When the Holy Ark would travel, Moshe would say, “Arise HASHEM and let your
foes be scattered. Let those that hate You flee from before You.”
In this posuk, Moshe Rabbenu is equating hatred of the Jews with hatred of
HASHEM. “Let those that hate You flee from before You”
Rashi is bothered by the comparison. Why does Moshe’s call the enemies of
the Jews, “enemies of HASHEM?” Maybe they are just enemies of the Jewish
People? Rashi answers –“Anyone who hates Yisroel hates HASHEM. It seems
clear that Rashi assumes that the root cause of Anti Semitism is hatred of
G-d.
But this concept of attributing hatred of Jews to hatred of HASHEM seems
difficult to understand. After all, if we study history, we see many reasons
that Jews were hated – and they had nothing to do with hating HASHEM.
The Jealousy theory
One reason that has been commonly blamed for anti Semitism is simply
jealousy. Historically, it was the Jew who brought his economic wisdom and
acumen to the various countries he inhabited; it was the Jew who became the
adviser and confidant to kings and governors. The Jewish contribution to the
cultural, scientific, and technological evolution of civilization is nothing
short of astounding. Whether in academics, politics, the media, or the
professions – from curing polio to discovering atomic energy; from Hollywood
to Wall Street¬—Jews have had an extraordinary influence on human progress.
It seems that in business, politics, art, theatre, science, and social
movements, the Jews are at the head of every movement. With contributions as
diverse as those made by Freud, Spinoza, Trotsky, Kafka, Jerry Seinfeld, and
Albert Einstein, the Jew excels. From 1901 till 1990, over 22% of Nobel
prizes winners were Jewish, even though Jews constituted less than ¼ of 1%
of the world population.
This alone would seem like a logical reason for Anti-Semitism: the Jews have
proven to be smarter, more enduring, and more successful than the peoples of
the lands into which they were exiled.
However, this isn’t the only reason, there are many more:
The Scapegoat theory
Another cause held responsible for anti-Semitism is the Scapegoat theory: To
gain power or distract the population from their suffering, a monarch would
look for a place to put the blame. What better a place than the eternally
despised Jew? By arousing the masses to Jew-hatred, an individual seeking
power could use this energy as a galvanizing force to bring together masses
of unaffiliated individuals. We certainly have seen many instances of this
during the past 2,000 years.
The “we killed their God” theory
But there are other reasons that sound plausible. One is deicide - we killed
their God. The average person would agree that is a sound reason to hate a
people. After all, it certainly doesn’t sound very friendly, charitable, and
kindly to kill god.
The Chosen Nation theory
Finally, one of the most oft quoted reasons to hate the Jews is that we make
no secret of the fact that we are the Chosen People. As clearly written in
the Torah, the Jewish People have been given a unique role to play amongst
the nations: to be a light, a guide, and HASHEM’s most beloved nation. Is it
any wonder that throughout the millennium we have been hated?
But these aren’t the only reasons. There are many, many reasons presented to
hate the Jews. How does Rashi explain that anyone who hates Jews, hates
HASHEM? Maybe it is simply one of the reasons above.
The answer – there is no answer
The answer to this question seems to come from the very question itself: why
is that the one constant throughout history is that everyone always hates
the Jews? It seems that all things change: movements come and go, ideologies
pass with time, systems of governments evolve- the only thing that doesn’t
change is that everyone hates the Jews. Rich or poor, powerful or weak,
dominant or oppressed, the Jew is hated - and then blamed for causing that
very hatred.
Beginning with Avraham Avinu almost 4,000 years ago, there has been an
endless stream of reasons to hate the Jew. And that itself is a most curious
phenomenon. In whatever country the Jews found themselves, they were loyal
and industrious citizens, yet they were always hated and always for
different reasons.
Despised in one county for being too powerful, then trampled in another land
for being too weak… segregated into ghettos… then accused of being
separatists… hated as Republicans and Democrats; Socialists and Anarchists;
accused by Capitalists of being Communist: hounded by communists because
they were all capitalists… hated for killing a religion’s god… yet equally
despised in civilizations that don’t worship that god… called “children of
the devil” and the devil himself… blamed for the Bubonic Plague and typhus,
for poising wells and using sacrificial blood for baking matzahs.
With such varied and assorted rationales, it seems that there is no shortage
of creativity when it comes to hating the Jew. The only consistency in
reasoning is: we hate the Jews. Why we hate them doesn’t matter; the cause
of the hatred doesn’t matter; the only thing that really matters is that we
truly, truly hate them.
What Rashi is teaching us is that there is no plausible reason for
Anti-Semitism- it can’t be explained because it makes no sense. When one
looks into every cause, not only doesn’t it answer the question as to
why--one quickly finds another circumstance where that cause wasn’t present,
yet the hatred was still there – as powerful and pervasive as ever.
The Jew represents HASHEM
The pattern that emerges is that there is no logical reason for
Anti-Semitism until you focus on the real cause – that the Jew represents
HASHEM. We are HASHEM’s people. When the Gentile looks at a Jew, he sees
HASHEM, and that image is not always attractive to him.
This concept carries a huge lesson for us. While we may forget our holiness
and our destiny, the Gentile nations are always there to remind us: we are
different-- we are unique, and our role is unlike that of any nation.
If we recognize our greatness and live up to our title of the Chosen People,
we are then exalted, revered and respected. When we fail to recognize our
unique destiny and absorb the cultures of the times, then we are sent
reminder after reminder of our unique role amongst the nations - we are
HASHEM’s chosen people.
For more on this topic please listen to Shmuz
#34 - Israel- Exalted Nation or Oppressed People
