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The Jews in Vienna: A Troubled History, and a Warning for Today (PART ONE)
The Jewish community of Vienna has a fascinating but tragic history. It’s a city where Jews were powerful financiers, advisors, Nobel prize winners, and world-renowned psychologists. Yet, in this same city, the Jews were expelled three times, their homes and synagogues destroyed, and even in the best of times, they lived in an environment of open antisemitism. It is no coincidence that Hitler was an Austrian who lived in Vienna for years, and that many of his ideas came from that period.
Although a Jewish presence existed in Vienna as early as the 10th century, the first recorded Jews arrived in Vienna in the late 12th century. The first Jew, known as Shlom (Solomon), was a mint master and financial adviser to Duke Leopold V and his presence was documented by 1194. In a cruel pattern that would repeat itself in Vienna’s history, in 1196, Shlom and 15 other Jews were murdered by Christians from the Third Crusade.
In 1238, Emperor Frederick II granted Vienna’s Jews a Charter of Privileges, identifying Jews as “chamber serfs” — meaning that the legal status of Jews was that they “belonged” to the Roman-German emperor. Six years later, Duke Frederick II issued the “Charter of the Jews,” spelled out terms for their protection and money-lending guidelines.
During the Black Death epidemic in 1348-9, Vienna was one of the few cities that did not blame the Jews for causing the plague. Consequently, it became a haven for Jewish refugees, which will be seen again in Vienna’s history. During the 14th century, Jews comprised about five percent of the city’s population.
During this period, Vienna’s community was led by world-famous rabbinical leaders. Rabbi Yitzchak of Vienna (circa 1200-1270) was a student of the Tosafists of France and Germany. He brought a high-level Talmud study to Vienna, the standard hallmark of a learned Jewish community. He is renowned for his tome, Ohr Zarua, a work of Halacha (Jewish law) quoted by scholars since he published it.
His son, Rabbi Chaim Ohr Zarua, also served as a rabbi in Vienna. He adapted his father’s classic Ohr Zarua to make it more accessible, including only the decisions without the complete justification.
Rabbi Meir ben Baruch Halevi (1320-1390) served as the Rabbi of Vienna for the last 30 years of his life, and instituted a requirement that a Talmudic student could not officiate as a rabbi unless he had ordination from a properly ordained rabbi. This practice requiring rabbis to have ordination was accepted by Ashkenazi communities in the succeeding generations, and it continues to this day.
Rabbi Yisrael Isserlin (1370 to l440) is considered the last great rabbi of medieval Austria. He authored the classic work Terumas ha-Deshen and a super-commentary on Rashi’s Torah commentary.
Toward the end of the 14th century, antisemitism began to rise among the burghers, likely due to jealousy of their Jewish neighbors. In 1406, during a large fire that destroyed the synagogue, the burghers used the opportunity to attack Jewish homes.
The persecution soon became far worse. On May 23, 1420, Duke Albert V issued the Vienna Decree, ordering all Jews of means imprisoned and their possessions confiscated. Jews who were impoverished before the Vienna Decree were forcibly expelled to Hungary. The imprisoned Jews were tortured, and attempts were made to forcibly convert them to Christianity. Children were separated from their parents and given to monasteries for conversion. After the Pope spoke out against the forced baptisms, the duke responded by having the remaining Jews — 210 men and women — burned at the stake on March 12, 1421. Even the synagogue was not spared; its stones were used to build a new faculty building for the University of Vienna.
The Jewish community of Vienna was utterly destroyed, and Jews were forbidden to live in Vienna.
The leading Ashkenazi sage, Rabbi Yaakov Moelin (1365-1427), known as the Maharil, who lived in Mainz, Germany, at the time, recorded the horrific events and sharply referred to Austria as “the land of blood.”
In 1451, a few Jews were permitted to return to Vienna and were given special protection from the Hapsburg Emperors. By 1512, there were 12 Jewish families in Vienna. A small number of Jews continued to live in Vienna during the 16th century, although they lived with the constant threat of expulsion hanging over them.
In 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II limited the Jews of Vienna to a ghetto on the present-day Leopoldstadt quarter site, consisting of 15 dwelling houses. Their numbers steadily increased; by 1670, 136 dwellings housed 500 families. When Jews of Ukraine faced the infamous Chmielnicki Massacres in 1648-49 known as Tach v’Tat, some chose to escape to the safety of Vienna.
For a time, the community of Vienna resumed its respected position in the Jewish world and the rabbis of the renewed community were once again world-famous leaders. Among them were Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller, known as the Tosfos Yom Tov (1579-1654), and Rabbi Shabsai Sheftel Horowitz (1590-1660), the author of Vavei Amudim, who was renowned for his expertise in both Halacha and Kabbalah.
Renewed Hatred
The second expulsion of Jews from Vienna took place in the middle of the 17th century.
Bishop Kollonitsch, a conniving and influential antisemite, served as the Lord Chamberlain to Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705). At his urging, Emperor Leopold decreed to expel the Jews of Vienna, despite the tremendously negative financial impact this would have on his kingdom, because the Jews were his financiers and advisors.
The influential Jews of the community did their utmost to stop or limit the expulsion. They tried giving the emperor the enormous sum of 100,000 florins but were refused. They asked Queen Christina of Sweden to intervene, but although she did, her words were ignored. On March 1, 1670, Emperor Leopold ordered all the Jews to leave Vienna and all of Austria. The deadline was August 1, and the last Jews of Vienna were exiled in the month of Av. The Great Synagogue was converted into a Catholic church, and the Jewish area was renamed Leopoldstadt in honor of Emperor Leopold I’s success in removing the Jews from Vienna. (And that name remains to this day.) As an aside, Bishop Kollonitsch continues to be revered by Viennese citizens, and a giant statue of him stands in front of the town hall in Vienna.
The Court Jews of Vienna
Within a short time, the expulsion began to negatively impact Vienna’s economy.
The first Jew allowed back into Vienna to reside was Samuel Oppenheimer, who was officially permitted to reside in the city in 1676. Those accompanying him became the nucleus of the very small, not-legally recognized community. They were not permitted to have a synagogue, and all services had to be held in private homes.
Oppenheimer provided needed supplies for the Austrian army, including uniforms, food, horses for the cavalry, and even supplies for the hospital. Yet, despite all he accomplished on behalf of Austria, he still suffered from antisemitism. Bishop Kollonitsch accused Oppenheimer of trying to murder Samson Wertheimer, and Oppenheimer was jailed. Only after paying an enormous sum was he released, and his claim of innocence was accepted. Oppenheimer supported many Jewish scholars and built synagogues and yeshivas in various communities. He also redeemed Jews taken captive in Turkish wars. After he died in 1703, his son Emmanuel appealed to have the debts owed to his father repaid by Austria. In response, rather than pay Emmanuel the six million florins they owed, the state claimed that Emmanuel needed to pay them four million florins. This wealthy family was left penniless.
Along with Oppenheimer, a very limited number of Jews were permitted to return to Vienna. In all, 10 wealthy families — mostly known as Court Jews — resided in Vienna. They initially paid 300,000 florins for this privilege, and an additional tax of 10,000 florins each year.
Despite the antisemitism and lack of civil rights, the Viennese Court Jews’ influence increased. As a result, Vienna became a center for Jewish diplomacy and philanthropy for Jews throughout the empire.
Sephardic Jews and Diego D’Aguilar
In 1718, due to peace treaties with the Ottoman Empire, Turkish citizens were granted permission to travel to and temporarily reside in Austria. Ironically, although Austrian Jews could not reside live in Austria, Turkish Jews could. The Sephardic Jews from Turkey formed a legally recognized community in Vienna. (With typical Jewish ingenuity, there were Austrian Jews who traveled to Turkey, obtained Turkish citizenship and passports, and returned to reside legally in Austria.)
During the reign of Maria Theresa, a Jew from Lisbon retained a particularly powerful position in the Empire. Diego D’Aguilar was born to a Converso family in Spain and was forcibly taken from his parents as a child and raised to become a Catholic Priest. After he was ordained, his mother managed to obtain an audience with him and emotionally reminded him of his Jewish roots. His sister had been caught practicing Judaism, and his mother hoped he might be able to stop her being burnt at the stake.
Although he was unable to save his sister, this meeting reawakened in him a desire to return to the Judaism he barely knew, and he and his mother escaped to Vienna. In Vienna, D’Aguliar became a full-fledged observant Jew and was financially successful due to his reorganization of the tobacco industry. Ironically, he became a favorite of the antisemitic Empress Maria Theresa. He raised tremendous amounts of money for government loans and rebuilt the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna. He remained loyal to the Jewish community and was able to prevent the expulsion of Jews from Moravia and Prague in 1744.
Empress Maria Theresa made D’Aguilar’s a baron in recognition of his services to Austria. Due to his influence, she also abandoned her plans to expel Jews from the Empire in 1748.
D’Aguilar left Vienna suddenly in 1749 when the Spanish government demanded his extradition. He moved to London with his wife and a large family of 14 children. Before leaving Vienna, he presented the community with beautiful silver crowns for the Torah scrolls, upon which his name was inscribed.
Despite her positive feelings towards D’Aguilar, Empress Maria Teresa remained an ardent antisemite. Aside from the 12 prominent families, no Austrian Jews were permitted to live in Vienna, and all antisemitic decrees remained in place.
Emperor Joseph II: Increased Tolerance of Jews
The slow process of removing restrictions on the Jewish community began in November 1780, when Joseph II, Maria Teresa’s successor, became Emperor and ruled the Hapsburg Lands from 1780-1790. In 1781, he discontinued the Leibmaut poll tax, which had been paid by Jews to enter certain cities since the Middle Ages. (This was a particularly degrading tax, as it was a property tax and made the statement that Jews were property and not people.)
In 1782, Emperor Joseph II proclaimed an Edict of Tolerance to make the Jews “of better use to the state,” as was stated in the prologue to the resolution. Jews no longer had to wear a yellow band, they could attend schools and universities (although they were still limited in their choice of professions), and they could live anywhere in Vienna (although they could not own property). He took steps to assimilate the Jews into society, requiring that Hebrew and Yiddish be replaced by the country’s national language in public discourse and forbade documents and textbooks to be printed in Hebrew. He also required Jews to take on last names approved by the Austrian officials.
Many Jews took advantage of the new opportunities granted them, but in the process, many also lost their Judaism. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, salons of assimilated Jewish hostesses served as meeting places for the rulers of Europe. One of the most famous hostesses was Fanny Arstein, who had a salon attended by the prominent personalities of the time, including the emperor and Mozart. In 1821, nine Jews of Vienna were knighted and raised to the nobility.
With newly acquired rights, the Jewish community hired renowned architect Josef Kornhäusel to construct the Stadttempel, the central synagogue of Vienna, which was the first legal synagogue to be opened since 1671. The magnificent synagogue was inaugurated in 1826, but in deference to the law, it was built hidden from the street view.
Despite all the “tolerance,” the Jews continued to exist as a non-community, as they were forbidden by law to establish themselves as a community, until 1867, when Jews were recognized as equal citizens.
Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA from 2007 – 2020. He is a popular speaker and has written for numerous publications. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org. A version of this article was originally published by Aish.
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Brooklyn Woman Denied Bail, Claims She Didn’t Kill Anyone in Car Crash That Killed Jewish Mother, Two Daughters
An overturned auto in a car crash flipped on its roof landing on a mother and her three children, killing two children on March 29, 2025, in Brooklyn, New York. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
A Brooklyn woman denied killing anyone when she appeared in court on Thursday, less than a week after a Jewish woman and her two daughters died when she crashed her car into them at a crosswalk.
Miriam Yarimi, 32, appeared in Brooklyn Criminal Court via a video stream from her room in NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, according to the New York Daily News. She is undergoing a psychological evaluation at the hospital following Saturday’s deadly car crash.
After the crash, Yarimi told first responders she was “possessed” and believed the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was following her. She has made similar claims about being pursued by the CIA on social media several times in the past, The Algemeiner previously reported.
Yamini, who is also Jewish, faces a slew of charges that include three counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of criminal negligent homicide, and four counts of second-degree assault.
“The devil is in my eyes. I am haunted inside. I didn’t kill anyone. I didn’t hurt anyone. Prove it. Show me the proof. You have no proof,” Yarimi said in a statement after Saturday’s crash, according to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Nocella. “I need CT scans in my eyes. I need to get the scanning done now … Where’s my daughter? My daughter’s always in my heart.”
“People are out to get me,” added the single mother. “I need CT scans on my entire body. F— you. I need a whole work up to get whatever is in my body out of it. I did not hurt anyone. All the evidence is on my phone.”
Nocella called Yamini a flight risk and asked the judge that she be held without bail due to the “nature and severity” of the allegations, as reported by the Daily News. Judge Jevet Johnson agreed with Nocella and ordered Yamini to be held without bail. Nocella said prosecutors are prepared to present grand jury indictment on the manslaughter charges.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his administration is “committed” to taking more action to prevent traffic violence and deaths following the fatal car crash that killed Natasha Saada, 35, along with her daughters Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5. Saada’s 4-year-old son Philip was injured in the crash and is still being hospitalized in critical condition.
Adams’ office announced on Wednesday that there were 41 traffic deaths during the first three months of 2025 — 24 fewer than last year and the second fewest since they started being recorded by the city. Despite the decline in traffic deaths, Adams admitted that more work needs to be done to keep New Yorkers safe on the streets, as evident by Saturday’s deadly car crash.
“In order to make New York City the best place to raise a family, we need to be safer at every level — including on our streets,” he said in a released statement on Wednesday. “Our administration’s investments in intersection safety improvements, treating traffic violence as the serious crime that it is, and our expanding automated camera enforcement are all helping ensure we’re leading the way toward a safer future for all New Yorkers — whether they are pedestrians, cyclists, or motorists.”
“We understand there is more work to do, as evidenced this past weekend’s tragic crash in Brooklyn because one lift [sic] lost to traffic violence is one life too many, but our administration remains committed to reducing traffic violence as much as any other form of violence,” Adams added.
On Saturday afternoon, Yarimi crashed her car into an Uber and then slammed into four members of the Saada family as they were trying to walk across the street at an intersection on Ocean Parkway in Midwood.
Yarimi was speeding at the time of the incident, “probably doing close to twice the speed limit,” and “ran a red light” just before the crash, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez revealed on Wednesday while speaking to Eyewitness News. Yamini was also driving on a suspended license and has accumulated almost 100 parking and camera violations, including 21 speed camera tickets and five red light tickets.
“It actually exceeds just being reckless, it’s almost being wanton, we’re not going to tolerate that,” Gonzalez told Eyewitness News. “Her vehicle had been ticketed many times by red light cameras and speed cameras, that car was a frequent violator of both speed laws and red-light laws, and there is no excuse for running a red light.”
Saada and her daughters were buried in Israel this week. Four-year-old Philip remains at the hospital for his injuries and is facing “tough straights,” Gonzalez said. “We expect him to make some kind of recovery, but it’s going to be a long road for him.”
The boy lost one of his kidneys during treatment at Maimonides Medical Center, according to New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “It’s heartbreaking,” Lander said after he visited the home of the Saada family, according to the New York Post. “He’s still in critical condition. He lost one kidney but they are hopeful about his prognosis.”
Five people in the Uber hit by Yarimi’s car suffered minor injuries.
Supporters of a proposed state law that would stop repeat super speeders in New York have rallied together since the car accident on Saturday, calling for the passage of the bill that they said could have prevented the crash. The legislation would require speed limiters to be installed on vehicles owned by repeat reckless drivers, like Yarimi. The device automatically limits the vehicles to within 5 mph of the legal speed of the road. The “Stop Super Speeders” bill was sponsored by New York State Assembly Member Emily Gallagher and Senator Andrew Gounardes.
The New York City Comptroller, Brad Lander, supports the bill and criticized Adams for not already implementing such measures.
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Hungary Announces Withdrawal From ‘Political’ ICC as Netanyahu Visits Country, Defying Arrest Warrant
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks to the media next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Budapest, Hungary, April 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
Hungary on Thursday announced that it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the country welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the capital city of Budapest, defying an ICC arrest warrant against him over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
Despite Hungary’s status as a signatory of the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, Netanyahu was not taken into custody upon his arrival in Budapest. Instead, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed his Israeli counterpart with full military honors.
GREAT meeting with a GREAT friend, @PM_ViktorOrban. Together, we’re making the GREAT alliance between
and
even stronger! pic.twitter.com/Svphzb61Gn
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 3, 2025
Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary, which is scheduled to last until Sunday, is his first trip to Europe since the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him last year. In February, he made his first foreign trip altogether since the ICC’s decision to the United States, where he met with US President Donald Trump.
As Orban and Netanyahu met to discuss regional developments and bilateral cooperation, Hungarian Minister Gergely Gulyas released a statement announcing that “the government will initiate the withdrawal procedure” from the ICC, which could take a year or more to complete.
After their meeting, Orban said he believes the ICC is “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.”
“I am convinced that this otherwise important international judicial forum has been degraded into a political tool, with which we cannot and do not want to engage,” Orban said during a press conference.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar praised Budapest’s decision to withdraw from the international court, highlighting the country’s “strong moral stance alongside Israel and the principles of justice and sovereignty.”
“I commend Hungary’s important decision to withdraw from the ICC,” Saar wrote in a post on X. “The so-called ‘International Criminal Court’ lost its moral authority after trampling the fundamental principles of international law in its zest for harming Israel’s right to self-defense.”
I commend Hungary’s important decision to withdraw from the ICC. FM Péter Szijjártó and I dealt with this matter extensively. The so-called “International Criminal Court” lost its moral authority after trampling the fundamental principles of international law in its zest for…
— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) April 3, 2025
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which until a recently imposed blockade had provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout the war. Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
After the court issued the warrant against Netanyahu, Orban rejected the decision by inviting the Israeli leader to Budapest and accusing the court of “interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes.”
During Thursday’s news conference, Netanyahu commended Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC, calling it a “bold and principled action” as “the first state that walks out of this corruption and this rottenness.”
“The ICC directs its actions against us fighting a just war with just means,” Netanyahu said. “I think [this decision will] be deeply appreciated, not only in Israel but in many, many countries around the world.”
After the Israeli leader was welcomed in Budapest, Hamas issued a statement calling on the Hungarian government to reverse its decision and extradite Netanyahu to the ICC to stand trial, calling the decision an “immoral stance that shows collusion with a war criminal who is running away from justice.”
In a post on X, Israel’s top diplomat reiterated his support for Hungary’s decision, arguing that Hamas’s statement only proves the country is taking the correct stance in this matter.
“Whoever needed further proof as to how justified, moral and necessary Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the ICC is: Hamas just condemned it,” Saar wrote.
“Hamas is defending the politicized and twisted so-called ‘International Criminal Court.’ And that’s the whole story.”
Whoever needed further proof as to how justified, moral and necessary Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the ICC is: Hamas just condemned it.
Hamas is defending the politicized and twisted so-called “International Criminal Court”.
And that’s the whole story.— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) April 3, 2025
After the ICC’s decision to issue the warrants, several countries, including Hungary, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, France, and Italy, have said they would not arrest Netanyahu if he visited.
US and Israeli officials issued blistering condemnations of the ICC move, decrying the court for drawing a moral equivalence between Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the heads of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that launched the ongoing war in Gaza with its massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2o23.
The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. Other countries including the US have similarly not signed the ICC charter. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
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Jewish Individualism Will Not Work, But Solidarity Must
The Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
During the events of Purim, Haman approached King Xerxes I and said, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So, it is not in the king’s interest to let them live.”
Queen Esther’s solidarity with her dispersed people in Persia, and her profound loyalty to her Jewish identity, saved them from Haman’s genocide and secured their self-defense when she courageously revealed her heritage to Xerxes I.
Today, Israeli Jews are once again fighting for their Jewish and Zionist survival. Since Oct. 7, 2023, this Jewish Armageddon has extended anew to Diaspora Jews, who have felt the past’s chilling draft. Antisemitism has reawakened, infecting non-Jews and Jews alike. Few people contribute to antisemitic attitudes more than “self-loathing” Jews. These “self-loathing” Jews, who cynically reveal only the negative aspects of their Jewishness, believe they can avoid antisemitic attacks if they condemn Israel. But they achieve only self-betrayal, gaining neither acceptance nor respect from those who hate all Jews. Jews are a nation of people who question, not people who answer.
Questions pervade the Jewish mind to such a degree that the adage, “two Jews, three opinions,” has become a common characteristic of Jewish identity. Moreover, the pursuit of an answer often serves as a springboard for further inquiry. For us, as Jews, the ultimate answer, akin to the messianic ideal, remains a distant, undefined future. This traditional perspective has granted Jews a sort of perpetual license to disagree. Jews enjoy engaging in debate with others, but they sometimes find particular delight in debating amongst themselves, which allows their intellects to roam and their sardonic wit to playfully engage with each other’s vulnerabilities, finding humor without causing offense.
This love for discourse, for questioning everything in sight, including Hashem himself, is by no means the only puzzle that makes up our Jewish identity. Another crucial element of our makeup is solidarity. In times of major upheavals, we have always stood together against the masses who rose against us. To our enemies, we Jews — atheists, nihilists, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Haredi, religious Zionists, non-religious Zionists, or undecided — look, taste, and feel the same. They care nothing for our ingrained liberalism. Our enemies seek cracks within our communities in order to break us apart and cause irreparable damage.
Years of relative peace and prosperity since the Holocaust have allowed us to gather again and engage in countless polemics over the fate of Israel, Jews, Judaism, and Zionism. However, we have failed to notice that we are at war again, and that our enemies eagerly exploit the divisions within a nation that comprises only 0.2% of the world’s population. These enemies — radical Islamists and progressive Western leftists who view Jews and Israel as white oppressors and colonizers — avidly listen to Jewish internal squabbles and criticisms of the Israeli government.
Despite the significant progress the Shin Bet and IDF have made in dismantling much of Hamas’s leadership and terrorist infrastructure, destroying its complex network of tunnels and command centers, and weakening Hezbollah, in addition to eliminating tens of thousands of Hamas terrorists, many Jews remain critical of, and disagree with, what Israel represents today. Aware of government problems, Israelis desire improvement. However, their rage and almost addictive pattern of anti-government protests have provided their adversaries with more opportunities to exploit perceived weaknesses.
This has resonated with some Jews worldwide. In New York, some Jewish intellectuals have defended “free-Palestine” and pro-Hamas protesters harassing Jewish students, invoking freedom of speech. They appear to have fallen prey to what they perceive as the lies of progressive anti-Zionist media, which systemically omits crucial facts about Israel. This includes the IDF’s efforts to minimize civilian casualties, and its role in eliminating thousands of Hamas terrorists and dismantling their terror network, which posed a significant threat to Israel (and innocent Palestinians themselves).
These “romantic” progressive Jews also forget that no matter how critical they are of that “brutal” IDF, it is still fighting on their behalf, because it is fighting on behalf of every Jew. Civilian deaths do occur, but they are either unfortunate incidents of war or, more often, a direct result of Hamas’s cruelty, as Hamas terrorists purposefully embed themselves within the civilian population. I once sat at dinner in Israel with a wealthy American Jewish couple who came on a sympathy tour a few months after Oct. 7. Nevertheless, the husband was convinced that the IDF was deliberately killing Palestinian children.
Those were wealthy, educated American Jews who thought they were charitable because they donated to Jewish causes, and therefore, believed they had the right to express their views on everything. This is where I, a Soviet Jew who grew up deprived of Judaism yet targeted by antisemitism, felt differently. To begin with, the husband was completely wrong. Second, in times of existential crisis, we, as Jewish people, must set aside our irresistible urge to disagree and criticize Israel on basic premises such as Israel’s fight to ensure Jews don’t live through a second genocide. The freedom to speak our minds has been ours for thousands of years. We conversed with Hashem, we obeyed Him, we sacrificed for Him, and then we quickly learned to disobey and question Him, even before we began arguing amongst ourselves.
Still, throughout our dotted and punctured history, it wasn’t our tongues or our disagreeable minds that kept our small nation together; it was our solidarity. In solidarity, we walked out of Egypt. In solidarity, tens of thousands of Eastern European Jews came to their promised land as early as the 1920s and began to build from nothing. In solidarity with his orphans, Dr. Janusz Korczak, despite being given the chance to save himself, chose to march with them, hand in hand, through the ghetto to the deportation point, on their way to Treblinka, where they met their final hour. In solidarity with other Jews across the Soviet Empire, Soviet Jews secretly tried to remember who they were, despite years of persecutions and purges.
In solidarity with their Soviet brethren, powerful American Jewry fought for Russian Jews to be able to emigrate to Israel and the United States. One of the main reasons our small nation has not disappeared into the abyss is because, in Diaspora, across oceans, and through impenetrable iron curtains, we never ceased to support one another. We knew we could not afford the luxury of neglecting our faith, traditions, and, most importantly, we could never abandon defending ourselves against our enemies.
Caesar’s “Divide et impera” (“Divide and Conquer”), though a cliché, is particularly relevant here. Seeing fractures within our communities, our enemies have intensified these divisions through incessant anti-Zionist and antisemitic propaganda and violence. Therefore, only as an undivided people, united by a single purpose — eradicating our enemies and protecting our promised land — do we stand a chance of survival. Perhaps only then will the day come when Jewish people gather on virtual street corners to argue and ask questions to which they seek no answers.
Anya Gillinson is an immigration lawyer and author of the new memoir Dreaming in Russian. She lives in New York City. More at www.anyagillinson.com.
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