Chief Rabbi on Antisemitism: "Israel's Survival is Divine"

Last night (Monday), the Knesset marked with a special event 31 years since the attack on the Jewish community buildings in Argentina, in which about 85 people were killed. The event was honored by the presence of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Bar, who delivered the main address in memory of the victims.

In his remarks, the Rabbi addressed the phenomenon of antisemitism that takes on and spreads forms against the miraculous Jewish existence in the Holy Land that continues to intensify even in these days. The Rabbi explained that as we witness greater miracles and successes - so do Israel's enemies in the world find increasingly strange reasons and arguments against it, reasons and arguments designed to allow them to avoid looking at reality as it is.

In this context, the Rabbi quoted from an article recently published in the British Daily Telegraph in which the writer, Alister Heath, came to terms with antisemitic discourse in the world today.

"If you scratch beneath the rage, you'll find something deeper. Discomfort not with what Israel does, but with what Israel is. A nation so small shouldn't be so strong. Period. Israel has no oil. No special natural resources. A population barely the size of a medium American city. They are surrounded by enemies. Hated at the UN. Terror targets. Condemned by celebrities. Boycotted, vilified and attacked. And yet, they thrive as if there's no tomorrow. In military. In medicine. In security. In technology. In agriculture. In intelligence. In morality. In pure and unbreakable will. They turn desert into farmland. They produce water from air. They intercept rockets in the air."

The reporter then lists many additional achievements and mocks the way they are "accelerated" by Israel's critics worldwide. "The world watches this and can't understand it. So they do what people do when they witness power they can't understand: they assume it must be cheating. It must be American aid. It must be foreign lobbying. It must be oppression. It must be theft. It must be some dark trick that gave the Jews this kind of power. It must be extortion. Because God forbid it's something else. God forbid it's real."

The Rabbi explained: "But the root of the matter is that 'this isn't political. It's biblical. There's no cheat code that explains how a group of people returns to their homeland after 2,000 years. There's no rational path from gas chambers to global influence.'"

"Because the moment you admit that Israel's survival is not just impressive, but divine, everything changes. Your moral compass needs to be reset. Your assumptions about history, power and justice collapse. You understand that you're not watching the end of an empire. You're witnessing the beginning of something eternal. So they deny it. They vilify it. And rage against it. Because it's easier to call a miracle 'fraud' than to deal with the possibility that God keeps His promises. One by one."

At the end of his remarks, the Rabbi emphasized: "At all times and in every event, even in difficult moments and facing difficult phenomena, we must continue to remember who we are. Continue to hold onto our mission and our morality."

"We are in the days between the straits [Three Weeks period of mourning], and what we most need and are required to strengthen is person to person, especially at this time when dozens of our brothers are in distress and captivity. We pray 'our brothers, all the house of Israel who are in distress and captivity.' The language seems somewhat exaggerated. When was all the house of Israel in distress and captivity? And the answer is that everyone must feel that if his brother is in captivity, he too is in captivity. And from here comes this formulation. May the Holy One help us merit that they all return healthy and whole to their homes soon and may we merit to see the complete redemption speedily in our days."