samet@sfmag.UUCP (A.I.Samet) (04/17/85)
Saturday night I was hit with an egg thrown from a moving car
while sitting in my car in Lakewood NJ. (Lakewood is a town with
a large and visible population of orthodox Jews.) This is a first
for me, (although some stuff has been thrown at me on the net).
Still, I don't find myself surprised. I'd like to explain why.
The mishna in tractate Sotah lists a number of "signs" of
decadence that will occur when the world sinks to a low point in
morality, prior to the coming of the moshiach. One of the more
cryptic signs mentioned is "The face of the generation will be
like the face of a dog." The dog is often used as a symbol of
arrogance, but it is far from obvious what the mishna is saying.
The Chofetz Chaim offered the following interpretation: When
someone hits a dog with a stick, the dog tends to bite at the
stick rather than at the person who is wielding it. (I never
tried it.) The mishna is saying that people will be so far from
spiritual consciousness that they will focus on the superficial
causes for their misfortunes rather than understanding them as a
form of Divine warning or of retribution.
A constant and pervasive theme in the Torah and the prophets is
that man's merit before G*d determines his right to a home in
this world. Adam harishon, the first man, was given the most
ideal existence, in gan eden, but was forcefully evicted when he
declined by eating the forbidden (unkosher) fruit. Cain's sin
resulted in his being condemned by G*d to be a wanderer, i.e., he
lost his right to settle down in the world. The generation of
the flood was totally uprooted from the world for it's sins.
Conversely, when Avraham found favor with Hashem, one of the most
important rewards he received was Eretz Yisroel, a dwelling place
for himself and his progeny. Even so, we as a people continually
experienced cycles of security in Eretz Yisroel followed by
expulsion and dispersion. The prophets speak incessantly about
the causal connection between our merit as a people and our right
to remain peacefully in our land.
As part of this perspective, antisemitism is viewed as a kind of
feedback from heaven, a reminder that we are Jewish, and often a
warning that we are erring in our ways. The Torah warns us of
punishment if we drift from the mitzvas and promises us
protection, blessings, and serenity if we cling to them,
resisting assimilation and the corrupting influneces of the non-
Torah cultures around us.
This understanding helps place the major tragedies of our history
in perspective - the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem, our
expulsion to the diaspora, millenia of persecution, the
holocaust, hatred of Israel, etc. It also explains the secret to
our survival. We merit surviving as a people to the extent that
we remain faithful to our heritage and our true identity - a Holy
nation with a spiritual mission.
German Jews were especially advanced along the road to
assimilation and the strongest reaction came from Germany. I'm
not saying that we shouldn't take practical measures to protect
ourselves. It's just that the success of our defenses depends on
our merit as a people in G*d's eyes. The fact that this is a
major biblical theme surprises many Jews. Our religion tends to
get bent to fit modern values. Pesach celebrates our redemtion
from Egypt by G*d, not our fighting for civil rights. Chanukah
celebrates our succesful military struggle as a miracle which we
earned by resisting Greek culture, not by being strongmen. (The
traditional prayers say "You delivered the mighty into the hands
of the weak, the impure to the hands of the pure, the wicked into
the hands of the rightous, wilful sinners into the hands of those
who absorbed themselves with your Torah..."). Purim celebrates
miraculous salvation from physical destruction. There, the
Talmud explains, the threat of destruction by Haman was a Divine
reaction to assimilation and idolatry.
Whoever tosses eggs at Jews is, in some respect, a messenger from
heaven. To some readers this may sound "heretical", but I hope
they will try to react in a less ovular manner.
Yitzchok Samet