Be Hated

But for the right reason

Brett Stevens writes, “We [Jews] have the honor of being hated by an axis of the perfidious, the despotic, the hypocritical, the cynical, the deranged, and the incurably stupid” (“We have the Honor of Being Hated,” Commentary 3.26, https://www.commentary.org/articles/bret-stephens/jews-have-honor-of-being-hated/).

I agree. It is an honor to be hated by such people.

What Mr. Stevens fails to make clear, however, is that among the “axis of the perfidious, the despotic, the hypocritical, the cynical, the deranged, and the incurably stupid” are plenty of Jews: the right-wing extremists and theocrats who run the State of Israel; Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner, and the other Court Jews of Donald Trump’s regime; and the Jews in the Epstein Files. They may not see themselves as Jew-haters, but they hate everything I stand for as a Jew, and that is close enough.

Trying to determine why Jews are hated, Brett mentions the usual suspects: the misdeeds of the State of Israel, the refusal of Jews to assimilate, and the refusal to accept Jesus as Christ or Mohammed as God’s Seal of the Prophets. He argues that while each is partially true, none gets at the heart of the matter, which he suggests is our annoying habit of saying “no:”

We say “No to sun gods and graven images and child sacrifice. No to Pharaoh and Caesar, the Inquisition and the Reformation, the Czar and the Commissar. No to emancipation from our peoplehood by the French Revolution or to the erasure of our faith by the Russian Revolution, or to the destruction of our statehood through the siren song of bi-nationalism. No to the dethronement of God by reason, or of moral judgment by moral relativism. No to the seductive offer of eternal salvation at the cost of our covenant with God.”

This is rhetorically stirring but also misleading, since for every “no” there is a “yes:”

We say yes to a strict, father-god; to the idolatry of blood and soil; to the sacrifice of children, both Palestinian and Israeli, that this idolatry demands; to the theocratic stranglehold of Israeli right-wing religious parties; to the weakening of the Israeli courts; to the criminalization of egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall; to the destruction of Jewish statehood through the siren song of Jewish supremacy and apartheid; to the dethronement of the God beyond reason by embracing an irrational god justifying terror and oppression; to moral relativism, doing unto others whatever serves our ends; and to the seductive offer of security at the cost of our morality.

But people don’t hate us because we say yes or no. People hate us because, rightly or wrongly, we threaten them. People hate people because, for good reason or no reason at all, they feel threatened.

If you think Jews threaten you, you hate them. If you think Palestinians threaten you, you hate them. If you think whites, Blacks, Muslims, Hispanics, women, LGBTQAI+ people, the educated, or viewers of MSNOW threaten you, you hate them. If you aren’t threatened by somebody, you don’t hate them; indeed, you probably don’t think much about them at all.

I want to be hated because I want to be a threat to those Jews and Gentiles I consider a threat to me and everything I value. I want to be hated not simply because I am a Jew, but because the Judaism I uphold is a threat to everything they believe in.

My Judaism is liberal, democratic, egalitarian, and spiritual, envisioning a fearless world without war, hunger, or homelessness (Micah 4:3–4), where neighbor and stranger are loved and respected (Leviticus 19:18; 34), and where all people eat well, drink moderately, work joyfully, and love freely (Ecclesiastes 2:24; 4:8–12).

My Judaism is devoted to raising Jews who will be a blessing to all the families of the earth, human and otherwise (Genesis 12:1–3).

My Judaism values eilu v’eilu (Eruvin 13b), honoring argument, doubt, and critical thinking over intellectual passivity, spiritual conformity, and manufactured consent.

My God is YHVH/HaVaYaH/Existence, of which all life is a part.

My Torah is Hillel’s: “What is hateful to you, do not do to another” (Shabbat 31a).

My mitzvot are particularist practices for universal ends: Shabbat, liberating all beings from Mitzrayim, the narrow places of having and buying, and for the pure joy of loving and being (Deuteronomy 5:15; Exodus 20:8-10); kashrut, elevating manufacturing, diet, and consumption to the highest ethical and environmental standards; bal tashchit, living simply and avoiding waste; tzar baalei chayyim, alleviating animal suffering and supporting laws and advocacy groups that do the same; tzedakah, the just use of money, capital, and taxation; gemilut chesed, practicing lovingkindness; shmirat halashon, cleansing our speech of gossip, slander, falsehood, and distortion; b’rachot, expressing gratitude for life’s gifts and wonders; limmud, studying our ancient texts in search of timeless wisdom; and hagah, meditation revealing Ehyeh, the singular divine I manifesting all existence (Exodus 3:14).

I’m proud to be hated for my Judaism. I’ve written many books and essays to get in the way of fascists and religious nationalists of every stripe. And I’m not alone. Dozens of people of every faith and none are doing the same.

Judging from the state of the world, however, I fear we have a long way to go. As Rabbi Tarfon taught millennia ago: “It is not up to us to complete the task, yet neither are we free to abandon it” (Pirke Avot 2:16).