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Destiny in Disaster?
A 1539 representation of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known as Rashi. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
JNS.org – Have you ever met a professor of comparative religion? I’ve often wondered whether these academics have really studied all religions and if they believe in any of them.
In this week’s Torah reading, Yitro, we are introduced to the world’s first professor of comparative religion. His name was Jethro (Yitro in Hebrew), and he had investigated every faith of ancient times until he came to embrace Judaism. He did so not because Moses was his son-in-law but because he had studied every faith in depth and came to an educated conclusion.
The reading begins with, “And Jethro heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people; that He had taken Israel out of Egypt.” Yitro was the high priest of Midian, and after familiarizing himself with every religion, cult and creed of his day, he said, “Now I know that Hashem is greater than all other deities.” Seeing how the Israelites were miraculously redeemed from slavery in Egypt put the Jewish God in another league entirely, so he came to join the Jewish people.
The Torah scholar Rashi, quoting the Talmud, adds other events that influenced Jethro to leave Midian and meet the Israelites in the desert. What were they? “The splitting of the sea and the war against Amalek.”
The splitting of the sea is arguably the biggest miracle in all of history. In fact, when the Talmud mentions something particularly difficult, it uses the expression, “As difficult as splitting the sea.” Also, that an untrained, ill-equipped slave nation defeated the fierce warrior nation of Amalek in battle was surely divine intervention.
But why did Rashi need to look for any other reasons at all? The Torah explicitly states that Jethro heard about the Exodus from Egypt. It doesn’t say he heard about the sea or Amalek.
Perhaps Yitro was not just looking for a God to believe in but a nation to be part of. In the splitting of the sea and the war of Amalek, Jethro found a special destiny embedded in Jewish peoplehood, and that was what attracted him.
The splitting of the sea was heard around the world. The guiding hand of God protecting the Jews, who were trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea, was a miracle second to none. With the Egyptian chariots bearing down on them and nowhere to run, only the Almighty could come to their rescue. Jethro saw a special destiny there—the destiny of deliverance.
But that wasn’t all Jethro heard. He also heard of the attack by Amalek. Here was a nation that had no logical reason to be troubled by the Israelites. They were not coming their way. They weren’t looking to conquer their territory. It was complete chutzpah on the Amalekites’ part. The Jews were minding their own business. Why should Amalek launch an unprovoked all-out war?
Yitro saw something more than just a military confrontation. This was not a case of neighboring countries fighting over land or an imperialistic despot ambitious to conquer the continent. It was a case of senseless hatred. It was an unnatural opposition to the Jews and everything the nation of Israel stands for. Yitro correctly perceived that this was not a typical war. Amalek’s malicious, unwarranted, wanton attack put him in the category of not just an enemy but an arch-enemy. Indeed, we have described our most vicious enemies throughout history as Amalekites. Though they were not genealogically related, the Nazis personified Amalek. And so do Hamas and company.
When Yitro saw that Israel was the subject of such unwarranted hate, he realized that the Jewish people were different from all other nations. This simply does not happen to other nations. War is, unfortunately, all too common. But a senseless war, an irrational animosity, is not at all common. It is, in fact, unique. If the Jewish people can stir such hatred and hostility in people with whom we have no business, then, clearly, we are a people with a purpose and fate that transcend logic. Yitro saw the Jewish destiny in disaster, too.
We, too, have experienced sea-splitting miracles in the survival of modern Israel over seven decades. Surrounded by neighbors whose dominant dream is to drive us into the sea, we are still here to tell the tale. We have witnessed with our own eyes how “The Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” We experienced the miraculous, lightning victory of the Six-Day War, how He carried us “on the wings of eagles” to and from Entebbe, how the “clouds of glory” protected us from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s deadly Scud missiles during the Persian Gulf War and from Iran’s massive missile barrages on Israel within the past year. To not see and feel the miracle of Jewish survival is to be blind, deaf and dumb. We have seen our destiny in deliverance.
But we have also seen the irrational hatred of Amalek again today. Gaza could have been a peaceful and prosperous haven of tranquillity and success. With the infrastructure left behind by Israel in 2005 and the billions poured into the region by the West, the Palestinians could have built a strong and prosperous economy and society. Instead, their hate fueled them to pour all their energy into tunnels of terror while their people remained impoverished. The bloody massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, established Hamas as Amalek personified today, and I’m afraid we have also seen our destiny in disaster.
The Holocaust remains unique in all of history. It was not only genocide but an attempt at a Final Solution, which would have utterly annihilated an entire nation. Had Hamas not been stopped in its tracks, they would have been only too pleased to finish the job Adolf Hitler began.
Holocausts don’t happen to other nations. Yes, there have been terrible genocides in different countries, but a Final Solution? Never. I wish we could not claim this dubious distinction, but it is a historical fact. The sheer number of dead from the Holocaust is so catastrophic—so unearthly and absurd—that it demonstrates that we are not a people like any other, not just in our deliverances, but sadly, also in our tragedies. Yes, we have experienced our destiny in disaster, too.
In the Torah reading this week, we also learn about the great Revelation at Sinai and the Ten Commandments. This is our special providential mission—to be a “Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel and the Jewish people are called upon to live by God’s Torah and our ancient but eternal traditions. May we live up to our unique purpose as messengers of God, and may we merit to see our extraordinary destiny in the Almighty’s deliverance and redemption.
The post Destiny in Disaster? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US-France Tensions Rise Over Antisemitism as New Data Shows Sharp Increase in French Attacks
US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron react on the day of a press conference, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
As Washington presses Paris over its handling of antisemitism, new data shows anti-Jewish hate crimes in France remain far above pre–Oct. 7, 2023, levels nearly two years after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
On Monday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Charles Kushner after he accused Paris of failing to act decisively against rising antisemitism targeting France’s Jewish community.
In a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, Kushner voiced his “deep concern over the dramatic rise of antisemitism in France” and criticized the French government for its “lack of sufficient action” to confront it.
However, French authorities rejected such claims as “unacceptable” and warned that Kushner’s letter violated international law.
“The rise in antisemitic acts in France since Oct. 7, 2023, is a reality that we deplore and to which the French authorities are responding with total commitment, as these acts are completely unacceptable,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Aurore Bergé, France’s minister for combating discrimination, stood by the government’s efforts to protect its citizens, saying its fight against antisemitism is “unequivocal.”
“This matter is far too serious. In my view, it is too important to be handled through the courts in a diplomatic context,” she said in an interview with Europe 1-CNews.
France’s Jewish community has faced a troubling surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Oct. 7 atrocities. Jewish leaders have consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes they continue to face.
This latest diplomatic row comes as new figures from the French Interior Ministry show 646 antisemitic incidents were recorded from January to June this year — a drop from the previous year’s first-half record high but a 112.5 percent increase compared with the same period in 2023, when 304 incidents were reported.
The wave of anti-Jewish hatred has continued unabated.
Earlier this month, for example, an olive tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006, was vandalized and cut down in one of the latest antisemitic acts to spark outrage within the local Jewish community.
“In France, we are no longer safe, neither alive nor dead,” Halimi’s sister, Anne-Laure Abitbol, told RTL on Monday, adding that public denunciations are no longer enough and urging concrete action.
“I feel less safe in France,” she said. “By recognizing a Palestinian state, Macron is encouraging antisemitism and failing to take action against antisemitic attacks in the country.”
Last month, Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September as part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Israeli officials have criticized the move, which was followed by several other Western countries, calling it a “reward for terrorism.”
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Israel Files Complaint After British Wheelchair Basketball Players Snub Israeli Opponents During ‘Hatikvah’
Members of Great Britain’s wheelchair basketball team, right, turning their backs as Israel’s national anthem plays at a game on Aug. 16 at the Wheelchair Basketball Nations Cup in Cologne, Germany. Photo: Screenshot
Israel’s Paralympic Committee filed a formal complaint with the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation after players of the British national team turned their backs when Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” played at a game earlier this month, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.
The incident took place on Aug. 16 at the start of a game held as part of the Wheelchair Basketball Nations Cup in Cologne, Germany. Israel claimed the move violates rules that ban political protests at sports competitions and said athletes who exhibit the same behavior should face sanctions. Moshe Matalon, chairman of the Israel Paralympic Committee, condemned the”shameful” behavior in an interview with Chanel 13 while members of the Israeli team called the behavior “embarrassing.”
Israeli wheelchair basketball player Ilay Yarhi described their actions as “an attack on our dignity as players” in an interview with the Jerusalem Post. He added that the Israeli team “felt like they were bringing unrelated issues onto the court and humiliating us.”
Yarhi told the Post that after the incident, some of the Israeli players approached their opponents and asked why they turned their backs when “Hatikvah” played the start of the game.
“A few of them answered that it was a protest and a way of supporting world peace, that they were not in favor of war,” Yarhi recalled. “Some wanted to come and talk and apologize, but we didn’t agree to that, because if you don’t respect us, you don’t deserve any respect in return.”
A spokesperson for British Wheelchair Basketball told The Telegraph: “British Wheelchair Basketball is aware of the incident during the Israeli national anthem at the Nations Cup. We are continuing discussions internally after conversations with ParalympicsGB, IWBF, and the Israeli Paralympic Committee.”
Britain ultimately won the game against Israel 74-64. The two teams are likely to face each other again at the IWBF European Championships in October in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Irish Eurovision Singer Bambie Thug Boycotts Own Song Until Israel Kicked Out of Song Contest
Bambie Thug performing “Red Rum” at the Lowlands Festival while her dancers hold up two flags, including a Palestinian flag, as an audience member waves a massive Palestinian flag. Photo: Screenshot
Irish singer Bambie Thug is boycotting the song they used to compete in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest until Israel is kicked out of the international competition, the musician announced during a recent performance.
The non-binary singer-songwriter, whose real name is Bambie Ray Robinson, represented Ireland in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Doomsday Blue.” During a performance at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands earlier this month, the artist told the audience they will not perform the Eurovision entry as long as Israel continues to compete in the international song contest.
“I know that some of you guys know me from that competition. The Eurovision. And I know some of you might want to have heard ‘Doomsday Blue,’” Bambie Thug said on stage. “But, because of the state of the world and because of the state of that competition, I don’t play that anymore. I’m boycotting that song, just like that competition.”
“If one day they get their acts together and kick Israel out of that f–king competition, then I’ll sing it again. But till then,” the artist added, before showing the audience the middle finger. The singer then performed their latest song “Red Rum,” describing it on stage as a “protest song.” Bambie Thug further said that “Red Rum” is “also a song to say more Blacks, more dogs, more Irish, more Palestinians, more Ukrainians, more Iranians, more Sudanese, more Congolese … and more solidarity and more humanity.”
At the conclusion of the song, two dancers on stage held up flags toward the audience, including a Palestinian flag, while standing behind Bambie Thug. The musician then led the audience in chanting “Free, free Palestine.” Footage from the concert also showed an audience member waving a massive Palestinian flag during the performance. Bambie Thug additionally had behind the stage a screen that displayed their stage name in red, white, and green – the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The Lowlands Festival took place Aug. 15-17.
In “Red Rum,” Bambie Thug sings: “Pride is a protest/Rise of the oppressed/Pick a side are you peaceful or possessed … Doom scroll on your screens/While they load the guns/Casualties casually adding up in sum … Missile strikes/Colonial types/Zombies on a mission with a bark and a bite.”
In Malmö, Sweden, during the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, Bambie Thug was ordered by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the competition, to remove pro-Palestinian messaging that was written on the artist’s body as part of their costume for the performance. Bambie Thug had written in the early medieval Irish alphabet Ogham the words “Ceasefire” and “Free Palestine” on their face and legs but was told the remove the words before stepping on stage.