Trigger Warning- Some Politically Incorrect Thoughts On Antisemitism

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by torahanytime.com. A Torah anytime original series. I want to ask a pretty uncomfortable, maybe even politically incorrect question. Why are some Jews today so obsessed [music] with anti-Semitism? Everywhere you turn, it's articles, podcasts, WhatsApp chats, panels, seminars, legislation, strategy sessions about anti-Semitism. [music] How do we fight it? How do we respond? What's the next move? This has become the conversation of our [music] times. >> [clears throat] >> But here's the question. Why does there seem to be a correlation between how much Torah [music] and mitzvahs are in someone's life, and often time how much they're consumed [music] about anti-Semitism? Why is it that people who are deeply immersed in Torah and [music] tefillin and mitzvahs, for the most part, are not glued to every headline, they're not emotionally [music] shaken by every article, they're not spending their day talking about what the nations of the world think of us, while the people who are the loudest, marching, [music] screaming, posting, reacting nonstop, are often the ones who are the least connected to practical Torah and mitzvahs? >> [music] >> Why is that? Maybe the answer is a little bit uncomfortable. Maybe the answer is that if a person doesn't have Torah as the [music] foundation of their Judaism, then what's left? How do you express that you're Jewish? So, it becomes this. I fight anti-Semitism. I stay informed. I speak out. I protest. And slowly, without even realizing it, fighting anti-Semitism becomes a substitute identity. [music] It becomes a litmus test. How Jewish are you? How much are you battling those [music] who hate us? And there's an almost an emotional comfort in this. I might not be keeping Shabbos. I might not be learning Torah. I might not do most of the [music] mitzvahs, but hey, I care about anti-Semitism. I show up, I fight, I read, I post, and therefore I am as Jewish [music] as any Jew, perhaps even more so. But that's a mistake. And it's a big one. I'm not saying ignore [music] anti-Semitism. Of course it exists, of course it matters. We're not naive. But if the best way you can think of spending hundreds of millions of Jewish [music] dollars is to put up billboards that say, "Don't hate Jews." Then I believe we have our priorities out of whack. [music] If your entire Jewish identity is built around reacting to those who hate you, you've completely missed the point. Being Jewish was never >> [music] >> meant to be defined by what we're not. It was meant to be defined by what we are. It's not about constantly addressing the outside [music] world. It's about building something on the inside, like Torah and mitzvahs, [music] and a real relationship with Hashem. Anti-Semitism does not define us, and [music] obsessing over it doesn't strengthen us. What does strengthen us is becoming [music] who we're meant to be. You want to be more Jewish? It's not through better arguments, it's not through more articles [music] and more posts, it's not through louder protests. It's through only one way. Torah and mitzvahs, it always was and it always will be. Hashem is not sitting there in shamayim waiting for us to win [music] more arguments. He's not waiting for better PR and better campaigns and louder [music] voices. Hashem is waiting for something much deeper. He's waiting for Jews [music] to become a little more Jewish. >> [music] >> You've just experienced another Torah [music] class brought to you by torahanytime.com.