Page 4 - HaMizrachi Australia Sukkot 5781

legitimate form. It can only circum- hatred at the heart of antisemitism sukkah itself is a flimsy and transient
vent the moral immune system and is the lowest form of evil, and so it little booth, susceptible to the outside
stimulate people to act if it can be requires legitimation from the highest elements. Yet not only do we dwell in
morally justified. To be effective, evil sources of moral authority. the sukkah, we rejoice in it! How can we
must present itself as good. possibly celebrate our vulnerability?
In the Middle Ages, the moral arbiter
of the age was the Pope, and so we had Through the power of faith.
The Pharaoh factor Christian anti-Judaism. In post-En- In Jewish mysticism, the sukkah is
Remarkably, this is precisely how the lightenment Europe, it was science, called the “Shadow of Faith.” This
Ramban explains Pharaoh’s perplexing which resulted in the twin founda- “Shadow of Faith” is the immutable
strategy against the Jews in Egypt. tions of Nazi ideology, Social Darwin- belief in Hashem, who created and
ism and the so-called Scientific Study runs the world for good, and our belief
Pharaoh did not overtly decree the of Race. Today, the highest source of that we can and will overcome the
destruction of the Jews but instead moral authority is human rights. This challenges before us. It is the belief
devised covert and deceptive plans of is why Israel – the only fully function- that good health and wellbeing will
evil: “Come let us deal shrewdly with ing democracy in the Middle East with ultimately triumph over disease and
them in case they increase, and if war a free press and independent judiciary illness. It is the belief in the inherent
breaks out they may join our enemies, – is regularly accused of the five cardi- goodness of human beings, who are
fight against us and escape from the nal sins against human rights: racism, all created in the image of G-d. The
land.” 2 apartheid, crimes against humanity, “Shadow of Faith” is the understand-
ethnic cleansing and attempted
Why did the all-powerful leader need ing that even the brilliant life-giving
to hide his plans? Why did he pres- genocide. light of the sun will cast many shad-
ent the Jews as a fifth column and a The new antisemitism has mutated so ows on the earth below. It is believing
threat to national security to justify that anyone can deny that he or she is that spiritual and moral light will ulti-
his intended genocide? Why demand an antisemite: “I’m not an antisemite. mately supersede immoral darkness;
their labor and then initiate the secre- I have no problem with Jews or Juda- that evil is transient, while G-d and
tive scheme of midwives murdering ism. I only have a problem with the goodness are permanent.
babies at birth? What was he afraid of? State of Israel.”
Let us rejoice together in life’s inher-
The answer, says the Ramban, was However, this defense does not hold ent vulnerability in our “Shadow of
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Pharaoh’s need to bypass Egypt’s moral water. There are currently 56 Muslim Faith,” knowing that we will one day
defense mechanism on two levels. countries and 103 Christian majority see an end to antisemitism when the
Firstly, it would be treasonous and nations, but only one Jewish State. grandeur of the Jewish mission will
immoral to murder a people without Israel constitutes a mere one-quarter be known to all.
cause, particularly when they were of 1% of the landmass of the Middle
welcomed into Egypt by a previous East. And yet Israel is the only one of
Pharaoh. Even corrupt rulers cannot the 193 member nations of the United 1 My last two articles in HaMizrachi have focused
suddenly exterminate people with- Nations whose right to exist is regu- on antisemitism as a virus. The first cited the
out any moral pretext and sense of larly challenged, with Iran and many Vilna Gaon’s novel idea that there are three
mutations of antisemitism, each with biblical
justice. Secondly, many of his own other powerful groups openly commit- precedents. Moav, who opposed Jewish values
people would simply not have agreed ted to its destruction. Anti-Zionism, and Judaism, Edom, who opposed the very exis-
to participate in the massacre. Internal which denies only the Jewish people tence of the Jewish people, and the Philistines,
public opinion must be enlisted; other- a right to their own country, is merely who opposed any Jewish sovereignty in Israel.
wise, the indiscriminate slaughter of another form of antisemitism, for it The second article focused on deepening the
former friends and neighbors would denies Jews the same rights as other virus analogy and paralleled the spread of bio-
logical viruses and the virus of antisemitism
not be tolerated. And so Pharaoh peoples and demonizes them in the over the last twenty years. There I discussed two
shrewdly found a way to penetrate the process. traits of viruses: 1. the ability to mutate, and 2. to
unsuspecting hearts of his own people. quickly spread contagion.
As long as antisemites invoke human
When practitioners of evil believe they rights in their nefarious battle against Here I focus on two more traits of viruses: their
deceptive ability, 1. to circumvent the immune
are acting for the preservation of their the Jewish people, no matter how per- system, and 2. to corrupt the cellular reproduc-
society and the sake of a greater good, versely they apply these arguments, tive mechanism.
all moral checks and balances can be the deception of the virus is complete. 2 Shemot 1:10.
sidestepped. The masses themselves Vice masquerades as virtue and evil
become the very reproductive mecha- as ethical. 3 Ibid.
nism of the virus of hatred and bigotry. 4 These paragraphs are based on Rabbi Jonathan
Celebrating vulnerability Sacks’ teachings in Future Tense, pp. 99–100.
Legitimizing hate: human Is there any hope? How can we pos-
rights and human wrongs 4 sibly overcome the moral deception
of antisemitism in our time? We feel
Rabbi Sacks explains that antisemi-
tism in all its mutations follows the so vulnerable to destructive forces
beyond our control.
very same mechanism of psycholog-
ical and moral deception to inculcate Perhaps Sukkot is the antidote. Sukkot Rabbi Doron Perez is the Executive Chairman
perverse and prejudiced beliefs. The is a celebration of vulnerability. The of World Mizrachi.

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