the capitalists and the Jews.”
At its core, Jew-hatred has no rationality. It just is.
We live in a benevolent, tolerant country – the Rebbe used to call it a ‘kingdom of kindness’ – where we are free to live as Jews. This, in the scope of our painful history, is simply amazing. The USA has also been a beacon of light, shining the beauty of religious freedom to other countries across the world.
But Jew-hatred lives here too. Not in governmental policy. Not in every non-Jew walking the street. But it’s here. Just because.
The Rebbe taught us that strengthening our Jewish identity, never cowing, never bending before haters is our powerful response. Haters will hate, and do what they do. You can’t control them. But we can control ourselves. And standing up with continued Jewish pride is critical.
Remember who you are, the heritage you carry and what you stand for. And stand tall. We’ve survived for 3300 years, and we’re not going anywhere.