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Malcolm Hoenlein On Antisemitism Today
Malcolm Hoenlein is an American activist who served as the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations[1] from June 1986 until 2019. He recently spoke with Yated about worldwide antisemitism.
How is the subject of anti-Semitism expressed in the Conference?
It has accelerated increasingly. We must deal with it full force and with all means at our disposal. This issue is of major importance in the Conference, in programs and discussions. and it dealt with it at length. Antisemitism is on the increase, getting worse with each day, here in the U.S., especially so in New York.
New York has an anti-Semitic mayor and we must inspect the ways of dealing with it very seriously in order for our work to be effective, not only through money but in formulating our position and purposes.
The issue of the 'spying' which was relegated somewhere to marginal news reports is an additional testimony to the seizing control of the judicial system and its subsidiaries upon Israeli democracy.
Let us first present the facts: after the affair burst upon the scene four years ago when the researcher-reporter exposed the news that the police employed certain espionage programs (that were able to read the contents of people's cell phones) against citizens without receiving a judicial green light, the government advocacy created the Merary Committee which sat and examined the subject, eventually determining that it merely involved four single cases, using forbidden programs alone.
This was a cover-up committee that had not truly examined the issue, because the report of the national supervisory body of a month before determined that during those years when the Merary Committee was supposed to examine the issue, the police had really carried out thousands of wiretappings by installing spying devices.
Part IV
This was first published in 1994.
The first part introduced HaRav Zeitchik and the general Novardok experience. The focus here is on his later years in Eretz Yisroel. It discusses various ideas and themes that were part of the life of HaRav Zeitchik zt"l. Here he discusses life under Communist persecution.
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Organizing a Minyan
Later on, as I continued to be persecuted by the treacherous regime of evil, I undertook to organize communal services, like gathering a minyan and so on. These were considered counterrevolutionary activities, punishable even by death. But I persevered, and emerged safely from encounter after encounter, each one a miracle which I sought to etch in my memory so that I would continue to appreciate Hashem's divine Providence towards me, personally, event after event, year after year.
A Moment of Truth—And Its Aftermath
In 1950, the newspapers reported a typical incident which sheds light on the convolutions of the human spirit which are brought to light in all their glory only in time of danger. And when that danger passes and everything quiets down, the soul dons its former inscrutable garb.
An airplane was en route to Prague when a engine broke down. The captain announced to the passengers that they would have to make a forced landing. Worst of all, they would not be able to reach land in time. Many passengers fainted out of fear; others wept and wailed. One leaned over and whispered to his wife that since death was nigh, he wished to confess and beg her forgiveness that in his youth, he had been unfaithful to her. The wife, equally terrified by the specter of death, generously forgave him, for what did such things matter in the face of death?
Meanwhile, somehow the situation stabilized and the airplane found itself out of danger. The captain announced that they would soon be reaching their destination. In a flash, everything returned to normal and all the passengers reverted to their petty, selfish interests and foibles. The very man who had confessed his breach of faith now retracted his words and dismissed them entirely. His wife, who had forgiven his misdeed, took back her forgiveness and demanded justification. All of her gentleness vanished in a flash and she became a harsh, vindictive female.
The above scenario should serve us as a clear testimony to what the threat of danger can do to a person by way of purification. The moment of crisis puts everything into a different perspective; it makes man shake off all his pettiness and look at things squarely. All the vanities and falsity of life fall by the wayside and become inane in the face of a life-death situation. When life returns to its routine, things fall back into their rut and the soul wallows in lies, hypocrisy and masquerade. Only at the brink of death can the soul recapture some measure of purity and begin to doff its defiled garments which it wore during life and which concealed its true beauty and clarity. Our Sages say that at the moment of death, even the wicked are given a glimpse of the Shechinah.
When a tzaddik is confronted with death, he becomes all the more purified, but he will retain the glory of the moment of truth forever afterwards. He will maintain the level of purity and will be reinforced by his glimpse of eternity. He will realize that his brush with death was contrived in order to improve and purge him and he will relish, recall and revel in that unique experience for the remainder of his life.
Yitzchok Ovinu said: "Lo, I have aged and I do not know the day of my death." The Sforno comments that the closer a person comes to his actual point of death, the more powerful is the blessing he confers, just as we later see with Yaakov and Moshe, for at this point, the soul is being severed from its material shackles.
Rain and Kinneret Watch by Dei'ah
Vedibur Staff
Our weekly report of the rain and the level of the Kineret
- Winter, 5786.
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A Small Compartment
by HaGaon Hatzaddik R' Chaim Friedlander zt'l
The Midrash Rabba, Parshas Terumah states: "`And they shall take unto Me an offering' -- this is what is referred to by, `For a goodly counsel (lekach tov) have I given you; do not abandon My Torah/teaching.' Do not forsake the bargain, mekach, I have given you . . . A man sometimes makes a purchase, the worth of which is yet unknown to others. But the brokerage fee can give us an idea of the value of the merchandise. Thus it was with the Torah: people did not know the nature or value of Torah when it was first given. But from the reward given to Moshe, the fact that his face radiated brightly with a holy light, its value became apparent to all."
How, we cannot help wondering, was the fact of Moshe's shining face an expression of the great acquisition which the Jews had made?
The Midrash continues:
"Here was a sale in which the seller was sold together with the goods. Hashem said to Yisroel: `I sold you My Torah, it is as if I sold Myself along with it, as it were, as it is written, "And you shall take unto Me an offering."' This can be likened to a king who had an only daughter. One day, a foreign king came and married her and sought to take her back home with him to his country. Said the father: `My daughter is my only child! I cannot bear to be separated from her; however, I cannot stand in the way since she is your wife. Do me, then, this one favor. Wherever you go, set aside a small cubicle for me, so that I can come and dwell near you, since I cannot part with her.' Said Hashem to Yisroel: `I have given you My Torah. To part with it, I cannot. To tell you to return it, I cannot. Rather, set aside for Me a small place for Me to dwell, wherever you go, so that I can be near it, as it is written, `And they shall make for Me a sanctuary.'"
We must better understand the words of the Midrash. Why is the giving of the Torah considered a purchase, a transfer? And why to such a degree that Hashem declares that He cannot be parted from it? The Torah belongs and will always belong to the One Who gave it! How can it be otherwise? The parable of the king and the daughter does not seem appropriate at all!
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Let us dwell for a moment on the rays of glory which emanated from Moshe Rabbenu in an effort to better understand the words of the Midrash.
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Derech Eretz and Much Torah -- The Jewish Community of Syria
by A. Ariel
Now when Syria is so much in the news because of the (stalled) peace talks, it is a good time to recall the illustrious Jewish community that flourished for thousands of years in Syria. This first part reviews the history, and the second part presents biographies of some of Syria's major rabbonim.
Part I
The once flourishing Jewish community of Aram Tzova, whose acronym spells out eretz -- Aleppo, Syria -- is no more. Its last rabbi has left. The shutters in the Jewish quarter have been shut for the last time as Jews have found their way out after selling their property and possessions for pennies while others have preferred not to sell. Shattered windows of apartments above the shuttered storefronts testify to empty interiors and to the hatred that propelled the stones and their throwers. For close to thirty years, the sound that once wafted from the many small synagogues has been stilled. Only unheard echoes still reverberate from those sounds that rippled outward for hundreds of years. Only the walls bear witness to the life that resounded within.
An illustrious community that was -- and is no more.
"You shall make midnight in Damascus," said Ben Hadad to Achav (Melochim I, 20). From then until very recently, there has been a Jewish settlement in Damascus. This city was a source of prosperity, of solid establishment. Historically, it has always been a flourishing, burgeoning city, situated at the central crossroads of east and west and an excellent source of livelihood for Jews living amidst peace and tranquility.
Throughout all periods, that of the Mishna and of the Talmud, during times of persecution or prosperity in the Holy Land, Jews in Syria have always enjoyed serenity and quiet. Even occasional bouts of oppression did not change the general character of the community, which knew when to lay low in face of the enemy, and to reassert itself when winds changed and to stage a comeback.
An Ancient Community
The Jewish community in Damascus has existed throughout the generations. One of the synagogues there boasted, until several years ago, a sefer Torah that had been written a thousand years ago. It also possessed a handwritten scroll of Nevi'im very artistically illuminated with colorful illustrations of the Beis Hamikdash, the walls of Jerusalem, the Mishkon and its golden vessels.
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