Always with us: Lies, damn lies and statistics
A well-known quote from Mark Twain was actually attributed to the first and only Jewish British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, (1804–1881):
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.
Whether Disraeli originated the quote is open to question, but no matter. Israel and world Jewry are victims of all three, much as Jewry has been since Jew-hatred began millennia ago, starting with the persecution and attempted murder of Avraham Avinu, thrown into the Kivshan Ha’esh, the fiery furnace, by King Nimrod (Midrash Bereishit Rabba 38:11).
The Pharaoh of Egypt raised it to a national hatred and vilification (Shemot 1:9-10). Since then it has accompanied with us through the ages.
When I was in high school I read Bernard Malamud’s, “The Fixer,” a fictionalized version of the Mendel Baylis murder trial in Tsarist Russia in 1911. He was accused of ritual murder of a Christian child for Passover. I was astounded by the sheer absurdity of it all (Jews never imbibe blood), and the fact that it occurred in the 20th century — the modern age! Never did I think that such a medieval hatred would persist into the late 20th and the 21st centuries. How wrong I was.
From the northernmost latitudes of Norway and Sweden to the southernmost of Australia; in virtually every country in the Americas save Argentina (because of the remarkable pro-Jewish president Javier Milei). From the entirety of Europe and Asia, including our putative allies, Britain, France, and Spain, to our most vicious enemies in the Muslim world.
County after country, politically from left to right, there is agreement on one thing: The Jews are evil, committing genocide, killing babies and causing mass starvation, prolonging the war for power and profit (or whatever excuse is convenient).
No matter how outrageous the accusation, it is said with seriousness, sagacity, and a straight face. Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson have historians on their podcasts who declare Hitler was “misunderstood” and Churchill was a vengeful war monger. History, truth, justice, good and evil have been turned completely upside down.
And there is but one target — the Jew.
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Once couched in euphemistic terms (the Israelis, the Zionists), now it’s openly declared it’s the Jews. Is this a mass delusion, a mass hysteria? Perhaps, but I think it is far more primal and animalistic than that. It is almost as if an infection of hatred was implanted by the devil himself.
To help us understand this incomprehensible sequence of events we must once again turn to our Holy Torah and realize we have entered the world of Sodom.
Avraham Avinu, the first Jew, had to go against the entire world to bring about the idea of ethical monotheism. But even he, the ultimate man of Chesed, loving kindness, could not convince Hashem that the city of Sodom should be saved. Why?
Chazal tell us that Sodom institutionalized unmentionable cruelty and sexual perversion. The Torah (Bereishit 13:13) states that “the people of Sodom were evil and sinful to Hashem, exceedingly.” Further descriptions of their bad behavior are mentioned in Bereishit 19:4, where all citizens of Sodom were engaged in evil “from young to old.”
Rashi quotes the Midrash Bereishit Rabba that giving charity was punishable by death (see also sefer Yechezkel 16:49). The Mishna in Sanhedrin (10:3) notes that the people of Sodom “have no share in the world to come.”
The Talmud in Sanhedrin (109b) relates that hospitality was forbidden, but should guests come to stay in Sodom, if they did not fit into the bed given them, they were either stretched or had their legs cut off. If someone injured another person, the injured was required to pay a fee to their attacker for “letting blood.”
Pirkei Avot (5:13) states that “Midat Sodom, the characteristic of Sodom, is what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours,” reflecting an inherent selfishness.
In short, Sodom was a society characterized by violence, hate, lying, thievery, selfishness, sexual immorality, a corrupt legal system, lack of compassion and extreme cruelty. Does this not describe Gaza led by Hamas, where not a single “innocent Gazan” has come forward to assist in locating and identifying a single hostage.
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Meanwhile, a world that has taken up Hamas’ cause, supporting its cruelty and murderous torture of the Children of Abraham, shares in Hamas’ culpability.
At times, it seems that the world has gone mad, and perhaps it has. But as noted above, we’ve been here before, throughout our history. And we’ve not only survived, we’ve thrived!
As true children of Avraham we are suffused with a tradition of loving kindness, morality, and a belief and faith in the one true G-d.
But as also noted in sefer Bereishit (14:14-17), when Avraham had to rescue his nephew Lot, he took on four kings in battle and won.
On Shabbat Nachamu, we read in the famous haftara, “nachamu, nachamu,” from sefer Yeshayahu (40:1-26), that when Hashem metes out justice to our enemies those nations will be “like a bitter drop from a bucket, and as dust on the balance” (40:15).
“All the nations are as nothing before Him, as nothingness and emptiness are they considered by Him” (40:17).
So don’t mess with us.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
