In last week’s parsha Yaakov Avinu davened to Hashem “Hatzileini na miyad achi miyad Eisav – Please save me from the hand of my brother from the hand of Eisav.” The Bais HaLevi asks the obvious question, why does it need to say achi – my brother and Eisav? Yaakov only had one brother so saying “from my brother” would have sufficed and saying “Eisav” surely would have been sufficient.
The Beis HaLevi answers that Yaakov Avinu was asking for two separate requests from Hashem. He was asking that Hashem save him from Eisav who hates Yaakov and would openly try to harm him. The second request was to save him from his brother who is Eisav but is masked behind the veil of brotherhood. Yaakov was fearful of Eisav acting as his brother and wanting to live together. Yaakov was afraid of the influence a brother such as Eisav would have on him and his family. When Eisav is acting like Eisav he cannot easily influence Yaakov. But when he outwardly acts like Yaakov’s brother it is far more dangerous.
Last week in Jersey City we witnessed Eisav acting as Eisav, openly seeking to harm Yaakov. And this form of hate and anti-Semitism has been on the rise in the United States recently. It is important for us to realize who it is that is our enemy, who it is we must be fearful of. The media and the Democrats want us to believe that the anti-Semitism in this country is from White Nationalists, or White Supremacists. In fact, congresswoman (and anti-Semite) Rashida Tlaib tweeted out immediately after the attack blaming ‘white supremacy’ for the Jersey City shooting.
While it may be that these people pose some level of a threat to us, the vast majority of attacks have not been carried out by White Nationalists. They have been carried out by minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics who cannot be characterized as White Nationalists. This is not to say that all Blacks and Hispanics are anti-Semitic, but that the recent attacks have been perpetrated by people belonging to that demographic as opposed to the White Nationalists. The real threats to the Jewish nation in this country are the progressive socialist anti-Semites, the Islamist anti-Semites and black anti-Semites.
Why is this an important fact to internalize? Well, let me ask another question, why do the Media and the Democrats want to push the narrative that the anti-Semitism in this country is committed by White Nationalists and not who it actually is being executed by? It is because the real anti-Semites are the liberals and progressives, and those who dress up as our “brothers” who are far more dangerous as we mentioned before. There is no political party that embraces white supremacy. They have no political or organizational power whatsoever. They openly hate us, and we can try to stay out of their way.
Not so the leftist progressive socialist movement. They pretend to be our “friends.” They are so polite and pleasant we have nothing to fear from them. Right? Wrong! Did anti-Semite Tlaib apologize for incorrectly classifying this terror attack as white supremacy? No! Do liberals and progressives speak out against anti-Semitism on college campuses? No! In fact they promote it! Do they support BDS and other anti-Israel policies? Do they pressure Israel to do things that would be detrimental to herself? Yes! Are they viciously attacking the most pro-Israel president this country has ever seen? Yes!
Another reason why they are quick to blame white supremacy for the anti-Semitism in this country is so they can blame the President. They claim that he blows dog whistles to White Nationalists in this country and he is therefore somehow to blame for the anti-Semitic attacks. Except that the attacks have not been carried out by White Nationalists. It is just another false narrative designed to hide the truth about who the real issue is with, and at the same time advance a fake hate story against the president.
Recognizing who our enemies are is crucial in order to protect ourselves from them. We have to fight on several fronts. The most obvious enemy is the one out in the open, recently that has been minority groups. We also must be cognizant of the Eisav that acts polite with a smile on his face acting as our brother, but is equally, if not more, dangerous. The progressive socialist liberals who politely tell us what Israel should and should not do, and who politely advocate for BDS and other anti-Semitic policies in Israel and on college campuses, are the true enemies of the Jewish people. The Democrats who try to defund U.S. support for Israel, who vow to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv, who condemn Israel in the UN, they are our enemies! The Democrat socialist liberals who act as our brothers who have the ability to infiltrate into our communities and homes, pose an extremely grave threat to us.
Chazal tell us that the avos acted in ways that we must learn from. Just as Yaakov davened to Hashem to save him from Eisav and from his brother, we too must be aware of the two-fold enemy we face in Eisav. This begins by identifying the two separate enemies and only then can we possibly succeed in defeating both of our enemies who equally seek our destruction.