Haters Don’t Have to Hate

The hate. Its almost tangible these days, and it’s everywhere.

We are taught from day one that the Torah shares a “known principle” that Eisav hates Yaakov, setting a precedent for hatred towards Jews for all times. We hear about it in school and on the street, learning more details as we get older; pogroms, expulsions, genocide. We are the grandchildren of those who survived the Holocaust. We are the grandchildren of those who didn’t.

But most of us here in 2014 have lived a relatively peaceful existence. We’ve never known those who want to kill us simply because we are Jews. We’ve never personally been the victims of terror attacks by those who feel that our lives are simply worthless. Well, not until recently anyway.

But now, with the current operation in Gaza, it seems as if every vile person on the planet has crawled out of their cave to make an appearance on social media and spew every unimaginable bit of hatred at Israel. In a world where acceptance has become “hip” and trending, the remaining exception is the Jews. The hatred is in my living room, at my dining room table, riding in my pocket on my cellphone. And it’s aimed at my country, my people, at me.

The haters come in every shape and size. They come from every background, race, religion. But the hate itself is the same: it is dark. It is very very black.

And you start to wonder why? What have we done? We have done nothing but receive, hold and defend our country. And they hated us for it. We gave land “for peace” when we were asked to, and they hated us despite it. We waited years to strike back when being bombed at a constant rate, and not only are we still hated, but now we are also to blame! Fighting to rid ourselves of those who hate, we lost our husbands, sons and brothers. But this they love.

I haven’t figured out the why yet, I’m still working it out. I’m sure all the haters in their black and evil ways will come out of the gutters and tell me why they hate me. There will be uneducated comments about “baby killers”, unoriginal comments about “occupation” and even funny comments about us evil Jews controlling the media. But it’s time for all you haters to admit to yourselves: you hate me because you’ve been taught to hate. You hate because you know nothing different. And most of all, you hate because you’re too scared to think for yourselves.

Start an intelligent conversation. Read a history book. Talk to someone you know who doesn’t share your hate. You might be really, really surprised at what you find out.

Get to know us, I dare you.