Transforming Tragedy Into Triumph: The Secret To Jewish Immortality
The defiant power of the human spirit is man’s capacity as a spiritual being to resist and brave whatever conditioning, circumstances or suffering he may face or endure.”-Dr. Viktor Frankl
Over the past few weeks, like many of you, I’ve been glued to the news. I need to know what has happened and continues to happen in Israel. I’m stuck between “I can’t get enough” and “enough is enough.”
It went from the most heinous horrors against the Jews since the Holocaust, to the ongoing saga of the hostages, to the pro-Hamas rallies and the vile Jew hatred erupting all around us, to the devastation being visited upon poor Palestinians whom Hamas is using as human shields.
It’s devastating. It’s terrifying. It’s exhausting. It’s demoralizing. I know. I get it. Trust me, all day, every day CNN. FOX. MSNBC… every person I talk to, every client I meet with, every interaction, over and over, rinse and repeat, again and again and again.
I get it. They hate us.
I know. They want to annihilate Israel.
I have no doubt they mean what they say. They want dead Jews.
Yes, we need to stay informed.
Yes, we need to keep advocating and educating.
Yes, the IDF needs to keep defending us, and individually, we must stay in the fight.
But here’s the deal: if we’re going to do this, then let’s do this. If we’re going to deal with these modern-day Pogroms (and make no mistake about it, these are bloodthirsty Pogroms – like Dagestan), then let’s go all in and remember the whole story.
Yes, they want dead Jews. Yes, they got dead Jews. Yes, they are after us again.
And yet, we’re still here? In every era they wanted us dead, so how come we’re not gone? For that, let’s turn to Mark Twain who wrote the following after visiting Israel in 1899 (so much for colonialism)…
“…If statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It
suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the
Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as
prominent on the planet as any other people…,
The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and
splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman
followed; and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and
held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have
vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was,
exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of
his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the
Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
Yes, indeed, Mr. Twain, every step of the way, they wanted us dead. And yet…
The Egyptian Empire – gone.
The Amalekites – gone.
The Assyrian Empire – gone.
The Hittite Empire – gone.
The Chaldean Empire – gone.
The Philistines – gone.
The Babylonian Empire – gone.
The Persian Empire – gone.
The Greek Empire – gone.
The Roman Empire – gone.
The Byzantine Empire – gone.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire – gone.
The Soviet Empire – gone.
The Nazi Empire – gone
They all wanted us dead. Yet, we are alive and well. We are succeeding. We are flourishing. We are powerful, returned to our rightful, ancient, God-given Jewish homeland, and thriving across the world. We are here. They are gone.
What is the secret of the Jew’s immortality, Mr. Twain? In the words of my teacher, mentor, and Holocaust survivor, Dr. Viktor Frankl – it’s called the defiant power of the human spirit. This spirit was exemplified by Frankl and many others during and after the Holocaust, as well as by Israelis during the past three weeks. It is this defiant power that has allowed the Jewish people to endure and thrive.
That’s our story, the whole story, and a story that needs to be lived and shared. It’s time to turn off the news and get back to this message, stop focusing on the death, the hate, and the fear – which is precisely what the terrorists and hates want us to do, and get back to our mission, and the real story – Am Yisrael Chai – the Jewish people and our Jewish homeland will continue long after Hamas and the haters are gone.
Our story, the story of the Jewish people and our homeland, is one that must be told and lived. It’s time to tune out the negativity and focus on our mission. Let’s move past the hate and fear that terrorists and other antagonists want us to feel. Instead, let us remember that Am Yisrael Chai – the Jewish people and our homeland – will endure even after those who oppose us are long gone.
That is the secret of the Jewish homeland, the Jewish people, and the Jewish mission – the defiant power of our spirit and a secret that finally and fully needs to be revealed!
Rabbi Dr. Baruch “B” HaLevi
