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6 | JANUARY 2 • 2020 

guest column
Why the Jews?
W

hy the Jews?” 
The week after 
Thanksgiving, 
speaking at the annual con-
ference of American Muslims 
for Palestine, a political activ-
ist and former co-chair of 
the Women’
s March took yet 
another shot at 
Israel and the 
Jews when she 
declared that the 
State of Israel 
is “built on the 
idea that Jews 
are supreme to 
everyone else.”
 Why the Jews? For those 
on the radical left, the mere 
desire for a Jewish country of 
our own and affirmation that 
Judaism is a people in addi-
tion to a faith is proof that we 
believe ourselves superior to 
others.
Why the Jews? Just prior to 
Thanksgiving, a Florida pas-
tor with a significant internet 
presence announced that the 
impeachment efforts against 
President Donald Trump are 

part of a “Jew coup.” The pastor 
explained on his Godcast that 
“… the next thing that happens 
when Jews take over a country, 
they kill millions of Christians.”
Why the Jews? For the radi-
cal right, we Jews are trying to 
take over the world by elimi-
nating borders and eradicating 
religious, racial, ethnic and 
national distinction with our 
prophetic message of univer-
salism.
Of course, these messages 
are among the great para-
doxes of anti-Semitism: Our 
enemies on the left are threat-
ened by our commitment 
to peoplehood, especially as 
expressed by the State of Israel. 
Meanwhile, our enemies on 
the right are threatened by the 
teachings of our faith. Some 
enemies are threatened by 
both.

THE ROOTS OF PERSECUTION
More than a century ago 
Theodor Herzl wrote in 
explaining the cause of 
Zionism, “We have sincerely 

tried everywhere to merge with 
the national communities in 
which we live, seeking only 
to preserve the faith of our 
fathers. It is not permitted us. 
In vain we are loyal patriots, 
sometimes super-loyal; in vain 
do we make the same sacri-
fices of life and property as 
our fellow citizens; in vain do 
we strive to enhance the fame 
of our native lands in the arts 
and sciences or their wealth by 
trade and commerce. In our 
native lands where we have 
lived for centuries, we are still 
decried as aliens, often by men 
whose ancestors had not yet 
come at a time when Jewish 
sighs had long been heard 
in the country. The majority 
decide who the ‘
alien’
 is; this, 
and all else in the relations 
between peoples, is a matter of 
power.”
Why the Jews? As Herzl 
reminds us, discrimination is a 
function of power. Built deep 
into humanity is the yetzer 
hara, that animal instinct, that 
tells us errantly that we are 

not strong or safe until we can 
wield power over another. For 
the last two millennia, the Jews, 
as perceived guests in others’
 
countries, were powerless and 
thus easy targets for those with 
low self-worth, for those whose 
fears overtake their rational-
ity and for those too naive or 
too insecure to see the faults 
within themselves as the cause 
for their own misfortunes. 
Jews become an easy target for 
the empowered bullies living 
among us.
We suffer for our powerless-
ness, and we suffer when we 
possess power. Why the Jews? 
Because anti-Semites are jeal-
ous of the Jews. The nations 
of the world forbid us from 
being ordinary, so we strive for 
extraordinary. In Israel and in 
the diaspora, our achievements 
in the realms of medicine, phi-
losophy, finance, philanthropy, 
politics, science, literature and 
the arts are extraordinary. Our 
efforts to protect the environ-
ment, to end racism, to combat 
homophobia, to fight for the 

Rabbi Aaron 
Starr

Executive Order Good 
For Jewish Students
I commend and thank President 
Trump for signing the exec-
utive order targeting college 
anti-Semitism.

The president’
s order con-
firms his administration’
s exem-
plary policies about anti-Semi-
tism and support for Israel.
In signing an executive order 
extending protections to Jewish 
students against anti-Semitic 
hate on college campuses due 

to vicious incitement and dis-
criminatory actions promoted 
by the BDS movement, J-Street, 
Students for Justice in Palestine 
and other anti-Israel/anti-Se-
mitic groups, President Trump 
has put the Jew haters on notice 
that their actions won’
t be tol-
erated.
As I and a few commu-
nity advocates stated to the 
University of Michigan Regents 
a few years ago: “We urge you to 
ensure that the university lead-

ership starts taking the prob-
lems and concerns of Jewish 
students as seriously as they do 
when other groups are targeted. 
Jewish students are entitled to 
equal treatment. There should 
be one standard of treatment for 
all — no double standards.
”

— Ed Kohl 
 
 
 
 
 

West Bloomfield

More Sinai History
I enjoyed the article about “The 
Sinai Legacy” written by Mike 

Smith in the Dec. 12 issue. 
It should be noted that Sinai 
Hospital was designed by Albert 
Kahn & Associates, whose pres-
ident at the time was Sol King, 
a member of Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek for many years.
Mr. King was intimately 
involved from Sinai’
s inception 
to its realization in 1953, super-
vising to every small detail.

— Sam Weiner

Huntington Woods 

letters

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