Is it Any Wonder?

 

Reading this report by Jack Engelhard, as well as other coverage of the reactions sent to the New York Times (NYT) and those on social and other media, we can easily make a counter-argument for the existence not only of Israel as the Jewish State, but Israel as a very capable and powerful Jewish State which remains democratic with equal rights and protections for all her citizens, Jewish and not. The reported fact and observations that the majority saw no problem with the flagrantly anti-Semitic character of their editorial cartoon (unfortunately given further coverage as it is included below) and its insult to both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as President Trump is unconscionable. The fact that an identical cartoon could have appeared in the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer simply by changing Churchill for Trump and it would have been seen as regular fare. But apparently this is the world where NYT readers appear to reside. This should be extremely unsettling to all who believe that the NYT really is the newspaper of record printing all the news that is fit to print. The display put out by the NYT to the world, in their international edition no less, is one of a despicable hatred of which the world had attempted, apparently in vain, to cleanse itself after the horrors of the death camps of Nazi Germany. Generals Bradley, Patton and Eisenhower together viewed the camps liberated by the United States forces and ordered that the horrors and tragedies witnessed be fully documented, photographed, filmed and recorded as they knew that unless there was uncontroversial evidence, then the history of these evils would be written over with time and the world would return and commit such transgressions against humanity yet again. Apparently, their foresight was all too valid and now we can only pray that the evidence they so painstakingly documented will be brought back to the light of day as their lesson appears to be required and the world warned once again how bestial we can sink when hatred becomes our daily fare.

 

New York Times anti-Semitism on Full Display for the World

 

The fact that, as Jack estimated, “90 percent thought the cartoon was not despicable, not at all, but wholly appropriate,” is so far beyond shocking that words are insufficient. There is a lesson which can be gleaned from this entire embarrassing debacle, and that there is a paramount reason for the State of Israel. If this view of the world situation is anything as inferred from the NYT cartoon and the reaction to an article critical of the cartoon written by a NYT editorialist eliciting a scorched earth response fully backing the properness and appropriateness of the cartoon, then the Jews of the world may not be safe anywhere else. Such an overwhelmingly negative response to his claiming that the cartoon was far too similar to anti-Semitic tropes from throughout history being questioned and even denied is proof that the World War II generals were quite correct in their assessment that the world would soon forget and return to their hateful ways. We like to believe that as a society the world has progressed and learned lessons from its previous failures. This entire episode is proof that as human beings we have not progressed all that far except that our toys are bigger, faster and gleam brighter than centuries past but our hatreds and prejudices really are no different. Apparently, the human race is about as base, vulgar, hateful, vile and as dehumanizing as they ever have been. One can only wonder how much it would take before we reintroduced gladiatorial games at an arena for our recreation. The anti-Semitism today appears to be just as acceptable and permeating society very much as existed during Roman times. They also could not suffer to permit a Jewish State, then known as Judea, to be independent. The Roman hate simmered in Europe for centuries before it finally reached its pinnacle with the Nazi intent to rid the world of the Jew. Have we really returned to such a state where blatant anti-Semitic representations are now acceptable and even defended in America? This episode thus far appears to state that such is so.

 

The rising anti-Semitism apparent in society has not gone unnoticed here but we had believed that better minds and souls would rule the day and such hatred be opposed by the general public. Such a reaction in support of an obviously defaming cartoon with such anti-Semitic overtones shakes any hope for that theory to survive. To represent the Prime Minister of Israel as “the Jewish dog having him leading a blind American President” Trump and people defending such as acceptable and even appropriate is beyond disgusting. Adding this to the anti-Semitic tropes spewed by Ilhan Omar, then defended by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, followed by the Democrat leadership of the House of Representatives fall timidly away refusing to call her out for her blatant anti-Semitism makes one wonder, as we wrote recently, My America Where Have You Gone? Could it be that the world is honestly heading to another crisis where the Jews are once more singled out as the bane of all that is holy and made to be the universal scapegoats upon which all may heap their most evil and vile emotions? The most unfortunate signs are that is exactly where we are heading. What is of little if any consolation is that this time the Jews will not be alone as the next conflagration will include Christianity either with or immediately after the Jews. Trust us, this is of absolutely no actual comfort and is more disturbing than anything else. Adding to their shame, the NYT has published another cartoon of questionable taste and also infringing on areas of anti-Semitism (see below). Had this second cartoon not come immediately on the heels of the first cartoon controversy, then an argument might be made for its use, but this quickly simply proves that the NYT is not serious with their apologies and has taken the corner into anti-Semitism.

 

Second NYT Cartoon

 

This is not something the world has not already ignored as one-third of the world’s landmasses have been made very close to Judenrein and has succeeded or come very close to expunging their countries of their Christian populations. Below is a map of the Christian world of 500A.D. Christianity was one of the dominant religions and societies of the world and was continuing to spread. Christianity was the dominant religion replacing idolatry. Granted, these may not have been the best of times for Jews, but trust us, it was also not the worst of times (our apologies to Charles Dickens). The future appeared to present the world as ripe fruit waiting for Christianity to spread throughout the remainder of the world. But this was not to be the case as history teaches. There was a new force soon to erupt out of the Arabian Peninsula pushing Christianity back into Europe and pinning it there until the age of colonization by the European powers in the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries.

 

Christian World 500AD

 

There remained Christian communities after the explosion of Islamic conquest largely during the seventh and eighth centuries. The lands conquered are largely those which make up the modern Islamic World making them one of the largest and longest surviving conquests. They were taken under European rule after World War I but in the period after World War II with the end of the European colonization in the world, these lands returned to Islamic rule. These lands have become known largely as MENA, Middle East and North Africa, also called the Arab World. Islam has spread into parts of Asia as well but is still predominantly equated with the Arab World. The MENA states largely purged their Jews after taking their wealth in the decade following the founding of Israel. Nearly eight-hundred-fifty-thousand Jews were absorbed by Israel, with not a single person being turned into a refugee. Israel incorporated these Jews directly into their meager economy of the time without any question or doubt, they were our brothers and sisters and we treated them as the family they continue to be. This left only the Christian minorities as the main non-Muslims residing throughout the MENA countries. The map below provides some idea of the relative levels of anti-Christian persecution in these nations. Bear in mind, this is a comparison of the level of persecution, not a measure of whether they are treated with favor or scorn, scorn would be the default.

 

 

With the broad acceptance of the NYT anti-Semitic filled editorial cartoons and the seeming acceptance by many Congressional Democrats and a fair number of Republicans of Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic screeds, we surely have reached another tipping point in societal history. Should the world continue on its current course where in France if one murders a Jew and is Islamic, they are considered to have acted under “extenuating circumstances,” making the killer “criminally irresponsible,” and thus incapable of facing a trial. The article we are quoting by Giulio Meotti is well worth the time it takes to read. The world, the Islamic and the leftist progressive Secular Humanist, are heading in a direction from which there is no escape for humanity. The hate reflected by the cartoons and the apparent general approval given it by the majority, a seemingly overwhelming majority, is reason for deep and serious concern by all those who believe in a world free from hatreds of all varieties. These incidents and the others we covered and numerous more too expansive to even try to include are signs that society is backsliding to places from its past which would have been best left to slide graciously into history. This appears not to be the case with the all too probable forecast, prophesy even, is one where mankind turns upon itself once more in an effort to purify the populace from those who are considered to be less human than the rest. One can only wonder if humanity will ever reach a point where acceptance of one another as brother and sisters will ever become the norm or will humanity continue to try and extinguish those considered as the other until we succeed in forcing our own extinction. Should things continue on the current path, that is exactly the eventuality which will be attained. When and if such should come to pass, we can only hope some record of how we hated ourselves to oblivion survives such that whatever life-form becomes the next greatest evolved creature can discern our faults and possibly they will learn the lessons we apparently are incapable of digesting.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Death of “Never Again”

 

After the Shoah, the Holocaust, the Jewish People made a promise to one another of, “Never Again.” The world echoed the call, “Never Again.” Most notably, Europe and particularly Germany echoed the call, “Never Again.” Now the world stands at the brink which they will break their promise of, “Never Again.” One need merely search the news to see the ever-increasing rate of attacks upon Jews simply because they are Jews. European leaders speak of their increased efforts to address anti-Semitism after each attack. France has placed military personnel to guard Jewish daycares, preschools, education centers, Synagogues and events throughout France. Britain and Germany have declared they are taking steps to fight against anti-Semitism with Germany appointing Dr. Felix Klein to take charge of the efforts at education and other means of fighting anti-Semitism. Dr. Klein will take his position sometime this month. There have been warnings sent initially through delicate warnings requesting that Jews not affix Mezuzahs on their doors as such identifiers upon their homes could make them targets. This proved to be insufficient; so then, they made the next demand less delicately advising Jews to stop wearing their Kippahs. For some Jews, that proved a demand too far as they refused to uncover their heads. This meant that they had to limit their lives by remaining only in what they thought to be “safe areas,” some of which proved not to be sufficiently safe.

 

 

For Jews these events, though difficult, are not something new to the Jewish People as we can look back across our history and find all too numerous similarities with which to compare these events. During the Spanish Inquisition the Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, but some refused to forsake their traditional religion and practiced Judaism in silence and well-concealed in order to avoid detection and a tortured and horrible end. These Jews were to become known as Marranos. Throughout the world, there are instances where the Jews were forced to profess faith in other religions while conforming to their Judaism privately and in complete secrecy. Sometimes these Jews would form groups with ten men so they could have a minyan making their prayers more complete as some prayers require ten men in order to perform and reading of Torah also requires a minyan. This would obviously cause these members to be more readily caught by the authorities but they believed that on certain holy days the risk was worth the reward they would receive from being able to perform a complete service with a Torah reading making it all the more satisfying. These conditions of forced conversions and secretive practice of their Judaism were more universal than many historians have recorded both in Christian and Islamic world and before either when the Jews resided under foreign exile or occupation including the Roman, Greek, Persian and Babylonian to name a few. \

 

“Never Again” was intended to mean that the Jewish People were never to be made embarrassed, harassed or intimidated into hiding their Judaism as a requirement for their safety. Never Again was supposed to provide a conscience in the world such that after thirty-five-hundred-years Jews would finally be safe within the world. Israel took in the approximate million Jews who were forced from the Arab and Muslim world providing them with assured safety from the anti-Semitism which has never been purged from the Islamic world or from the Quran and the preaching of Imams. Now there is rising anti-Semitism, both from Islamic refugees, extreme right wing anti-Semitism and leftist anti-Semitism are combining making the roughly one and a half million Jews of Europe becoming endangered. They have a refuge they can take in Israel and increasing numbers have begun to do exactly that. There are also troubling signs across the Atlantic Ocean in the United States and Canada which are also at the very leading edge of increasing anti-Semitism. The problem is far from as obvious as it is in Europe, but it has become troubling to those who follow such trends as they are witnessing the same numbers as were present in Europe starting about three decades past.

 

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has released a worldwide survey of the state of anti-Semitism in 2014 with a partial update showing anti-Semitism in 2015 in easily seen maps and tables. There is even a page where one can compare nation to nation using it to see where your country stands compared to others or any other comparison one would care to see. The one problem with the ADL surveys are they have rapidly become dated as a measure where Europe and even the United States and Canada are concerned, as the increases in these areas of the developed world have been quite distressing. Of course, we cannot expect that the ADL will be performing another survey in the near future, though we would love for them to do so for 2020 and make it as easily accessed as their 2014 and 2015 versions have been made. The ADL might refrain from doing such as they likely would be hesitant to actually recognize exactly how sad the situation is becoming. What is really sad is how fast Germany and the nations which were willing, or somewhat less than willingly, under the rule of the Third Reich have fallen back so severely despite their joining in the concept of “Never Again” and have permitted the pernicious hatred that is anti-Semitism returning in such strength, especially with the youth of today. Where did the leadership go wrong and divert from the path returning to their old hatreds and habits including anti-Semitism. Perhaps we should try and suggest some reasons.

 

Perhaps the greatest mishandling of the problem has been the selling of the concept of “Never Again” as the answer to prevent the singular event of the Shoah, the Holocaust, of ever reoccurring. “Never Again” is not an answer to just the Shoah but to every attempt through the ages to kill off the Jewish People. These attempts began in Egypt over thirty-five-hundred-years ago and continued through with, but not limited to, the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Spanish Inquisition, the Caliphate and the Nazis. They have not taught that the Jewish People and their rules and codes became some of the founding principles of the current European and modern world governance. Much of human rights are based on the Judeo-Christian ethics which are all based in Jewish thought. Continued Jewish thought and culture continued to add to the humanity of man and to the sciences, culture, society and every aspect of human existence. There has been almost no mention of how much poorer humanity would be without what the Jews have contributed to all aspects of human existence. Even boxing would have been lees the art it has become in sports without the contribution of a Jewish man called Daniel Mendoza. He was credited with introducing the scientific art of boxing. Then there are the somewhat more famous and well-known Jews such as Sigmund Freud, Niels Bohr, Baruch de Spinoza, Albert Einstein, Sandy Koufax, Groucho Marx, Gene Simmons, Franz Kafka, Peter Sellers, Joan Rivers, Marc Chagall, George Gershwin, Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin, Hank Greenberg, Max Baer, Benny Leonard, Lyle Alzado, Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. We could continue with a long list of scientists, entertainers, musicians, artists, philosophers, comediennes and religious scholars.

 

Gene Simmons

 

Perhaps a lesson in middle school where the contributions of Jews throughout history to virtually every field of endeavor would make an impression, especially with lists of Jews in such fields as music, sports, entertainment and other fields with which Jews are not always associated. Also showcasing the contributions throughout history where they often made contributions which are not well known today such as Haym Salomon who was a Polish-born American Jewish businessman and personally backed loans from France to finance the American Revolution from which he ended up bankrupt. And, of course, there is the reality that without Judaism there would be no Christianity or Islam as both trace back to Judaism as their roots and being Abrahamic faiths. These ideas would not eradicate anti-Semitism, but perhaps a realization that the Jewish People have contributed quite a great deal to humanity throughout the ages in virtually every field of endeavor might give some pause to reconsider their opinion of Jews. Anti-Semitism will never completely disappear, as there are records of anti-Semitism existing in towns, villages and even cities where people have never met a Jew and some where no Jew has ever been recorded to have lived. But if we can change some people’s thoughts on the Jewish People and as much of anti-Semitism is handed down within families, neighborhoods, societal norms and other means, every person turned from anti-Semitism could have an ever-widening effect over time. If nothing is done, what will the world be like once every nation has rid themselves of their Jews and Jews only reside in Israel? Oddly enough, even then the world will have its share of anti-Semitism and there will be efforts to destroy Israel if only to be rid of the imagined effect the Jews have on life around the globe. How can we know this? Well, because anti-Semitism has existed in places around the world before the Jewish People had been spread around the world by conquering empires with the best known being the Roman dispersion intended to wipe out Judaism from the world as punishment for revolting against Roman rule just a little too efficiently. It is that exile which the Jewish People are finally returning home to Israel after almost two-thousand-years.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

World Anti-Semitism Will Never Die

 

There is an underlying distaste of the Biblical definition of the Israelites as the Chosen People. This has been taken by the non-Jewish world to mean that the Jews find themselves to be better than everyone else. It never occurs to them that what being the Chosen People was that the Israelites were, or at least Abraham, Isaack and Jacob were the first people who followed Hashem and were to live by the laws Hashem would impart to Moses at Mount Sinai during the Exodus. The Jews are not to believe they are any better than anyone else, they are to hold themselves to a higher standard through the six-hundred-thirteen commandments in Torah and the other laws and admonitions which would be imparted through the Oral Law. Jews were expected to try harder to be the best society they could possibly accomplish. The truth be told, the Jews were actually set up for continued failure as the standard set for them was to become beyond their societal ability to reach and maintain. Sustaining the egalitarian love of all and acceptance of equality of humankind all while living a structured life which kept to the strict thin line guided by Torah and the Oral Law was difficult. The rules Hashem had given at Mount Sinai were an addition to the former code which Hashem gave Noah as the basis for civilized society known as the Noahic Code which contained seven rules (see image below). These were the initial laws which predated the Ten Commandments which were in addition to the Noahic Code and even restated some of the Noahic Code. The Ten Commandments were just the initial installment at Mount Sinai and were followed by Torah which is a combination of history book and code for life and the means for governance when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. The one thing which becomes obvious to one reading Torah is that the Israelites, the modern Jews, were expected to live exemplary lives which would allow them to be granted the grace of Hashem which would also lead to their not suffering from want. The successes they would receive for following the laws set forth in the Torah and explained and fleshed out by the Oral Law would make others desire to live similar lives and also be thusly rewarded. The success was not supposed to make the Jews appear better than anyone else, they were supposed to be an example which others would desire to live a similar life and also be rewarded. Unfortunately, this was not how things were interpreted by much of the outside world.

 

Noahic Codes

 

What occurred instead was that some decided that they would simply conquer the Israelite lands and take their wealth. Most of the civilizations who attempted this met with destruction while the Israelites were observant of the Commandments given them by Hashem. But eventually the Israelites turned from the narrow path and this led to their being conquered by foreign powers. The first time this happened was when the Babylonians under Nebakanezzer conquered the Israelites. This still left two tribes from the Twelve Tribes unconquered, the Tribes of Judah and the far smaller tribe of Benjamin. These former Israelites were referred to as Judeans and they would also fall to the Babylonians some years later. The first ten tribes of the Israelites had assimilated by the time the Judeans fell and were considered lost and dispersed becoming the Ten Lost Tribes. When Judah finally fell, the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple. The Judeans went into captivity and this was referred to as the first exile which was described to Abraham by Hashem. The Prophet Ezekiel prophesized the Jews were to be punished for 430 years because they had turned away from Hashem. The Persians under Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonians and freed their Jewish captives about 70 years after Judah lost independence to Babylon. This left 360 years which the Jews would require a second exile to fulfill as one must pay Hashem when one strays. We will have more about this when it becomes pertinent. Meanwhile, the Jews, some of them, not all as Hashem had commanded, returned and began rebuilding the Temple. Cyrus the Great was aware of the history of the Israelites and did not desire enslaving them as doing so could bring the wrath of Hashem onto the Persians, something which did eventually happen when the Persians attempted to kill the Jews within their kingdom many years later (the story of Queen Esther and the story around Purim in the Megillah of Esther). The real problem was that the Jews who remained residing in the Persian Empire rather than returning to the Promised Land and live as Hashem commands became assimilated and began worshiping the Persian idols and gods. This and the eventual straying by the Jews eventually spread also to the Judeans who had returned to the Promised Land who were again conquered this time by the Hellenist Greeks. This was followed by the Romans, which was when the name Judean proved too burdensome for the lazy Romans who simplified it shortening the name simply to Jew.

 

Do you remember the 360 years which the Jews still would be required to serve in exile we talked of earlier? Well, now we will explain their importance along with some very unbelievable truths from history. In Leviticus 26:18, Leviticus 26:21, Leviticus 26:24 and Leviticus 26:28 the Torah spells things out quite clearly, should the Jews not fully repent their sins they would be punished increased by a factor of seven. As we have already established, the Israelites, by then having become Judeans and who would soon become Jews, strayed leading to their being conquered and sent again into exile. Their required time left to serve was 360 years but was prophesized in Leviticus to be increased seven fold, meant that their exile would last 2,520 years. Yes, this was going to be a very long and unprecedented exile and if the Judean, Jews, were to actually survive and ever return to the Promised Land, it would be an undeniable miracle. On the original lunar Jewish calendar, this actually translates to 2,484 years. The exile, according to historical records, began in 536 BCE. If one takes 536 BCE and moves forward 2,484 years it required taking the 2,484 years of exile and subtract the 536 years before the start of the modern calendar and you get a result of 1948 AD, the exact year of the founding of the modern Jewish State of Israel. Another prophesy comes from Isaiah 66:7-8 where it states, “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.” Israel did come into being in a single day declared a nation holding her Biblical borders from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, some parts of which were lost in her initial war against six invading Arab armies on the day she was founded on May 15, 1948, yet she has survived every attempt to dislodge the Jewish People to this day. The modern state of Israel has been a miracle in every sense of the word and the founding exactly as numerous prophecies had predicted to her survival despite all the efforts to destroy her. The continued survival of the Jews through all the challenges of history is another source of anti-Semitism. There are those who believe that the Jews were an ancient people whose existence today has to be an aberration against nature and as such, they believe the Jews are an affront before all they worship and believe.

 

Some anti-Semitism has religious basis in that they believe that the Jews and Judaism have been replaced by their faith. This is the basis of replacement theology which was prevalent throughout Catholicism, all of Christianity and throughout Islam. There have been some attempts at moderating the resultant hatreds spawned by replacement theology and the belief that because these religions which have presumed to have replaced the Jews as the chosen of Hashem, the Jews became under the control of the devil and now worship and do the bidding of the devil. The Jews have thus been relegated to hell and because of their being an aberration of Hashem and damned by Hashem are thus less than human and as such to be spurned. Further, as they have become damned, they are the first to be suspected of being responsible for any calamity which befalls a community. This has led to many historic pogroms where the Jews were blamed for crop failures, diseases, financial failings and untold other calamities and even simple restlessness leading to violence such as resulting from uncommon heatwaves or prolonged frigid times or any uncommon or distressed natural event. These are easily explained events just as when during the Crusades when the leaders of the forces would know that waiting until battle in the Middle East to have their men take life for the first time would lead to many hesitating resulting in their death at the hands of their enemies. Instead, often the commanders would find a Jewish town and have their men turn on the Jews killing many in the town until the rest fled into the surrounding forests becoming too dispersed and thus would take too long to hunt down. Some commanders would repeat these drills in successive Jewish towns which eventually led to the Jews in the path of Crusaders to flee their villages until they had long passed. These types of anti-Semitism have mostly ended in modern life but anti-Semitism continues leading some to ask why and seek explanations.

 

Modern anti-Semitism has a number of reasons, some remaining from ancient periods such as the remaining remnants existing from replacement theology. Some anti-Semitism comes from preexisting anti-Semitism where parents share their feelings so frequently within the home and between friends who share their bigotries among which include anti-Semitism. But there exists one heinous source for modern anti-Semitism which is all but impossible to stamp out because the sources itself are some Jews. There are those who watch the Jews in their lives closely seeking to find them failing to act honorably and being irreligious. They revel in finding Jews who fall short morally and that leads them to believe that all Jews are failed people. This eventually leads to suspicions that Jews are operating nefariously while using false religious observance to hide behind. They begin to claim that all Jews fake their faith and are really using their faith as a cover allowing them to gain wealth or power or success at the cost of others. Those who hold these feelings will blame their failures on these cheating Jews and this drives their anti-Semitism. They then spread their belief that the Jews are cheating everybody in order to gain their wealth, power and take over the society, steal and bankrupt their nations or other acts of bad faith spread to cover all Jews. They find one bad apple and damn the entire barrel. This form of anti-Semitism has proven to be very contagious, easily spreading throughout a civilization like a wildfire. The reality is that all it takes is one bad actor who was born a Jew to start the suspicions. Soon such suspicion begins to become the object to blame any Jew who has more success, more fame, more anything and the claim will fall back to that Jew they know gained through illicit acts and his guilt is passed on to every Jew who has success which a jealous person cannot explain. They will ignore the Jew working longer hours or having a better education or whatever might be a more accurate explanation and instead simply go to the more comforting idea that their gains were ill gotten. It is easier to explain away one’s lack of success and another’s faster rise to their cheating rather than their hard work. Thus, any Jew who succeeds gives cause for feelings of anti-Semitism. All because one Jew fell short in honesty or righteousness or whatever shortcoming they were caught committing. This should be sufficient for every Jew to exercise greater care in their actions and the way they live their lives.

 

The sources of anti-Semitism are numerous, some ancient, some contemporary. Many are impossible for the Jews to prevent. Some are religious in their origins. Some are pure jealousy. The reasons are impossible to quantify and all too many have so many various origins that they defy definition. The main means of fighting anti-Semitism would be for all Jews to live a Torah observant life and be an exemplary individual in their community and in all areas where they meet others. Jews need be above reproach in all acts and treat every person fairly and with great love of all humanity. But even if every Jew were to live up to the expectations of Torah, follow even all of the Oral Law and treat everyone as they desire to be treated, there would still be those who would find some reason to blame the Jews with cheating everyone to get ahead. Anti-Semitism will never be stamped out until the coming of the Messiah and the Messianic Age. Until then the Jews will be singled out for special hatreds and suffer for unmet expectations. So, we await the Messiah and must assist every Jew to live a more proper Torah observant life and incorporating the teachings of the Oral Law within their lives treating all people with respect and fairness. It will not end anti-Semitism, but it might lessen the number of people suffering this societal disgrace.

 

Beyond the Cusp