Best way to deal with antisemitism: metaphysical light

After three and a half decades of enmity, Jacob finally prepares to meet and confront his brother, Esau. The Torah describes the night before this fateful encounter as follows (Genesis 32):

“Jacob remained alone. A man wrestled with him until dawn. When he realised he could not overcome him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket. Jacob asked, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ The sun shone upon him as he passed Penuel.”

The nameless man, it turns out, is the angelic embodiment of Esau – and of antisemites in subsequent generations. Throughout the long night of exile, he wrestles with Jacob, trying to destroy him, to obliterate him. He succeeds in inflicting grievous bodily harm, but not in annihilating him. Jacob tries to establish his opponent’s identity, but fails.

Indeed, antisemitism has no fixed name. It’s an ugly beast that, like a chameleon, changes its colours depending on the circumstances. Over the centuries, Jews have been hated for being too wealthy and dominating world economies, and then for being parasites who contribute nothing and leech off the wealth of others. We have been persecuted for being fascist capitalists, and then for being socialists and communists.

Thousands of years ago, the Sifri on Genesis concluded that it is halacha that Esav hates Jacob. It’s something hard-wired into the metaphysics of this world, an axiomatic principle deeper than any level of human understanding or explanation.

We all grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust and the motto, “Never again”. We were lulled into a comfortable sense that the world was now different – more loving, accepting, and tolerant. The resurgence of antisemitism in today’s world has thus taken us by shock and surprise.

In truth, the moral compass of our world has gone totally haywire, spinning out of control, unable to find the direction of truth and morality. Under the guise of liberalism, society has become more intolerant than ever, finding it acceptable to plant a bullet in the neck of one whose views it disagrees with, and then publicly lauding the assassination.

There is no way to explain it. Nor is there any point in trying to identify the root cause. It is halacha. Like Jacob, we walk on, perturbed, but not defeated.

One thing we dare not do is allow antisemitism to dominate our essence as Jews or to take centre stage. This is difficult in this day and age, with the bombardment of news stories from around the world reaching us incessantly. We hear of a slur shouted from a car in Marseille, or hate speech in San Francisco in virtually real time. While we dare not bury our heads in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening, we must also keep perspective of the bigger picture.

Hiding our Jewishness isn’t a strategy. It attacks our identity at the core, and makes us feel inferior rather than proud. And history has proven that it simply doesn’t work.

If it is halacha, then the way to defeat it is via the metaphysical. We must flood the world with goodness and spirituality, true to our mission to be a light unto the nations (Isaiah 42). This is the only way to fix the moral compass of this crazy world – making it point to true ethical north once again.

And the antisemite? Never accept, explain, or condone. Though he is human and created in the image of G-d, his actions must be denounced and may never be explained or forgiven. We can, however, keep the moral high ground and respond to despicable actions by improving ourselves even further.

After a night-long, bitter wrestling match, Esau conceded that he could win some battles but never the war, and he and Jacob parted. Jacob was limping from his injury, but walked on. The sun came out, and cured him with its healing light.

Through this long night of exile, we have been hurt but never destroyed. We walk on, waiting for the sun of redemption to take away the wound permanently. The first rays of the dawn of deliverance are already piercing this night. Not long now, and it will shine in full glory, bringing an end to centuries of pain and suffering.

Shanah tova!

• Rabbi Yossi Chaikin is the rabbi at Oxford Shul, and the president of the South African Rabbinical Association.