STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT! – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com
Posted By admin on July 31, 2022
On April 11, 1944, a young Anne Frank wrote in her diary:
Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly until now? It is God Who has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again. Who knows it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason alone do we now suffer. We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any other country for that matter. We will always remain Jews.
Anne Frank was on to something. The Talmud asks, from where did Har Sinai derive its name? After offering a few alternatives, the Talmud suggests that Har Sinai comes from Hebrew word sinah which means hatred, because the non-Jews hatred of the Jews descended upon that mountain when the Jewish people received the Torah there. Torah demands a moral and ethical lifestyle, an attitude of giving rather than taking, a life of service rather than of privilege, that has revolutionized the world.
The Jewish people have been charged to be the moral conscience of the world, a mission they have not always succeeded at, but that nevertheless drew the ire, anger and hatred of so many. For two thousand years the Jews were bullied and persecuted simply because of their Jewishness and all that stands for. After the Holocaust, the world gave the Jews a reprieve from their hatred, becoming instead beneficiaries of their pity. But looking at events around the world, it is rapidly becoming clear that the last 75 years was an aberration. We have witnessed the rise of anti-Semitism around the world as the world reverts back to its ageless pattern and habit.
The Midrash (Eichah Rabbah 1) teaches that three prophets used the term eichah o how! In Devarim, Moshe asks: Eichah, how can I alone bear your troubles, your burden and your strife? (Deut. 1:12) In the Haftorah for Shabbos Chazon, the Prophet Yeshayahu asks: Eichah, how has the faithful city become like a prostitute? Lastly, Yirmiyahu begins the Book of Eichah: Eichah, how is it that Jerusalem is sitting in solitude! The city that was filled with people has become like a widow Eicha How? How is it that anti-Semitism persists? Why must they rise up against us in every generation?
On Tisha BAv we will sit on the floor and wonder aloud, eicha? How could it be Jews have to fear for their lives yet again? Eicha how could it be that today, with all the progress humanity has made, more than a quarter of the world is still holding anti-Semitic views?
Rabbi Soloveitchik tells us that though the Midrash identifies three times the word eicha is used, in truth there is a fourth. When Adam and Chava fail to take responsibility, God calls out to them and says ayeka, where are you? Ayeka is spelled with the same letters as eicha, leading Rabbi Soloveitchik to say that when we dont answer the call of ayeka, when we dont take personal responsibility for our problems and blame others, we will ultimately find ourselves asking eicha, how could it be?
We can ask eicha, how could all of these terrible things be, but we may never have a definitive answer. Our job is to make sure we can answer the call of ayeka, where are you? Are you taking responsibility? We may not be able to fully understand why anti-Semitism exists, but we can and must remain vigilant in calling it out, confronting it and fighting it. We must remain strong in standing up for Jews everywhere. We must confront evil and do all we can to defeat it.
And, we must do all that we can to take personal responsibility to fulfill the Jewish mission to bring Godliness into the world. If individual Jews were hated for being the conscious of the others, all the more so does a Jewish country generate hate for being the moral conscious of the whole world, held to higher moral standards than any other country or state.
Our job is not to be discouraged by asking eicha, but to ensure that we can answer the call of ayeka. Anti-Semitism will not come to an end by assimilating and retreating. It will come to an end when we can positively answer the question that the Talmud tells us each one of us will be asked when we meet our Maker: did you long for the redemption and did you personally take responsibility to do all that you can to bring the redemption? Did you truly feel the pain of exile and feel the anguish of the Jewish condition in the world? Do you truly and sincerely care? Did you anxiously await every day for Moshiach to herald in an era of peace and harmony, an end to anti-Semitism and suffering?
It is not enough to long for Moshiach, we must bring him. It is not enough to hope for redemption, we must be the catalyst for it. It is not enough to be tired of eicha, we must answer ayeka. If we want to get up off the floor and end the mourning, if we want to finally end anti-Semitism, it is up to us to do what is necessary to heal our people, to repair the world, to love one another, and to earn the redemption from the Almighty.{Reposted from Rabbi Goldbergs site}
Go here to see the original:
STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT! - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com
- Iranian Diplomat: The Jews Have a Plot to Lay Claim to the British Royal Familys Wealth - Middle East Media Research Institute - October 6th, 2022
- Remarks by President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff at a Reception to Celebrate the Jewish New Year - The White... - October 6th, 2022
- 'Jerusalem of Lithuania' remains witness to the horrors of the Nazi genocide and their willing collaborators - Cleveland Jewish News - October 6th, 2022
- Meet the rabbi who made it possible to live a Jewish life in the UAE - Cleveland Jewish News - October 6th, 2022
- A Daf Yomi Scout: Literary Critic Adam Kirsch Shares Insights from His Seven-Year Study of the Talmud with YU Students - Yu News - September 29th, 2022
- Book Review | Studying Talmud with Beruriah - Moment Magazine - September 29th, 2022
- Why Bats Sleep Upside Down and The Secret of Yom Kippur - aish.com - Aish.com - September 29th, 2022
- 5 things to know about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - WDJT - September 29th, 2022
- New chapter in 'lost Jewish library mystery' as books returned to Lublin - The First News - September 29th, 2022
- Allegiance To The Monarch - aish.com - Aish.com - September 29th, 2022
- Embracing a Spiritual Discipline of Reparations - Word and Way - September 29th, 2022
- Hidden Meaning in the Talmud's Cures and Fables - aish.com - Aish.com - September 18th, 2022
- Everyone's Buddy - aish.com - Aish.com - September 18th, 2022
- I Never Wanted to Get in the Pool. My Daughter (and the Talmud) Changed That. - Kveller.com - September 18th, 2022
- Abortion and Jewish law - JNS.org - JNS.org - September 18th, 2022
- Jim Crawford is loving Tallaght atmosphere as his side set to face Israel in crunch Euro 2023 play-off... - The Irish Sun - September 18th, 2022
- Becoming Elijah: Prophet of transformation by Daniel C. Matt - Church Times - September 18th, 2022
- Rome, Babylon, and 1 Peter 5:13 Revisited | Nicholas Gulda - Patheos - September 18th, 2022
- Bnot Brak the ultra-Orthodox answer to Real Housewives - Australian Jewish News - September 13th, 2022
- What happens when a heretic and a rabbi walk into a bar? - Jewish Herald-Voice - September 9th, 2022
- Gorbachev was different he had a heart - The Jewish Standard - September 9th, 2022
- Being On The Team - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - September 9th, 2022
- West Temples Rabbi Lader to retire in June 2023 - Cleveland Jewish News - September 9th, 2022
- From Peru to Israel: the Long Journey of the Inca Jews - aldianews.com - September 9th, 2022
- We have faced Amaleks like Putin forever, but with morality we can prevail J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - September 9th, 2022
- Upcoming holidays and events in 2022 - NEWS10 ABC - September 9th, 2022
- The angels who saved my husband's life | Shira Pasternak Be'eri | The Blogs - The Times of Israel - September 9th, 2022
- 'Quiet quitting,' the sudden trend in work, sounds sort of Jewish? (Hear me out.) - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix - September 9th, 2022
- The Choice: A Novel of Love, Faith, and the Talmud - reviewed by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen J-Wire - J-Wire Jewish Australian News Service - August 30th, 2022
- What If It Were 'Zalman'? - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 30th, 2022
- Q & A: The Mantle Of Leadership (Part II) - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 30th, 2022
- It is Caught with Two Hands Torah.org - Torah.org - August 30th, 2022
- Anger, Procrastination, and Elul - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 30th, 2022
- You say you want a revolution? Try the Bible - Religion News Service - August 30th, 2022
- When was the Old Testament Written? - The Gospel Coalition - August 30th, 2022
- Straus Center Fall 2022 Courses: The Wisdom of Solomon, Rembrandt and AI - Yu News - August 30th, 2022
- Maimonides on the Liberty of the People - Brownstone Institute - August 30th, 2022
- Asking the Clergy: Your faith and recreational marijuana - Newsday - August 30th, 2022
- The Evening Shema: The Perfect Place to Begin - Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters - Lubavitch.com - August 13th, 2022
- 'You don't want to take my money, do you?': Mandarin-speaking rabbi fights antisemitism on Chinas TikTok - Yahoo News - August 13th, 2022
- Tisha B'Av: The Arch of Titus an alternative view - The Times of Israel - August 13th, 2022
- At Oakland's 'Base,' rabbinic couple wants you to make connections J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - August 13th, 2022
- Chazanut and music: tradition and today - Australian Jewish News - August 13th, 2022
- VA'ETCHANAN: In this week's Torah portion, a command to love J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - August 13th, 2022
- Don't Believe in Other Gods Versus God is One - aish.com Ancient Wisdom & Modern Psychology - Aish.com - August 10th, 2022
- Discerning Between Darkness and Light - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - August 10th, 2022
- Activist-writer Elana Dykewomon dies, just as her first play debuts J. - The Jewish News of Northern California - August 10th, 2022
- Reading the Book of Psalms in the Twenty-First Century - Jewish Journal - August 10th, 2022
- Tuesdays primaries offered a glint of hope for Democrats this fall - The Guardian - August 10th, 2022
- Talmud - Jewish Virtual Library - August 1st, 2022
- War News And Gefilte Fish - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 31st, 2022
- Blinded by Hate | Michael Laitman | The Blogs - The Times of Israel - July 31st, 2022
- Making sense of the sedra: Matot-Masei - Jewish News - July 31st, 2022
- At least 9 cities in the Twin Cities metro targeted with antisemitic, racist flyers - Bring Me The News - July 28th, 2022
- The God Squad: From the mailbag | Opinion | pressrepublican.com - Plattsburgh Press Republican - July 28th, 2022
- Free Online Bible Library | Talmud - BiblicalTraining.org - July 27th, 2022
- Rebuilding Together - Jewish Journal - July 27th, 2022
- Twenty years after Ben and Marla and the Hebrew University bombing - The Times of Israel - July 27th, 2022
- Woven together: Lessons from bringing Israeli rabbis to the U.S. - eJewish Philanthropy - July 27th, 2022
- The God Squad: From the mailbag | Opinion Columns | union-bulletin.com - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - July 27th, 2022
- Respect Yourself - Respect Others - aish.com The Color of Heaven - Aish.com - July 27th, 2022
- Abortion is a Jewish right and a rabbi says hers was a blessing - Business Insider - July 27th, 2022
- The Flood and Canaan: God's Patience Revealed - Patheos - July 27th, 2022
- Pinchas and the broken vav | The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle - thejewishchronicle.net - July 27th, 2022
- PJ Library Focuses on Widening its Reach - Publishers Weekly - July 27th, 2022
- The Three Weeks And A Message Of Peace - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 27th, 2022
- Jewish people have a different set of priorities - The Jewish Star - July 14th, 2022
- With Biden in Israel, we must spread the blanket of peace far and wide - JNS.org - July 14th, 2022
- Shaming women who have abortions is not a Jewish ethic - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - July 14th, 2022
- Rabbi, get thy head out of their tents - The Times of Israel - July 14th, 2022
- Advocating for respect and unity - The Jewish Standard - July 14th, 2022
- Politics and the Parah Adumah - Jewish Journal - July 10th, 2022
- Mass prep 3 points/30 seconds: What was the Samaritans mercy? Understanding the Greek - Aleteia - July 10th, 2022
- Don't Use Judaism as a Weapon in the Abortion Debate - Jewish Exponent - July 10th, 2022
- Why Being Firstborn is a Blessing and a Curse - aish.com Spiritual Odysseys, Featured, Spirituality - Aish.com - July 10th, 2022
- David Halivni's Great Light | David Novak - First Things - July 8th, 2022
- What Happened to the Truth? - aish.com Personal Growth, Featured, Spirituality - Aish.com - July 8th, 2022
- Q & A: Offering Tefillin To Passersby (Part VII) - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 8th, 2022
- The 8 Genders of the Talmud - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - July 4th, 2022
- Is It Proper To Go On Vacation To A Place With No Minyan? - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com - July 4th, 2022
Comments