This past weekend it was once again my privilege to attend the annual NCSY Midwest Mesorah Region annual conclave. This is a convention of NSCYers from eight states and one province in Canada. Every time I go I am inspired by what I see and this year was no exception. Teenagers from all walks of life in various stages of observance (some never having experienced a real Shabbos) all together eagerly learning about Torah Judasim and loving it.
As always it was a fun weekend for these kids heavily sprinkled with Torah and inspirational stories of sacrifice for Judaism. NCSY usually has a guest speaker at these events and this year it was Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. The theme of the conclave this year was “Fear versus Faith”. And who better than to speak on this issue than a woman who has survived the horrors of the holocaust and has built one of the most successful outreach programs in America, Hineni. So she spoke. And indeed she inspired… with true stories of her father, grandfather, and others who sacrificed much to remain Frum even through the darkest days of the holocaust. Many tears were shed at the two sessions where she spoke.
But in the course of her presentation she started to compare the current situation of the Jewish people to that of pre-war Germany: “It’s 1938 all over again, my friends!” I was taken aback by this statement. She went on to compare various events, how Jews reacted to them then, and how they react now. She said we are falling in to the same trap of complacency as Jews of America in 1938. She warned that we are living at the most dangerous time since the holocaust. And then she cited examples to make her point: The apparent impotency of the Israel military, the lack of will in the Israeli populace so necessary to fight and win wars… Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s vow to wipe Israel off the map, his nuclear ambitions, and his holocaust denial… Islamic fundamentalists that are willing to give up their lives in the cause of killing Jews, making them more dangerous than Nazis… former President Carter’s new book bashing Israel… universities as hotbeds of anti-Israel ideologies (read: Anti Jewish) The appeasement attitudes of the newly elected Democratic congress… and many more such indicators all leading up to her point that “It is 1938 all over again!”
I agree with every point she made. But in this case, the total is not equal to the sum of all of its parts. While there should obviously be great concern for all the problems she listed, we are NOT living in 1938. The differences between then and now are far greater then are the similarities. Indeed I found it a bit strange the she preceded this “warning” about our state with her own inspirational story that in fact contradicted her conclusion. It had just happened:
It was the newly revamped Yad VaShem dedication in Israel. Leaders from many countries were invited to participate and many came. President Bush could not attend so he called Rebbetzin Jungreis to represent him at the affair. She was given a Presidential plane and some US officials to accompany her. 1938 All Over again? I don’t think so. Can anyone imagine something like this having taken place in 1938? Even France, perhaps the most anti-Semitic country in Western Europe has just given their highest medal, The Legion of Honor, to a Jew whose mission in life is to fight anti-Semitism. One may not like Abe Foxman, but one cannot deny his identify as a Jew or his position as National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. And Israel, with all of its problems is still a military power house with nuclear weapons… unlike 1938 where it was powerless. The US has never had a closer relationship with Israel than it does now. This is true of Democrat and Republican administrations.
Rebbitzin Jungries underestimates the American people if she thinks we are in 1938 all over again. As I posted yesterday, the American people are a great people… yes even Democrats. To say we are in 1938 is far from accurate. Of course there are similarities, and as she pointed out in some ways it is worse. But in no way are we in any danger both now and in the immediate future of concentration camps, gas chambers, and crematoria.
In no way are we going to be subject to cruel medical experiments. The holocaust denying Ahmadinejad is evil. And he would wipe out the State of Israel if he could. But he is not Hitler. He has not rounded up the Jews of Iran and put them in concentration camps, nor will he. Europe of 2006, as anti-Semitic as they are, is not Europe of 1938 where much of its citizenry were all to eager to collaborate with the Nazis.
This does not mean that the problems she enumerated aren’t real. They most certainly are. And they need to be dealt with. And as I wrote on a previous post, I am pessimistic about the convergence of all those negative events that are impacting us… as so ably enumerated by Rebbitzin Jungries. But please let’s not overstate our case. Doing so does nobody any good and just turns a legitimate concern into hysterics. And that de-legitimizes us. We need to be accurate, if we want to be heard. Otherwise we are going to be perceived by all as hysterical alarmists and no one will pay us any serious heed.
