BEHAR BECHUKOTAI 5785
BEHAR BECHUKOTAI 5785
Blood Libel and Blood Bath in DC
Our hearts are broken. We awakened Thursday morning to the terrible news that, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim—dedicated members of the Israeli Embassy—were senselessly gunned downed by a terrorist, Elias Rodriguez, outside the Jewish Museum, as he shouted, “Free, free Palestine.” It’s a chant we’ve heard time and again across America since Oct. 7, 2023—not just at political events but in front of synagogues, schools and cultural institutions that have only one thing in common—they have a Jewish connection.
It didn’t matter that Yaron and Sarah were a very special couple, very much in love and about to become engaged. It didn’t matter that they were both idealists—firmly committed to bridging the gaps between Arabs and Israelis. It didn’t matter that they were nowhere near Gaza. The only thing that mattered was that they were Israelis—citizens of the Jewish State. How could this happen in DC, the capital of America, the center of the free world?
Joshua Trachtenberg, in his book, The Devil and the Jews, points out: After the Crusades, a particularly noxious form of antisemitism arose in which Jews were associated with the devil. So, it became normal to believe that Jews murdered Christian children to use their blood to make matzah, and, in their hatred of Christians, poisoned wells and caused plagues.
Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in NY writes: A similar demonization is taking place today. On college campuses, Israel is scapegoated for all of the ills of the Western world … And to add insult to injury, Holocaust inversion is a staple of pro-Hamas propaganda, turning the language invented to describe the murder of 6 million Jews against their descendants. Now, a war against Hamas is proclaimed a genocide, even though the population of Gaza has grown during the war. This nauseating picture of Israel and the Jews has corrupted the minds of America’s best and brightest.
Since Oct 7th, the chanting of “Globalize the Intifada” has rung out at protests all over the world. “Globalize the Intifada” actually means, “Globalize, meaning everywhere, kill the Jews, as was the mission of the Palestinian Intifadas!” This call has now claimed the lives of Yaron and Sarah. There’s a straight line from the pro-Hamas encampments in our universities to these murders. There’s a straight line from justifying the harassment and assaults of Jews to this attack. There’s a straight line from appeasing Hamas supporters to Hamas-style violence on our streets. Those who have tolerated this Hamas rhetoric now have blood on their hands!
The murdering terrorist, Elias Rodriguez, was an English major at the University of Illinois and learned well the language of hatred. He recently wrote in his manifesto: Those of us against the [Israeli] genocide [of Gaza] take satisfaction in arguing that the perpetrators and abettors have forfeited their humanity. For Rodriguez and his ilk, Israelis are not human beings. Sadly, that’s nothing new. Rodriguez would have fit in well with the medieval mobs that believed the blood libels and murdered Jews.
The NY Times reported that Rodriguez had a sign in the window of his home with a slogan from the leftist anti-Israel JVP Jewish Voice for Peace organization. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing Jewish about the JVP. The sign read: “Tikkun Olam means Free Palestine.” JVP advocates for the “death of Israel,” and calls upon us to “Free Palestine by any means necessary.”
The murders of Yaron and Sarah outside the museum were foreseeable. Since Oct 7th, America has seen a normalization of antisemitic rhetoric. Antisemitism was once coded or fringe, but has increasingly entered mainstream discourse, cloaked in the language of activism. The line between legitimate criticism of Israel and outright hatred of Jews is being eroded at an alarming pace. Despite warning signs, law enforcement agencies have failed to recognize and prepare for violence fueled by antisemitism.
Rabbi Chaim Mentz of Chabad LA said: We Jews were scared to walk in Spain following the Inquisition of 1492. We Jews were scared to walk around Poland during the Khmelnitsky pogroms of 1648-1666. We Jews were scared to walk around Russia for centuries. We Jews were scared of being rounded up by the Nazis in Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe in the 1940’s. Right now, in America, every single Jew is a target because these people bought the cool-aid that Jews are not human and we can kill them.
This week, Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, issued a Blood Libel against Israel claiming that 14,000 babies in Gaza will starve to death in the next 48 hours due to Israeli action. This Blood Libel was spread across the world in minutes. It was false and was retracted. But it had already gone viral. And all that was needed was one unstable person—like Elias Rodriguez—to hear it and run with it.
As Jews, how do we respond to such darkness? What do we do with our grief, our fear, our outrage? 100 years ago at the opening of Hebrew University in 1925, the renowned Hebrew poet Chaim Nachman Bialik spoke about how Jews—in the most difficult of times—found inner strength in the Torah. He quoted a Midrash on a verse from our parsha (Lev. 26:44): “Yet even then, when they [the Jewish people] are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them nor abhor them.” The Midrash asks: How could Gd say, “I will not reject them nor abhor them?” Haven’t the Jewish people in exile been rejected and abhorred? Have not all the good gifts that were given to them been taken away? What remains for them? Bialik’s answer: “The Torah!”
The verse states that Gd would now abandon the Jews in exile. The Midrash bitterly wonders what that means, considering all of the persecution and suffering Jews had endured. Finally, the Midrash points to the Torah as the divine lifeline Jews need to survive. Bialik describes how throughout history, Jews were sharpening their minds over Torah while others sharpened their swords … how Jews connected with Gd through living His Torah. This is how we survived!
So, my friends, let our response to the murders of Yaron and Sarah be Torah. Come to shul every week over then next few months, for every seat filled in shul is a defiant and holy act. Invite your fellow Jews to your home for Shabbat and holidays, for every seat filled around your Shabbat table is a defiant and holy act. Come and learn Torah, for every filled seat in a Torah class is a defiant and holy act.
This past week Yuval Raphael sang at the Eurovision Song contest in Basil Switzerland and won 2nd place—despite having the most viewer votes. Yuval is an Oct 7th survivor. She hid under the dead bodies of her friends at the Nova Music Festival for 8 hours before being rescued. Last week she stood before 160 million viewers and sang. She sang for the 1200 Israelis that died that day. She could have continued to hide. She could have stayed home and locked the doors. But Yuval chooses to live—to live and to sing and affirm her Jewishness every day.
My friends, that’s how we can honor Yaron and Sarah—not just with candles or words—but by living a louder, prouder Jewish life. Amen!
