Over the past month, there has been a surge in anti-Semitism. Threats have been made to Jewish community centers all across the country, there has been an uptick in harassment, and now there are gravestones being knocked over in Jewish cemeteries. To most Jews, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Anti-Semitism has a long history and, much like racism, it did not simply disappear. It is always there, bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting for an excuse to emerge just long enough to take another gulp of air and dive back down. These recent acts are clearly meant to inspire fear, to suggest to American Jews that they shouldn’t get too comfortable, that they aren’t welcome, that they’re too different to be considered truly American. Obviously, this couldn’t be further from the truth. But American values aside, there is something else that these perpetrators clearly don’t understand. They don’t understand the Jewish people. They have not learned from history.
For thousands of years, the Jewish people have been beaten down, and always we have risen again like a phoenix. Our temple was destroyed, our homeland conquered, our people were scattered across the globe, and yet we survived. We have survived expulsions and inquisitions. We have survived the Pale of Settlement and all of its famine and poverty. We have survived pogroms, we survived Kristallnacht. We have survived the deadliest genocide in human history, the Holocaust, in which six million of our men, women, and children were systematically murdered. Not only have we survived, but we have thrived. We have repopulated. We have created successful businesses, some of the biggest businesses in the world such as Facebook, Dell, and Warner Bros., and we have shaped the face of not only our host countries, but of the world at large. We have taken charge of our own destiny, come together, and resurrected our nation from the sands of time. We have defied all the odds and repelled attack after attack, protecting and securing our reborn homeland, and carving out a place for ourselves in world affairs. We have faced the worst aspects of humanity, stood against death itself, and yet we’ve never failed to come back stronger than before. Surely, if there indeed is a people blessed by God Himself, it is the Jewish people.
My message to those trying to do us harm is simple and boils down to just three words: Am Yisrael Chai. You may knock over our tombstones, threaten our institutions, and try to cast fear and doubt in our hearts. You may cut us down, yet we will always rise again stronger than before. The story of the Jewish people is the story of humanity itself. Of strength, of hope, of perseverance through seemingly insurmountable odds. We have a rightful place in this country, and in this world, just as you do. Try as you might, you will never be able to take that from us. The people of Israel live!
