The Jew: Deserving thanks, not anti-Semitism

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

God selected Abraham as the forerunner of His only religion: Torah, the Bible. For Abraham was the sole monotheist in an age steeped in idolatry. He was perfectly suited to accept and spread God’s will for mankind. Talmud teaches that God wished Torah for all nations, but they each had corrupted philosophies that opposed Torah. Abraham was not a Jew, but a Noahide, as was every human being. Abraham had no special soul, but he actualized his intelligence to discover what is true: that there exists a single Creator and no other forces exist; we pray to Him alone, and not to man. Abraham discovered God’s will and attracted people everywhere and shared his insights. His truth-teachings earned him imprisonment and threats of death from idolaters who could not tolerate opposition. God protected him, and eventually gave Torah to his offspring upon Mt. Sinai 3333 years ago.

Instead of the world thanking God for sharing a way of life that produces harmony, contains perfecting commands, and deep enjoyment in studying God’s wisdom, the world has opted to attack the Jew without provocation. Just as was true regarding Abraham’s opponents, today’s anti-Semitism is a continued expression of defense by threatened alien religions. Judaism tells the world that all religions are either pagan, lies or corrupt. But instead of taking issue with God—Bible’s author—the world attacks God’s mouthpiece, the Jew. What added to the hate of Abraham was God’s gift of the Bible to the Jews. This created tremendous sibling rivalry. The world could have appreciated that Bible must contain brilliance, as God authored it. They could have selected to acknowledge God’s superior intellect, and better themselves through Bible, but instead, the world has selected to defend it’s corrupt philosophies and man-made religions.

Unprovoked, and without any action at all, the Jew is attacked and murdered throughout history. Man does not wish to realize his error, so he silences opposing voices—even God’s voice—as shared by the Jew, commanded by God to so. Egyptians, Amalekites, Hitler, Romans Greeks, and now Arabs cannot tolerate God favoring a people other than themselves. Displaced Arabs (Gazans) respond to God’s favoritism with lies to the world about “occupation” and the world believes it, instead of reading simple history that says otherwise. This unprovoked hate of Jews is a hate of God, not a hate of innocent humans.  

Jew and Gentile descend from Adam and Eve. We are equals. We were chosen by God not due to any merit (Deut. 7:6-8) but due to our ancestors. Abraham set us on a proper course of intelligent life, as is God’s will. But God’s gift of the Bible is intended for all mankind. So as Jews, we carry this responsibility and make Bible known in the world until the day God brings His Messiah who will finally find no opposition for other religions.

The Jew is no greater than the Gentile. But the Jew has a God-given responsibility to the world, even if it causes animosity towards us. We can never cease from Torah study, teaching, performing God’s commands and sharing Torah with the world. Hopefully we will help Gentiles enjoy the best life outlined in Bible.