Antisemitism In Our Times - Rabbi Reuven Leuchter

[Music] the special want to thank the mark frankco and everyone for overnight putting this all together rasi Kent thank you so much as well um was asked to announce this is very important that the r is in the US for fundraising for his KY bam and has many many Torah programs to sign up to hear more of the to get his par emails there will be a QR code and more info posted outside of the BET midash right outside over here and to contribute to his programs with the CATE meeting with the r before Tuesday afternoon tomorrow afternoon please speak to his gab Sim uh who is right over there so please feel free to speak to sim and just a quick word about the Holy work of kazak as we all know we live in Queens and in Queens we have 10,000 Jewish kids unfortunately in the public school systems that are traditional families they're not against they just don't know any better we're on a mission no child shall be left behind every single Jewish child deserves Jewish Education and we have after school programs for these kids and Sunday school programs teens programs we have a new Youth Center 108 which is a big game changer and most importantly we have a Yesa placement division where we've transfered over 1,600 kids the last few years alone from public school the massive Revolution but we're not satisfied we definitely want to do more and we could do more but everybody uh could do something nobody could do everything so uh we need everyone to get involved you have a family member a friend a neighbor coworker anybody you might know that has a job in public schools we all know public school is not place for you to a child make sure to reach out to with a cute strengthening Queens we should he without further Ado our cover our honor to invite to give us some [Music] uh we are experiencing now in the World a difficult situation for the for the clo and we have to get rid of that uh that way of looking at the thing that is very limiting very narrow it's a very narrow way of looking at it that there's a problem going on in it's a war and we have to try to be War that's a very narrow that's a very narrow way of looking at it because when you look at a world as a as a whole the world as a whole is really a place which is now in these days no it's good like this don't make yourself crazy because of me please yeah so it's a it's a it's a it's a it the whole world is a uh a place of antisemitism which that's a big crish because that makes basically no sense because um I have to put this on no someone is recording that is good here too you are sure I don't know it's fine it's fine it's fine so um so the the the the in the whole world the whole world suddenly becomes antic anti-semitic so you can say you can't tell me now it's not suddenly it is always was always there it's only revealed it's not my my that's not my inion but there is a worldwide tsunami of anti-Semitism going on now so and that goes from Los Angeles till Tokyo and from till South Africa for sure you know and wherever you want from Norway till South Africa when you want so it's the whole world is full with what is called anti-Semitism so the whole thing which is going on in Al is there only one aspect of that whole of that whole problem the Jewish nation is caught the TR nation is caught in a place where that there is an attack of the mere existence of the Jewish nation and the Jewish nation is under attack that there is a problem with the world on the Jewish Nation I sit in is so the problem which is actually there in Isel this is a physical problem that people attack us in a physical way but when you are on the world there are other attacks going on is it verbal is it all different kind of other other activities but the Jewish nation is under attack so when the Jewish nation is under attack so the the response is not some local kuk no because the local kuk doesn't reach the depth of what is called the identity of the Jewish Nation because the identity of the Jewish nation is under attack so we have to do something that's the Wake Up Call from the that looks like that he has a problem with the identity of the Jewish Nation he doesn't have a problem with our shabas he doesn't have a problem with some specific Mitzvah no he has a problem with the identity of the Jewish Nation because this identity of the Jewish nation is under attack yeah okay so we have to think deeper we have to think deeper than we have to make auk here auk there that is not answering the call because a call goes deeper in the secular language you would call that it is an existential call yeah the existence of the Jewish nation is under question yeah that's the existence is under question it's not only the mitz it's the the mere existence of the Jewish nation is under question so that is I think what we are dealing with in this situation that we deal now so so we have to response that has that is calling for a response we have to do something about our Jewish identity because that is the question and the question is what does it mean Jewish identity what does it mean what does it mean I have a Jewish identity what does it mean it's it's a genetic thing no but what means Jewish identity what does that mean it means no because when the Jews went out of Egypt they didn't have but they were definitely Jews so Jewish identity goes much deeper that the that's right that what it looks like I don't you I I don't know whether you are aware of that for sure I think you don't like it but raan says something very offending in the towards the end of there's a there in the which says that the Jewish nation was in Egypt for 430 years so the but they were only 400 years when they spoke to Abu they were only 400 years in the plan why was it 430 years so that what he asks why was it 430 years so the 430 years ran says that comes from the fact that when you are have a sentence in jail not you but someone has a gent sentence in jail for 10 years and but he behaves terribly in the jail he will not be released it's only the minimum is 10 years but when you are doing further all the bad things when you are in jail they will not release you yeah so that happened to the Jewish Nation there were 400 years in gers but they were and now says uh to be taken out from Egypt they were not worthwhile to be taken out so in our modern world the Jewish nation was a gang of gangsters that's what they were means in a very simple sense they were not that they were EA because there was no there was no they were in a very secular way very perceivable so our nice is that we when we went out of Egypt we're one big gang of aaran that was a Jewish Nation nice huh you would have thought never thought about that you thought they were so holy people no they were but they D that's what he said but they D to the and that's why he took them out that's so you see the identity of the Jewish nation is not because even in Egypt when there were no they were considered but there were still sing there were still Jews you know there was a Jewish identity going on with being a r God but he's a Jew huh so what does it mean what does that mean so this is a challenge for you that you have to think about that yourself where do you see that your Jewish identity is located that is a challenge but the wakeup call is there I can't really understand how do you think the Wake Up Call is in a certain because it sounds to me very awkward that that anti-Semitism is all over so that means that it's a credential thing that that in in the New York area they make certain Aus and that's why an ISM but in in France they make other AV but it happen the same time you know so it's also anti-Semitism and in South Africa they make entirely other Aus but it's also just tly that's a normal way of thinking no that's not a normal way of thinking when the anti-Semitism is going over the whole world there's not one place on the globe which is safe from that that means that the whole existence of the Jewish nation is under attack okay only we in is we are suffering from that in a very tangible um uh tangible um way it's a danger of Life over here in America it's a different danger but everywhere there is a there is a danger waiting for the Jews that their existence is under attack so we have to come to terms what does it mean to be a Jew yeah what does that mean where is my Jewish identity that is the question now so we have to think about that most probably and I'm sure not only most probably but I'm sure that there are a lot of different aspects you could put in I want to only focus on one and one which is really from the beginning of the creation of the Jewish nation that is that the Jewish Nation had a feeling or had an attitude to reality that the reality has a future that is what M came to the Jewish nation and said there will be something e means that is a future term that's a shame AEM but the Shem means future I will be there will be something there will be they were caught in Egypt in the worst case scenario it was like a concentration camp for 80 years it was terrible and it was unbearable you know that they killed and whatever whatever they did there according toal it was a real concentration camp in in Egypt for 80 years you know and then M comes to them and tells you will get out of here so thatu told the the when he spoke with him he says they won't believe because they are already 80 years caught in that disastrous situation and they will tell me that you know what I go out here out of here what do you tell me my grandfather was born here yeah no it was not four years concentration camp no it was 80 years now 80 years sh concentration camp for the Jewish people 80 years and they will tell me my grandfather was born here and why should I get out that's the reality and that what M said they won't believe and Hashem told him no they will believe what will they believe in they will believe that despite all of the terrible things happening to them them despite that there is a future they will be going out and there will be a different thing happening in the future that is the basic ingredient in the Jewish nation that there is a future that the reality the way it is is not the end the reality the way it is is um a place which definitely has to change towards a future reality which is different than the now reality that is what the Jewish Nation brought to the world um we don't have to we don't have to get confused we are living in a western civilization and the religions of the western civilization are all taken from the toy so they also speak like this because they took it from the to yeah but when you go to the Far East where they they were not influenced from T their religions they don't have that ingredient you have to live in harmony with the nature you know that is the Far East thing there's no future there no you don't have to change anything you have to be able to accept reality the way it is and live in harmony with that you once while you call that meditation so I don't want to attack meditation then people will get nervous about that but meditation is a thing which is really strange to the Jewish Nation it's a strange thing because you live only in acceptance of of the reality you know I can't make it in front of you otherwise you wouldn't see me I have to sit down on the ground and then make like this or something like that close my eyes and I breathe in and then I breathe out and I simply are I'm so happy and I'm so in sync with my present stage that I don't think about anything else that means there's no future there there's no future why future you just have to live the present to a full extent that's what you have to do so that's a very intelligent way of reacting to the world people have a benefit out of that I'm not I'm not saying no but it's not a Jewish way the Jewish way you accept accept the reality with that that the reality has to change that is a Jewish way that's why on every single um uh organization where they want to change the world in a certain way every single organization there's a Jew on the board everyone you know want is it environmental is it something when you want to change the world there's always Jewish people there you know because that is the basic ingredient of a Jew the basic ingredient of a Jew is a there will be a reality which is different than the present reality that is the point of a Jewish of the Jewish Nation yeah so that is the part of the Jewish reality and now the B says I have a problem with the Jewish reality I have a problem with that that's why the Jews are under attack that's why there is existential problem going on by us that the B tells us you have a problem you are not living your existence in the right way now you could take that and I don't want to do it here you could take that in a way which is um simply a little bit impersonal you could say the main point is that I have to believe that even though we are stuck with the anti-Semitism no you won't I don't I can't go into details because I don't know how to say that in a modern way but uh I even though it's over here Kurdish but I may say that there is a higher you call that higher education I don't know what that means but the institution of higher education which is called Harvard University that's one of the most prestigious universities and there was a dean there she was a lady I can't I don't know how to say it in these days I once I knew now I don't know anymore but there was a okay but she was he had to go she had to quit yeah and now who is instead a Jew a Jew so the situation got worse that ISM got worse man it's not better it's much worse because now the go say do you see the Jews want to conquer the world and they pushed out this lady and to put the Jew instead that for sure man you have to know one and one is two that is that is what happening the B makes it much worse now you can say okay we are Jewish we don't know how we don't know how to get of that mud in with the Hamas we don't know how to get out of that mud with anti-semitism but I believe that theu will find the way the way he found also BYU he'll find a way that the problem will be solved this is impersonal I don't think you I think very much you have to believe like this but I don't think that's the work there is in much more personal work going on the basic ingredient of a Jewish nation is that there is a future now I want only to illustrate that in three places only to give an idea what does it mean you have a future what does it mean that has a problem with that I don't want to be personal I think over here in Queens I even can't say that because you over here are not so contaminated with that but uh I was visiting places once in a while in other parts of the tri state area where you enter a house and this how you know you need two servants in order to open the door it's so so heavy you know you can't really Push the door mahagoni for wow unbelievable does that guy believe in the future do such people believe in any future or do they think the present State that's it we reached our destination you lost your Jewish identity you lost it because the Jewish identity means there's always a future I just heard that someone explicitly told the host which I was living there in Bic that the that they built a nice home with a swimming pool and then she told the the host the lady of the host this this woman told her when mosiah will come now it will be a very expensive mistake that I have built this house that what she said the has a problem with a Jewish identity no no you always live towards something which will change and we lost that we want to have a reality even a GIS reality with us which that's the final place to be that is the real thing you know that's it okay well you have to change because the furniture after 10 years have to change Furniture but the the attitude towards life is that's it and we think now over here in Queens you don't have that but deep in your heart you think think we there's simply no space you know one one one house next to but it would be a good idea you know it would be a gooda we can't do it because it's technically impossible but it would be a good idea it's the worst idea in the world you would throw out your Yiddish kite the Jewish identity out of the window you don't want to accept that no because the Jewish identity is that there is future there's not only hope you see that's a very shallow way to say it there is hope hope you need when the present is inedible but the future is when the present is edible there is also future re that what the Jewish nation is about not because the present is edible that's it no we leave that space do you see that the tells us your Jewish identity is under attack your Jewish identity is about to leave the reality huh you see that now it's not only in this round I give you another one I give you another two I do have a son my son my fourth son he I think is um the person which I know I can't say really say the because there are few but there are only a few people in the Jewish nation which I know which are able to learn the way he's able to learn you don't you don't find people like that you do not yeah and it is a a a a real desire to understand things deeper and deeper and deeper I I don't you don't know the the scener C so much but I tell you only that he learned ribes you know rib is a difficult thing he learned ribes from the beginning till the end with one of the best cim which were exist which are existent for that Gan K he knows how to learn like not too many people you know and he learned that for a whole year year and a half that's the way year I think they learn Le that's a whole mik and in the end of the year he wanted to learn it again because he said now it's a good time to learn that again we just finished now we can learn it for real when he was so disappointed that in that CLE there was no one willing to do that with him you know and he was so disappointed not one guy wants to learn that thing again I can't understand so that's the type what is his profession now has a profession you know what he is he is a reab in Elementary School third grade people ask me you you you you you are you happy with with your son are are you it's it's it's a catastrophic situation no you don't believe in a future you see that's why it's so difficult nearly impossible to take a young man out of the C and put him in some mandas or something else because he thinks what I am moving for is a you call that or a position which gives me the comfort that I can be there till I am buried in some Cemetery I have to have my end position now so below eighth grade I don't know or 12th grade or below M I won't leave K why not you don't believe that things can develop you don't believe that there is a future you will learn something about education and you will grow in education perhaps you will have a Yeshiva yourself and you will be educating others but you have to go for that there is a future we lose the future that is the argument of people that's right the argument is always like this I can't do it because it's not what I want to do you're for sure not I don't want that my son should be stuck till age of 80 third grade Reby you know you know these people which they are third grade they're already hitting 8 they still thir no no he doesn't want it I don't want it but there is a future you don't believe in it you don't go for it when you do something you feel you are stuck no no there's a future things are developing good things are it's not you see that that shallowness that unbelievable Distortion when you say it's about hope it's not about hope it's about future huh it's it's it's unbeliev able hope is narrowing that down to a place where things are a disaster no the Jewish nation is not only hoping when there is a disaster the Jewish nation has future whenever things are working but this future is a development things are will be different even good things will be different for sure we don't do that we lose our Jewish identity you see it's not only gashi it's also Inus I give you a third one I only can give from my own family you know I have my oldest daughter she is married and she was an excellent girl excellent is not really the expression it was an exceptional person also in a personality way that's what people said and she never had a mark in anything a mark lower than 100 you know that was not existing she had a unbelievable good head you know you know it was a Pity she's not a boy you know because she would she has a has an excellent head you know an excellent head and uh a very good-look person and she was also gifted in piano playing she played the piano with the orchestra yeah not not only made for Elisa you know no no no no no no no she played piano she played piano with the orchestra a very very M multifaced person and she was the the speech when you can say one of the one of the best girls and she got engaged to to someone which he is coming from a divorced family the father is very interesting let's put it like this my is a very interesting person and the mother is non non not room and the grandmother was the world's expert in Felton CH you know what Felton CH is felon chist that's a sort of yoga you know it's like a sort of yoga and she was stock fry she came from kovno not from slobot from kovno you know from the other side of the bridge and they were they were musilim since ever you know that was a grandmother you know and then when my daughter got engaged to the boy the the girls asked her in her face not didn't ask behind her back they asked her in the face what was in English a hunch Hunchback what Hunchback do you have and she says I have none so why did you make that sh because he's a person which wants to grow no no I no no no no no you do not understand in no no no no no that's a wrong approach you know I want to have in America I don't know ketki I want to have soli I want to have good names growing not growing I want to be I don't want to grow I want to be in a good family you want to grow my grow why growth I want to enter the perfect framework you know you lose your Jewish you lose your Jewish identity you're just about to lose it Jewish identity means future development change that the Jewish identity means there will be another reality no no no all what we want we want to land somewhere where things are 100% in the way which has to be you know in expected way that's called a loss of Jewish identity H so do you see when you look at it like this you do understand that the work we have to do is for sure you have to help people which are in distress for sure for sure you have to to deal with the symptoms there are symptoms every every um uh disease has symptoms and when you are as a as a person which is a medical doctor you know that most of the patients in the hospital are dying because of the symptoms there there is only I think there was M only at 3% which make you the favor that they really die out of the of the the caused that the in was closed or the caused that the heart was standing still but he wasn't a disease in the heart the disease was somewhere else but most of the patient go away from the world like this you for sure you have to deal with a symptom for sure you have to deal with a symptom and you have to encourage the people which deal with a symptom that's a very important thing but this is not the Wake Up Call it's a worldwide wake up call don't be deaf the speaks to the whole world about the Jewish Nation he doesn't speak only in the a no Mish not there there are terrible symptoms happening which we have to deal with them and you have to support that but when you feel when I support and I I raise money and I pay money for those people and I did I even send packages with food or whatever it is all very important I don't deny that but when you think that is the answer to the wake up call excuse me you are DEA you don't hear the voice the voice is much more Global the Jewish identity is under a threat so our answer has to be that we have to do something about our Jewish identity what you are screamed at that's what you have work to work on no there a push do you know and there this is the tricky point you can't have identity through a doesn't work you will not be rewarded an identity this is above above reward and Punishment it's above that you know it's above I can't reward you to give you an identity no the identity is deeper than that that's what I meant in the beginning Jewish identity is much deeper than to MIT what we have that the part is that we have we will be very important we will learning more everything very important but that doesn't hit this very deep level of what means to be Jewish because Jew mean something deeper than you see that that the Jewish nation was created and they had definitely a Jewish identity even though they were in the eyes of before m is something unbelievable I don't know whether you once thought about that it's something unbelievable to be a r without M you have to be pretty versati in riches you know yeah you know that needs you have to be a ban to do that you know but they were without M they didn't eat no but they had a Jewish identity they they DED because they believed in the future that's why they D they D because they believed we can't go out of here things can't change otherwise govering has no sense you know that's what they believed that's Jewish identity I told you here only one one little piece most probably there are other parts of Jewish identity what is that what is this deeper level in your soul which is beyond or deeper than the which that defines you as being Jewish yeah and on the back of being Jewish you are making the Mitzvah so this is a it's a whole sug of course it's a whole sug it's a whole sug because because of this background I only tell you that because I I I feel I have to tell you something which makes that more broad perhaps I make a mistake now to tell you this but only you know that when you learn for example the or you learn also others Forum whatever you want all these big people they said that mitzvah will bring the down or MIT is making a is making a t the way you say it's not today you can't really say that they the secular people do use that but that's what thehe says that's what that's what all the forums say and you always think it's it's something you know very lofty no it that's because of the background you know the background is that the world has to change and now you're obligated MIT you know what they do they change the world that's you see what do the M they change the world it's nothing spooky about that it's nothing lofty about that it's simply the most simple the most basic thing in being Jewish that the world will change so our m is also not only doing our duties they cause the World to Change that's the whole goes about so I think that is a part of Jewish identity which we have to focus on whenever the problem is in your identity the let's say hisas when you want the whatever you say that the the the the Tipping Point that things could be better is now not depending on how much much and how many people are there identity is not a question of of quantity ENT identity is always a question of quality so when I myself I work on that that I should be more Jewish I really I am dealing with a Tipping Point of this whole thing because that's what he wanted it should be more Jewish identity over here more and when I work on that that I really believe and not only believe I really work in a way that the world is not the place to stay it's a place which will be different which I can't in a gash Mystic way in a personality development way way in looking at my children and looking at what do I want from life it's always with a grain of that that things will develop things will be different when I am able to work on that and to create something like this in me which has practical consequences you know not only this UNP telling us there is an existential problem with the clur so let's think about our Jewish existence how the Jewish existence can be different in a way which makes us more Jewish that's what I wanted to say you see I wanted I want simply to take also this this thinking process which today goes on we have to think about the current situation and it's a very narrow thinking process you make the picture very narrow I think the picture is much bigger than this narrow picture and we have to deal with that because that is what the bo tells us I hope that was good for you that's not so much the way I was announced when you know me I am not so much into that's not my my thing because kuk always means that you know what you have to do only you are lacking fuel so I give you a little bit of fuel in order should do what you already know what has to be done I much more a favor much more favorite thought for me is that we don't know what has to be done so let's think what think what has to be done because something new is demanded from me so it's not so much auk I understand that perhaps you go out and say now really discouraged us you know no at all because what shall I do now what would you want what that's what you what you ask so I do not know when a question of identity so I can't really say m but I think the three pictures I gave one of of of Kashmir and one of your personal development that is me by son and one of the way you look at the education of your children that was my daughter that when you the way you look at that that very practical illustrations I think there are not lack No Lack of practicality there you have to find your own way because it's your identity you see it's not my identity I don't know it's your identity but you have to do something about your identity as a Jew at Khan thank you for listening hopefully that was good for you and uh we should all be really hear only good PSAs and the situation should turn for the better but I think turns for the better when we answer the call then we have a hope that the situation will turn for the better at