In a recent column I quoted King Solomon, who wrote in Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that there is a time to love and a time to hate. In my own humble opinion, I believe that there is also a time to pity as well.
Tragically, there are individuals in our community who are so misguided in their views and attitudes toward life, and in their perception of reality, that they are to be pitied and even prayed for. In the same manner that we ask for a refuah shelaima (full recovery) for those who are afflicted with a disease or an acute disability, we should also beseech G-d that He cure the chronically clueless.
Life must be very burdensome for those who consistently go in the wrong direction on a one-way street – but as much as they irritate and annoy us with their sheer idiocy, we must find room in our hearts to feel sorry for them and hope that they are fully cured, preferably sooner rather than later.
Just as there are horrific diseases (lupus, multiple sclerosis, etc.) that result from a warped auto-immune system that causes the body to attack itself, certain individuals have a sick sense of self that attacks the soul.
There are several versions of what I call “auto-idiocy,” just as there are several types of hepatitis. The one we’ll focus on today is one of the most debilitating, and the hardest to fix: chronic self-hatred. Unfortunately, like Tay-Sachs and Gautier Disease, the affliction is found disproportionately in the Jewish community. Fortunately, the disease is not genetic, though it does often run in families. It usually is caused by profound ignorance (due to lack of exposure to a Jewish education); persistent closed-mindedness; and the observance of a pseudo-Judaism that is as real as fake fur.
Symptoms of self-hatred include befriending one’s enemies and investing time, energy and money in their insidious causes – which invariably would mean the weakening, and even the destruction, of the Jewish people. In addition, those suffering souls saturated with self-hatred go out of their way to show vocal support for the enemy, loudly echoing the lies, distortions, and untruths that comprise their propaganda diet.
Such is their sickness that even when presented with facts, they have an inability to absorb or digest the truth and change their views. Try telling them that the matches they play with might end up burning them, and they’ll rage at you attempting to warn them.
Tunnel vision is another distressing symptom of this unfortunate illness. While quick to find flaws with the policies and attitudes of fellow Jews, they seem to have a major blind spot when it comes to the actions of those who actively hate their fellow sons and daughters of Yaakov.
Case in point: Jewish self-haters vehemently decry the “theft” of Palestine by “imperialistic Israel” and bemoan the plight of the “poor Palestinian refugees” – but are pathologically silent regarding the Jewish citizens of Arab countries whose lands and properties were confiscated by their governments and who were booted penniless from the nations their families had lived in for centuries.
These diseased souls typically have no comment regarding the billions of international charity dollars diverted by the honchos of the Palestinian Authority to personal Swiss bank accounts – the very funds intended for the building of sewers, schools, libraries, and adequate housing for their fellow “poor Palestinians.”
A review of historical data reveals that Jewish self-haters are usually early recipients of the enemy’s appreciation for their support – whether they are gassed, hanged, imprisoned, exiled, or sent to gulags and concentration camps, these soul-sick Jews find that Jew-haters make no distinctions.
But so strong is their malaise, so deeply has the self-detestation invaded the very essence of their beings, that with their dying breaths they blame their misfortune on themselves for not having done enough.
What a pity.
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