Why is There Antisemitism?

As I touched on in my previous article The Shocking Truth, the antisemitism that has reared its ugly head around the world in response to the current war in Gaza has reached previously unheard-of levels. 

If you haven’t figured it out already, you can’t convince these people. They don’t want the truth; they don’t care about the truth!  

Of course, there are some clueless people out there, but the stark reality of the genocide of Oct. 7 pushes people to choose sides. In fact, Rabbi Arush said that is one of the purposes of this war! Those that were not sure before where truth and good lies, and which side is evil, saw it plain and clear before their eyes. If at this point, they still don’t get it – they aren’t going to get it. 

I’ve said since the beginning of the war that as we prove without a shadow of a doubt that Hamas broke international law a hundred different ways, the antisemites won’t care and won’t change their minds – their rationalizations will just get more and more ludicrous. 

And that’s what we’ve indeed seen so far. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, I see a comment that Jews aren’t descendants from Abraham, or that Jews are an “invented race.” Or a recent post that Jesus was Palestinian which was made fun of by the official Israel feed… All those terror tunnels – 1,500 that the IDF has uncovered thus far – the IDF built those in 1982! Or the videos were faked! Oh, and the videos from Oct. 7 were faked too, just to justify the “Israeli colonizers” to go after another “Gaza genocide.”  

For sure these outrageous claims by antisemites are classic psychopathic gaslighting. But this is still the sad reality – a good chunk of this world is living in total delusions against God, and His people. 

The million-dollar question is: WHY? 

Someone asked Rabbi Arush on a recent Q&A video why so many people aren’t changing their minds after seeing the videos of Oct. 7. He answered simply: “They are against God, who is Truth. They don’t want the truth. The problem is inside them, so no matter how much truth you show them, it won’t help, the lies will come right back to them.”  

That’s exactly it: Jews represent God. God is holy, and each and every Jew is holy!  

We represent truth, and goodness. We are God’s nation, God’s people. We learn and teach the Torah, which is God’s Eternal wisdom and truth. Jewish law is God’s law!  

And they don’t want that. The same liberalism that promotes equality, also promotes the freedom to do anything you want, so long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. But the reality of God negates that, because if there is a God who created you – then not only do you have a purpose in life, but you must now also follow His rules.  

The reality is that the rules and regulations and laws of the Torah actually serve to reign in the lusts of the body and confusions of the mind. Torah laws give a human a fighting chance to reach up to Godliness, which is our purpose in life – instead of wallowing in muck. Without keeping Torah, a person isn’t free – they are a slave to their bodies, instead of the body serving the soul.  

Of course, they don’t understand that – they want the freedom to commit every abomination and immoral act in the book, without consequences, without morality, without conscience. The very existence of even one single Jew in the world negates that, even if that Jew never says a word to anyone.  

(PS The Kalever Rebbe also discusses this topic in his article The “Progressive” Culture? – I highly recommend you check it out!) 

The Hidden Message 

I would like to posit that there is an even deeper message behind this irrational refusal to care about facts, truth, and reality. 

Rabbi Arush’s teachings are based on spiritual laws. Just like there are physical laws like gravity, so too, there are spiritual laws. Check out Rabbi Arush’s new clip on the topic, Cancel All Your Suffering.

One of the laws that Hashem uses to run the world is called midda k’neged midda – measure for measure, tit-for-tat. For instance, someone who has mercy on others – Hashem has mercy on him – and the opposite, G-d forbid.  

One aspect of this is that we can understand His messages because He does to us what we are doing to others, in order for us to understand our mistakes and repent.  

Hence, if antisemites are stubbornly refusing to recognize the truth – then it must be that in some way, the Jewish people are also stubbornly refusing to recognize the truth! Both on a communal, and individual, level. 

Just take a minute to contemplate that, with all of its ramifications. 

And I challenge you to decide to do one thing differently because of it. 

That being said, thank G-d! One of the miracles of the last couple months is that Jews now are starting to get it, starting to realize that if they hate us for being Jews–maybe we should go find out what being Jewish really is?   

Because they want to kill us no matter what we wear, with or without a kippah, regardless of our political or religious opinions.

Update: If you still aren’t convinced of just how clear and present the danger is to Jews in America, journalist Ami Horowitz spoke to 35 random students on a left-leaning campus. 80% of them supported killing Jews around the world, specifically hitting soft targets like schools and synagogues. 50% were willing to put money towards the cause. Not one pushed back. Watch for yourself. 

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Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far-off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of the university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.   
  
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.