Celebrating Unity in the Face of Darkness
- Russ Smith
- May 25
- 7 min read
Jerusalem Day is here again. A time of solemn reflection on the past. A time of recognition of where we are. A time of joyful celebration of what could be in the future.
THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT
This year is different — different from 2023. In 2023, we were on the other side of October 7th. The world wasn’t burning with unfettered antisemitism…it was simply simmering under the surface, ready to explode. We wondered if the tension that we felt back then was leading to something or just more of the same. We knew that something needed to change, but what…and how? Israelis celebrated the 56th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem in the streets, despite the vicious hatred that hid in the shadows. The world was changing, and we hoped that it would change toward peace to make a difference before something terrible happened. Would it be fast enough? Would it be enough? It wouldn’t. It wasn’t.
This year is different — different from 2024. On the other side of October 7th, Jerusalem Day had a heavy pall over it. There were loved ones who were not able to celebrate with their families in the streets of Jerusalem. Some might be able to come in the future…, but some will never come again. The war…another war…raged to the south and the north. Meanwhile, a reflection of that war was raging on the college campuses and metropolitan streets of the West. A war waged by bullies who used megaphones and petty assaults to terrorize peaceful people. Hatred disguised as moral outrage, drawing moral equivalencies between terrorism and existential war out of thin air. Confusion and weariness were our constant companions. How could it come to this again? In the distance, we saw a glimmer of hope that the West would regain its senses and would stand with Israel and the Jewish people. The hope was at once both rejuvenating and exhausting.
This year is different. Different from 2023. It feels like there is a tension greater than ever before. Like things are simultaneously moving quickly and standing still. Like the land just before a tremendous earthquake. We wait anxiously for the fault line to finally break free. Different from 2024. There is hope, but tempered with the knowledge that those who gave us that hope are drawn to worldly success and tempted by the trinkets it offers. Still, there are voices of reason that are growing stronger each day. As long as the ones giving hope do not falter, there is the possibility that a new world will grow from the ashes we have been sitting in for almost 600 days.
THE SHADOW OF TRAGEDY
All of that is true, but it is now seen through more tragedy. The murders of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim cast a shadow across our celebrations of Jerusalem Day and Shavuot. They would have been leaving soon to travel to Jerusalem. The trip was supposed to be for them to celebrate Shavuot with Yaron’s family. Yaron had plans to use the opportunity to propose to Sarah. Two young people cut down amid happiness and promise is tragedy enough. What deepens that shadow is the work they were doing at the time of their deaths. They had just left a dialogue about how to provide aid to war-ravaged parts of the Middle East and Africa (including Gaza). Amid the existential threat of the terrorists to their common heritage and passion, they were undeterred in their desire to bring relief to the world. Despite the hatred that awaited them in every city in the world. Hatred that was not because of their ideology or actions, but simply because they were Jewish. They were at a meeting with others who shared their compassion and concern. As the meeting ended, they stepped out into the Spring evening and met evil face to face.
Sifting through the many voices talking about these murders is overwhelming. Everyone wants to get out ahead of this “news”. But at the end of the day, this isn’t “news”. It is a tragedy that took the lives of two young Jews who were working to make the world a better place. This wasn’t about “politics” or “social justice”. This was about antisemitism taking its natural course. Many of us were surprised by the speed and ferocity of the antisemitism we see now all over the globe. Others saw the wave coming in 2023 and raised the alarm to no avail. Now, the tone-deaf leaders of France, England, and Canada chose this week to deliver a rebuke to Israel and demand the end to a war with the very people responsible for Yaron and Sarah’s deaths. They seriously want us to look at the deaths of these two Zionists and respond by consigning Israel to eventual oblivion. It is as foolish as it is shameful.
OUR RESPONSE TO MODERN ANTISEMITISM
In an article he wrote in Tablet Magazine, Armin Rosen described a chance meeting he had with Yaron Lischinsky about 30 hours before Yaron died. He spoke about the encounter and how he was impressed by this young man who was both passionate and diplomatic in his demeanor and speech. Near the end of the piece, he makes some insightful comments:
“The murder of embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum a short walk from the National Mall is sure to hypercharge everyone’s worst fears, making us vulnerable to the rise of elaborate new bureaucracies, protocols, and mental habits that may never go away. But at no point in the past 5,000 years has it ever been risk-free to be a proud representative of the Jewish people. Total safety is an illusion—we can dream up novel ways of being quiet or careful, but we also know there are inherent risks to being who we are that no amount of caution or care can eliminate. Past a certain point, a safety obsession becomes a convenient alternative to dealing with other, tougher things.”
He continues by describing the activists that America and the West have fostered over the years (including but not limited to pro-Palestinian activists) as a growing threat to the social fabric of our societies. He explained,
“They are a threat to Jews and to American social harmony in general, but at least they understand the nature of the war they’ve convinced themselves, and each other, that they are in. Our enemies are dedicated people with a rapidly weakening sense of moral constraint. Thus they impose upon us the urgent need for an equal seriousness. They force us to face a hostile world without apology, without recklessness, without delusion, and without fear—to face it like the young man I met outside a hotel ballroom who had only 30 hours left.”
THE PROBLEM AT OUR DOOR
The city where they lived and died could have been a place to help them and their people. Washington, DC has the resources and the political power to end the crisis. America could drive out the terrorists and their supporters from Israel and effect a lasting peace. It would be hard and would require much work, but it would change the world for the better. Instead, that city is filled with the voices of evil men and women who do not want peace. Some of them want a pipedream based on intentional blindness to reality. Others want blood-washed American streets, subjected to their own ideology. If we do not recognize that they have started that process with the blood of people like Yaron and Sarah, then we are just as blind as the homosexual activists who welcome Hamas as brothers who want to live in peace.
Still others have given voice to the change that needs to take place. Some of them have worked hard to effect actual change. They need to be praised for their dedication and hard work! But then there are those who have worked hard until the political difficulties became too tiresome or the baubles offered by Israel’s enemies became too tempting. They have frustrated and confused supporters of Israel and the Jewish people as their voices have faded and their loyalties have wavered.
DO WHAT TAKES COURAGE
On a recent LinkedIn post, Zach Ross, founder and creative director at Zick+Bloom, lamented the savage and barbaric execution of Jaron and Sarah while they were leaving the Jewish museum that night. He rightly reminds us that what we are seeing now is a classic example of antisemitism. He described antisemitism as appearing as a progressive politic, hiding baseless hatred among empty platitudes. He also warns that the “Free Palestine” movement is just a part of the Hamas-led death cult. This is a threat to all of us…and the perpetrators of this violence now live among us. In frustrated tones, he calls for us to do “what takes courage. What makes a difference. Acknowledge finally the real threat while we still have a chance and shut it down.”
Today is a day to focus on another city. A city in the middle of an existential crisis, surrounded by a war that threatens to destroy it. It is a city that has been built and rebuilt time and again by the Jewish people. An ancient city that was the home to the Jewish people for more than a thousand years before there were muslims or caliphates. A modern city that was divided by violent hatred for twenty years before it was finally united under Israeli rule. A city that is the hope for the future of humanity, if we allow it to stop being held hostage by those who want to burn the world down. Washington DC is just as dysfunctional as any other capital in the world, but there is hope if we unite to save Jerusalem, Israel, and the Jewish people from this threat.
STANDING WITH ISRAEL
We have accomplished much to help the Jewish people over the past two years. Sometimes it felt hopeless. It was always difficult. But it was important work that has produced fruit. As we celebrate this Jerusalem Day let us take that work to the next level. Demanding the release of the hostages without paying the price of Israel’s future is not an unreasonable action. Demanding the assistance of the world in ending the war and dismantling the failed Gaza experiment isn’t an impossible dream. As Zach Ross said, the time for mere words is over. It is time for action. It is time for us to take our elected officials to task and demand that they support the Jewish people and the state of Israel with their actions.
Armin Rosen’s words call us to acknowledge our situation. “Our enemies are dedicated people with a rapidly weakening sense of moral constraint. Thus they impose upon us the urgent need for an equal seriousness. They force us to face a hostile world without apology, without recklessness, without delusion, and without fear…” It is scary to stand up to a world filled with hate…but the alternative is to be silent.
Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Tablet Magazine Article
LinkedIn Post
