27 Aug ANTISEMITES ARE ATTACKING THE TALMUD

This week, a Jew
hater with 1.6 million
Twitter followers
posted an image
consisting of a
collection of supposed
passages from the
Talmud that paint Jews
as disparaging towards and discriminating
against non-Jews, seeing them as inferior,
and treating them with a bias and double
standard. The image isn’t new but this was
likely the biggest audience it had ever been
published to. Some of the quotes don’t exist
altogether, others are taken out of context,
and others are intentionally misrepresented
or misquoted. No matter, the post was
viewed more than 5.9 million times, liked
more than 33,000 times and shared 8,300
times.
I posted the following in response:
Since the Talmud was written it has been
misquoted, twisted and used to fuel and
justify antisemitism. Those who hosted
“disputations” disappeared into oblivion
while the Talmud is alive, well and studied
more than ever around the world. @
DanBilzerian and @RealCandaceO – you
don’t scare us. You will long be gone and
the Talmud will continue to light up the
world.
Putting Judaism on trial goes back to our
very beginning. Avraham holds a religious
debate with Nimrod. The Talmud records
stories of disputations between Jews and
Roman tormentors. In the Middle Ages,
Jews were forced to defend the Talmud
against Christians authorities who accused

it of containing blasphemy and anti-
Christian sentiments. Some famous

incidents include Nicholas Donin, a Jewish
apostate, disputing R’ Yechiel of Paris in
1240 that resulted in the burning of 24
wagonloads of hand-written volumes of
Talmud (which was memorialized in a
Kinnah we recited last week). In 1263,
King James I of Spain ordered the Ramban
to debate with apostate Pablo Christiani at a
disputation in Barcelona. In the 15th
century, R’ Yosef Albo participated in the
disputation of Tortosa. In 1757 in Kamenets,
Polish Jewry was tasked with defending
Judaism and the Talmud against Jacob
Frank that included the spurious blood libel
charge, the false accusation that Jews baked
their matzahs with the blood of murdered
Christian babies. The list could—and sadly
does—go on and on.
The more things change, the more they
stay the same. Who would believe that in

2024, public personalities with large
platforms could continue to shamelessly
promote blood libels and unfounded
accusations about the Talmud to an
audience eager to hear it.
The response to my post was predictable,
but it was nonetheless jarring. A torrent of
antisemitism, including hundreds of
hateful comments, were unleashed in my
direction. A small sample of some of the
ones I can print here:
• “The only lighting up the Talmud
should do is when it’s drenched in
gasoline and set fire to.”
• “Nicholas Donin was a hero”
• “The Talmud is satanic garbage”
An educator named Rabbi Yisrael M.
Eliashiv wrote a detailed thread addressing
each of the alleged Talmudic statements,
finding and posting original sources, and
debunking the lies in the offensive image.
He introduced it by saying, “Preface: None
of this is new; most of these fake quotes
originate from a couple of antisemitic
German books that are over a hundred years
old and they’ve been debunked over and
over in many places. Sadly, most of them
are not so accessible so I’ll go over them
myself.”
Impressively, the response has been
viewed 2.1 million times. While it does
set the record straight for those who are
willing to read it and be open to the truth,
sadly, that number is less than half of the
number who read the original, hateful
post.
The Jewish people are under attack. We
are the target of false accusations and
distortions of our Torah, of our country,
and of our people. Ignorance is not bliss,
it is irresponsible. How can we expect
others to defend us if we are unaware and
unfamiliar with the facts and truths
ourselves? We may well encounter a

hateful antisemite, or even someone well-
intentioned who came across a post that

made them question what we believe, who
saw something that makes them ask us
about our sacred texts. When the moment
arises at the watercooler at work, on the
checkout line of the supermarket, or with
our seatmate on the plane, will we be
ready, armed and informed with the facts?
Are our children sufficiently literate on
the basics of our people, our history, our
Torah, and Israel to stand up and defend if
they are ever under attack?
Our rabbis teach (Pirkei Avos 2:14):
ַר ּ ִַּבי ֶאְֶלְָעָָזָר אֹוֵמר, ֱהֵו ׁ ֵי ָׁשקּוד ִלְִלְֹמֹד ּתֹוָרָה, ְו ְַדַע
ַ.מַה ֶּׁשָּׁתִּׁשׁיב ְלְֶאִֶּפּיקֹורֹוס
Rebbe Elazar said: Be diligent in the
study of the Torah and know how to
answer an apikores, a heretic.
Commentators wonder, why doesn’t
Rebbe Elazar command us tashiv, answer

the apikores, the disputer, why is the
instruction dah, know what to answer?
They answer that the greatest response to
our enemies and attackers is not necessarily
to engage and debate but to be
knowledgeable, literate, informed,
passionate and practicing. That is why the
Mishna begins by telling us to be diligent in
studying Torah. How much? Until you are
armed with the knowledge, confidence, and
clarity to not be threatened or challenged by
the apikores and instead to live a passionate,
rich Jewish life.
Just like the antagonists and disputants
who came before, Dan Bilzerian, Candace
Owens and the raging antisemites of our
time will not be effective and will not be
remembered, but our sacred Torah and our
timeless Talmud will continue to be learned
around the world.
If they are looking into the Talmud to
discredit it, we must be inspired to look
more often and more deeply into our
Talmud to be informed, inspired and guided
by it.
We must continue to confront and stop
antisemites, but the most important response
we can offer is to not only never apologize,
be ashamed or defensive of our Talmud or
tradition, but to channel their hate into a
greater love and commitment for our
wisdom and our way of life.
They want us to stop learning and living
Torah? The response must be to learn it and
live it more. They want us to abandon our
values? Lean into them, hold on to them
stronger, tighter. They want you to hide
your yarmulka, tuck in your tzizis? Get a
bigger yarmulka, longer tzitzis.
Someone asked me, if I had $100 million
to fight antisemitism what would I do? I
said I wouldn’t buy ads on television or hire
lobbyists in Congress. I would put every
penny into reaching out to our Jewish
brothers and sisters to stand taller, prouder,
to live more Jewishly. I would send a
mezuzah for every Jew and every Jewish
student on a college campus to hang on
their door. I would send candles for every
Jew to light Friday night or for Chanukah.
We cannot win if we don’t know what we
are fighting for. Become a better, bigger,
and more practicing and learned Jew.