The Current Rise in Anti-Semitism

and its relationship to chareid-anti-chareidi tensions

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I received an email from the soldier who has written several articles for us in the past on the topic of chareidim and IDF service (There is a list of several of his previous articles here, and see especially this one.) In this essay, he explores the source and the significance of the rise in anti-semitism around the world, and how it relates to the recent tide of anti-semitic hatred among Jews themselves (most prominently displayed in a certain blog we used to critique). I will note that I am not qualified to endorse the halachic arguments contained here, but I also don’t think the precise halachic arguments used materially affect the conclusion in this case.

It is no secret that around the world anti-semitism is on the rise. People that used to be indifferent to the Jews have suddenly discovered that in fact they hate them, and those who were passive anti-semites have become active anti-semites. This is true both regarding the Jews living in the holy land who have become the targets of hatred from people around the world, as well as Jews living in the diaspora that have become the victims of the hatred of the local non-jews amongst whom they live. There has been a parallel rise in non-jews who are righteous and have arisen to defend the Jewish people both in Israel and the diaspora, but this is a much smaller phenomenon than the rise in hatred. While there can be many reasons why the Jewish people should currently require that Hashem visit troubles upon them, we know that it is a feature of our relationship with Hashem that he acts towards us מידה כנגד מידה. Therefore it stands to reason that if Hashem is visiting upon us troubles brought about by anti-semitism, we ourselves must be guilty of anti-semitism to have deserved this.

The parallel to anti-semitism in our behavior is not merely baseless hatred of fellow Jews, but more specifically baseless hatred inspired by our fellow Jews being too Jewish in our eyes. If we would hate them for any other inadequate reason it would not parallel anti-semitism, the parallel to anti-semitism is specifically when we hate them because of something about their jewishness.

Before I proceed with my thesis, I would like to introduce myself and explain how my personal experiences over the past year and a half since the war broke out have influenced and personalized my thoughts on this issue. I am a combat physician in the IDF reserves, and I was mobilized from the very beginning of the war. Initially I served for 13 months continuously, after I was discharged I was called back numerous times, such that I've been intermittently involved in the war for the entire time that it is going on. Although without a doubt others have gone through much more difficult things than I did, I still saw my fair share of horrors, and had to put my life at risk more than once. In addition I have a son serving in the infantry during the war who was just recently discharged from the army. At one point my son was wounded in Gaza, although thank God his wounds were minor and 5 days after he was wounded he was back in Gaza alongside the rest of his unit.

It is well known in Jewish theology that השטן מקטרג בשעת הסכנה, such that one requires much more merit to be saved from a situation that is perceived by humanity as dangerous than one requires to survive on a day-to-day basis. Anyone who is honest with himself is well aware of the fact that overwhelmingly we do not have such merit. There is however a merit that protects the Jewish people specifically from being killed in wartime. During the period when Achav was King of the 10 tribes, under the influence of his wicked wife, he introduced The worship of the Baal, something that had been absent from the Jewish people until that time. As a result of this idol worship his country was subjected to a terrible drought that resulted in famine. Yet despite that Achav was successful in his wars against his neighboring enemies. Chazal point out that this was a result of the merit of the people's unity. Even when the Jews sin terribly, and deserve to be punished, there are still specifically protected from dying in wars by virtue of the merit of their unity.

Likewise, when Moshe davened for the lives of the Jewish people during the war against Amalek, the Torah chooses to include what could otherwise appear to be an irrelevant detail. וידי משה כבדים ויקחו אבן וישימו תחתיו וישב עליה

The commentaries explain that this is not an irrelevant detail, but rather one of the most salient points of Moshe's prayer. Moshe can no longer lift up his hands because he can find no merit for which his prayers on their behalf should be accepted. But the solution was that they brought a single rock for him to sit upon, this rock symbolizes the rock that Yaakov found in the morning after he had placed numerous rocks around his head when going to sleep at night. In other words it symbolizes the unity of the Jewish people, the fact that we are responsible for each other, the fact that something that happens to one of us happened to all of us. In this way we can pray in the merit of the ציבור, rather than as individuals. And the prayers of the ציבור are not rejected even when we are unworthy (among other reasons, because the ציבור always contains at least some righteous people). That is the root and the source from which we learn that specifically in wartime we absolutely and desperately need the merit of Jewish unity. It is more important than any other single factor.

Regarding the status of the current war in halacha, and whether or not there is an obligation to participate that falls upon each individual, is in reality dependent upon the ongoing debate among the great Jewish authorities regarding the status of the state of Israel. At one end of the spectrum are those who rely upon the small minority of great Jewish authorities that saw in the state of Israel religious significance, and define it as a Jewish state. Even though the state as an institution has done much evil and harmed the spiritual status of the Jewish people, nonetheless they see it as not being different than the state under idol worshiping Kings in the times of tanach. While it is only a very small minority of great Jewish authorities who held this opinion, nonetheless it is a legitimate opinion and justifies the behavior of those communities who follow it. According to this opinion that the current state of Israel has the status of a Jewish state, it is possible to argue that defensive wars such as the current one have the status of a מלחמת מצווה. If that is true, then there is a personal obligation upon each male of appropriate age and status to participate in the war. This would be no different than any other commandment that is obligatory upon individuals, and would therefore be a requirement that overrides one's individual commitment to Torah learning, and would be in effect even if it placed one in otherwise unacceptable spiritual danger. However it is important to keep in mind that this discussion can only take place if one assumes that the modern state of Israel has the status of a Jewish state, which is as I said before, the opinion of only a tiny minority of the great Jewish authorities.

At the other end of the spectrum are those who follow another minority opinion among the great Jewish authorities, that not only does the current state of Israel not have any type of Jewish status, but on the contrary because one of the principles upon which it was founded was to sever the link between עם ישראל and Hashem (otherwise known as the creation of the "new Jew"), the state has a status akin to that of עבודה זרה. In that case it is absolutely forbidden to put on a uniform that represents the state (which is an essential part of joining the military), and this prohibition would override even פיקוח נפש since it is אביזרייהו דעבודה זרה . While this minority opinion has more support among the great Jewish authorities than the previous one, it is still the opinion of only a minority. Nonetheless, it justifies the behavior of those communities that follow those authorities.

In between is the opinion of the majority of great Jewish authorities, who take the position that the current state of Israel does not have the status of being a Jewish state, and therefore it wars by definition cannot have the status of מלחמת מצווה, which implies a personal obligation to participate. Nonetheless despite the completely secular nature of the state, it does have an overwhelmingly Jewish population, and therefore rendering aid to that population would fall under the general obligation of ואהבתה לרעך כמוך. As such there is no personal obligation to participate, which means that as long as there are others who are able to fulfill that task one is not obligated or perhaps even allowed to participate at the expense of one's dedication to learning Torah. Moreover, if there are unacceptable spiritual risks to participating, one would not be allowed to participate just as one would not be allowed to perform any other type of חסד if it resulted in them committing other sins. But for those who are in any case not dedicated to learning Torah all of the time, and they feel that their personal circumstances are such that they are not facing unacceptable spiritual risks, then certainly they are performing a great mitzvah in participating in the war effort.

It goes without saying that each of the above communities believes that their approach is the correct one, and the fulfillment of Hashem's will. The demand of Jewish unity is that each of these communities while believing wholeheartedly that their approach is correct, will nonetheless relate to the other communities as their brothers and recognize that they too are serving Hashem. This should be no different than any other מחלוקת in halacha, each community follows different great authorities, but recognizes that other communities are also serving Hashem by following their authorities.

Those communities that follow the opinion that the state is אביזרייהו דעבודה זרה, while recognizing that it is absolutely forbidden for them to violate their own understanding of Hashem's will and participate in the war effort, nonetheless are obligated to pray sincerely on behalf of those whose interpretation is different and to recognize that those who do participate will also be rewarded for following their understanding of the will of Hashem.

Likewise, those communities that follow the minority opinion that there is religious significance to the state of Israel, and it is not merely a secular state, and therefore believe that the current war has the status of a מלחמת מצווה with the implied personal obligation to participate, nonetheless need to sincerely respect the yeshiva bachur who stays with his learning because he does not recognize such a personal obligation. The demand of Jewish unity is that even as they recognize that they will be rewarded for their personal sacrifice in defending the Jewish people, the learner will be rewarded for having not left the bais medrash. Likewise they must recognize that since for them there is no personal obligation to participate, those communities that know from long experience that the spiritual risks of participating are such that it is forbidden to engage under those circumstances in the commandment of ואהבת לרעחה כמוך, are doing the correct thing in Hashem's eyes.

In that way we will have the merit of Jewish unity, that will allow our collective prayers to be accepted even if we don't have enough merit otherwise. We will be granted success in our war endeavors, and the lives of countless soldiers and civilians will be saved. More than anything else, this is the צו השעה.

When the non-jews around us increase their anti-semitism, then that is Hashem holding up a mirror to us and showing us that we are not living up to the demands of Jewish unity. We are not sufficiently respecting the positions of those communities that we are not part of, and not praying sincerely on their behalf. Our baseless hatred is invoked precisely because we disagree with their jewishness, and therefore measure for measure the non-jews are provoked to hate us as a people for our jewishness.

It is always a great test to see beyond our personal egos, and to be able to internalize the legitimacy of other approaches to halacha. There are certainly opinions and approaches that are beyond The pale, and render those that abide by them to be rebels against Hashem. Those people must be completely excluded from the Jewish polity, and even when they engage in these beliefs out of ignorance and lack of being taught otherwise, we must love them as individuals but abhor their views. But once an opinion is endorsed by great sages, people who are recognized even by their peers who disagreed with them as great men, then we must wholeheartedly love and respect the communities that follow in their opinion. We don't need to accept that opinion, and in most cases it would be wrong if we did, but we need to recognize that they are not rebels against Hashem, but rather serving him in a different fashion. It is a wide-ranging discussion to determine exactly where these lines are to be drawn, but intuitively most people know that in this specific issue all three of the communities that I described above, are rooted in the service of Hashem.

There has arisen amongst us those who have engaged in publicly trying to rend Jewish unity asunder. They claim that because they have a certain point of view those who disagree are not only wrong, but evil. That the entire concept of Jewish unity should only apply to those who accept their approach. These people are removing the rock from underneath Moshe Rabainu, they are denying us the merit in which we can be saved, and they have the blood of those who died on their hands. It is precisely because I have personally known the fear of staring death in the eye during war, and even more so the dread of knowing that my son could at any moment be killed or physically or psychologically disabled, that I am motivated to condemn these attempts at inducing Jewish disunity.