RSS
This Year Proves That God Exists Even in the Darkest of Times
In 1966, Richard Rubenstein, a theologian grappling with the existential aftermath of the Holocaust, shocked the Jewish world with his groundbreaking work, After Auschwitz. Casting the Holocaust as an anomaly that defied religious faith, Rubenstein challenged the very foundation of traditional Jewish belief, declaring that “God is dead.”
This provocative notion was a radical reinterpretation of the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s declaration that “God is dead,” a statement Nietzsche used to express the collapse of traditional values and the erosion of absolute moral certainties in the modern world, resulting from an unprecedented crisis of faith.
For Rubenstein, however, the overwhelming horrors and brutality of the Holocaust — where six million Jews, including one million children, were brutally murdered — made it impossible to believe in an all-powerful, benevolent God who intervenes in history.
Rubenstein argued that if God truly controlled the course of human events, then He must have willed the atrocities of the Holocaust — a concept Rubenstein found morally repugnant. In confronting this terrifying possibility, Rubenstein aimed to expose what he saw as the hidden, darker implications of classical Jewish theology. He believed he was stripping away comforting illusions and forcing a confrontation with the unsettling truth that, at best, God is not as we have traditionally understood Him to be.
Although, despite his radical rejection of the traditional God of history, Rubenstein, a paradoxical figure in post-Holocaust theology, never entirely abandoned the concept of the divine. He continued to wrestle with a profound sense of loss as he searched for meaning in the very mystery he had declared dead.
One traditional theologian who challenged Rubenstein’s view was Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, a leading Orthodox thinker, who offered an entirely different perspective. Rabbi Hutner acknowledged the profound mystery of the Holocaust but insisted that it was unequivocally part of the divine plan, which we, as limited human beings, cannot fully grasp.
Rabbi Hutner spoke of the Holocaust as a form of Chevlei Mashiach — the birth pangs of the Messiah — emphasizing that Jewish suffering has always preceded periods of redemption. For him, the Holocaust was a call for Jews to deepen their faith and commitment to the Torah, even when confronted with such overwhelming tragedy, in the belief that “in the concealment itself lies the pathway to redemption.”
This contrast between Rubenstein’s and Rabbi Hutner’s approaches to the Holocaust highlights the profound tension between what is hidden and what is revealed — a theme central to Parshat Nitzavim, where Moses declares, “The hidden things (nistarot) belong to God, but the revealed (niglot) things belong to us and to our children forever” (Deut. 29:28).
This critically important statement of faith underscores the duality that defines our relationship with the divine: certain aspects of God’s will and the workings of the universe remain concealed, always beyond human comprehension, while others are revealed to us, guiding our actions and responsibilities.
This tension between the hidden and the revealed becomes even more complex when we consider that what we think of as hidden may one day be revealed, and what we perceive as revealed may ultimately prove to be beyond our understanding — hidden in a more profound sense.
In the unfolding of history, certain events or truths that seem clear and understood at one moment can later become obscured by new revelations or more profound mysteries. Conversely, the hidden may reveal itself suddenly — and when that rock is lifted, what we find underneath may shock us to the core.
This dynamic has been playing out in stark relief over the past year as we consider the events of October 7th and what has happened since. One horrific day and its aftermath have brought to light the deeply entrenched hatred against Jews and Israel that was somehow previously hidden from — or ignored by — much of the world. We simply did not know the breadth and depth of Jew hatred, and now we know.
At the same time, the full extent of how the events of that terrible day came to pass and the forces at play that allowed it to happen remain shrouded in mystery, leaving us grappling with the limits of our understanding as we try to make sense of what has been revealed and what remains concealed.
Some might react to the revelations of deep-seated animosity and antipathy towards Jews and Israel, particularly by those we thought to be considered and intelligent, in much the same way Rubenstein responded to the horrors of the Holocaust — with a profound sense of despair and disillusionment.
When the spotlight catches these dreadful sentiments and their cheerleaders, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, as if the very foundations of our moral understanding have been shaken. We could succumb to the darkness of these revelations, questioning the trust and values we once held dear.
Or, we could take a different approach and say that God has done us a great favor by arming us with previously hidden information that we now need to effectively navigate the complexities of our world. Though painful and disturbing, this knowledge is crucial if we are to find a path forward. The nistarot have evolved into niglot, and can serve as a guiding light, helping us to better understand the challenges we face so that we respond with greater clarity and purpose.
Most importantly, in the face of these revelations, we must not retreat into despair, but rather, we must rise to the challenge that these newfound niglot present. The exposure of hitherto hidden hatred and animosity is both a warning and a call to action. It reminds us that while nistarot belong to God and may remain beyond our grasp, niglot are ours, and we must confront and address them.
Let us thank God that we have been given the clarity to see the world as it truly is, without the comforting illusions that once shielded us from harsh realities. This clarity, painful as it may be, should not be seen as a burden—but rather as a source of empowerment, equipping us to act with purpose and determination. It demands that we respond—not with fear, but with faith; not with resignation, but with resolve.
As we move forward, guided by what has been revealed to us over the past few months, let us deepen our commitment to our values, strengthen our communities and Jewish identity like never before, and work untiringly to ensure that the lessons of the past and the truths of the present propel us towards a future that is better for us all.
In this way, we will transform the darkness of recent revelations into a beacon of hope, ensuring that the path we forge for ourselves is illuminated by truth, faith, and a commitment to God’s purpose that still guides us — even through the most difficult of times. God is not dead. He is very much alive.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post This Year Proves That God Exists Even in the Darkest of Times first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration
(Source: Reuters)
NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza.
The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians.
Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”
In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza.
Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories.
The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation.
“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement.
The post NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.
Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.
The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.
Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.
“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”
Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”
The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”
Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.
In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Additionally, 60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Belgium announced it would not enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels—marking a significant shift from the government’s previous policies.
In an interview with Belgium’s VRT broadcaster on Thursday, Prime Minister Bart De Wever was asked about Hungary’s decision to not act on the ICC warrant against Netanyahu during the Israeli leader’s visit to Budapest this week.
“To be completely honest, I don’t think we would either,” De Wever said during the interview.
“There is such a thing as realpolitik, I don’t think any European country would arrest Netanyahu if he were on their territory. France wouldn’t do it, and I don’t think we would, either.”
As Hungary welcomed Netanyahu to Budapest with full military honors on Thursday, ignoring the ICC arrest warrant against him, the country also announced its decision to withdraw from the international court.
After their meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor 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.
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 war.
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.
Belgium’s center-right government, led by De Wever’s National Flemish Alliance party, took power this year after defeating a left-wing coalition led by the Socialist Party, known for its anti-Israel stance.
Under the previous government, Belgium joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Last year, Belgium’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Petra De Sutter, said, “War crimes and crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished,” referring to the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu.
“Europe must comply. Impose economic sanctions, suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and uphold these arrest warrants,” De Sutter wrote in a post on X.
In line with this position, former Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in November that Belgium would “assume its responsibility” towards the ICC, emphasizing that “there can be no double standards.”
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.
Germany seems to have a conflicting stance on this matter. During a press conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he could not imagine the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu being executed during a potential visit to Berlin.
However, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, criticized Hungary’s refusal to enforce the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader this week.
“This is a setback for international criminal law,” Baerbock said during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
“In Europe, no one is above the law. And this applies to all areas of law,” she said.
The post Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.