Since the horrific massacres that took place in the Land of Israel earlier this month, students on campus have faced rallies for “Palestine” that quickly devolved into explicit Jew-hatred. Earlier this week, so-called protesters discovered that there were Jews studying in the school library, and stormed the building. Librarians had to barricade the doors. Anyone even remotely familiar with Jewish history should recognize that this is hardly without precedent. It has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with hating Jews.
The verse says, “And the escaped came, and told to Avraham the Hebrew” [Gen. 14:13] regarding the capture of his nephew Lot during the war of the four kings against the five.
What does it mean that Avraham was “the Hebrew”? The word “Ever” means “the other side,” And Rashi says, simply, that Avraham was called HaIvri, the Hebrew, because he came Mi’Ever HaNahar, “from the other side of the river.”
But Rebbe Yehudah, in the Medrash, provides another answer: “The entire world on one side, and he [Avraham] on the other side.” What does this mean? Pesikta Rabasi explains: “All of them were idolaters, and Avraham stood and acquired wisdom from within himself, and served the Holy One, Blessed be He… The entire world was on one side, and he was on the other side, and he loved the Holy One and served Him. And this is why Hashem called him [meaning all Israel] ‘Ivri and the seed of Avraham my beloved” [Isaiah 41:8, read this Shabbos in our Haftorah].
And that has never changed. Uncivilized barbarians have never been able to stand Jews, or anyone else with moral values. But since we got the moral values first and were tasked with spreading them around (being a “light unto the Nations”), they always start with the Jews.
And that, of course, is the story of the so-called “protests” in America today, the ones that leave police recommending that Jews stay home. Barbarians of the sort who would “contextualize,” much less defend, much less celebrate, the horrific atrocities committed on Simchas Torah in Israel are not decent human beings. They are the dregs of humanity. And it is the privilege of Jews to be hated by the moral detritus of the planet, and to outlive them all. Am Yisrael Chai, the Nation of Israel lives!