Reject Eicha: Jews are not responsible for anti-Semitism – opinion

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On Tisha B’av we will read Eisha, also known as the Book of Lamentations, which chronicles the devastating destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. In these verses it says:

“His opponents have become the head, his enemies are at ease; for the Lord afflicted her because of the multitude of her sins; her young children went into captivity before the enemy.

Although these words were an attempt by ancient Jews to make sense of a horrific experience, I believe they contributed to a tendency towards self-blame within our community.

Instead of holding the Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, responsible for the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem, and the exile of the Judean elites to Babylon, the blame was placed on us- same. The people of Judah were believed to have sinned, thus invoking the wrath of God.

Jews must stop accepting responsibility for their own misfortunes

Since then, a historical pattern has emerged whereby Jews continue to accept responsibility for crimes committed against us. Even after 2,500 years, we have witnessed a similar response within some Jewish communities in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

THE ENTRANCE TO Theresienstadt. (credit: Maya Zanger-Nadis)

They sought to understand the erasure of their world and the genocide of six million Jews, not by attributing responsibility to the real perpetrators – the Nazis and their allies – but rather by pointing the finger at Jews for their assimilation. Just as their ancient ancestors did, they tried to explain the inexplicable by blaming the Jews themselves for the hatred we endured.

I understand the struggle to find answers in the face of such profound suffering and tragedy. The atrocities of the Holocaust and other horrific events throughout history have challenged the beliefs of many people. The question of how a benevolent and omnipotent deity could allow such immense suffering is a profoundly complex and profound philosophical inquiry. Even for secular Jews, finding an explanation for the horror that has so often struck our people has been an almost necessary coping mechanism.

The fact is that this specific answer – that the Jews have sinned – is harmful and we should reject it. Eisha is wrong. The idea that Jews are responsible for our own suffering or that we somehow deserve the horrors inflicted on us is harmful. Blaming victims for the atrocities they endured is morally wrong and perpetuates damaging victim blaming.

It is important to critically examine historical texts and understand the context in which they were written. Although Eisha served as an expression of grief and an attempt to make sense of the destruction of the First Temple, it should not provide a valid basis for blaming the Jewish people for their own suffering. It is crucial to approach these texts with a spirit of discernment, separating the historical and cultural context from the harmful narratives that may have emerged.

Like other victims of abuse, whether individually or collectively, we often find ourselves desperately searching for ways to make sense of our experiences. Our main goal is to prevent similar traumas from happening again. In this pursuit, our desperation can cause us to seek a sense of control and understanding. We yearn for an explanation of pain, one that offers us a comforting role to play in minimizing it.

History is full of the Jewish tendency to self-incrimination. We believe that if we could only adopt certain behaviors or conform to society’s expectations, we could lessen the hostility and persecution directed against us. We change our names, alter our physical appearances, adjust our identities (moving from nation to religion), and alter religious practices.

Many Jews in the West, in response to Jew-hatred and a desire to be accepted, have made extraordinary efforts to assimilate and “integrate” into mainstream society. However, despite these efforts, they faced continued discrimination and prejudice.

Traditional and secular responses to hatred against Jews are to blame the Jewish people, albeit for different reasons. Traditional perspectives attribute suffering to not following Torah and sinning against God, while conversely, secular perspectives assign blame to not conforming to certain universal standards or expectations. This developed in the 19th century when assimilated German Jews began to disparage the Ost Juden, the Jews of the East, for not assimilating and for being stubbornly Jewish.

However, this quest for comfort can gradually poison our minds and souls. It instills the false belief that we have done wrong, leading us to believe that we deserve the trauma repeatedly inflicted on us by the whole world. It is important to recognize that this self-blame is harmful and corrosive. It perpetuates a destructive cycle of guilt and self-doubt, obscuring the fact that the blame lies with the perpetrators, not the victims.

To heal and move forward, we need to focus on developing self-compassion, empathy, and solidarity with one another. By defying self-blame and embracing our inherent worth, we can free ourselves from the traumas of the past and work toward a future where we are not defined by the suffering we have endured.

It is essential to reject such lies that blame the Jews. Hatred of Jews is rooted in prejudice, ignorance and intolerance. It is crucial to understand that hatred of Jews is a non-Jewish problem rooted in prejudice, ignorance and irrational hatred. It is not the fault of the Jewish people, and it is not our responsibility to solve it.

However, this does not mean that we should remain silent or passive. It is important to make our voices heard, to stand up against the hatred of Jews, but we must never fight back thinking that it is our fault. It’s not our fault. The fault lies with the rest of the world, and it is time we recognized it.

The writer is the founder of the modern Jewish pride movement, an educator, and the author of Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People and Reclaiming our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride.

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