27 Apr DON’T BE SILENT ABOUT THE ANTISEMITISM: THE HOLOCAUST BEGAN WITH PROPAGANDA

In Germany they
came first for the
Communists, and I
didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a
Communist. Then
they came for the
Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I
wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the
trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then
they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t
speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time
no one was left to speak up.
—Martin Niemoller
As the Jewish world commemorate this
Thursday, Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, to remember the
6,000,000 who perished in the Holocaust; as Jews in Israel continue to be
threatened by nations determined to destroy it; as abuse and injustice often
take root in our own communities due
to the silence of good people—let us reflect on a stirring Midrash.
THE FATEFUL CONVERSATION
In Parshas Shmini & Acharei Mos, the
Torah relates the tragic episode of the
premature death of Aaron’s two sons,
Nadav and Avihu.
On the day that the Tabernacle in the
desert was erected and Aaron’s four
sons were inaugurated as priests, the
two oldest children entered into the tabernacle and did not come out alive.
The Talmud relates the following story
to explain the cause of their death:
“It once happened that Moses and Aaron were walking along the road and Nadav and Avihu (Aaron’s two sons) were
walking behind them, and all Israel was
walking behind them. Said Nadav to
Avihu, ‘When will these two old men
die and you and I will lead the generation?’ Thereupon G-d said to them: ‘We
shall see who will bury whom!’”
A CRYPTIC MIDRASH
Now, this story of Aaron’s two sons, engendered a cryptic Midrash. It reads
like this:
“When Job heard about the death of the
two sons of Aaron, he was seized by tremendous fear. It was this event that
compelled Job’s best friend, Elihu, to
state: “Because of this my heart trembles and jumps from its place.”
This Midrash seems strange. Why did
the Nadan-Avihu episode inspire such
profound fear in the heart of Job’s
friend?
Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulaei, the
18th century Italian sage and mystic
known in short as the Chida, presents
the basis of the following interpretation
on this obscure Midrash. He quotes it
“in the name of the Sages of Germany.”
THREE ADVISORS
The Talmud relates that Job served on
the team of advisors to Pharaoh, the emperor of Egypt. The other members of
the team were Balaam and Jethro. When
the Jewish population in Egypt began to
increase significantly, developing from
a small family of seventy members into
a large nation, Pharaoh, struck by the
fear that this refugee group would ultimately pose a threat to his empire, consulted his three advisors on how to deal
with the “Jewish problem.”
Balaam chose a tyrannical approach. He
suggested that Pharaoh drown all Jewish baby boys and force every adult
Jewish male into slave labor.
Job remained silent. He neither condemned the Jews to exertion and death,
nor defended their rights to life and liberty.
Jethro was the only one among the three
who objected to Balaam’s plan of oppression. To escape the wrath of Pharaoh, who enthusiastically embraced
Balaam’s “final solution,” Jethro fled
from Egypt to Midian, where he lived
for the remainder of his years.
The Talmud relates the consequences of
the advisors’ respective behaviors.
Balaam was slain many decades later
during a Jewish military campaign in
the Middle East. Job was afflicted by
various maladies and personal tragedy,
while Jethro, the exclusive voice of morality in the Egyptian palace, merited
not only Moses as a son-in-law but also
descendants who served as members of
the Jewish Supreme Court (Sanhedrin)
in Jerusalem, loyally representing the
Jewish principles of justice and morality.
JOB’S SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
What went through Job’s mind after this
incident? Did Job consider himself morally inferior to his colleague Jethro who,
in an act of enormous courage, stood up
to a superpower king and protested his
program of genocide? Did Job return
home that evening and say to his wife,
“I discovered today that I am a spineless
and cowardly politician who will sell
his soul to the devil just to retain his position in the government.”
Job, like so many of us in similar situations, did not entertain that thought even
for a moment. On the contrary, Job considered himself the pragmatist and Jethro the idiot.
“What did Jethro gain of speaking the
full truth?” Job must have thought to
himself. “He lost his position and was
forced to flee. He acted as a fanatical
zealot. I, Job, by employing my savvy
diplomatic skills and remaining silent,
continue to serve as Pharaoh’s senior
advisor and thus will be able to assist
the Jewish people, subtly and unobtrusively, from within the governmental
ranks of power.” For decades, Job
walked the corridors of the Egyptian
palace saturated with a feeling of selfrighteousness and contentment.
Till the day he heard of the death of the
sons of Aaron.
JOB’S SHATTERING DISCOVERY
When Job inquired as to what might
have caused the premature death of
these two esteemed men, he was answered with the famous Talmudic episode quoted in the beginning of this essay:
“It once happened that Moses and Aaron were walking along the road and Nadav and Avihu (Aaron’s two sons) were
walking behind them, and all Israel
were walking behind them. Said Nadav
to Avihu, ‘When will these two old men
die and you and I will lead the generation?’ Thereupon G-d said to them: ‘We
shall see who will bury whom!’”
Job was astounded. “I can fully understand,” Job said, “why Nadav was punished. It was he who uttered these disgusting words. But why was his brother
Avihu punished? He did not say anything.”
“Avihu?” came the reply. “He was punished because he remained silent.”
Because when a crime is happening in
front of your eyes, your silence is deafening.
NO TIME FOR SILENCE
In the face of despicable anti-Semitism,
coming from white supremacists, or any
other source from the Right or the
Left—all good people who remain silent, become accomplices to the crime.
Ideas have power. It was the propaganda of the Nazi party eight decades ago
which allowed millions of Germans to
become active murders of millions.
When Jew-hatred goes unchallenged
and unprotested, the consequences can
be horrific.
Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the
indifference of those who should have
known better, the silence of the voice of
justice when it mattered most that has
made it possible for evil to triumph.
—Haile Selassie