30 Jun ANTISEMITISM UNCENSORED: LET THEM AND LET US

Last week, Piers
Morgan, whose show
has over 4 million
subscribers on
Youtube, hosted
virulent and
unapologetic antisemite
Candace Owens.
Seething with hate for the Jewish state and the
Jewish people, Candace opened by calling
Israel a terrorist state and falsely accusing
Israel of perpetrating a genocide and a
holocaust by indiscriminately and intentionally
murdering innocent children in Gaza. She
described AIPAC as owning American policy
and claimed that American soldiers have died
and will continue to die for Israel.
“I would say as an American that if we’re
going to get behind a regime change it should
be in Israel first… I think [that would be] the
position of a lot of people who are waking up
to the fact that Zionism has brought us nothing
but grief in America. Can you name one
positive thing that Zionists have contributed to
America?”
At the conclusion of the interview, Piers
closed by saying, “Candice, always good to
have your views on Uncensored. You know
that I appreciate you coming on. Thank you.”
Good to have your views?! Would it be good
to have the views of a white supremacist, a

member of ISIS, a blatant racist, or anyone
else filled with hate for a particular people and
lies about an entire nation?
Someone shared this clip with me and I only
watched a few moments, but it was enough to
make me want to jump through the screen,
correct the lies, and set the record straight to
both the antisemitic guest and the host who
has sold his soul for views by platforming
such heinous individuals. Hearing them even
for such a brief period of time, and then
catching that conclusion about it being “good”
to have her views, made my blood pressure
rise, my pulse quicken, and my stomach turn.
When I calmed down it quickly struck me –
why in the world did I watch that? Why did I
allow them to take up space in my head and
heart? They certainly didn’t impact my beliefs
or opinions an iota and obviously, being a
passive spectator, I didn’t influence their
views either. All that was accomplished was
giving them another online “view” and
causing me to get terribly upset. In retrospect,
there couldn’t be a worse use of time.
Hearing the distortions, lies, hate, and fake
news about Israel on podcasts, viral clips,
social media and even some mainstream news
programs is infuriating, maddening, and
ultimately unproductive. If we care about our
beloved people and our people’s homeland,
the truth is that there are much better ways to

use our time.
In her bestselling book, “The Let Them
Theory,” Mel Robbins describes an almost
universal phenomenon of wanting to control
everyone and everything around us. We want
to dictate what people say, believe, and do,
and when we can’t, it frustrates us enormously
often leaving us feeling stuck. The Let Them
Theory teaches how to stop wasting energy on
what you can’t control and start focusing on
what you can: YOU.
The theory is made up of two parts, Let Them
and Let Me. When you find someone
speaking, behaving, or believing things that
bother you, frustrate you or disappoint you,
say to yourself – Let Them. Let them think
that, let them say that, let them do that. Let
them. But the theory only works when
followed by Let Me. Let Me focus on myself,
my life, my happiness, what I can control,
what I am supposed to do, who I am supposed
to be.
Robbins writes: “When you say Let Them,
you make a conscious decision not to allow
other people’s behavior to bother you. When
you say Let Me, you take responsibility for
what YOU do next.” Let Them: Have their
opinions, judge your choices, think what they
want, talk behind your back. Let Me: Live
authentically, focus on growth, find happiness.
The brilliance of the theory is its simplicity
and in the book she provides science-backed
evidence for why it works.
Reflecting on the recent Israeli triumph over
Iran and its success fighting on seven fronts
over the last almost two years, one marvels
at Israel’s capacity to practice Let Them and
Let Me. Shutting out all the noise from
around the world, Israel has focused on
what it needs to do and the results are
stunning. By saying “Let them,” let the
haters make noise and “Let us,” let us
eliminate our enemies, neutralize existential
threats, and take a leadership role in
providing security for the Middle East and
the world, Israel has earned both the fear
and respect of unlikely sources. We hope
and pray that it comes to fruition but even
the prospect and rumor of several countries
that were previously hosts to Israel’s
enemies now open to joining the Abraham
Accords is welcome great news.
Rav Soloveitchik commented that slavery
and subjugation come in two different forms
– both the physical component and also a
mentality. Physical slavery means that a
person is literally under the control of
somebody else who decides what he can and
cannot do. The Jewish people who were
under the rule and control of the Egyptians
were released from this form of bondage at
the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Nevertheless,
they still were not freed from their slave
mentality. They still felt inferior, subservient
to the opinion and perspective of other
people. They not only assumed that others
viewed them as “grasshoppers,” as small
and inferior, they allowed that projection to
overwhelm them with fear, hold them back,

and ultimately keep them from the Promised
Land.
For 2,000 years we have been fighting to
survive, subjugated by our host countries who
orchestrated pogroms, attempted to
exterminate us, or expelled us. Today, with
endless gratitude to Hashem, though we
remain in a state of galus, we are physically
and religiously free. Yet, the long conditioned
galus mentality breeds a feeling of inferiority,
a concern for what others think of us. We seek
validation for something as simiple as a right
to exist. The truth is, the opinion we should be
most obsessed about is that of Hashem and the
question of if we are fulfilling His vision and
mission for us.
In the beracha with which we conclude the
maggid section of the seder on Pesach, we
express our hope to experience our final
redemption, when we will praise Hashem al
ge’ulaseinu v’al pedus nafsheinu – “for our
redemption and the redemption of our souls.”
Rav Soloveitchik explained that we anticipate
the time when we will experience not only
ge’ulaseinu, physical redemption, freedom
from those who oppress and exert control over
us, but also pedus nafsheinu – mental freedom,
the freedom from our insecurities and our
sense of inferiority, so that we will have the
confidence to act as we are supposed to act
without worrying how we will be perceived
and what others are thinking and saying.
When Hashem summoned Moshe back to the
top of Mount Sinai to receive the second set of
tablets, He commanded, v’ish lo ya’aleh
imach – “and no man shall ascend with you”
(Shemos 34:3). The Degel Machaneh
Efrayim, grandson of the Ba’al Shem Tov,
comments that whenever we “ascend,”
seeking to grow and lift ourselves higher, we
should not bring anyone else with us; we
should not be worrying about what other
people are thinking or saying about us. What
others think about us is their problem, not
ours. We should live with the freedom to
“climb the mountain,” to rise to the greatest
heights we can, without worrying at all what
people are thinking.
It is true that we rely on the help and support
of others and therefore it is critical to engage
in lobbying and advocacy with those in elected
office. If we are in a position to have our
voices heard, we must use those voices as
much and as loudly as possible. But when it
comes to watching, listening and reading the
news, we must be judicious and mindful in
distinguishing between staying informed and
aware of the news, and becoming aggravated
and infuriated by the lies.
Let them! Let them make noise and spew hate.
And let us! Let us climb higher and higher in
our unity, our love, or faith, fighting for our
people and spreading Hashem’s light.