Just consider the Jewish world today. Intermarriage tops 70 percent among non-Orthodox Jews in America and is even higher in other parts of the world. Parents no longer even attempt to stop these marriages. “As long as my children are happy – that’s all that matters.” Even most of those who are not intermarried have little if any Jewish commitment.
One might think this high rate of assimilation would have neutralized Jew hatred in our generation but, paradoxically, the opposite has occurred. The statement of the Haggadah – In every generation they rise up to destroy us – continues to hold true. The greater the assimilation the greater the escalation of anti-Semitism, and yet we continue on our destructive path. We do not stop to dust off the windows of our Jewish history. We do not stop to ask why.
Yet the answer is right there in the windows. It speaks to us loud and clear. We have windows of history. We have windows of Yom Tovim but the dust continues to obscure our vision.
Hashem chose us for the responsibility of carrying His Light – the Torah – to illuminate the darkness of humanity. Hashem will never allow us to disappear – that is our covenant. As is written in the book of Isaiah, These words I shall place upon your lips shall never depart from your lips, nor from the lips of your children or your children’s children, says Hashem…
Thus Hashem has no option but to remind us of our mission if we choose to forget and abandon Him. The Pharaohs, the Hamans, the Hitlers all come forth to attack us. “We don’t want you Jews,” they shout. “Get out! We will feed you to the fires, the gallows, the sword, the bayonet, the gas chambers.”
Yes they plague us in every generation and still we don’t want to realize that we cannot disappear no matter how much we try to look and sound and conduct ourselves as non-Jews.
I distinctly remember that when the Nazis deported us in their deadly cattle cars, a woman from our city who had converted to Christianity loudly protested, “But I am not Jewish, I am not Jewish.” The Nazis just laughed in her face.
We Jewish people have to acknowledge that our Heavenly Father is the only guarantor of our lives. We have no permanent friends in this world. If, however, our relationship with Hashem is to be sustained, our love for Him must continue uncompromisingly. This message is all in the window.
Every Yom Tov has its own tragic background. Our celebrations do not come out of the blue. If we could only see the message it would explain it all to us, but we choose to remain behind dusty windows that keep out the sunlight.
So we continue to make merry and the darkness remains. What is the message of Purim and Pesach that substantiates this?
To be continued
