Never Let Auschwitz Define Sinai: The Real Answer to Antisemitism

We Are Not Victims. We Are the Builders of the Jewish Future!

Why Holocaust Education Alone Cannot Defeat Antisemitism — and What the Rebbe Knew We Must Do Instead

By Rabbi Anchelle Perl | Chabad of Mineola, Long Island

For thousands of years, the Jewish people have been asking the same question: Why does the world hate us, and what can we do to stop it?

But perhaps we have been asking the wrong question.

Instead of constantly asking why others hate us, perhaps we should be asking something far more important: Do we truly appreciate what it means to be Jewish?

At the recent International Kinus Hashluchim, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Yechiel Leiter, delivered a powerful message that challenges some of our most deeply held assumptions about fighting antisemitism.

For decades, we have built Holocaust museums, preserved survivor testimonies, organized educational programs, and taught millions about the horrors of Auschwitz.

The hope was understandable: If people knew what happened to the Jews, surely they would never allow such hatred to return.

Yet antisemitism is once again flourishing.

Ambassador Leiter offered a sobering conclusion:

“Teaching that Jews are victims is not what’s going to keep us alive.”

Those words deserve serious reflection.

Of course, we must never forget the Holocaust. The memory of the six million is sacred. Their stories must be preserved, and future generations must understand the consequences of unchecked hatred.

But there is a fundamental difference between remembering that Jews were victims and teaching Jews to see themselves primarily as victims.

A Holocaust museum can teach a child how Jews died.

But who is teaching that child why it is so wonderful to live as a Jew?

A memorial can tell us what Hitler tried to destroy.

But who is teaching our children what Abraham, Moses, and countless generations of Jewish ancestors lived to build?

That is the missing piece.

Are We Teaching Jewish Suffering or Jewish Greatness?

Acclaimed author Dara Horn has raised a similar concern. She argues that society knows far too much about how Jews died and far too little about how Jews lived. Think about it. Judaism introduced revolutionary teachings about the dignity of human life, moral responsibility, education, charity, justice, and the sacredness of family.

For thousands of years, the Jewish people have carried an extraordinary spiritual and moral mission.  Yet sometimes the most powerful message a young Jew hears about Jewish identity is that the world has always hated us.

What kind of identity does that create?

An identity built on fear rather than faith.

On persecution rather than purpose.

On survival rather than celebration.

We must never allow our enemies to become the authors of our Jewish identity.

The Rebbe’s Revolutionary Answer: Don’t Just Teach Judaism. Live It.

This is where the Lubavitcher Rebbe offered something even more profound.

The Rebbe understood that Jewish pride cannot be built through historical knowledge alone.

Jewish confidence comes not simply from knowing Jewish history, but from actively living Jewish life.

Put on tefillin. Light Shabbat candles. Give tzedakah. Study Torah. Celebrate Shabbat. Build a Jewish home.

Every mitzvah becomes a personal declaration: I am not merely a survivor of Jewish history. I am an active participant in its Divine mission.

Consider the Rebbe’s extraordinary relationship with Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

After witnessing unimaginable suffering, Wiesel struggled with the idea of marriage and bringing children into the world.

The Rebbe encouraged him to build a family and continue Jewish life.

The message was unmistakable.

Hitler wanted Jewish history to end.

Our response must be to ensure that Jewish history continues.

And not merely continues — flourishes!

The greatest memorial to Jewish life is not only a monument made of stone. It is also a Jewish child learning Torah, a family celebrating Shabbat, and a community overflowing with kindness and goodness.

We Carry the Dreams of Generations

During his Kinus address, Ambassador Leiter shared a deeply moving story about his son, Moshe Yedidya, who later fell while serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

His son had described how, during an exhausting military march, he imagined carrying the hopes and dreams of his grandparents on his shoulders.

That awareness gave him strength to continue.

What a magnificent image for every Jew.

We carry generations on our shoulders.

We carry Abraham’s faith, Sarah’s courage, Moses’ Torah, and the hopes of countless Jewish mothers and fathers who sacrificed so that their descendants could continue living proudly as Jews.

But those generations did not sacrifice merely so that we could become experts in remembering Jewish suffering.

They sacrificed so that we could continue the Jewish mission.

Their greatest dream was not simply that we would survive.

It was that we would thrive.

We Need More Than Museums. We Need Living Judaism.

We need Holocaust museums. But we also need Jewish schools filled with children learning Torah.

We need memorial ceremonies. But we also need Shabbat tables filled with songs, laughter, and Jewish pride.

We must confront antisemitism, demand accountability, and protect Jewish communities. But we must never allow antisemitism to become the centerpiece of Jewish identity.

Imagine asking a Jewish child, “What does it mean to be Jewish?”

How tragic if the first answer is, “It means people hate us.”

How beautiful if the answer is, “It means G-d gave us a Torah, a mission, and the opportunity to bring goodness into the world.”

That is precisely what the Rebbe dedicated his life to accomplishing.

He sent thousands of shluchim across the globe, not primarily to establish museums about Jewish suffering, but to create vibrant centers of Jewish living.

A Chabad House is not a monument to what happened to the Jews.

It is a declaration of what the Jews are going to accomplish!

And that is the extraordinary power of the Rebbe’s vision.

He understood that darkness cannot be defeated merely by delivering endless lectures about how terrible darkness is.

Darkness is defeated by lighting a candle.

And if one candle isn’t enough, light another.

And another.

Until the entire room is illuminated.

Never Let Auschwitz Define Sinai

Perhaps this is the most important message we can give the next generation.

Let us never forget Auschwitz.

But let us never allow Auschwitz to define Sinai.

Let us remember what our enemies did to us but let us never forget what G-d expects from us.

Judaism is not primarily the story of a people who have been hated for thousands of years.

It is the extraordinary story of a people who have been entrusted with a Divine mission for thousands of years.

We are not defined by those who tried to destroy us.

We are defined by the Torah that continues to inspire us, the mitzvot that continue to strengthen us, and the responsibility we carry to make this world a better and holier place.

And ultimately, that is the vision of Moshiach: a world in which hatred, persecution, and war will disappear, and humanity will live in peace, harmony, and recognition of G-d.

The Nazis wanted a world without Jews.

Our answer is a world overflowing with Jewish life.

And the Rebbe taught us to go even further: Our ultimate goal is a world overflowing with G-dliness, goodness, and peace.

We are not here merely to survive Jewish history. We are here to make Jewish history.

We are not victims of our past.

We are builders of our future.

And with every mitzvah, every Jewish child educated, every act of kindness, and every additional light we kindle, we bring that future — the world of Moshiach — one step closer.