Dirty money grabbing, parasitic vermin. Hitler should have finished his good work. If it were legal, I would murder every God forsaken kike around me with a Louisville Slugger. But it's not, so I'll just keep waiting for the next chance we get.
So, yeah - that's a message I got last week from a viewer out in cyberspace. Now I've known for a while that there are anti-Semites in the world. I even experienced some mild anti-semitism as a kid. But I think a lot of us Jews like to believe that serious anti-semitism, the Hitler-loving kind, is a thing of the past suffered mostly by closed-minded old people. And for any young people that ascribe to those beliefs, well, they're just uneducated and living in the third world. But the delightful message you see above comes from a twenty-five year old American woman named Becky, who appears to like baseball and on the bright side is a law-abiding citizen.
For anyone who's uncomfortable with my making light of this message, don't worry. I'm in no physical danger as I use a fake name, a fake location, and even a body double for anything you've seen on my website. In fact, this might not even be me writing this right now...
I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of the preceding paragraph, but I will admit that I've been known to use humor at times when things are a bit too serious. But now that I'm in a serious mood, let's get serious. Despite the fact that I, thank God, have always felt very safe and secure in this world, for quite some time now, I've had a lurking question in the back of my mind about when it will happen again. The question for me is not "if" but "when" because, unfortunately, as Jewish history has shown us, the trend for the Jewish people seems to be that good times precede bad ones and that nearly every country we've ever lived in has either expelled us or...worse.
But this disquiet that I feel (and that I think many Jews feel deep down) was actually mentioned in the Torah over 3,000 years ago. In sefer Devarim (also known as the book of Deuteronomy), in a section discussing what life in exile will be like, the Torah says:
Among those nations you shall find no respite, no rest for your foot...You will live in constant suspense. Day and night, you will be terrified, never sure of your existence...Such will be the dread that your heart will feel and the sights that your eyes will see.
Pretty dismal, I know, but don't worry, there is a happy ending. The Jewish belief is that this exile won't last forever because at some point in the future (we don't get to know when, much to my chagrin) there will be Utopian, peaceful days (called Y'mos HaMoshiach), and all this irrational hatred will be a thing of the past. Now these Messianic times that I'm describing here are definitely one of the more challenging aspects of Jewish belief as many of us are too jaded to think that everything will just end up "happily ever after." But there's good news for even the jadedest readers out there.
There are two ways that Y'mos HaMoshiach can come about. In the first scenario, these Utopian days will be ushered in only because things have gotten so uncontrollably bad that Y'mos HaMoshiach have to come, lest the world literally destroy itself. (See -- nothing cheery about that.) In the second scenario, the one that I prefer, these Utopian times come in because we, the people, work hard on bringing them ourselves - through kindness to our fellow human beings and through connecting back to our heritage.
Since this Y'mos HaMoshiach business is more a point of faith than a point of science, I'm aware of the fact that we can't know for certain these days will come until they do. But since little ole' Becky is out there practicing swinging her baseball bat, I'm right here (at an undisclosed location) practicing my acts of kindness and Jewish connectivity. Here's to hoping - and praying - that our team comes in first next time.
Why would someone who hate Jews read Jewish sites in the first place. Hatred is only based in one’s own fear and insecurity. If it wasn’t, someone who disliked Jewish people would simply stay away.
The only reason that makes any sense as to address the unparalleled hatred we have always experienced is that along with the knowledge of God in this world, we have brought accountability of one’s actions and the concept of a moral and ethical code.
Posted by nina on June 24, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Becky feels threatened because you are breaking down the stereotypes and you actually making sense! Her world is crumbling. Better to get rid of all of us than face that fact.
Posted by chanie on October 18, 2009 at 9:22 pm
It’s interesting, because I feel that living in America, we feel very disconnected from this part of galus. At least I do. I’m comfortable in all of my daily errands. Occasionally, if I’m going to an out-of-the-way location, I’ll just pop on a sheitel and “blend in” a little more (well, unless it’s August).
However, I think that on the spiritual side, we feel this more. With most everyone worrying about how to keep their kids “on the derech,” it’s more of a spiritual uncertainty that we are facing.
Posted by Rivki on November 18, 2011 at 7:08 am