Ruminations

When the Israelites went to leave Egypt, according to the Torah, "erev rav alah itam," "a great multitude of peoples also went out with them." In the quintessential moment of Jewish liberation, we didn’t restrict freedom only to ourselves. We didn’t say "this is a time for Jewish emancipation; see y’all later." Instead, we brought others out of Egypt with us.

Sermon at Temple Sholom, January 24, 2025:

For tonight, let's rejoice in the pure joy of the fact that several members of our people are finally home; that this is the first Shabbat that Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher will spend with their families in nearly a year and a half; that many more of our brothers and sisters, who have sat, kidnapped, in underground dungeons for 475 days, God-willing, will soon be coming home–this is cause for celebration.

The community I will lead is entering its 71st year, and I have to wonder what its founders back in 1954 envisioned for their future back when we had yet to enter Vietnam, the Beatles were still babies, and Eisenhower was president. I hope they would be proud of what we've accomplished. In turn, I want to develop a vision that will ensure our future community (Temple Sholom and Cincinnati) can look back proudly at our present − even in 71 years, in 2096, likely after most of us reading this are mere memories.

“I used to cry sharing this,” she said as she began to describe what she went through. “It’s as if Hamas won twice.” She means that not only did Hamas commit their crimes and document them — the first win — but the international community also then ignored or denied Hamas’ crimes — the second.

The cycle of ill repute has once more renewed as Peter Yarrow’s legacy receives deserved scrutiny. Yarrow, who recently entered hospice, is the disgraced champion of much music from America’s 60s folk revival. Not only was Yarrow convicted (in 1970) of “indecent liberties with a 14-year-old girl” (when he was 32), but other allegations have arisen that he may be guilty of even more serious sexual crimes.

In addressing Jew-hatred (big or small), we each must adopt a “lo alecha attitude” — it is not any of our individual duty to singlehandedly beat antisemitism, but none of us can consider ourselves free from the obligation to participate in countering it. We are much too small a minority (2.4% of American adults, per Pew) for any of us to sit out of this effort.

Although we are hardly in a moment of calm, this is still the “calm” before the storm. So, what’s to come? Of the above, what might we most expect during election season? Probably three tropes in particular: greed, power, and anti-Zionism.

There are countless antisemitic ideas in our world; full books have been written on the matter. Thankfully, this article needn’t take 100,000+ words, as the ADL has helpfully boiled the many tropes of antisemitism down into seven broad historical categories. Here, they’re roughly organized into chronological order by when they emerged. Although the older tropes may seem quaint, all still circulate. Each is worth understanding.

Precedent warns that antisemitism dependably rises at three times: 1) When Israel is in the news; 2) around Jewish holidays; and 3) during election season. Soon, we will likely experience the trifecta, and I worry that many of us are unequipped for what will be a very tough fall.

It’s in light of my knowledge of Jewish history that I can only be troubled by what’s happening just north of us in Springfield, Ohio, where an immigrant community faces substantial vitriol and threat.

Jews, more than anyone else, should know that too casual a relationship between a society and violence leads down dangerous roads which all eventually arrive at our doorstep. To borrow from a talmudic idiom, “violence is a wheel that goes around the world.”

If you’ve chatted with me over the last nine months about interfaith dialogue, you’re probably aware that I’ve groused that our interfaith spaces have focused too frequently on “feel-good” programs, at the expense of having the tough-but-deep discourse that’d have better prepared us for a post-10/7 world. For me, last night was a reminder that we can—and must—do both.

As Jews know all too well, bigotry is a social pollutant. Hate may begin as a particular phenomenon, as antisemitism impacting Jews; but, if left unchecked, history shows that it ends with waves of extremism that erode the foundations of our entire society.