I urge us all to make peace with this recognition that we are facing implacable forces because I fear for those who are trying desperately to square the circle.
The Jewish penchant and talent for dark humor is being tested sorely by the reality of current events, where farce has become lethal as well.A quick perusal of the news can make one question his own sanity.
In such a distorted, cruelly perverse world, a recognition that some wrongs cannot be righted is positively life saving. The other great recompense is that while our brethren have always faced this craziness, rarely did they have the comfort of having a sovereign nation (with a powerful and motivated army protecting a vigilant and self-possessed citizenry) to help them manage the confrontation, and to help them maintain our emotional and existential equilibrium during the struggle.
Unfortunately, I think things will get far worse before they get better. We are likely to see a resurgently radical Islam lay waste to many corners of the Western World. In a variation of the Stockholm Syndrome, in which victims adopt the perspective of their oppressors, flaccid Westerners are increasingly likely to blame us, the Jewish People, for sins committed against Islam, rather than confront the source of the maelstrom.
Those who will be willing to have the Islamic alligator eat us before it gets to them, they will have no interest in understanding, let alone defending us. We are increasingly likely to personify the depiction of us in the Bible, the People who stands alone and who is not reckoned with others.
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t fight bigotry and injustice, and protect zealously our interests. We are not to withdraw from the stage of history, however warped it might become.
Above all, it should be a comfort to know that the reason for all this is not to be discerned, for it is not a construct of our own creation. Ironically, our letting go of the responsibility for solving the problem will better enable us to address it.
