Commentary
I Won't Be Like The Rabbis Of The 1930s
was shaken after hearing about
another attack in France. This time
it occurred in the resort city of
Nice rather than in Paris. A man with
a knife attacked three French military
personnel who were on an anti-terror
patrol near a Jewish community cen-
ter. While the attacker's motive is not
yet known, can I be blamed
if I look at the recent rise in
European anti-Semitism and
wonder how far we are from
another Holocaust?
At the end of last month,
survivors of Auschwitz
returned to those haunted
killing grounds to mark the
70th anniversary of the
death camp's liberation,
while a few weeks earlier,
Jewish people were mur-
dered in a kosher grocery
in Paris. And these violent
attacks against Jewish people are
not limited to Europe. We are seeing
a significant rise in violence against
Jewish people all over the globe.
In a lengthy article published in
the Wall Street Journal by Britain's
Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan
Sacks titled "The Return of Anti-
Semitism," he demonstrates that
we're witnessing precisely what we
were warned about by our elders;
namely, that the potential for a return
to the horrors of the Holocaust is
a real threat. For us Jews, as Rabbi
Sacks eerily declared, "never again"
has become "ever again." The article
is a jarring reminder of what will hap-
pen if this rampant anti-Semitism is
allowed to fester.
My grandparents' generation
alerted us that without living out the
mantra of Zachor (remember), we
could face yet another Holocaust.
Dozens of museums around the world,
memorial services, art installations,
books, classes, documentaries, per-
sonal video testimonials or Steven
Spielberg movies will not protect
the Jewish community from further
atrocities.
George Santayana famously said,
"Those who cannot remember the
past are condemned to repeat it." Our
problem is not that we cannot remem-
ber the tragedies of the Holocaust;
rather, the Jewish community hasn't
taken seriously the threats that can
lead to its sequel. We tend to shrug
off the latest anti-Semitism statistics
from the Anti-Defamation League as
just another well-intentioned fund-
raising strategy. The threat is pal-
pable and it's here now.
Which brings me to an important
question that has been weighing very
heavily on my mind. What will my role
be as a rabbi in the second decade of
the 21st century as I am a bystander
to the rise of anti-Semitism
and acts of terror com-
mitted against my people
throughout the world?
From Paris to Argentina
to Brussels to Mumbai and
even to our nation's capi-
tal, there have been tragic
murders of Jewish people
at the hands of vicious
anti-Semites. Much of this
anti-Semitic violence comes
under the veil of anti-Zion-
ism.
As a Jewish leader, I'm
haunted by the inactions of a previ-
ous generation of leaders. American
rabbis of the 1930s, with the excep-
tion of a noted few, kept quiet about
the tragedy befalling their European
brothers and sisters. It was much too
late by the time a delegation led by
Rabbi Stephen Wise approached FDR
urging him to intervene and bomb
the train tracks leading to Auschwitz-
Birkenau.
While Holocaust historian Lucy
Dawidowicz's claims of complete inac-
tion by American Jewish leaders have
been challenged, I still feel haunted
wondering if the rabbis of the WWII
generation could have done more.
Could they have spoken out louder
and assembled stronger to push the
American government to intervene
sooner?
I'm reminded of the biblical dubbing
of Moses as leader of the Israelites.
Commentators have noted that what
convinced God that Moses was ready
to assume the leadership was not
his verbal acceptance at the Burning
Bush.
Rather it was that Moses sprung
into action when he saw his own
people as victims of oppression. He
turned his head away from the bush
and recognized the cruelty being
inflicted on others. Real leaders act;
they do not remain silent when they
witness injustice.
Today, like many other Jewish
community leaders, I'm armed with
the tools of modern communica-
tion: a widely read blog and a Twitter
account. I certainly have the capacity
and amplification to voice my con-
cerns about the threat of anti-Semi-
tism, this time around emanating not
from Nazism, but from Islamism. The
rabbis of the 1930s did not have those
powerful social media tools at their
disposal when they heard the rumors
of their people being sent to slaugh-
ter. I have no excuse not to speak out
when I hear the cries coming from
Paris or Argentina.
As Rabbi Sacks makes perfectly
clear, the rise of anti-Semitism in the
21st century is not about anti-Israel
sentiment. It is not a political dissent
toward the building of Israeli neigh-
borhoods in the Palestinian territo-
ries. It is not about corporations that
do business with Israel. It is not about
universities teaching Israeli history or
culture courses.
Plain and simple, 21st-century anti-
Semitism is the continuation of the
same Jewish hatred that has raised
its ugly head for centuries. It is the
same anti-Semitism that we saw
70 years ago in Europe as 6 million
Jewish men, women and children
were exterminated.
I, for one, will not stand idly by. The
world must recognize that history
repeats itself. What happened seven
decades ago to our great-grandpar-
ents can happen again to our children
and grandchildren. I'd like to believe
that the moral men and women of
our global society would never allow
another Holocaust to occur, but the
sentiment that causes it is being
allowed to brew.
Let the inaction of a previous gen-
eration of leaders serve as a stark
reminder of our own responsibility
to speak out against hatred of any
kind and ensure that history doesn't
repeat itself. The future of my people
depends upon it.
Jason Miller is an entrepreneur, educator and
blogger and president of Access Computer
Technology in West Bloomfield. Follow him on
Twitter at @RabbiJason. Reprinted with per-
mission from Time magazine.
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