04 Jun TURN YOUR RAGE INTO OUTRAGE

The internet has
become a very angry
place and “rage bait”
influencers are in large
part to blame. More
clicks means more
money and the more
enraged you can make
people, the more they will click. If you’re not
familiar, “rage-baiting” is described as posting
“a video specifically designed to make you mad
so that you interact more with the video.”
Social media platforms design algorithms that
prey on the temptation towards rage and then
draw people into rage loops that continuously
present anger-inducing material (and keep
users engaged with their platforms). Research
shows that people are far more likely to share
or echo angry sentiments than content that
elicits any other emotion, including joy. Some
suggest our generation is addicted to rage
manifesting itself on our roads, in our
relationships, and in our mental and physical
health.
Since October 7, if you love Israel and the
Jewish people, you don’t need an internet
connection or access to social media to be filled
with rage. It isn’t manufactured or manipulated
or ‘baited”; it is quite merited. Indeed, over the
last seven months, there have been so many
rage-inducing comments, people, events, and
things it is hard to know which is worst.

For example, consider the last ten days alone:
• The UN held a moment of silence for the
Butcher of Tehran.
• The US Senate Chaplain offered prayers
for Iran for the same loss.
• The US State Department also sent
condolences to Tehran.
• The ICC equated evil Hamas leader
Yahya Sinwar with Prime Minister Bibi
Netanyahu.
• Germany, the country that perpetrated a
genocide and the greatest atrocity in
history, said they would issue an arrest
warrant for Prime Minister Bibi
Netanyahu.
• The IJC ordered Israel to stop its Rafah
operation.
• Nobel laureate Maria Ressa delivered
Harvard’s commencement speech filled
with vile, explicit antisemitic tropes.
• New, horrific video was released of
female IDF soldiers being taken by
Hamas on Oct. 7.
• Bodies of hostages who were killed on
October 7th were recovered.
• Israel continues to be accused of causing
a famine in Gaza despite a new study that
found food supply to Gaza is more than
sufficient for the population’s needs and
only 54 percent of the pallets transferred
into Gaza were dispatched by UN and
humanitarian agencies operating in

Gaza.
• Ireland, Spain and Norway said they will
recognize a Palestinian state.
• Israel was falsely accused of intentionally
targeting civilians in a refugee camp in
Rafah even though they struck two
senior Hamas in the Tel Sultan area of
western Rafah which is outside of the
“humanitarian zone.” Moreover, the
IDF released an intercepted phone call
between two Gaza residents in which
they suggest that shrapnel from an Israeli
airstrike caused the detonation of Hamas
munitions hidden inside or near the
refugee camp.
Sadly, there is no shortage of things to be
enraged over. But here is the thing – rage isn’t
productive, rage is never the solution. Rage is
forwarding videos and ranting at the Shabbos
table. It may make you feel better (it likely
won’t), but it surely won’t actually change
anything.
Don’t feel rage. Instead, get outraged. What
is the difference? Rage destroys, it consumes, it
obliterates. Outrage is constructive, it produces,
it repairs. Rage is a lower brain reaction, it is a
pure emotion with no intellectual or cognitive
driver. Outrage is a healthy reaction to an
outrageous event or outrageous behavior that
calls for a response, for action. Rage demolishes
and outrage builds. Rage is part of the problem.
Outrage leads to the solution.
Don’t indulge the emotion of rage. Channel
your outrage into taking action, into being
part of the response. You don’t need to pick
up a weapon and enter Gaza or walk through
a Hamas homeless shelter at Harvard to be
doing something. For example, write letters.
This matters. We recently hosted
Congressman Ritchie Torres on Behind the
Bima and he shared how important writing,
even to our friends and allies, is:
Look, members of Congress are human. You
know, we have morale and we need
motivation. You know, we’re flooded with
hateful calls because of our support for Israel.
And so I feel like those of us in the pro-Israel
community have to be as visibly and vocally
pro-Israel as the other side is anti-Israel.
We have to match the intensity of the other
side because in politics, intensity is often
destiny. And so I would encourage people to
engage with their members of congress.
Lobby their members of congress and attempt
to persuade them if they’re wavering or if
they’re on the wrong side of the issue and
then provide moral support to to your allies.
You know were it not for the moral support
that I’ve gotten from the Jewish community,
this moment would be an emotional struggle
for me because I paid a heavy political and
personal price.
There is a wonderful WhatsApp group
called Letters and Emails that posts sample
texts, links or email addresses of whom we
should thank each day for standing with the
Jewish community and Israel and whom we
should protest. You can shoot off letters and
emails while waiting at carpool, over your
lunch break, on the checkout line at the

supermarket. It is easy and organized and there
is no excuse not to be part of the movement that
is making a real difference. Join it here.
Two examples just from the last week:
Ms. Rachel, a popular YouTuber and social
media personality with 10 million subscribers,
put out a video last week announcing she would
be sending money to help the poor children of
Gaza without any mention of Israel, Oct 7, or
the hostages. She was bombarded with letters
and a few days later put out a new video praying
for all children and innocent people, including
in Israel and including the hostages.
The Mayor of Doral, Christi Fraga, proposed
a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. She
got a deluge of letters and online attention,
much of it organized by a BRS member. Soon
after she held a press conference to correct the
resolution and now stands with Israel. Her
turnaround earned headlines like, “Florida
mayor praised for ‘courage, character’ after
apology for supporting permanent ceasefire.”
These are but a few examples of how channeling
outrage into advocacy and outspokenness can
make a difference.
In the introduction to Chovos HaTalmidim,
the Piascentzner Rebbe, Hy”d writes to parents
and educators about how qualities and
characteristics aren’t inherently good or bad
but rather need to be directed positively. He
pleads with them not to extinguish or eliminate
the fire inside young people but to channel it
productively:
Are the principal and teacher able to imagine
the great benefit they can bring out from the
bad temper of the angry child when they delve
inside him and draw him near, so that his heart
and soul burn with self-sacrifice for God? His
anger will turn into holy fire – every act of
service will burn like glowing coals; all of his
words spoken for God, in Torah study and
prayer, will be with a voice that thunders and
draws out fiery flames. And see the explanation
of the Alter Rebbe, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi
in his Siddur on Kegavna – and these are his
words: The passion of anger that spins off from
the passion in the heart, and any man that is
angry by nature, are prone to be enthused with
the glowing fire of fervor for God’s service.
No matter what is happening in the world, no
matter who or what tries to bait you, always
remember, rage is not all the rage. Take that
fire in your belly and instead of indulging the
feeling of rage, channel it into outrage and
action. Be enthused with the glowing fire of
fervor to fight for the Jewish people, to stand
with Israel and to proudly practice and promote
Hashem and His Torah.
Write letters, make phone calls, donate money.
If we refuse to be indifferent or apathetic, if we
find our voices and our influence, if we are on
fire, we can dispel much of the darkness and
light up the world together.