How To Fight Hate Without Becoming a Hater
Antisemitism grows every day in the United States. Just today, flyers promoting vandalism and harassment against Jews appeared in Chicago.
For Jews antisemitism is nothing new. As I discussed in this 2018 book, it goes back to at least 300 BCE.
For most of that history, Jews could not do much to counter antisemitism. They simply had to defend themselves and protect their own interests.
The arrival of the first Jews in America shows the way this self-defense often worked. In 1654, 39 Jews landed in New Amsterdam (modern-day New York) on a ship from Recife, Brazil.
The local governor, Peter Stuyvesant, despised Jews and did not want to admit them. But one of the largest trading companies–the one who helped fund Peter Stuyvesant's journey to America–had several Jewish traders.
They pushed Stuyvesant to change his mind. And he did.
Over time, antisemitism in America declined, though it grew significantly in the 1930s. By the 1990s, antisemitism had reached its lowest recorded levels.
Then in 2001 everything changed.
Rising radicalism in parts of the Middle East targeted Israel as a genocidal imperialist power. Far-left students and professors echoed that message on some college campuses. And far-right websites claimed the Israeli Mossad knew about 9/11 before it happened.
As anti-semitic language and imagery spread, so did violence. By 2015 and 2016, vandalism at synagogues and Jewish community centers was doubling and tripling every year, as were acts of violence against Jews in public.
In 2018 an intruder entered a synagogue in Pittsburgh and murdered 11 Jews at prayer. Along with many others, I felt the determination to counter anti-semitism in every way I could.
Building ties with other religious leaders and communities is a core part of that quest. So is writing and speaking and educating about Judaism.
I'm guided by Martin Luther King's immortal words: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
The two ways love counters anti-semitism are education and alliance. Education is what we are doing here: Learning and listening to one another.
Alliance is acting in coalition with others. “If I am not for myself,” Rabbi Hillel taught, “who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?”
Realizing this truth is the only way humans can survive.
How are you fighting hate in today’s world?
Yes in 391 Theodosius I made Christianity the authorized religion of the Roman Empire. In the new interpretation of the church, Jews were unorthodox and must be eradicated. Sad day for Church and Jews! God bless you Rabbi!
“The two ways love counters anti-semitism are education and alliance. Education is what we are doing here: Learning and listening to one another.
Alliance is acting in coalition with others. “If I am not for myself,” Rabbi Hillel taught, “who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?””
THIS! Carrying in my spirit and actually striving TO LIVE the words above is how I battle hate.
Rabbi, hatefulness towards Jewish people I have witnessed from my earliest memories, waaaaay before 9/11.
I was born in a small town in Arkansas on the Mississippi River, during Jim Crow. In that town there was a long standing established Jewish community. The Jewish physicians were “our” doctors. The Jewish shops and grocers allowed “ the Negro” access, credit, and employment. As a small girl I remember constantly hearing from my elders how ‘ their not PC terms’ that “red neck pecka woods” only tolerated the Jew as about the same as they tolerated us, so we were to not forget that we were not the only ones and to have real respect for the Jews.
Nah Rabbi, the hatefulness had been there a long time sitting right below the surface.