30 Jan ANTISEMITISM IS SCARY, THIS SHOULD BE SCARIER

According to a new
ADL report,
antisemitism in the
United States has
“skyrocketed” since
Hamas’s October 7
invasion of Israel. In
the last three months, there were 3,283
antisemitic incidents including 60 physical
assaults, 553 incidents of vandalism and
1,353 incidents of harassment. That is more
than four times the number that occurred
during the same period last year. In the
aftermath of Claudine Gay’s resignation
from the Harvard presidency, Harvard’s
anonymous campus social media platform
Sidechat has been filled with an unprecedented
level of overt antisemitism. All posters on
Sidechat are current undergraduates, graduate
students, continuing education students,
alumni, faculty, or staff.
The wave of antisemitism is deeply
troubling, disconcerting and profoundly
worrying. We must do all we can to confront
it, combat it, call it out, and create
consequences for those who practice it. And
yet, while alarming, there is something even
more destructive, devastating, and dangerous
to the safety and security of our Jewish
future. Even with its meteoric rise, the
statistical threat of antisemitism pales in
comparison to the crisis of assimilation: the
damage we are doing to ourselves and our
contributions to the disappearance of our
people.
In the United States, intermarriage was rare
until the middle of the 20th century, with
rates never rising above 3%. In 1964, the
intermarriage rate had risen to 7%. Today,
70% of secular Jews in the United States, and
50% in Europe, are married to non-Jews.
In contrast to the other denominations,
studies show that the Orthodox community is
on the rise and exhibit high levels of
demographic stability. While that conclusion
is gratifying and validating, it is absolutely
no cause for celebration or triumphalism; the
hemorrhaging of other denominations is not
the result of Jews flocking to the Orthodox
community.
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l wrote
(Tradition, Spring 1982):
Nor do I share the glee some feel over the
prospective demise of the competition.
Surely, we have many sharp differences with
the Conservative and Reform movements,
and these should not be sloughed over or
blurred. However, we also share many values
with them – and this, too, should not be
obscured. Their disappearance might
strengthen us in some respects, but would
unquestionably weaken us in others. And of
course, if we transcend our own interests and
think of the people currently served by these
movements – many of them, both presently
and potentially, well beyond our reach or ken
– how would they, or klal Yisrael as a whole,
be affected by such a change? Can anyone
responsibly state that it is better for a marginal

Jew in Dallas or Dubuque to lose his religious
identity altogether rather than drive to his
temple?
If the muscles of the left arm atrophy or the
arm needs to be amputated, it is hardly a
comfort that the right arm is strong and has
larger muscles than ever. Sadly, rather than
an honest review and return to tradition,
ritual and halacha, there has been a doubling
down of the policies and ideology that have
brought these results to begin with.
Some have suggested an embrace of
patrilineal descent as a solution. Others
argue it is time for rabbis to officiate at
intermarriages. Aside from representing
gross distortions of Halacha, mesorah and the
will of the Almighty, these suggestions don’t
actually address the core issues. They simply
attempt to put a Band-Aid over a deeply
infected wound that is gushing blood.
Indeed, they are the equivalent of cooking the
books or manipulating earnings so that they
appear to report profit instead of loss.
Recognizing patrilineal descent or accepting
intermarriage just gives the illusion of
addressing the problem; it doesn’t actually do
anything to address the very real threat facing
the future of American non-orthodox Jewry.
If one thinks the Orthodox community is
unaffected by these suggested monumental
shifts in policy, they are grossly mistaken.
Individuals and families who will have
grown up thinking they are Jewish will meet
our children through NCSY or at their college
Hillel and their Jewish status will come into
question. Children who apply to attend day
schools or families that will seek membership
in our shuls may have questionable statuses.
These potential shifts in policy and practice
will not only fail to stem assimilation, but it
will further divide our people. This is not a
hypothetical issue that may arise in the
future. This is happening now in our own
institutions and among families in our own
community. I see these issues arise frequently
– and tragically.
Intermarriage is not a Reform or
Conservative challenge, it is not the problem
of the “unaffiliated” or “secular.” Too many
Orthodox parents have reached out to me
about their children who have gone through a
robust Jewish education and grew up in
observant homes who have met someone
non-Jewish and are building a life with them.
We are one people, one nation, and we are
watching our family hemorrhage.
Antisemitism and assimilation are not only
both rising dangerous threats, our response to
both must be one and the same – more Jewish
pride, more Jewish practice, more Jewish
passion. When talking about the mitzvah of
tzitizis, our rabbis (Bamidbar Rabbah 17:6
and see Nesivos Shalom) provide the
following metaphor. A person was once cast
into the sea and was drowning. The Coast
Guard threw the person a rope and said grab
on. If you hold onto it, you will survive but if
you let go, you will be swept away and
disappear. Wearing tzitzis reminds us of our

commitment and responsibility to a
life of Torah and mitzvos. Grabbing
on to those ropes and what they stand
for gives us life. Tzitzis themselves
are not the solution, but they are
symbol of a lifestyle of mitzvos. Eitz
chaim hi la’machazikim bah, the Torah
is the tree of life for those who grab
onto it. Let it go and you will be swept
away.
The storms of change are raging
around us. The current is getting
stronger and stronger and sweeping more and
more people away. The only way to stay
safe, and remain true to our values, our
traditions and our obligations, is to make a
commitment to not only hold on to Torah, but
to demonstrate a willingness to swim
upstream at times, to go against the tide, to
dare to be different and to be willing to stand
out. This is no easy task and takes great
courage, but we have it within our very DNA
because our great patriarch Avraham planted
it there. Avraham was called Avraham
Ha’Ivri meaning mei’eiver, on the other side.
When the whole world took one position and
stood on one side, he had the courage to stand
out, remain true to the vision and will of the
Almighty, and to stand on the other side, even
when it meant standing by himself.
The great Piacetzner Rebbe, R’ Kalonymous
Kalman Shapira writes in his spiritual diary,
Tzav V’Ziruz:
You cannot remain static in this torrent river
just by standing firm in your place – you must
actively swim against the flow. You may not
be successful in swimming upstream, but at
least you will not be swept down by the flow.
So it is with spiritual life and the purity of
spirit that you have attained. You cannot
retain them against the flow unless you
continue to struggle for spiritual growth. You
must swim upstream without respite –
upward, onward against the flow. There may
be a limit to how far you can go, but at least
you will not be drawn down with the flow.
W.C. Fields once said, “Remember, a dead
fish can float downstream, but it takes a live
one to swim upstream.” Those who are
spiritually dead, cut off from our timeless and
time tested traditions, are floating away. We,
the community who are willing to swim
upstream, must not only swim harder, but we
must be willing to grab on to those around us
and share our life preserver, the Torah.
These findings, both of the rise of
antisemitism and the growth of assimilation,
demand a mass movement of outreach. The
needle won’t move and the problem won’t be
solved by kiruv professionals and rabbis
alone. A difference will only be made when
every Torah shul, institution, and individual
sees as part of their core identity and personal
mission to not only hold on to the sturdy tree
of Torah (eitz chaim hi la’machazikim bah)
to prevent being swept down the river, but to
reach out and extend a hand to those floating
by.

Milton Friedman, the great Nobel Prize-
winning economist and professor at the

University of Chicago, had a very simple
suggestion for how to identify a person or
institution’s priorities. Many people
eloquently describe their beliefs, values, and
principles and talk about what is most
important to them. Friedman advised to
ignore what they say. If you want to truly
know what someone’s priorities are, it is
simple – Look at someone’s budget and you
know what is important to him/her. See how
someone prioritizes their money and you will
know their priorities.
We claim to care about outreach but do our
institutions, shul and schools have an
outreach budget? Do we have dedicated
people working on this cause? Do we put our
money where our mouth is?
This is our generation’s test; it is our
challenge. Many summers ago, I worked at
Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem as an advisor in
their Discovery program. My friend and I
were fresh out of yeshiva and when asked to
recruit at a particular location that we didn’t
feel was appropriate for “Bnei Torah” to
spend time, we resisted. A meeting was
scheduled with Rav Noach Weinberg zt”l,
founder of Aish. After some small talk, he
asked us what the problem was. We explained
that we were yeshiva guys trying to work on
ourselves and we didn’t feel that it would be
good for our neshamos to hang out at an
immodest location. I will never forget what
he answered.
He looked us in the eye and with the greatest
sincerity said, “Let me ask you. If you were
in Eastern Europe and the train was leaving
to Auschwitz and a woman extended her
hand for you to pull her off, would you
hesitate to take it because you are a yeshiva
guy?!” Well, the train is leaving and it is
taking millions not to Auschwitz, but to
assimilation and oblivion. You need to go
recruit and figuratively extend your hand to
pull people off the train and redirect them
from assimilation and into Discovery.”
It has been said that in Europe they killed us
with hate and in America, even with the
rising hate, they are mostly killing us with
love. Will we rise to our generations test and
care enough to not only be willing to swim
upstream ourselves when necessary, to stand
tall, proud, to be passionately practicing, but
also to extend our hand to those around us
who are being swept away. If the answer is
not a resounding “yes,” the consequences of
the combination of antisemitism and
assimilation will be devastating.