War brings anti-Semitism to the fore

Are the clouds of Nazism rolling in once again, or can we draw hope from people of different faiths uniting against the ugly side of human nature?


Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin
Beth Avraham Yoseph Congregation, Toronto

Rabbi Lisa Grushcow
Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Montreal


Rabbi Grushcow: I am not someone who, as a congregant recently put it, “looks for an anti-Semite under every rock.” I believe strongly that Jewish identity in the Diaspora cannot be reduced to supporting Israel and remembering the Holocaust. And yet, recent events, especially in Europe, bring both these aspects of our identities to the fore. Some people argue that the anti-Semitic attacks show the need for Israel as a Jewish homeland. Others point to the irony that Israel’s existence does not necessarily make Jews more safe. So what do we make of this upsurge in anti-Semitism? How might we support Jews in other communities outside Israel? How much should we be concerned by what we are seeing?

Rabbi Korobkin: I was just in Israel for a solidarity mission with UJA, and I can only describe the experience as a mishmash of emotions. On the one hand, we witnessed great anxiety, depression and fear. Our brethren in the southern part of Israel are living with the constant threat of missiles. On the other hand, the optimism, confidence, and resolve of our people are incredible. 

Robert Frost once famously said, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” For the first time in 2,000 years, every single Jew has a “home.” This is the only reassurance that we can offer to Jews around the world today who are experiencing a peaking of anti-Semitism that hearkens back to Europe of 70 years ago. We knew it was inevitable: Jew-hatred has been the consistent dark spot in man’s soul for thousands of years. The only difference is that today we have somewhere to go to when it once again rears its ugly head. 

Rabbi Grushcow:  I read an analysis that suggested one of the mistakes Hamas makes is to assume Israelis are a colonial force and, like the French in Algeria, will retreat under pressure. But for the most part, Israelis are not about to go back to eastern Europe or Morocco or any other points of origin. Israel is home, and somehow we need to find a way to live together without such terrible violence.

Where I disagree is with your statement on anti-Semitism. I don’t believe it is inevitable, and I don’t believe that Israel needs to be the ultimate destination for all the Jews of the world. We don’t help the world, and we don’t help ourselves, by rendering Europe free of Jews. We are seeing the worst side of human nature, but it is not at the behest of fascist governments, as it was in the 1930s. 

We also shouldn’t assume that the world is perpetually at the brink of another Holocaust. People of different faiths are standing together to condemn these attacks, and we are finding many true friends. I am not willing to give up on the Diaspora.

Rabbi Korobkin: When it comes to the human condition, you’re an optimist, I’m a realist. You see the glimmers of humanity and hope amid the rising violence and hatred against Jews, and I – perhaps because I’m a child of a survivor – see the clouds of Nazism rolling in once again. If history has taught us anything, it’s that anti-Semitism resurfaces under a new guise every other generation or so. 

So while I’d like to be positive, I can’t afford to gamble Jewish lives on the altar of idealism. In 1933, when Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, the holy Chafetz Chaim, was told of the impending rise of Nazism in Europe, he responded, based on a verse from Obadiah (1:17) that Zion would always be a place of sanctuary for the Jews. His prophetic words ring as true today as they did before World War II, and while we’re not on the precipice of another Holocaust, we cannot afford to ignore the warning signs, either. 

But here’s where you and I can agree to be optimistic when it comes to the Jewish People: never in the history of mankind has there been a people knocked down so many times, even to the point of utter annihilation, who have risen from the ashes and thrived time and again. Let’s save our optimism for something that’s a sure bet: the successful future of the Jewish People.