This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (cf. Jeremiah 29:4-7)
They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Perhaps. Perhaps not. The Jews have been sent into exile and the exile will come to an end in one of two ways: (1) when we begin to properly discharge our duties as Jews or (2) when the ancient hatred and animosity of the nations is leveled against the Jew once again. In either case, there will be no one to blame except ourselves and, sadly, considering the history of our people, I fear it will only be the latter which will serve to wake us from our slumber.
For centuries, men have discussed Jew-hatred and more recently, anti-Semitism, postulating as to its causes. More often than not, the discussion inevitably turns to blaming the nations for their baseless hatred borne of ignorance, madness, and paranoia. To a certain degree this is arguably true. The spirit of Amalek is as vibrant as ever and there will always be a Haman or two who wants to rid the world of us once and for all based on nothing more than the premise that “there is a certain people dispersed among the peoples . . . who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people . . . it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.” (cf. Esther 3) Their problem is not so much with Jews as it is with the God of the Jews.
And yet, what we have so often failed to ask ourselves as Jews is when do we need to fear Amalek the most? Is it not when our hands are slack and no longer raised towards the heavens? Were those not the moments when the battle favored Amalek against Joshua? Should we really expect that it would be any different today? Do not our sages remind us that when Amalek comes, the Jewish people must somewhere or other have neglected their duties?
In the Midrash Tanchuma and Talmud Arakhin 5b we read: “The enemy comes (against the Jews) only for laxity of hands in upholding the Law.” All too often the Jewish people have called into question the divinity of its mission and expressed doubts about whether God was among them or not, and due to this doubt and mistrust, neglected their duties as Jews i.e. performing the Word of God.
A prominent 19th century rabbi residing in Germany commented that:
So long as the Jewish people fully comprehends and carries out its duties, so long as it remains a “kingdom of priests” to its God and a “holy people” in its intercourse with mankind, then it matters not that, so long as there is night upon the earth, it should be “scattered” and also appear to be “different” in the eyes of the peoples; it matters not that its priestly and holy wandering should “set it apart” from the customs and ways of the peoples and that – so long as there is night upon the earth – this very separation should provide enemies like Haman a welcome excuse for persecuting the Jews for their own ends. Above the madness of the nations, the intrigues and plots of ministers, and the weakness of princes stands God, Who can sway not only the waves of the ocean but also the hearts of the princes for the deliverance of His faithful ones.
So long as there are Jews in the world, Haman and Amalek will always find a way to justify their enmity and hatred. That is simply the way it is in this present world. My primary concern, however, lies elsewhere. My concern is with the willing defection from God and Torah-observance of my brethren, a defection which infuses the persecution of the Jews by the nations with plausibility.
Consequently, the sense of security and comfort of which many Jews in this country boast couldn’t be more illusory, hollow, and false. And the Jews who boast the loudest are often the ones who have shirked their duty as Jews with the greatest fervor, while imagining that they could buy the friendship of the nations and permanently secure that friendship by discarding everything that distinguishes them as Jews. In other words, they thought they could sell their birthright for a pot of stew and no one would notice, least of all God.
So, what has happened here in America? In no other place and in no other time have Jews failed to demonstrate to the nations how to live a life of Divine service more than here in America; here in America, where Jews have enjoyed the unprecedented benefits of citizenship, we have failed to show ourselves as loyal servants of God. Instead, we have fought to secure and maintain those benefits, in large part, by slackening our hands and diminishing our commitment to God and Torah observance.
For the most part, we have not related to American society in a very positive way. We have done very little to inspire our fellow-citizens to live righteously. Instead, we have advanced causes which are not only contrary to God and His ways, but we have also championed policies and lobbied on behalf of political agendas which have worked against the peace and prosperity of this nation whose welfare was supposed be our chief concern during our temporary sojourn here. Surely, there must be a reason that the phrase “What’s good for the goyim?” never embedded itself in the collective conscience of the non-Jewish world to which we have been exiled. The opportunities we have forfeited are legion.
What we have forgotten is that we are not only citizens of a territorial state, but we are also members of the Jewish people, a people who are rooted in the Torah and who belong to Him, no matter where we have been scattered. I do not believe that God’s objective was for us was to disappear among the nations. Our main objective, rather, was to simply express and demonstrate loyalty to our host nations as the most natural outflow of a religious imperative and obligation, an imperative and obligation which was clearly expressed by the prophet Jeremiah. And neither are those obligations mere payment for the hospitality of our gracious benefactors. We owe loyalty even to the most oppressive regime.
God prescribed for us a duty to be loyal to every state and every country which provided for us a home, along with our wives and children, even when this hospitality grew cold and the nations became indifferent and hostile. We were never exhorted to seek special representation or advocate for special treatment. Rather, we were to live as inconspicuously as possible while praying to the Lord for the prosperity of the nations with the understanding that the welfare of the nations was bound up with our own.
Not only that, but our chief duty among the nations to which we had been scattered was to demonstrate to the world the highest ethical and moral standards the world had ever known. One of our Sages, the Chasam Sofer, expressed concern that assimilation and compromising Torah principles might even serve to prolong the exile. He compared the betterment of the Jews’ position in exile to a king who built a palace for his exiled son. Instead of rejoicing, the son lamented that his improved and luxurious living conditions only indicated that the king did not intend to bring him home any time soon.
So, what did we do? We turned our back to our Creator, abandoned the Torah, and exchanged the “burden” of obedience for the “acceptance” of our host nations in hopes of satisfying, gratifying, and enriching ourselves. Rather than remain true and loyal to the countries who allowed us dwell in their midst, we allowed our desire to be rid of the burden of serving Him to blind us to the opportunities to sanctify God’s name by simply promoting the welfare of our host nations, most especially in the nations where we experienced the greatest oppression, real or imagined.
Rather than serving and seeking the prosperity of the nations to which we had been scattered, we served ourselves and sought our own prosperity instead. And then, in the wake of the resentment of the nations to which our dereliction of duty had contributed, we scratched our collective heads in agitated wonderment and were quite surprised to learn that we were once again unwelcome objects of persecution, persecution which we ourselves had co-authored, not because we were too Jewish, but because we had shirked our duties as Jews and were not Jewish enough.
Somewhat ironically, perhaps, non-observance has proven to be the cause of anti-Semitism rather than the cure so many Jews thought it would be. The persecution of the Jews will not spare those who are determined to reject God, desecrate His Sabbath, eat pork, and continue living non-Jewish lives. The hatred of the Jewish way of life is merely a disguise for hatred of the Jew. Who would have imagined that there would be so many anti-Semites among our own? The only result that we will reap from our rejection and defiance of God and His Torah will be more suffering and a deepening of the exile for our recalcitrance and rejection of Him as predicted by that same Torah for which so many Jews express their disdain and contempt.
I am not hopeful that the Jews in America are going to suddenly awaken and return en masse to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have, like Yeshurun, grown too fat. But I am confident that Hashem is going to once again use the nations to remind the Jew who he is, who God called him to be, and the life of service He called him to live.
Less than a century before the Holocaust, R’ S.R. Hirsch presciently observed:
Has the Emancipation, with its newly found freedom and opportunity, resulted in more joy, greater satisfaction and a still happier existence than what our forebears experienced? Do you believe that you no longer need to remember the past? Do you really think that somber times will never recur? O, you deluded ones! Look at the society which is now freely open to you. Look around in the marketplace of life. Has the race of Haman died out completely with his ten sons? Could you not find someone from the Rhine to the Oder, from the Volga to the Danube who is capable of being his successor? Be sober and observe. Indeed, the horizon of the Jew may well become somber; sultry clouds hang in the German sky. Even in our own Jewish circles indications for gloom are apparent. No one is secure.
Your larger point is dead on accurate for all of us, regardless of whether Jew or Christian. As long as our back is turned to Him, we will not prosper and can expect judgment.
It is imperative that we turn back to him in obedience.
Great post!
Judgement for a life I never wanted or asked for in the first place — brilliant.
Yes, we have to believe that there will be a Judgement of some kind, but of course it makes little sense that our meaningless lives that amount to nothing will be judged. This is the paradox of our faith.
Aa the great Catholic Nicolás Gómez Dávila wrote:
“Christianity is an infamy which we must not disguise as kindness.”
“What is difficult is not to believe in God, but to believe that we matter to Him.”
“The importance it attributes to man is the enigma of Christianity.”
Excellent work, Rabbi B.
Precisely what is wrong with the hearts and minds of all Americans, regardless of faith. This article will now be shared with family, friends and more than a few enemies. Many thanks to you Rabbi B.
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Excellent article and as Theophrastus said, we also need the Christian community to embrace repentance and pray for another great awakening. I am looking forward to reading more of your work, Rabbi B.
The house of Israel struggles with God. But how much sooner would He restore them to the vine!
I was walking through a nearby town and I was handed a pamphlet for a church. It kept repeating that it was a church of inclusiveness and diversity. Finally in the middle it said plainly that they welcomed people of all gender identities and sexual orientations. I felt my blood boil. My Lord came to save the sinner, he dined with them, but never did he say “you are welcome to do as you please”. When he encountered a sexually immoral woman he prevented her from being stoned, but he left her with the warning “go and sin no more”
I can’t even…so it’s ok to openly deny that God has a Son, Jesus Christ–because, let’s face it, otherwise you would be a Christian–and this blog is a defender of Christianity how exactly? Rabbi, I appreciate your honesty that Jews (and I’m going to shorten your words and point) tend to screw over whichever population hosts them until that population expels them. Can you please comment as to why all Jews haven’t fled to Isreal to escape the anti-semitism?
“Can you please comment as to why all Jews haven’t fled to Isreal to escape the anti-semitism?”
Many in Europe already are and I believe many here in the U.S. will follow once life becomes too uncomfortable here. It simply hasn’t yet and most Jews don’t think it ever will. Israel is pleading with Jews all over the world to make aliyah. But, as I mentioned, when you’re fat, lazy, and satisfied, it’s difficult to make a drastic lifestyle change that involves giving up the creature comforts to which we have become so accustomed.
Rabbi, I really want to ask you a question that generally offends most Jews, because to even ask the question is considered anti jew and anti-semitic and all sorts of other things that the victimocracy has decreed are worse than murder…
Has the Jewish community, in all of it’s centuries of being forced out of one country or another, ever actually considered that it’s worst sin… the sin that made Jesus drive pharisees out of the temple, the sin that is at the core of every jew-hater and ‘monsters’ that drive the jews out or purge them, is always the same?
Usury. whenever people are asked what jews do, it always comes down to usury. Has the Jewish community ever, in your experience, consider NOT immediately instituting complex structures of Usury that eventually causes everyone else to hate them? Have they ever thought that maybe it is usury, or, as my jewish friends put it “people hate us because we are good with money.”, a crime in most religions, could be the ultimate reason why they will always be oppressed, always be derided? Have the considered that virtually every host culture that offers them shelter frowns on or expressly prohibits usury?
I mean, I have traced quite a bit of Jewish history, and just about every time there is a purge, from their being driven out of Egypt to the spanish inquisition, from the Polish eviction to the Holocaust, the hate always comes down to a question of Usury.
This isn’t a rant, I really want to know… I have a feeling that the orthodox jewish community might have already figured this out, but the greater jewish elite still don’t know or want to know as it is tied so intimately into their personal prosperity.
Bridadon… Jesus didn’t send money changers out of the Temple for Ursury.. They were not lending money. They were exchanging money, and they were jacking with the exchange rate to screw the people.
Typical bankster crime… but not the same bankster crime.
Well, I have been a long time believer that the first and worst people that Elite Jews harm are their own.
Every time a culture ejects the Jewry it always seems to be for the same crimes… manipulating money and politics to harm the local populace. And every single time it seems that the wealthy elite Jews get out well ahead of time, taking their profits with them, and it’s the little guy… The jews that just want to get along, that wind up taking the brunt and pain of enraged locals.
And, sad to say, it’s incredibly likely to happen here, again. With a rising rage against jewish Bankers, people like Soros are going to escape easily… while it’s that poor bastard with the funny hat and beard that’s going to get lynched.
I, like many, thought that finally giving Jews Israel would fix the problem without having to exterminate the lot of them, but it appears that failed… The Israel Jews are, culturally, almost identical to the nutty desert tribesmen that surround them, and it has given them less of a place for ‘the common jew to be safe’ than it has provided a safe haven for the elites to retreat easily to while again, leaving the common jew to pay for their crimes.
I often wonder if most jews realized the way they have been played and screwed by their own time after time, or if, like most identitarians, they blindly and automatically consolidate behind the ‘jewish community’ while ignoring the way they are being hung out to dry by their own people. There’s a good reason whites have such a hard time solidifying behind white identity politics… we know full well that whoever winds up leading is eventually going to bend the lot of us over. It’s what always happens.
Edwood… it is extremely unwise to make assumptions about the beliefs of others. Particularly on a site like this.
what do you think I’m assuming?
I do not think you made an assumption edwood. I know you did. Here’s a hint… its in the very first sentence of your unfortunate comment.
Good lord, just come out and say what you think already instead of hiding behind cryptic hints and bizarre pseudo threats. The best posts by far are from Alan Stang, the Rabbi, and Kurgin, with the Rabbi as the only one living able to carry on a conversation.
Edwood, you’re assuming Rabbi B’s beliefs. Since when is the Kurgan dead?
(Not sure if this will nest in the right place…)
Wendy, thank you for clarifying. You are correct, I do assume that rabbis espouse Judaism, unless they are messianic, which they should be upfront about. Unless, of course, the purpose is to confuse the reader. I was not referring to Kurgin as being deceased–he is obviously alive and spouting profanity as evidenced in the “Christianity” post. I liked what he had to say in the actual post, I just wish the discussion that followed had substance.
Thank you for that reply to Edwood. I find that this blog is one of the greatest defenders of what it means to BE Christian on the Web today. And thanks for putting up Rabbi B’s article. This is a scathing and honest indictment of Jewry in America.
Well, for one, you assumed that Rabbi B is anti-Christian.
In fact, he IS a Christian, and that is the precise reason why Isreal won’t let him move there.
And what is for two? Seriously, I will always assume jews to be non-christians unless they say otherwise. Purposefully misleading the reader in order to pounce on them for their “assumption” is asinine.
“Purposefully misleading the reader in order to pounce on them for their “assumption” is asinine.”
Edwood:
No one purposefully misled anyone. You’re simply being encouraged to reserve judgment and extend the benefit of the doubt until your assumptions are either confirmed or denied. That’s simply good advice. Just admit you stepped in it with your comment and move on. No harm no foul.
Consider your original comment:
“I can’t even…so it’s ok to openly deny that God has a Son, Jesus Christ–because, let’s face it, otherwise you would be a Christian–and this blog is a defender of Christianity how exactly?”
Yes, I happen to believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah, but that does not mean Jews who don’t embrace Jesus as the Messiah can’t or don’t ardently defend Christianity. Knowing some of the editors, I suspect that my article would still have been published even if I was an unbelieving Jew, because it would have been judged on the merits of its content.
I believe “misled” is the word you are looking for. Look, if you identify as a jew at all you cannot possibly be a man of the west, so I guess it’s good that you are trying to infiltrate Israel. It’s a pretty good gig if you can do it, free healthcare, free college for your kids, all paid for by western dollars, euros, etc…I wish you luck and Godspeed.
@Dirk Manly:
I’m baffled why you scolded Edwood for making that assumption. I read the rabbi’s article and did not see him anywhere indicate he’s a believer in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I’m also baffled why Rabbi B still identifies himself as a Jew since he believes in Christ and is, therefore, a Christian.
What is unfortunate is assuming the general maturity level would be higher here.
Our maturity level is fine. We just see no reason to play “nice” everyone who comes along. Men can handle banter.
You are correct Edwood – the jew denies Jesus, in fact the jew claims He is the bastard child of a prostitute , conceived during menstruation [jews have a morbid preoccupation with menstrual blood and fecal material] with a roman soldier. Furthermore, they claim He is currently boiling in feces in a pit for eternity… how antiChrist can you possibly be?!?!?
jews are expelled from their ‘host’ countries – their words btw – with regularity for their sedition, hatred of the native population, degradation of morals and law among the host and usury/unethical business practices. This cannot be argued.
Furthermore, the author cries against ‘amalek’…HAH! what few jews – less than 5% probably – that are Adamic, are of esau, cain, ham [not shem] AND amalek. Remember, Scripture relates that God Himself says ‘I will war with amalek forever’.
and I can answer your question as to why they havent all fled to Palestine – no goy to live off of! The entire race is parasitical; God foretells this when he cursed cain.
Gee, I thought this site was ‘hard right’ and Christian…apparently not, unless apologetics for jewish dependency and crimes is suddenly Christian.
Not sure you actually read the article, or realize that the one who wrote it does believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
I have followed Rabbi Daniel Lapin for a number of years. I’ve also recently begun studying Jews, since I’m seeing the “JQ” show up more and more to the mainstream.
Rabbi Lapin heads the “American Alliance of Jews and Christians”. He’s worked to bring unity and understanding between the two. On a recent podcast, he provided a piece of information I think most don’t understand. Probably fewer than 15% of Jews are “religious”. The rest are secular, and as such tend toward liberalism and worldliness. Even the modern state of Israel was founded as a secular state.
We can see repeatedly in what Christians call the “Old Testament” that the Jews repeatedly turned away from God and only through a series of crises of increasing magnitude up to diaspora did they return briefly; at most, for a generation.
One thing that does not help the secular Jewish cause is to accuse everybody who disagrees with them of “anti-Semitism”. It is not anti-Semitic to disagree with somebody, and I’m seeing a rising group in the alt-right who are no longer falling for it.
It doesn’t help that while anti semitism used to mean someone that hates jews, now it means anyone that Jews hate.
Sobran fan?
Excellent piece, Rabbi. I had to skim it, as I’ve got to be up in 8 hours for drill and want to actually sleep, but this is one for printing and pamphleting so that I can savor it later. I’m looking forward to digesting it over the next week.
Somebody had a rough night working at the Walmart last night! Jesus wasn’t white knighting, he was stopping a group of hypocrites from committing an even greater sin. Go back to your moms basement, brush the Dorito crumbs out of your neck beard, put on your jumbo wolverine costume, and return to daydreaming about how your gonna save western civilization with your airsoft rifle. I understand that in your quest to finally rid yourself of your virginity, you have become bitter and frustrated, searching for low hanging fruit that you could reach, but here is some free advice. There is no low hangin fruit within your reach…because pumpkins dont grow on trees. If you want to get laid, you’ll have to pick it straight out of the dirt. You may go now
Sounds to me like someone is projecting…
actually.. Patrick has probably banged more russian strippers than Vladimir Putin. He’s reformed now though.
Mostly.
There has to be a proverb about wisdom from G-d being sweeter than honey. Thanks for sharing your honey with us, Rabbi!
sincerely
cheddarman
I guarantee you 100% that this “rabbi” is neither a Jew nor any kind of Zionist. If he were, he would have moved with his fictitious wife and ten children to Judea or Samaria by now.
pssst…
you don’t know much about immigrating to Israel.
I’ll bet he doesn’t really know Jew Jitsu either.
Critical G, you ignorant dork.
The Rabbi has been trying to move to Judea for years, but government there won’t let him because he believes in the divinity of Jesus.
And you guarantee this how, exactly? Asking for a friend.
Because he knows lots of Jews and they ALL move to Judea or Sumaria!
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@Eowyn
“I read the rabbi’s article and did not see him anywhere indicate he’s a believer in the divinity of Jesus Christ. ”
So? I’ve read multiple articles and no where do they indicate they are believers in the divinity of Jesus either.
“Furthermore, I’m also baffled why Rabbi B still identifies himself as a Jew since he believes in Christ and is, therefore, a Christian.”
I don’t identify myself as a Jew. God has already done this for me.
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Shalom Rabbi, Live in peace.
John 8:44
@Russian Limbaugh
Was this directed at me or someone else?
The original Jew hater was Satan. All of the other Jew haters are following Satan’s lead. God has not forgotten His covenant with Israel, He will fulfill all of His promises to His people. As a believing Christian I know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and rose from the dead. I know that I am saved and you can be too but only if you believe.
1 Corinthians 15:1–4
http://doctrine.org/
Did you even read this article, written by a Messianic Jewish Rabbi?
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