We saw the face of one such approach to the Jewish people when an armed Muslim terrorist entered a Jewish house of prayer on Shabbat, spewed out hateful things about Jews, took hostages and demanded the release of a fellow terrorist being held in a US prison.
The prisoner whose release he sought is serving an 86-year-sentence for being an Al-Qaeda agent, and attempting to shoot and kill American soldiers in Afghanistan when she grabbed the rifle of an army officer and fired on the soldiers interrogating her. Married to a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed — the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks — and educated in the United States (at Brandeis University nonetheless), when she was arrested she was carrying explosive materials and notes she had written that mentioned a mass-casualty attack, dirty bombs and monuments in New York.
During her trial and when she was found guilty in a federal court in 2010, she ranted about Jews and Zionists controlling the trial, the media and the world; wanted Jews banned from the jury and courtroom; and blamed Israel and Jews for her conviction.
Yes, there are those like Amalek who buy into the malicious conspiracy theories about Jews. And she and the one who wanted to liberate her are not the only ones who are more aligned with Amalek than Yitro.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that tries to hide its anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist bend and to pass itself off as a respectable, mainstream civil-rights group, has organized rallies on behalf of the woman known as “Lady Al-Qaeda,” calling the proceedings “one of the greatest examples of injustice in US history” and portraying her as an innocent victim of the war on terror. Anti-Jewish political activist Linda Sarsour is part of CAIR’s effort to free this vicious and dangerous Jew-hater by demonstrating for her release and helping to raise money for her defense.
But just as Ibn Ezra states, then as now — or now as then, depending on your perspective — there are those who attack Jews and those who are kind to us. Throughout history, there have been Righteous Gentiles who have protected and sheltered us. There are those today who malign Israel and the Jewish people and make all kinds of false, harmful unbalanced accusations about the nature and actions of the Jewish state.
And there are those, such as evangelical Christians, the country of Guatemala and others, who readily express their love, solidarity and support for the State of Israel. We need to recognize the difference, and appreciate and embrace those who embrace us.
When Israel comes to Mount Sinai and is about to receive the Torah, the verb that is used to tell us that they encamped there is not plural. Although there are thousands of people who are gathered together, nevertheless, the verb is in the singular. The Midrash says this is because they were united at that time, and this is why they were able to receive the Torah.
Nineteenth-century Rabbi Moshe of Kovrin takes it in a different direction and points out that they were one as they stood before the mountain, as the Torah says: Vayahon sham Yisrael neged hahar — “they encamped before the mountain.” He notes that the word har, meaning “mountain” refers not just to Mount Sinai but to the har: the mountain of enmity and hatred that encompassed them, and which we face today as well.
He writes, “Only through the power of unity, of being one, is the Jewish people able to confront the har, the mountain of hostility that we face.”
At a time when we debate what constitutes antisemitism and whether or not anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism, we should be united in confronting the Amalekites of our world and not fear them. For in the words of Moses’ father-in-law, “Baruch Hashem, thank God,” there also are Yitros, those who love us.
Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt is the founding rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Md. He has served as the head of the Jewish National Fund’s Rabbis for Israel and is the founder of the Coalition of Zionist Rabbis for Israel.
