Rabbi Tovia Singer: How Jews Should Respond to Rising Antisemitism

So, I mean, you mentioned Islam, and I was going to get there, but you know, I think we're going to give you one last question. If you want to rope it in somehow a response to Islamic uh hostility, you can. Uh although I don't know going to get give a question about that you um but um I' I've said here before from the pulpit I mean that uh despite all of the necessary work we have to do in combating anti-semitism kind of try to bring it full circle here um our job is not just to exist our job as Jews is not just to survive our job for combating anti-semitism is to follow that up with being Jews and living Jewishly. I usually when we have a scholar residence come so I you know take them aside or I have a conversation with them beforehand saying like look you're not here very often I have to talk to these people every week so I can't be too aggressive in telling them how to live Jewishly otherwise they'll go a different sh but since this is not your show um can you give us a parting message not many of us are going to encounter at least hopefully not too often or ever some host hostile aggressors you know uh that that are trying to convert us or trying to convince us of different ideas. What is our role in terms of being better o hashem in the face of this kind of hostility in the world in the face of that kind of you know narrative about the Jewish people what is our aboda what is our job our role in our little orbit uh to be better Jews or you know in what way can we combat this growing trend? Yeah, Rabbi, you you articulated perfectly. Our role is not to just exist. It's just our survival. Those of you who have even a prefuncter knowledge of Jewish history, our survival is the chance of this happening is nevertheless, we have a promise. But what you heard the rabbi say is precisely that our mandate is to be a light to the nations. Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 42:6. That's our entire role. We are to be, in fact, before the Ten Commandments were given in Exodus 20, chapter 19, we're told we're to be amus. We're to be a king of priests. Well, we're the priests. Not ironic, but priests, meaning we who are ley are the non-Jews. How do we reach them? Imagine for a moment if every one of these windows were removed and the doors were closed. It would be so dark here you wouldn't see the finger in front of you. If you lit only one candle, it would reach every part of the room. And another striking feature about a a lit candle is that it could kindle an infinite number of other candles without diminishing from the original flame. Conversely, if I have a pale of water and I give you some and I have less water, but the flame, the light, this is not poetry. I'm not waxing elegant ker mitzvah for Torah or it's the book of proverbs written by the son of king king David. So therefore the role of the Jew is to be a light to the nations. One other point is that there's something striking about Jewish suffering. It's not only our existence but Jewish suffering has a big impact on non-Jews. And many people will say, and those who watch me, you hear it live, that I was not Jewish. I didn't like the Jews, but I I saw Shinus. I saw what happened October 7th, and I changed and I became a Beno and I converted to Judaism. There's a power in Jewish suffering that triggers within the non-Jew a desire to join the Jewish people. And it's counterintuitive. It doesn't make sense why they want to convert. Now, 85 years ago, one-third of the Jews were murdered. We should be radio re radioactive. Yet, they are lining up to convert. If your rabbi was to have a one-day sale, anybody wants an Orthodox conversion, they would line up from here to Chicago. They're all plotting. You can't get into a program in Israel. It's very hard to get into a conversion program in Israel which is people want that a lot because you can make aliyah immediately. You can't get in and it's all former if you speak to people it's the suffering of the Jew that does something to the nama of the non-Jew that draws them in. It's very and that is is so counterintuitive but listen like you never listen in your life. That's what Isaiah 53 is. Isaiah 53 is the saliloquay of what the non-Jews will say in the messianic age. If you were right all along, so now we know we follow you. 10 Gentiles grab the shirt of a Jew and say, "Tell us with you. Now we know God's with you." In messianic age, all the nations recognize the God of Israel, Paul. But they'll have a dilemma. Why did you suffer so much? Until now, we attributed Jewish suffering to what the anti-Semit might say and that is we rejected their gods and their prophets and their demigods and that's why the Jews suffer so much and they're thrown out of every country. But now we know that all along you had the truth. So our original explanation for Jewish suffering now collapses and the non-Jew discovers two things. Schindler's list very powerful film about a story of a man who went into the war. He was a German. He was a member of the Nazi party. He was Roman Catholic. What changed him? The girl in the red dress. He saw the her suffering and although he went into the war not necess but to exploit the war in order to gain wealth and women and so on for his own personal hedenism, he gave it all away. I would posit to you that if the protagonist in that story was a Jew, it wouldn't be interesting. What's so powerful is this non-Jew is transformed and converted by the suffering of the Jew that he witnessed with his own eyes. And that's what Isaiah 33 is. That the non-Jew sees the suffering of the Jew and says, "You know what? I'm turning to the God of Israel." And that's what it means. By his stripes, we were healed. that the kings of nations are speaking in their astonishment saying now we understand all along that the suffering of the Jew causes do and that's why we're seeing the greatest con mount of conversion today in Ben no was millions of people around the world davka after the worst thing that ever happened in Jewish history and after October 7 we're seeing just the middle fall out of course anti-semitis is very striking but people are coming to the people of Israel to the God of Israel And the second thing Isaiah 33 is that they're saying because of the transgression of my people they were shaken. So Jewish suffering triggers a chuva among the nations of the world. Now we don't want to suffer. It's not a good idea. But that's the effect it has on the nations of the world. But our role as you said rabbi is to be a light to the nations. Our commitment to Torah. Don't do what the Muslims did. Don't do what they did in 636 where they came into they invaded the Byzantine Empire and battled their way. We don't do it that way. We don't don't hold crusades and all this stuff. Don't do that. Don't clop on people's doors. Commit yourself to the God of Israel and it will transform the world. Thank you so much for having Thank you for the couple hours you spent with us. I mean, I'm sure some minutes afterwards. Um, but more importantly, thank you for all of the work that you do and uh it's a pleasure not only to hear you here, but to be able to hear you on an ongoing basis. Everyone's welcome. I'm sure you wouldn't mind me plugging your YouTube channel and Instagram. I'm sure you have or all the other things. You just type your name in and you'll find there. I have a sing obviously as you have a new book that you're working on, you said. >> Yeah. >> So, we keep you can keep an eye on that. Um but uh I implore everyone else to at least be aware of the enemies in our midst and outside of our midst but most importantly as we just finished to be uh to be aware of our job each and every person each and every individual with responsibility to be the best y that we can be the best oem whatever capacity that we have to keep towards keep us and best our abilities and hopefully that'll have a ripple effect throughout the world that even if we're not necessarily having the direct confrontational conversations Arab singer has become our to have. We are still doing our part in being the best view that we can be. Thank you. >> If you enjoyed this program, please like and subscribe. Be so cold.