Antisemitism isn’t a historical accident. It’s woven into the very fabric of the human story. Though it often cloaks itself in cultural, economic, or ethnic explanations, its roots run much deeper. We, the Jewish people, were summoned to call humanity to a life of godliness and moral spirit. Those who resist that calling, recoiling from the demand for higher moral fitness, naturally despise the people who bear that mission.
Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann, center, musicians and singers from Mishkan Chicago Since antisemitism is rooted in hatred of our moral mission, its eruptions expose deep flaws within the societies that harbor it. When antisemitism flares, it unveils the moral fractures that have long remained hidden beneath the surface. Each manifestation of Jew-hatred is not only a window into the warped minds of our enemies — it is a keyhole through which we glimpse the cultural dysfunction of the world that enabled it.
These are not my words; they are the words of Rabbi Moshe
Taragin, a Yeshiva University-trained rabbi, author, and RAM (Rosh Mesivta) at
Yeshivat Har Etzion - a Hesder Yeshiva in Israel. But they do express my sentiments quite
succinctly.
A recent article in JTA reported the following:
Antisemitic incidents in the United States increased once again in 2024, the Anti-Defamation League reported, reaching a new all-time high and providing the latest indicator of a continued surge in antisemitism following October 7, 2023.
Although the rise in campus antisemitism has been attributed
to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Rabbi Taragin’s observation has bearing
on this statistic. The promiscuous culture that pervades college campuses today
is not only tolerated but facilitated by universities like Yale, which require
first-year students to reside in co-ed dorms. The idea of pre marital sex is
as accepted as drinking coffee for breakfast - a behavior religious people consider immoral.
Thus, students who have been committing antisemitic acts - ostensibly in protest of Israel’s war against Hamas and the excessive
‘civilian’ casualties suffered by Palestinians - already harbor negative
attitudes toward the morality that Jews have historically championed through
the bible. Having rejected biblical concepts of morality in favor of a
hedonistic mantra (“if it feels good, do it” — a refrain born from the Baby
Boomer generation of the 1960s), it becomes all too easy to increase their
animus toward the people who brought a moral rulebook into the world. A
rulebook they wish to ignore.
Be that as it may, campus antisemitism is increasing. There
is no doubt about that. If anyone can accurately measure the level of
antisemitism occurring anywhere in this country, it is the Anti-Defamation
League, an organization created for precisely that purpose.
If you are a Jew living in this country - especially if you have children attending college - you should be more than a bit concerned about this. If it were me, I would be screaming bloody murder at the government if they were doing nothing about it. Or if they only paid lip service by condemning it, setting up commissions to study it, and politely asking universities to do better in protecting Jewish students. I would be livid at that kind of ‘ho-hum’ attitude.
But that is almost exactly how the last administration
handled it. They seemed to back the tepid responses of university presidents,
who kept insisting they were protecting ‘free speech’ by allowing pro-Hamas
campus protesters to call for the genocide of the Jewish people in Israel.
Along came a group of legislators in both the House and
Senate who saw what was happening and would not stand for it. The House held hearings
and called out the antisemitism on campuses. Their efforts cost three
university presidents their jobs. But other than that, little changed. Campus
antisemitism has only worsened since then.
Now, along comes a new administration, finally putting some
teeth into that demand. One would think that Jews of all religious
denominations would cheer such actions. But, as we all know by now, the true
religion of many in the heterodox Jewish world is not Judaism. It is a
combination of progressivism and anti-Trumpism.
Thus, they have condemned the common-sense actions of
deporting antisemitic instigators calling for Jewish genocide in Israel. Calling
it a violation of their civil rights. Last week, I reported about an open
letter signed by a group of heterodox rabbis doing exactly that. They have now been
joined by another group of heterodox rabbis and cantors from Chicago. As reported
by the JTA:
Over 100 rabbis and cantors in the Chicago area have signed a letter denouncing the Trump administration’s recent series of funding cuts and arrests on college campuses…
“Many of these actions have been presented as in defense of the Jewish community. Yet in truth, Jewish fear is being used as a fig leaf for an anti-democratic agenda of mass deportations, civil rights rollbacks, and attacks on higher education,” read the letter, which was published as an advertisement in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday.
The best way to describe these people is as useful idiots.
By protesting these sensible government measures to decrease campus antisemitism
they are aiding and abetting its increase.
The true religion of these Chicago rabbis and cantors is progressivism
and its guiding principles are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The
fundamentals of Torah, Avodah (prayer), and Gemilas Chasodim (acts of kindness to
fellow Jews) is practically nonexistent. To the extent that they do practice acts of
kindness - it does not seem to apply to Jewish college students.
They are willing to sacrifice Jewish students on the altar of DEI. And care little about the continued descent into the abyss of immorality that has become so common on college campuses today. Unless one is raised with the religious values of the Bible and absorbs them deeply into their moral compass, it is all too easy to fall prey to the prevailing value system on campus of ‘if it feels good, do it.’
Where premarital sex was once considered taboo, today - 90% of Americans have had premarital sex before marriage. I would not be surprised if some (most?) of these heterodox Chicago rabbis and cantors fall into that category themselves. In fact, I recall one such young heterodox rabbi praising her ability to get an abortion after getting pregnant by her boyfriend at an inconvenient time.
Anyone who looks to these people for moral guidance ought to think about that.
