Just for Being a Jew
Something moved in the hearts of many Jews here and across
the world, upon hearing about the last words of Daniel Pearl
Hy"d, the American journalist murdered by terrorists
in Pakistan, who declared himself to be a Jew, born of Jewish
parents.
Daniel Pearl was no conqueror of territories, nor was he a
settler. Neither did he belong to any extremist Jewish
national group. In fact, he was far more American than
Jewish, having realized the dream of many of the Jewish
refugees who made their way over the years to the American
melting pot, where ethnic identity is blurred and becomes
submerged among the unaffiliated masses. Yet Daniel Pearl was
executed in the most barbarous manner, not only as a
Jew but because he was a Jew.
His Pakistani terrorist murderers have no particular reason
for hating Jews, even allowing for the war that they are
currently pursuing, or are being engaged in. If they have
complaints, if they feel thwarted or bitter, or if they crave
vengeance, their only address should be the Americans, their
mortal enemies, who have resolved to fight them until they
are utterly vanquished. Yet when they kidnap a journalist who
writes not for a Jewish paper but for as well-known and
prestigious an American paper as The Wall Street
Journal, that inflames their passion for striking at
America's vast economic strength, they murder that journalist
because he is a Jew.
Pan-Arab propaganda in general and Palestinian propaganda in
particular have succeeded in legitimizing the murder of
Jewish soldiers and settlers (which is just one step away
from legitimizing the murder of Jewish civilians anywhere in
the country) in the eyes of the world. It is impossible to
ignore the support that they get from Israeli leftists, the
most extreme of whom are not even discouraged from expressing
themselves in terms that justify these diabolical murders,
but Daniel Pearl had nothing to do with any of this.
Born in America, he had neither served in the Israeli army,
nor was he an Israeli civilian. Yet before they killed him,
his murderers forced him to say that he was a Jew. They meant
to make it quite clear that they were not killing him because
he was a citizen of a country at war with them, or because he
represented a publication that supports that war, but because
of the Judaism to which his lips confessed in his last
moments.
A Jew Remains a Jew
The chord that this struck in the hearts of so many Jews
instantly dispelled many of the rationales that have been
advanced over the years to explain the causes of
antisemitism. In particular, it completely does away with the
foolish claim of the maskilim that if only Jews keep
their distinguishing characteristics private while outwardly
resembling everybody else, they will remove the cause of
antisemitism.
Daniel Pearl fulfilled all those requirements, including the
best known one: Be a Jew at home and a man in the street. He
was certainly "a man in the street." He had an all-American
upbringing and education and worked as a professional
journalist, roaming the world from one trouble spot to
another in the service of his prestigious paper. Yet his last
moments brought him back to his true roots as he uttered the
words, "I am a Jew and my father and mother are Jews."
In doing so he also reestablished his connection to his great-
grandfather, who was among the founders of Bnei Brak.
Those heroic words, "I am a Jew," in whatever circumstances
they have been uttered, reverberate with ancient and eternal
Jewish truth.
"[Even] if we have forgotten the Name of our G-d and spread
our hands in prayer to a foreign G-d, Hashem will investigate
this, for He knows the heart's secrets. For it is for Your
sake that we have been killed all day long and regarded as
sheep ready for slaughter" (Tehillim 44:21-3). The
Malbim zt"l, comments, "Even the conversos [of
Medieval Spain] who converted during persecutions, were later
killed and wiped out. They [the Inquisitors] researched and
investigated their lives and discovered that they observed
the Jewish religion secretly."
In the same vein, another great commentator writes, "In every
age and in every place where a hopeless situation has
resulted in faith being lost, even if only outwardly, in
order to preserve our lives; whenever we have spread out our
hands in prayer to a foreign G-d, under duress -- though
force does not mitigate sin and a lapse is a lapse (let us
recall the conversos of Spain) -- in our hearts we
remained Jews and even there, we did not forget our G-d's
Name. `Hashem will investigate this, for He knows the secrets
of the heart. For it is for Your sake' for even these
instances of lack of independence and unfulfilled obligations
were few and far between and exceptions to the rule. In
general, we were prepared to die happily for Hashem and to be
slaughtered like sheep, so as not to betray Him," (HaRav S.
R. Hirsch zt"l, Tehillim).
They Seek the Jew
The fearsome and glorious truth of, "for Your sake we have
been killed all day long," has been reaffirmed on every front
where Jewish blood has recently been spilled like water -- in
the settlements, in the cities and in Yerushalayim's Beis
Yisroel neighborhood, in a hotel Seder in Netanya,
which were soaked with Jewish blood last month. There were no
conquerors or settlers there. Most of the victims were
innocent citizens, babies or pure, innocent young children.
But they too, became part of the awesome scheme of "martyrs,
cast into the flames," the reckoning of which is one of
Hashem's secrets, yet in whose merit we beseech Him to "Save
us, please!"
The distorted idea of being "a man" -- not a Jew -- "in the
street," that sadly led many Jews to forget their
Yiddishkeit and swiftly become "a man at home" as
well, has been completely shattered by recent events. Even
with the State looking the way it does, flying the flag of
the High Court with one judge who thinks that Shabbos begins
at midnight not sunset, and others who want to transform
gentiles into Jews with a wave of their pens -- our enemies
continue to spill our blood. Nowadays, it is not happening in
dark ghettos but "on the soil of our birthplace," supposedly
a "safe haven."
If the advocates of being "a man in the street" still
stubbornly insist on advancing "logical" explanations for the
Arabs' hatred of us -- because of the "conquest," because of
the settlements etc. etc. -- Daniel Pearl's tragic death in
far off Pakistan came and proved that even without any
grievances, all they look for is the Jew, no matter what his
color, stripe or principles. It is as the Malbim writes:
"Even the conversos [of Medieval Spain] who converted
during persecutions, were later killed and wiped out." It is
true that "they" discovered that they observed the Jewish
religion secretly but what was their great sin in that?
Outwardly they were unrecognizable as Jews and disturbed
nobody. Nevertheless, since they were discovered to be Jews
in their hearts, their tragic fate was sealed.
The same thing happened in recent times to the assimilated
and apostate Jews of Germany. The Nazis researched their
lineage until many generations back and if Jewish blood was
found, the descendant was despatched to the camps, just like
the bearded and sidelocked Ostjuden.
Obscuring the Truth
Indeed, it is only "for Your sake," that "we have been killed
all day long." However, there are still those will not see
this, for example, an historian at one of the country's
universities. Out of all the horrendous crimes being
perpetrated these days, this lady found nothing more worthy
of protest than the Israeli government's having published a
mourning notice about the deaths of an officer and a soldier
which refers to their having been "murdered by villains in a
criminal terrorist attack."
She argues that this is not correct. "They weren't murdered,"
she says. "They fell in the line of duty." This is not merely
a question of semantics. It goes to the very heart of our
having been "killed for Your sake." Her protest amounts to
saying that they were not killed because they were Jews. They
simply "fell," in the "normal" course of mutual hostilities
between enemies.
Her approach helps us understand much of the frustration that
many irreligious Jews feel today at the conditions under
which we are living. The pretense of having solved the
problem of antisemitism has burst like a bubble. This
historian is unable to look a little deeper and see the
pattern of over three thousand years of Jewish history, from
which it is apparent that there are no logical explanations
for hatred of Jews. What we have instead is, "a well known
halochoh that Eisov hates Yaakov," and Yishmoel is
included in this, as we say in selichos, "destroy
Se'ir and his father-in-law." We do not pray to be the ones
to exact this vengeance. We pray to the One who has promised
to be avenged from all those who have spilt our blood
throughout the long exile.
She writes, "Seventy years ago, the Jewish yishuv in
Eretz Yisroel debated which terms of reference to use for the
disturbances of Av 5689 (1929), whether `pogrom' or
`uprising.' The Hebrew press at the time spoke of `pogrom,'
of `slaughter' and of `massacre' but there were those who
objected to this phrasing. If it had been a pogrom, what
could Zionism boast of having achieved? It had been supposed
to free Jews from the fear of pogroms that hovered over them
in the diaspora. But behold! In Eretz Yisroel too, they were
exposed to the rampage of the goyim. In Eretz Yisroel
too, Jews lived in fear of the threat of outbreaks of
violence. What kind of safe refuge was it that Zionism was
offering the Jewish people? One could ask a similar question
[today]. What purpose has the State of Israel with all its
power and might served if, more than fifty years after its
establishment, Jewish soldiers are being murdered in their
own country?"
There you have it. Zionism fostered a delusion, as though it
had the power to negate our golus existence by "taking
our fate into our own hands." Jewish suffering, according to
this specious theory, was ascribable to the Jews' failure to
rise up and throw off the yoke of servitude. They preferred
living in the dingy ghetto alleys to living upright, under
their own sovereignty. If only they would "arise and go up,"
everything would be solved.
With this outrageous lie, they poured scorn upon the millions
of martyrs of the Holocaust, for "not having hearkened" to
the Zionist soothsayers and rushing to the "safe haven" and
who therefore had themselves to blame for their bitter fate
in the death camps. Instead of reaching the conclusion that
reality has disproved the Zionist lie, the writer prefers to
change the terminology from "murdered" to "fell," so long as
the rectitude and justice of Zionism remain unchallenged.
Clarifying Roles
The tragic fates of both Daniel Pearl and the innocent
victims of the Beis Yisroel bombing, were theirs because they
were Jews. They are testimony to the cry that, "we have been
killed for Your sake all day long," in Yerushalayim, in
Netanya, at the border intersections in Yehudah and Shomron,
in Gaza, in the teeming cities in the heart of the country,
among those who have a connection to conquest and suppression
and among those who do not.
It is the same everywhere. We are still in exile, by Divine
decree, and our deliverance is in the hands of HaKodosh
Boruch Hu, the Cause of all that happens. He has promised
to visit us with salvation and mercy when He sees fit. There
is no way that we can break out of our exile by force. All we
can do to hasten our redemption is pursue the spiritual goals
that are incumbent upon us: strengthening and spreading Torah
study, increasing the holiness of life in Eretz Yisroel upon
which our entire existence here depends, adding to the acts
of kindness that we perform, intensifying the love of Jews
for each other and drawing our estranged brethren towards
faith in Hashem and observance of His Torah and mitzvos.
The greatest distortion of a pure world outlook lies in the
confusion of roles. The task of our redemption, which
HaKodosh Boruch Hu has promised us He will bring about
- - "`Redeem us, Hashem' is His Name, holy One of Yisroel"
(Yeshayoh 47:4), which the Malbim stresses as meaning
that, "He will fight on His people's behalf, not a mortal" --
is vainly assumed by men. On the other hand, people are
prepared to leave our spiritual mission, whose pursuit has
the power to hasten our redemption -- "today, if you listen
to His voice" (Tehillim 95:7) -- up to Heaven.
This is in keeping with an explanation advanced by great men,
of the mishnah at the end of Sotah, "and we
have no one to lean on, save our Father in heaven."
Strangely, this is listed with the travails of ikvese
deMeshicha, the period just before Moshiach's
arrival, though reliance upon Hashem would seem to be a good
and a desirable thing. The problem is though, that we leave
the spiritual tasks, that are our duty to pursue, up to "our
Father in heaven," instead of taking the initiative and
working for the honor of Hashem and His Torah. [This too, is
one of the crises of the present period.]
During these difficult times we, who have been fortunate
enough to absorb a correct outlook from our teachers, the
righteous leaders of past and recent generations, have to
devote ourselves to healing broken hearts. We ought to try
and open the eyes of confused innocents who, from lack of
knowledge, are liable to lose hope altogether, chas
vesholom. We ought to learn from the numerous tests that
many generations of Am Yisroel have withstood, that
despite things looking the way they do, Hashem's salvation
can arrive "in the blink of a eye."
When bnei Yisroel stood by the sea, with the Egyptian
army behind them and the desert on either side, the sea split
for them and they were saved. It is now the month of Nisan,
"the month in which there are comprehensive rescues."
May we swiftly witness the fulfillment of the prophecy, "As
in the days when you left Egypt, I will show him miracles.
Nations will see and all their might will wither away; they
will put their hand on their mouth [in astonishment], their
ears will grow heavy" [from hearing about Yisroel's
successes] (Michah 7:15- 16). The Radak explains that,
"the nations that gathered in Yerushalayim with Gog and Magog
will see that the wonders and the might upon which they
relied to go rise against Yerushalayim will wither away."
