This week we read of the Revelation of the Divine Presence on Mt. Sinai, and the Ten Commandments (which actually contain fourteen of the 613 Commandments, and are more precisely translated as “the Ten Statements”). The Medrash says that Sinai is related to the word Sinah, hatred, because when the Torah came down to the world, hatred also came down with it.
Why are Jews called the “Chosen People” and a “nation of priests” [19:5-6]? Because we received the Torah.
And it comes with conditions: “if you will listen to My voice and you will guard My Covenant…” [19:5]. What makes us special is the job we were given to do: to follow and carry forward that Torah. And that, the Torah teaches us, is also why Jews are hated.
The Torah tells us that we were granted this due to our forefathers, especially Avraham, who was called HaIvri, from the word “Ayver,” on the other side. Avraham was on one side, the rest of the world was on the other, and it was his mission and calling to be different. It’s not that we are special as individuals, it’s that we are the children of our forefathers and mothers.
Today, left-wing, ardently secular LGBTQ ideologues align themselves with devotees of a radical Muslim religious theology that claims it meritorious to slaughter those who identify themselves as LGBTQ. Together with oligarchs and despots from North Korea to Cuba, they all find common cause in one area: hating Jews. There is no other situation in which a democracy’s army is defending its citizens against an openly genocidal terrorist force, and first-world governments and large blocks of their citizens openly take the side of the terrorists.
Clearly, it is not about these groups actually having common cause. The Chapters of the Fathers [5:17] says that an argument for the sake of Heaven is epitomized by Hillel and Shammai, while not for the sake of Heaven is shown by Korach “and his entire congregation.” Korach was a Levite who wanted honors given to other Levites. But many who banded with him were from the tribe of Reuven, the oldest brother, who wanted those same honors given to their tribe instead. In other words, the only thing they agreed upon was tearing down Moshe. Here, too, the only thing Israel’s enemies have in common is the desire to tear down the Jews.
We must always remember that Jews are not hated for what they did wrong, but for what they carry that is right: the Torah. We should be honored to stand for peace, justice, and tolerance!