Rabbi’s Reflections – Thursday, December 16, 2021
Shalom,
First thing this morning I read this article…
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318648
It speaks of a dramatic rise in anti-Semitism. After reading it (and I invite you to read it too), I have to say this…
Deuteronomy 10:15 Only on your fathers did Adonai set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them—you—from all the peoples, as is the case this day.
I’ve got something to write. I’m so passionate about it, it should be a book. But this is only a short RR. Today (right here and right now) I want to rail against Satan. It probably won’t be the best railing against Satan you’ve ever read. But I’m watching something that I am compelled to speak against. We are witnessing a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic (I want to provide some options and challenge you to fill in the blank) behavior, vitriol, activity, crime, or just plain hate.
We don’t see it much in East Tennessee because there are not very many Jewish people in our area. The reason I’m writing about it is to challenge every RR reader to respond appropriately and speak up. When you hear an anti-Semitic comment, don’t just sit there and squirm uneasily. Speak up and say, “It’s not okay to hate Jews!”
Let’s put this in a spiritual context. Satan hates what God loves. His nefarious assignment is to get us to also hate what God loves. God loves the Jewish people. Satan hates Jewish people and wants everyone possible to join him, even the Jewish people themselves, if possible. And this is happening today.
Rabbi Trail: Let’s not mince words. Anti-Israel is anti-Jewish. There is one Jewish state in the entire world, Israel. Of course Satan wants to do away with it. If there is no Jewish majority in Israel, the character of the Jewish state will change and it will no longer be a Jewish state.
Currently, the ruling coalition includes the combined Arab parties. In order to maintain their control, the ruling parties (which are largely conservative) are moderating their governance to keep the Arabs happy and themselves in power. This is a very dangerous and tenuous arrangement. But I digress. End RT.
One hundred years ago, in 1922, Albert Einstein left Germany because he thought it was dangerous for a Jew to live there. He saw what others couldn’t see, in the world of physics and in the world at large (geo-political). Einstein got himself out of danger. My challenge to you today is not to run and hide or run away, but rather to speak up.
Wherever you see or hear anything that smacks of Jew hatred, speak up. In the modern expression of the woke agenda, it is popular to equate Zionism with Nazism. To do that in any way degrades the significance of the Holocaust. Nazism in 20th Century Europe degraded human life to such an extreme that they killed people faster than they could dispose of the bodies to hide their crimes
The original two state solution was Jordan and Israel. When the Arabs rejected that solution (voted and approved by the United Nations) the result was war, and the product of that war is Palestinian refugees. This is a big issue, also requiring books to explain, and I want to bring this to a close.
Prejudice is not okay. Anti-Semitism is prejudice against Jewish people. Please decide now that, in the future, when you’re confronted with anti-Semitism, you’ll speak up and say it’s not okay.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Thu 16-Dec-2021 12th of Tevet, 5782
Ge 49:19-26 1 Sa 31 Ps 69 Lk 2:1-21 (2 Co 10)
Week 51
Memory Verse: 1 John 4:10 This is love—not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atonement for our sins. 11 Loved ones, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
251 12/16 Monday: 1 Peter 3-4
252 12/17 Tuesday: 1 Peter 5; 1 John 1
253 12/18 Wednesday: 1 John 2-3
254 12/19 Thursday: 1 John 4-5
255 12/20 Friday: Revelation 1