Dear Friends,
My teenage nephew and his friends were taking a walk in the sunny English countryside earlier this week while on a summer trip, when they suddenly had bricks and rocks thrown at them along with a deluge of antisemitic slurs.
This is just one little story that didn’t even make the news, along with several others I am involved in.
This is in addition to other stories we have been hearing about, of groups of Jewish children getting thrown off the plane in Spain, a Chabad Rabbi’s house burned to the ground in a firebomb assault in France and so much more which have made the news. These are happening alongside a constant poisoning of the minds of so many against the Jewish people, including from organizations dedicated to education and others.
My parents recently went for a walk near a lovely river on the outskirts of London, and could feel so many of the piercing stares, which say only one thing. They sat down on a bench to soak up some of the sun, and a middle-aged Asian lady came over to them and said “I just want you to know that I greatly respect the Jewish people, and not all of us out here hate you”.
My mother told me, how she was so touched and so grateful to this one woman who she didn’t know, stopping her walk after reading the atmosphere, and coming over to her to reassure them, and telling them on her own, “we respect you and not everyone hates you”.
In the 2020’s we thought we would be long past this, but alas, not quite yet.
Where do we go from here?
Is History repeating itself?
Should we be concerned?
How do we respond?
The history of the Jews and humanity as a whole are a journey in progress in which we have experienced so many ups and downs, including many hard, painful and difficult moments, and along with that we have experienced many beautiful, uplifting, meaningful and powerful and momentous moments.
Jumping back over three thousand years, we find that the Jewish people traveled no less than forty-two journeys while in the desert on the way from Egypt to the Land of Israel. Some of those journeys were moments of liberation, miracles and joy, and some were setbacks, failures and painful moments.
It was a forty-year journey, but with dozens of stops and starts, which collectively formed the experience and growth of the Jewish people, emerging from slavery in Egypt, to becoming ambassadors for G-d, in making the world be the beautiful place it is supposed to be.
The Chassidic master and founder of the Chassidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov, would often teach, how the forty-two journeys are in truth a reflection of the many stops and journeys that we all have in our lives. We all have the moments of joy and happiness, alongside, some moments of failure, sadness and pain, and our own journeys reflect so well the dynamics of joy, complaining, hope, liberation, meaning and change, that encompassed the journey of the Jewish people, on the way to the Promised Land.
The commentaries explain that it wasn’t just the journeys forward that were part of the growth, but even the stagnant and moments of setback, became part of the growth of the people, bringing them to a better place, and instilling within them, the ability to create a Promised Land, and become a brighter light to the world.
Back to 2025….
Indeed, as we begin the period on the Jewish Calendar, known as the Nine Days of Mourning, in which we mourn the destruction of the Temples and the massacres that came with them, and so many other painful sagas in our history, the challenges today are formidable and not something we should ignore.
Yet alongside this, we must remember that NEVER shall the negativity out there shape us, and if anything it should only further strengthen us, to celebrate, enjoy and live for what we represent and stand for even more than before.
Our children and we too, need to live and celebrate the meaning and traditions of Judaism, because they are indeed so special and beautiful.
They need to love it, because it is lovable and meaningful.
They need to respect it, because it is indeed a faith and set of Divine ideas, that have brought so much positive change to the world, and to so much of humanity.
They need to make it their anchor, because it has been the staying power of our people for thousands of years, to ride through storms and fire and continue to thrive.
They need to be proud of it, as they are a part of a faith and people, who are never content with being stagnant and stuck in the past, but instead are full of hope, vision and clarity, that today has to be better than yesterday, and tomorrow shall be better than today.
So yes, in 2025 we are facing certain challenges that we wished we weren’t dealing with right now. We are certainly at a juncture of history, which has some difficult elements to it, but also one in which we are seeing countless miracles and positive things happen in ways we never imagined possible.
So, as we continue marching forward on our journey, we need to constantly remember that we are a part of a historic journey to better the world, that began thousands of years ago with Abraham and Sarah and continued with the prophets like Samuel and Jeremiah. This same journey continues today with you and me, who are all charged with the same responsibility, to better the world and humanity, and make it become a home for the Divine, a world of kindness, goodness and righteousness.
The more we connect with our mission statement, the ideas of Judaism, the study of the Torah, the fulfillment of Mitzvot, and the values that our parents, grandparents and so many before us held dear, the more we can stay in tune with our crucial mission, negate so much of the negativity out there, and actually bring about constant positive change to the world.
So let us hold our heads up high, be thankful that we have a seat in the driver’s seat in changing and bettering the world, turn up the music with a nice joyful beat, turn on Waze and find a way to avoid the traffic, chaos and negativity, and let’s keep moving down the highway, on our journey of bettering the world.
Yes there may be some potholes on the road ahead, some traffic here and there, maybe a rowdy demonstration to bypass, and maybe even some unexpected road closures, but hopefully G-d willing, we will continue to find ways to reroute and make our destination and vision happen sooner rather than later.
Shabbat Shalom & Am Yisrael Chai!
Yisroel