Contra Rebbeonem
my comments on this article https://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/5992855/jewish/The-Rebbe-on-How-Not-to-Combat-Antisemitism.htm#utm_medium=email&utm_source=9_Holiday_and_Site_Notifications_en&utm_campaign=en&utm_content=content
I apologize for sounding to at odds with the prevalent ecstatic opinion expressed here, but I think this exposition of rebbe's views on combatting antisemitism(and perhaps, not only antisemitism) is a collection of many if not all things i find erroneous in curent Chabad(and not only Chabad) attitudes, approaches and policies.
Rebbe may have been a staunch supporter of Israel, but he never set his foot on its Land so his authority on this topic is disputable. Especially given that the concept of never giving away an inch of Jewish land is not really consistent with Torah itself(cue Solomon who 'gave a thousand cities(!!!) to Hiram, for help in building The Temple. Of course those were probably small towns and villages rather than cities in modern sense, but still. Nor is all the current territory controlled by Jewish state, canonically sanctioned for our people's residence. Negev is the land of Edom, and its conquest by Maccabees is denounced by Talmud sages as having eventually caused Negev is the land of Edom, and its conquest by Maccabees is denounced by Talmud sages as having eventually caused great harm, due to artificially converting locals populations, which is not right by Judaism's principles, and also introducing Herodian dynasty which eventually led to complete demise of the Kingdom.
The criticism of ADL and other activist organizations for vocally objecting antisemitism and antisemites, is also begging return criticism. 'No protest, no issue!": is simply wrong, and if this is/was an official or essential approach of the rebbe or of current Chabad leadership, it's unfortunate. Quiet diplomacy and lobbying only works when it has a potential 'street support'. Also, since the article and rebbe recognized that the hostility stems from leadership rather than rank and file, it needs to be recognized that a)swaying leadership to our side may be frail and temporary, and b)leadership is the problem and so is ideology its particular entities are based on.
About 'not losing your backbone', we can see precisely how practicing and relying on quiet diplomacy only, clearly leads to exactly that--losing backbone--in the case of current Jewish leadership of Russia. Those people for years either excused Putin and his regime by presenting arguments like 'yes he's stamped out many liberties, but he's been nice to Jews, look at all those camps, synagogues etc", or even outright justifying their crimes. Fact is, in order to truly get someone change their stance toward Jews and perhaps other originally dislikes by them people, you need to point the problem out. Fact is also, people like Jesse Helms didn't really become friends of Jewish people as supporters of Israel due to peculiar interpretation of their own Scripture, which demands gathering of Jews in the Land. Which means Jews leaving America and other diaspora countries. Thus, these newfound 'friends' actually want us uprooted from our current habitat, albeit for supposedly noble reason.
Now, about our impact on the world and 'not spending energy answering specific complaints about our people'. If we are truly Chosen people, we must address complaints about our conduct. We are watched by the entire world, and it's only right that it be so, given our claim About our impact on the world and 'not spending energy answering specific complaints about our people'. If we are truly Chosen people, we must indeed address them. We are watched by entire world, and rightfully so, given our claim of such grand mission. If we have swindlers, thieves, sexual predators, false witnesses, crooked dealers, bad landlords etc in our midst--and by far not all of these 'bad sheep' are from secular part of Jewry, there are quite a few among the outwardly 'pious'--we must address the problem. And saying there are more such types among other peoples won't work either, because a)it's not proven and b)even one is too much for the Chosen people(cue the Ai story, when mighty Jewish army failed to conquer a small town just cause one man stole something from the trophy load dedicated to God. For that matter, rebbe himself should've been reflective and apologetic about the fact that Crown heights riot started due to his own cortege running over a black child.
To return to Jesse Helms and the like, it ought to be noted that he did not change much of his stance on other issues. So while it's nice to switch a former foe to friend for our people or State, if we believe that our role goes beyond just caring for our own interest and includes positively impacting the rest of mankind, I don't find it particularly encouraging if a pol becomes nice to Jews', for whatever reason, but remains hostile to say blacks, Asians, Hispanics, LGBT etc. And yes I mention LGBT in this list, because like it or not we are currently in the same 'boat' with that part of population. Nor, as I mentioned below, such switch is guaranteed to be firm and fully reliable, because today expedience may be on our side and tomorrow trends will change and we'll lose the newfound 'ally'.
And saying we should nit bother trying to gain favor of regular following of antisemitic leaders, also smacks of arrogance toward common person which frankly, especially in our time, is misplaced.
And on education. Rebbe was perhaps right that it's a cornerstone of civilization, but moreover in this light it should be noted that Jewish religion education system, instead of being an example for the rest, is often lagging behind the general one, with some entities to this day refusing to allow even 'innocent' non-Jewish subjects like math, physics etc. It's totally right that we don't live on an island and that all inhabitants of Earth are interested in having 'meaning, direction' and peaceful constructive cooperation in their lives; and precisely in that light, it must be understood that it's not a one way street and that our influence on the world is answered by world's influence on us, and that influence is actually not invariably bad. We need to get off our 'moral high horse' and remember that after all we're the 'suffering servant' of mankind as a whole, not a blue blood entitled to invariable praise and acknowledgment of superiority by the 'commoners'.
So all in all, while it does not in any way excuse antisemites (as Torah clearly shows God often uses wicked ones as tools of His justice and plans, without making them any less wicked), and while combatting antisemitism vocally is indeed the right way to do so--mind you, many foes of our people have been removed from various pulpits of broad influence they once had access tom and it was indeed thanks to the 'loud protestors' like ADL and similar ones, not or at least not only due to 'quiet diplomacy'--we ourselves need to be on our best behaviour. And maybe then the level of antisemitism will significantly decrease.
And by the way, sadly it's not true that the teaching supposedly received from the very most High and authoritative originator, cannot be corrupted, misinterpreted, diluted, appropriated for one's ulterior needs etc. It can and it has, unfortunately.
Also, with all due love and respect to our legacy, I am not sure how many of other religions and teachings actually acknowledge Seven Noachide Laws or their Supreme origin. I did not notice that about say Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Druidism, Norse paganism, Zoroastrianism or most of those wildly diverse African or Native American religions. They or their confessors, at any rate some of them, may sure acknowledge and respect Judaism, but to the point of accepting its total supremacy? I am not sure.
And yes, Esau 'hates' Jacob, and you can pretty much understand why--but he also falls on his chest and cries on it, when they meet. If you're so bent on the 'hates' part of this narrative, your version of Torah is lopsided and of dubious correctness and thus, of dubious service to its mission and perhaps to God Himself.
I apologize for sounding to at odds with the prevalent ecstatic opinion expressed here, but I think this exposition of rebbe's views on combatting antisemitism(and perhaps, not only antisemitism) is a collection of many if not all things i find erroneous in curent Chabad(and not only Chabad) attitudes, approaches and policies.
Rebbe may have been a staunch supporter of Israel, but he never set his foot on its Land so his authority on this topic is disputable. Especially given that the concept of never giving away an inch of Jewish land is not really consistent with Torah itself(cue Solomon who 'gave a thousand cities(!!!) to Hiram, for help in building The Temple. Of course those were probably small towns and villages rather than cities in modern sense, but still. Nor is all the current territory controlled by Jewish state, canonically sanctioned for our people's residence. Negev is the land of Edom, and its conquest by Maccabees is denounced by Talmud sages as having eventually caused Negev is the land of Edom, and its conquest by Maccabees is denounced by Talmud sages as having eventually caused great harm, due to artificially converting locals populations, which is not right by Judaism's principles, and also introducing Herodian dynasty which eventually led to complete demise of the Kingdom.
The criticism of ADL and other activist organizations for vocally objecting antisemitism and antisemites, is also begging return criticism. 'No protest, no issue!": is simply wrong, and if this is/was an official or essential approach of the rebbe or of current Chabad leadership, it's unfortunate. Quiet diplomacy and lobbying only works when it has a potential 'street support'. Also, since the article and rebbe recognized that the hostility stems from leadership rather than rank and file, it needs to be recognized that a)swaying leadership to our side may be frail and temporary, and b)leadership is the problem and so is ideology its particular entities are based on.
About 'not losing your backbone', we can see precisely how practicing and relying on quiet diplomacy only, clearly leads to exactly that--losing backbone--in the case of current Jewish leadership of Russia. Those people for years either excused Putin and his regime by presenting arguments like 'yes he's stamped out many liberties, but he's been nice to Jews, look at all those camps, synagogues etc", or even outright justifying their crimes. Fact is, in order to truly get someone change their stance toward Jews and perhaps other originally dislikes by them people, you need to point the problem out. Fact is also, people like Jesse Helms didn't really become friends of Jewish people as supporters of Israel due to peculiar interpretation of their own Scripture, which demands gathering of Jews in the Land. Which means Jews leaving America and other diaspora countries. Thus, these newfound 'friends' actually want us uprooted from our current habitat, albeit for supposedly noble reason.
Now, about our impact on the world and 'not spending energy answering specific complaints about our people'. If we are truly Chosen people, we must address complaints about our conduct. We are watched by the entire world, and it's only right that it be so, given our claim About our impact on the world and 'not spending energy answering specific complaints about our people'. If we are truly Chosen people, we must indeed address them. We are watched by entire world, and rightfully so, given our claim of such grand mission. If we have swindlers, thieves, sexual predators, false witnesses, crooked dealers, bad landlords etc in our midst--and by far not all of these 'bad sheep' are from secular part of Jewry, there are quite a few among the outwardly 'pious'--we must address the problem. And saying there are more such types among other peoples won't work either, because a)it's not proven and b)even one is too much for the Chosen people(cue the Ai story, when mighty Jewish army failed to conquer a small town just cause one man stole something from the trophy load dedicated to God. For that matter, rebbe himself should've been reflective and apologetic about the fact that Crown heights riot started due to his own cortege running over a black child.
To return to Jesse Helms and the like, it ought to be noted that he did not change much of his stance on other issues. So while it's nice to switch a former foe to friend for our people or State, if we believe that our role goes beyond just caring for our own interest and includes positively impacting the rest of mankind, I don't find it particularly encouraging if a pol becomes nice to Jews', for whatever reason, but remains hostile to say blacks, Asians, Hispanics, LGBT etc. And yes I mention LGBT in this list, because like it or not we are currently in the same 'boat' with that part of population. Nor, as I mentioned below, such switch is guaranteed to be firm and fully reliable, because today expedience may be on our side and tomorrow trends will change and we'll lose the newfound 'ally'.
And saying we should nit bother trying to gain favor of regular following of antisemitic leaders, also smacks of arrogance toward common person which frankly, especially in our time, is misplaced.
And on education. Rebbe was perhaps right that it's a cornerstone of civilization, but moreover in this light it should be noted that Jewish religion education system, instead of being an example for the rest, is often lagging behind the general one, with some entities to this day refusing to allow even 'innocent' non-Jewish subjects like math, physics etc. It's totally right that we don't live on an island and that all inhabitants of Earth are interested in having 'meaning, direction' and peaceful constructive cooperation in their lives; and precisely in that light, it must be understood that it's not a one way street and that our influence on the world is answered by world's influence on us, and that influence is actually not invariably bad. We need to get off our 'moral high horse' and remember that after all we're the 'suffering servant' of mankind as a whole, not a blue blood entitled to invariable praise and acknowledgment of superiority by the 'commoners'.
So all in all, while it does not in any way excuse antisemites (as Torah clearly shows God often uses wicked ones as tools of His justice and plans, without making them any less wicked), and while combatting antisemitism vocally is indeed the right way to do so--mind you, many foes of our people have been removed from various pulpits of broad influence they once had access tom and it was indeed thanks to the 'loud protestors' like ADL and similar ones, not or at least not only due to 'quiet diplomacy'--we ourselves need to be on our best behaviour. And maybe then the level of antisemitism will significantly decrease.
And by the way, sadly it's not true that the teaching supposedly received from the very most High and authoritative originator, cannot be corrupted, misinterpreted, diluted, appropriated for one's ulterior needs etc. It can and it has, unfortunately.
Also, with all due love and respect to our legacy, I am not sure how many of other religions and teachings actually acknowledge Seven Noachide Laws or their Supreme origin. I did not notice that about say Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Druidism, Norse paganism, Zoroastrianism or most of those wildly diverse African or Native American religions. They or their confessors, at any rate some of them, may sure acknowledge and respect Judaism, but to the point of accepting its total supremacy? I am not sure.
And yes, Esau 'hates' Jacob, and you can pretty much understand why--but he also falls on his chest and cries on it, when they meet. If you're so bent on the 'hates' part of this narrative, your version of Torah is lopsided and of dubious correctness and thus, of dubious service to its mission and perhaps to God Himself.