Rabbi Yaakov Menken addressed the “Unite Against Extremism” Conference sponsored by the Lawfare Project and its #EndJewHatred program. These were his remarks:
Good morning! I’m Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values. If you don’t know who we are, you should!
Almighty G-d, Our Father, you, Hashem, gave us the phenomenon of Antisemitism, and the knowledge of it.
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Our Rabbis put it in the Passover Haggadah: in every generation they rise over us to destroy us, and you, G-d, save us from their hands. So we come to you today with the optimism of those who have seen it all, survived it all, and continue under Your guarantee that we will survive this, too.
And we know, also, that we have allies in this fight. That is why this is a conference against extremism. Those who hate Jews are the barbarian dregs of society, and their hate does not end with Jews. We appreciate those who recognize this, whether due to simple logic or as part of their own religion. When Tucker Carlson tries to rewrite the Book of Esther, everyone who reveres it is offended, not just Jews.
And it’s very helpful that he focused upon that particular book.
The Five Books of Moses teach us that although Laban and his family hated Yaakov residing right next door, Pharaoh regarded us as a hostile other, while living in a distinct region of Egypt called Goshen.
The Book of Esther teaches us that our enemies find a new pretense. Haman pointed to the fact that the Jews were “dispersed throughout the empire.” That is the very opposite of where the Jews could found with either Laban or Pharoah, for a reason: they do not hate us because of where we live.
They hate us, because we live.
Anti-Zionism is today’s new pretense. “Free Palestine” is a hateful slur. And today uncivilized barbarians who demonstrate their ignorance of history, geography, religion, human rights, anthropology, and human decency, get degrees from Harvard. That is the state of academia.
And that is why Tucker Carlson turned the Book of Esther on its head. The Book tells us that the 75,000 killed were “from those who hate them.” They hated the Jews.
Carlson inverted victim and racist, claiming they had committed no crimes but were killed for being Persian. In actuality they came from all 127 nations of the Persian empire; their sole unifying characteristic was that they had come out to murder Jews. Neutralizing murderous racists out to kill Jews is Tucker Carlson’s definition of “genocide.”
That is the same definition used by everyone accusing the world’s most moral military of genocide in Gaza. This includes the depraved bigots of Amnesty International, the risible racists of Human Rights Watch, and the collection of totalitarians, dictators and despots known as the United Nations.
Moral values, and the difference between right and wrong, are not determined by majority vote. That there are 100 times more Jew-haters than there are Jews is a constant. The intelligent person is the one who can see today how the aforementioned Amnesty, HRW and UN will be judged when they have gone into the dustbin of history, where they belong.
And that is why we celebrate that You have sent us partners in the fight, all who oppose extremism and hate, many of whom have joined with us here today. Leo Terrell, Anila Ali, Luke Moon, and now Bishop Stearns are all personal friends because of their involvement in this fight, because they have made our problem their problem. That’s not quite what Ruth told Naomi, but it’s pretty close. And it takes courage, and it takes a working moral compass, and that is why I am looking forward to hearing from them, from the allies I have not yet met, and from all the Jewish speakers who don’t go over their allotted time.
To jump the gun and offer one action item for our efforts today, if you want to fight extremism, do more Jewish. If you’re not Jewish, You don’t have to be Jewish to dispel darkness with light. Light Shabbos candles, learn a Mishnah, support charities whose vision aligns with yours and with authentic values (like Lawfare Project or Coalition for Jewish Values), and know that the bigots in the streets only, in the end, make us stronger in our souls.
Hashem, may this event and all those who participate in it see great success, both in our immediate efforts, and the final end of Antisemitism and hate, and the Redemption of the Jewish nation and all mankind, speedily in our days. Amen.