Am I Reading This Wrong? So Offensive.
No time to write much, studying for the bar and packing for the move is taking up all of my time.
But just recently I was trying to find something about bechira on chabad.org and came across this speech that the Rebbe apparently gave to a group of college students in the 60s. It's all pretty standard except for this appalling part:
Question: One can therefore understand the purpose of the Jew on earth, but what could be the purpose of the creation of the non-Jew?
Rebbe: The Rambam speaks about this matter at great length in his Pairush Hamishnayos. I will answer as briefly as possible. This world is divided into four kingdoms: human, animal, vegetable, and inorganic. These four kingdoms are, in truth, all one (4 levels -- 4 kingdoms). The purpose of each level of life is to serve the level of life higher than itself. The inorganic serves the vegetable; the vegetable serves the animal; and the animal is eaten by the human being. When the person eats food, he transforms the lower levels of life to become his blood and flesh. For man to have wheat bread there must be a farm with farmers. The farmer plays a part in providing food for the Jew. With this, he fulfils his part in the creation.
Uh, so to sum up, the goyim are here to serve us? Ok, got it. But seriously, some questions remain.
Substantively, I know all of chabad adopts this attitude, but are all frum people really expected to espouse this level of bigotry? To believe that gentiles are here to serve the Jews and that's it? Does everyone but the modern orthodox groups espouse this?
And what about the absurdity of the belief itself? There are plenty of gentiles who have never met and will never meet a Jew in their lives and presumably, all these people will live and die without ever fulfilling their role in creation? And speaking of death, it doesn't sound so bad, does it now? Once the farmer provides food for the Jew, well, I guess his mission is accomplished and away he goes. No need to be sad, to mourn, to grieve and all of that- after all he's fulfilled his part in the creation by providing food for Jews. And what was the point of gentiles before there were Jews to begin with? Just preparing the world for 1.5 thousand years? And what is the purpose of the Jewish life? To serve a Lubavitch one? To serve a cohen or levite family?
Looking at the world from this lens, it is easy to see why many frum communities have problems with welfare fraud and criminality in general. If all the gentiles and their property are really here for the benefit of the Jews, why would I care about their dumb-ass rules and why shouldn't I get paid under the table and claim poverty and cut corners and launder some money here and there? After all, as long as the money is going to end up with me, a Jew, why should I worry about legalities and all that nonsense? It's also quite easy to see how anti-semitism isn't something we can just explain away as irrational foolishness.
And what's with the Rebbe making these remarks? Was he not able to see how some of those college students could possibly find it offensive and ridiculous? He couldn't find something else in replying to this student?
Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe this sounded different in 1961? Did I lose the historical perspective? Am I blowing this out of proportion? I don't think so. It's one thing if an exceptionally ignorant teenager on yeshiva world news makes a derogatory comment about non Jews, it's another thing entirely if the chabad rebbe essentially says the same thing.
But just recently I was trying to find something about bechira on chabad.org and came across this speech that the Rebbe apparently gave to a group of college students in the 60s. It's all pretty standard except for this appalling part:
Question: One can therefore understand the purpose of the Jew on earth, but what could be the purpose of the creation of the non-Jew?
Rebbe: The Rambam speaks about this matter at great length in his Pairush Hamishnayos. I will answer as briefly as possible. This world is divided into four kingdoms: human, animal, vegetable, and inorganic. These four kingdoms are, in truth, all one (4 levels -- 4 kingdoms). The purpose of each level of life is to serve the level of life higher than itself. The inorganic serves the vegetable; the vegetable serves the animal; and the animal is eaten by the human being. When the person eats food, he transforms the lower levels of life to become his blood and flesh. For man to have wheat bread there must be a farm with farmers. The farmer plays a part in providing food for the Jew. With this, he fulfils his part in the creation.
Uh, so to sum up, the goyim are here to serve us? Ok, got it. But seriously, some questions remain.
Substantively, I know all of chabad adopts this attitude, but are all frum people really expected to espouse this level of bigotry? To believe that gentiles are here to serve the Jews and that's it? Does everyone but the modern orthodox groups espouse this?
And what about the absurdity of the belief itself? There are plenty of gentiles who have never met and will never meet a Jew in their lives and presumably, all these people will live and die without ever fulfilling their role in creation? And speaking of death, it doesn't sound so bad, does it now? Once the farmer provides food for the Jew, well, I guess his mission is accomplished and away he goes. No need to be sad, to mourn, to grieve and all of that- after all he's fulfilled his part in the creation by providing food for Jews. And what was the point of gentiles before there were Jews to begin with? Just preparing the world for 1.5 thousand years? And what is the purpose of the Jewish life? To serve a Lubavitch one? To serve a cohen or levite family?
Looking at the world from this lens, it is easy to see why many frum communities have problems with welfare fraud and criminality in general. If all the gentiles and their property are really here for the benefit of the Jews, why would I care about their dumb-ass rules and why shouldn't I get paid under the table and claim poverty and cut corners and launder some money here and there? After all, as long as the money is going to end up with me, a Jew, why should I worry about legalities and all that nonsense? It's also quite easy to see how anti-semitism isn't something we can just explain away as irrational foolishness.
And what's with the Rebbe making these remarks? Was he not able to see how some of those college students could possibly find it offensive and ridiculous? He couldn't find something else in replying to this student?
Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe this sounded different in 1961? Did I lose the historical perspective? Am I blowing this out of proportion? I don't think so. It's one thing if an exceptionally ignorant teenager on yeshiva world news makes a derogatory comment about non Jews, it's another thing entirely if the chabad rebbe essentially says the same thing.