The Antidote to Amsterdam’s Antisemites

On November 9, 1938, German Jews were brutally attacked and their businesses destroyed on the infamous Kristallnacht. This pogrom was made all the worse because the Nazi government and regular German citizens stood aside and did nothing while 91 Jews were murdered and over 7,000 businesses burned and destroyed.

This week, on the eve of the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, we saw history repeat itself in the ugliest of ways. Hundreds of Jewish Israelis were viciously attacked and beaten after a Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game in Amsterdam. They were just there to cheer on their favorite team, yet as news reports and social media clips have shown, they became the targets of a modern day pogrom.

Violent gangs of Muslim Arabs were waiting for the game to end and at first harassed and then later brutally attacked the Israelis, beating them and forcing them to say “Free Palestine” before letting them go. The police allegedly stood aside and waited before taking any action to help the beleaguered soccer fans. 

This utterly shameful incident shows how lying just beneath the surface of Europe’s veneer of tolerance and acceptance, lies a vicious antisemitism waiting to rear its ugly head and the indifference of the world to outbursts of anti-Jewish violence and hate. 

Eighty years ago in the very city where the soccer fans were attacked, a Jewish young girl was in hiding before being violently snatched by the Gestapo and taken to the camps. No one heard Anne Frank’s cries for help, nor did they hear the cries of the 91 who perished on Kristallnacht. So too, in this day and age many in the world prefer for Jews to be silent and suffer than to stand up and defend themselves. 

In 2003, the Israeli government arranged for a Holocaust memorial ceremony where several F-15 fighter jets would fly over Auschwitz in commemoration of the victims of the Shoah. These jets were to be piloted by descendants of holocaust survivors in a display of Jewish pride, resilience and survival. Jaroslaw Mensfelt, the director of Auschwitz’s museum indignantly protested, claiming that this flyeover would disturb the peace of Auschwitz, a place of “silence and concentration”. 

I think it’s utterly self righteous for bureaucrats like this to take offense at Jews commemorating their losses in the way we see fit when they themselves and their ancestors didn’t lift a finger to stop the murder of over 1.5 million Jewish children. Were they equally upset by their shrills and cries which broke the silence as they were gassed in Auschwitz?

The antidote to all of this is given in our very Torah. In this week’s Parsha, Lech Lecha, Abraham heroically rescues his nephew Lot who was in captivity. From that moment on, Jews have taken upon themselves the mitzvah of Pidyon Shvuyim, or “Redeeming of Hostages”, and for millennia we have worked tirelessly to defend, rescue and protect our fellow Jews when they are in trouble. 

So therefore, it’s not enough to hope that the UN will save the 101 Jewish hostages languishing in Gaza or  hope that they will prevent a pogrom in Amsterdam. It is on us to make sure every Jew is safe and protected. Whether it’s the IDF protecting Jews from terror groups bent on our destruction to organizations dedicated to rescuing Jews in hostile countries, we take care of our own. 

For those of us who are not able to directly save a Jewish hostage or facilitate daring Entebbe-like missions, there is still much we can still do to fulfill our obligation to help Jews in need. The Rebbe, of righteous memory, teaches the tremendous power that good deeds and acts of kindness have in impacting those in dire stairs. Every mitzvah we do creates sparks of holiness and positivity. These radiate all around the world and can truly tip the scales in any situation. Whether it’s saying a prayer, giving to Tzedakah, learning a little Torah or doing acts of kindness, they all can have world-changing impacts.

The proof of this comes from the city of Amsterdam itself. As legend has it, a young boy was walking along the streets of Amsterdam, when he noticed a hole in one of the dikes gushing with water. The only person in the area, this little boy leaped into action, and plugged the hole with his finger. Little did he know, this small action ultimately saved the city from destruction. 

In our modern day, we are each that small child. Every mitzvah we do is like plugging a hole in the fight of good against evil. Just like Abraham our forefather and the Israeli fighter pilots, we will not let the silent indifference of the majority stop us from accomplishing our mission of transforming the world into a place filled with goodness and kindness, which will usher in our ultimate redemption with the coming of Moshiach. 

From my heart to yours,

Areyah