Antisemitism has never been just about physical attacks on Jews. It is the great conspiracy theory, where a narrative is generated about the Jewish people portraying us as all-powerful and utterly disloyal, a combination of factors that create a climate of hatred and resentment towards us. Demonization creates the space for physical attack.
This is the original story of antisemitism described in our parashah. The Jewish people were originally welcomed to Egypt as heroes, the family of the viceroy who had saved the country from ruin, yet all the good and benefit they had brought to Egypt and its rulers was quickly forgotten. A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Yosef and who began to portray the Jewish people as all powerful and utterly disloyal (Shemot 1:8-10):
“Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are. Let us deal shrewdly with them lest they increase and when a war befalls us, they will join our enemies and wage war against us and depart from the land.”
This was a critical stage in the process of our Egyptian experience, the demonization of the Jews. Before a taskmaster had cracked his whip or thrown a Jewish baby in the Nile, a narrative had to be constructed to recast the Jews as the Egyptians’ oppressors.
This is why the Pesach Haggadah cites the above verse to illustrate that which is written in the book of Devarim (26:6), vayarei’u osanu haMitzrim vayanunu vayitnu aleinu avodah kashah, “the Egyptians made us bad and afflicted us, and they burdened us with hard work.” Notice that the first phrase does not say that they did bad to us, vayarei’u lanu, but that they made us out to be bad. This recharacterization of the Jews is illustrated in the verse from our parashah cited above that does not describe the Egyptians doing bad to us but rather their creating a picture of how we were not friend but foe, scheming against them and awaiting the opportunity to actively turn on them (see commentaries of Orchos Chaim and Rashbatz on the Haggadah).
We can readily imagine how disorienting this must have been for our ancestors. One of their own had saved Egypt and transformed its economy to Pharaoh’s favor, making him the owner and master of the people, the land, and the treasure of Egypt, and now they were suddenly recast as the enemy. Their contributions to Egyptian society had been consigned to the dustbins of history and they were quickly transformed from savior to oppressor.
Improvement did not come automatically with a change of leadership, as conspiracy theories run deep, stubbornly survive, and do not simply disappear from society. The solution would come in response to the sincere prayers of Klal Yisrael. “It came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to G-d from the labor. G-d heard their cry, and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Shemos 2:23)
This week we will welcome a new Administration in the United States. We sincerely pray that all who govern and all who reside within the American kingdom of kindness will awaken to reread the true story of America, the world, and the Jewish people, fundamentally resetting the narrative to recognize the positive Jewish contribution such that Hashem will “place in the hearts of all Americans to deal kindly with us and all Israel. In their days and in ours may the Jews be saved and Israel dwell in safety, and may the Redeemer come to Zion. Kein yehi ratzon.”
Rabbi Moshe Hauer is executive vice president of the Orthodox Union (OU), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization.
