Seven decades after the Shoah; 100 years after the secular Zionist assurances that a state for Jews would end anti-Semitism forever; at a time marked by the resumption of virulent Jew-hatred not only in the Muslim world but also throughout Europe; and on the very day designated to remember the Shoah a leader of the opposition Labor Party mounts the podium at Auschwitz and declares that the Shoah teaches us that “we can depend on no one but ourselves.”
Nebach. How sad and pathetic that such inane boilerplate could be delivered at the infamous extermination site. Not only is this an embarrassment to the State of Israel and to Jews everywhere but actually depressing in its utter lack of historical sensibility. The early secular Zionists also claimed that we can depend on no one but ourselves. They were certain that it was only because we were pale and weak and expended our energies on Torah study and prayer that the goyim despised us — but once we were to show our muscle and create a Jewish state and become a nation among nations all that would come to a screeching halt and the goyim would respect us and love us.
Even though history has demonstrated this to be unadulterated balderdash they keep reissuing the tired old mantra: Jew-hatred is a result of Jew-weakness; only Jewish strength will dissolve anti-Semitism.
Where have we heard this kind of braggadocio before? This was the old kochi v’otzem yadi syndrome that Moshe Rabbeinu derided in Devarim 8:17: “My power and the strength of my hand have done all this for me.” What was spurious and an illusion 3 500 years ago remains so 3 500 years later. Jews are weak? They despise us for our weakness. Jews are strong? They resent us for our strength.
Whether we are moneylenders or high-tech specialists financial wizards or farmers communists or controllers of the media we Jews have enemies not because of any extraneous things that we do or do not do but simply because we are who we are. The Rabbis long ago taught us: “Halachah hi: Eisav sonei es Yaakov — It is a universal law: Esau hates Jacob — ” (Rashi at Bereishis 33:4 citing Sifri).
The pogroms against the defenseless shtetl Jews have now been redirected against the powerful state of the Jews known as Israel. This new shtetl is now the object of updated pogroms in the form of vicious name-calling economic and academic boycotts and in the case of Iran and its friends threats of annihilation. “My power and my strength… ” Really?
With such a history how can an intelligent official of the Jewish state declare in the very shadow of the Shoah that we can depend on no one but ourselves? Granted we cannot and should not depend only on the US or other supposed friends to help us. But why not add another sentence hallowed by the centuries: “Al mi yesh lanu l’hishaen? Al Avinu shebaShamayim” (Sotah 49b). Our only truly dependable ally One on Whom we can depend constantly is our Creator.
With the world listening would it not have been a kiddush Hashem if instead of mouthing hoary clichés about social justice and self-reliance he had alluded even peripherally to our belief in a Divine mission and our allegiance to a Higher Power? This would have telegraphed to the world our pride in who we really are — and might even have caused the anti-Semites to pause and reflect for a moment.
Obviously we do not depend on miracles. Obviously one should be prepared and capable of defending against enemies. But the claim that physical power on its own is sufficient and that we can only depend on ourselves is a distortion of life and of Jewish history.
Moshe Rabbeinu’s reprimand “kochi v’otzem yadi ” has a long shelf life. But the lesson is that we are anything but self-reliant. This is why men wear tefillin on the weaker arm. Examine the text: Immediately after the commandment to don tefillin the Torah states in Shemos 13:16: “For with a strong Hand did I take you out of Egypt.” If so why wear tefillin on our weaker hand? Precisely to demonstrate that there is only one strong Hand and it is not ours.
Seven decades have passed since the Shoah time enough for two truths to take hold. One that those who cannot remember the lessons of the past are condemned to repeat it. And two most importantly the recognition that we are weak makes us strong; the illusion that we are strong makes us weak. —