Shabbat Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
November 7/8, 2025 • 17 Mar Cheshvan 5786 • Vayeira (Gen 18-22).
Try asking this at your table:
Why do they hate us?
We know that they do hate us, right?
The anti- rallies began on October 8, 2023 - weeks before Israel began the "genocide".
(Yes, that was sarcasm.)
We know they hate us because they held "glory to our martyrs" rallies on October 7, 2024 and 2025 - attended by thousands around the globe - praising Hamas and Hezbollah.
We know they hate us because of their relentless acts of violence against us.
We know they hate us because they tell us.
But why do they hate us?
The most common reason given is that they hate us for our success.
Our present success, our 3,000 years of success.
But success at what? Business? Can't be - the same people who hate us respect Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk whom they regard as successful businessmen.
Success at innovation? Doesn't sound right - our people's innovations have saved lives and given them some of the greatest technologies.
My friend Raphael Shore in the above book gives a fresh perspective on the entire subject.
With an eye on 3,500 years of Jewish history, he observes:
From the Hellenist Greeks to the Crusaders and the Nazis, and from the Communists to Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, authoritarian ideologies often seem to have two things in common: (1) An obsession with conquering the world and (2) Hatred of the Jews.
Shore notes that October 7 didn't merely reignite a spark of Jew-hatred; it also forced many Jews to re-think Jew-hatred:
Amazingly, the Kibbutz Nir Oz, which had a quarter of its population murdered or kidnapped on October 7, had planned to participate in a protest rally on that very day with the slogan that peace cannot be achieved because of Jewish settlements. They did not make it to the rally. The pogrom blasted a hole in their mistaken assumptions, and they were forced to come to terms with Jew-hatred. They had made the classic Jewish mistake of falling for the excuse instead of discerning the reason behind the hate.
But Shore's book is not merely history, not only sociology. Other's have already done that. What he has done in this ground-breaker is to apply those lessons of history to the present and the future - what should we learn? How should the history and true nature of Jew-hatred impact the way I live my life?
He observes, "One thing we can learn from antisemites is that the Jewish People matter." In other words, we can harness Jew-hatred to sharpen our clarity on why being Jewish matters to us.
If you want to consider his vision of how to harness the current O tempora, O mores! moment, click on the image above and read the book.
It will change the way you think about anti-Semitism and about your place in history.
Shabbat Shalom
Try asking this at your table:Why do they hate us?
We know that they do hate us, right?
The anti- rallies began on October 8, 2023 - weeks before Israel began the "genocide".
(Yes, that was sarcasm.)
We know they hate us because they held "glory to our martyrs" rallies on October 7, 2024 and 2025 - attended by thousands around the globe - praising Hamas and Hezbollah.
We know they hate us because of their relentless acts of violence against us.
We know they hate us because they tell us.
But why do they hate us?
The most common reason given is that they hate us for our success.
Our present success, our 3,000 years of success.
But success at what? Business? Can't be - the same people who hate us respect Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk whom they regard as successful businessmen.
Success at innovation? Doesn't sound right - our people's innovations have saved lives and given them some of the greatest technologies.
My friend Raphael Shore in the above book gives a fresh perspective on the entire subject.
With an eye on 3,500 years of Jewish history, he observes:
From the Hellenist Greeks to the Crusaders and the Nazis, and from the Communists to Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, authoritarian ideologies often seem to have two things in common: (1) An obsession with conquering the world and (2) Hatred of the Jews.
Shore notes that October 7 didn't merely reignite a spark of Jew-hatred; it also forced many Jews to re-think Jew-hatred:
Amazingly, the Kibbutz Nir Oz, which had a quarter of its population murdered or kidnapped on October 7, had planned to participate in a protest rally on that very day with the slogan that peace cannot be achieved because of Jewish settlements. They did not make it to the rally. The pogrom blasted a hole in their mistaken assumptions, and they were forced to come to terms with Jew-hatred. They had made the classic Jewish mistake of falling for the excuse instead of discerning the reason behind the hate.
But Shore's book is not merely history, not only sociology. Other's have already done that. What he has done in this ground-breaker is to apply those lessons of history to the present and the future - what should we learn? How should the history and true nature of Jew-hatred impact the way I live my life?
He observes, "One thing we can learn from antisemites is that the Jewish People matter." In other words, we can harness Jew-hatred to sharpen our clarity on why being Jewish matters to us.
If you want to consider his vision of how to harness the current O tempora, O mores! moment, click on the image above and read the book.
It will change the way you think about anti-Semitism and about your place in history.
Shabbat Shalom
