אנטיסעמיטיזם! - דרשת הרב חיים דוד צוויבעל

[שלשלת]

ביילגעלייגט איז די טעקסט פונעם דרשה וואס הרב חיים דוד צוויבעל, פרעזידענט פון אגודת ישראל באמריקה, האט געהאלטן נעכטן ביים אגודה דינער. די נושא איז די לעצטיגע "אנטיסעמיטיזם" וואס הערשט אין ניו יארק סיטי.

(היות איך בין נאך היבש ניי דא, האב איך נישט געקענט מחליט זיין ווי איז דער פאסיגסטער ארט פאר אזא אשכול. אויב באלאנגט עס ערגעץ אנדערש ביטע עס אהין דעליווערן)

[left]One week ago, on Lag B’omer, hundreds of thousands of Yidden traveled to Meron to the kever of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. It was a hot, sweltering day. Buses broke down. Over 500 people suffered dehydration. Dozens were hospitalized. The Israeli authorities had failed to make proper advance plans to handle the major event.

Yet there was no public outcry over their failure. The mainstream Israeli media barely covered the story. There was no ge’shrei in the Knesset.

A columnist in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz offered the following observation: “If the chaos at Mount Meron had happened at a secular event, Knesset members would be sounding the alarm, ministers would be making rousing speeches, and the police commissioner would be pledging to investigate.

“However, more than 90% of the people who come to Mount Meron every year are ultra-Orthodox Jews. The ultra-Orthodox are second class citizens in this country.”

Well, we all know, as the Novominsker Rebbe told us earlier, that anti-chareidi sentiment is high in Israel. At least here in America, baruch Hashem, things are different. We are accepted, we are respected, we are protected. Right?

Not so fast. Listen to what the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty had to say in the legal brief it recently filed in support of Agudath Israel and the other organizations challenging New York City’s regulation of metziza b’peh:

“Targeted government measures against Orthodox Jews are becoming depressingly regular features within the City and surrounding municipalities. This may stem from an antagonism on the part of the secular leadership of the City toward public manifestation of religion in general, but Orthodox Judaism is perhaps the religion that suffers the most hostility.”

The brief goes on for 10 depressing pages describing specific cases where Orthodox Jews have been the object of social disdain and legal disability. The brief quotes some of the venomous language that has been used to describe Orthodox Jews: “tribal,” “fake people,” “blood sucking self-centered leeches” who create Jonestown-like cults where they drink “spiked Kool-Aid…kosher of course.”

The Becket Fund concludes its brief by pointing out the undeniable:

“Deep hostility toward Orthodox Jews is present in American society in general and in New York in particular. And one of the methods used by municipalities to prevent an influx of Orthodox Jewish residents is to make it impossible for them to practice their religion in that jurisdiction.”

Are we so complacent here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave that we need a non-Jewish organization, in a brief written by lawyers named McConnell and Rassbach, to open our eyes to the viral spread of anti-Orthodox sentiment in this country?

If the gentile brief writers aren’t enough to arouse us from our blissful stupor, perhaps the words of our distinguished Mayor will do the trick. When Atlantic Magazine recently interviewed Mayor Bloomberg about his decision to regulate an aspect of ritual circumcision, His Honor humbly replied:

“I think it’s fair to say that nobody else would take that on. I mean, come on! Who wants to have 10,000 guys in black hats outside your office, screaming?”

Wow. Imagine the uproar if Mr. Bloomberg would have said the same sentence without the word “hats!” But of course, he would never do that. Our mayor is no racist.

Rabbosai, people often ask me why do we need Agudas Yisroel today. Years ago, obviously, when the Torah community was small and weak, there was a need for an organization that would help secure our rights and build our communities. But why today?

Haaretz knows the answer. The Becket Fund knows the answer. Readers of Atlantic Magazine know the answer. And tonight, we know the answer.

We know why it’s so important to bring Torah Jews together as a united and powerful koach horabim, as we see on display here tonight, and especially so at the recent Siyum Hashas.

We know why it’s so important to advocate in Washington, and in Albany, and in Trenton, and Annapolis, and Tallahassee, and Springfield, and Sacramento, and Columbus, and Indianapolis – wherever there are communities of Orthodox Jews who send their children to yeshivos and day schools, and lead a life of Torah observance.

We know why it’s so important to have a network of lawyers and other professionals upon whom we can call whenever our ability to live our lives as Torah Jews is under attack.

We know why it’s so important to have an office of public affairs, which monitors the media and is on the alert to respond to the outrageous libels and misinformed nonsense about our community that find their way into even the most respectable publications.

And there’s one other thing we know: that every one of us has a unique and indispensable role to play in the great battle for survival as a Torah Community. We’re all in this together – and we’re all strengthened when we join together.

Agudas Yisroel urgently needs all of us – because all of us urgently need Agudas Yisroel.

Thank you.[/left]