I think that this is a record-breaking week for Jewish life in Thailand.
On Sunday a Pidyon Haben – redeeming ceremony for first born son at thirty days old.
On Monday a Bar Mitzvah.
A Brit Milah on Tuesday.
The grand finale for the week was on Thursday night. A wedding (held in Israel) of two young Jews who were raised from infancy in Bangkok. Dvir and Danielle were students of ours since they were little children, and today they represent the future of our community. It was a wonderful nachas to officiate at their wedding.
In one week, the gamut of Jewish lifecycle events.
Mazel Tov!
It feels like the Thailand Jewish community has come of age.
The USA embassy met with me last week to ask about antisemitism in Thailand.
I shared with them the way it used to be.
My beard caught people’s attention.
People giggled and called out ‘Bin Laden’ when they saw me in the street after the 9/11 attacks on the twin tower.
Kids laughingly pointed at me at shopping malls in December calling me ‘Santa’.
Most of the local population was clueless about the Jewish religion.
You cannot have antisemitism if no one knows what Jews are.
Today that is not the case.
I would not be telling the truth if I didn’t say that the growth and deepening of Jewish life in Thailand is taking place against a backdrop of increasing anti-semitism (for PC purposes presented as anti-Israelism).
Thank G-d the Royal Thai Government is doing an admirable job in upholding the safety and security of the Jewish community in Thailand. We are grateful and thankful to live in this truly amazing kingdom.
The fomenting of bigotry and scapegoating seems to be sponsored by agitators from the headquarters of antisemitism, Iran and its proxies.
In today’s uber-connected world, there are no borders. One can be sitting on one side of the world and creating hatred on the other side of the world. And with google translate and ChatGPT it's not hard to import and adapt hatred from one language and culture to another.
If it is that way with negativity, how much more so when it comes to positivity.
You can push a few buttons and do kindness and charity in all four corners of the earth. You can study and teach Torah across all borders.
We don’t like antisemitism. That is an understatement. We detest it and decry it and do anything in our power to rid the world of any form of racism and intolerance.
On the other hand, we don’t back down, get disillusioned or G-d forbid run away from our Judaism.
On the contrary. G-d blessed the Jews in Egypt, ‘as much as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and exceeded all expectations’.
In contemporary times we too are witnessing a strengthening and deepening of Jewish resurgence far outpacing the hateful voices, vibes and violent actions.
We are not strangers to being singled out for hate.
The Haggadah says that in every generation there are those who wish to annihilate us. Hashem saves us from their hands.
We are still here. G-d has promised that we will be here forever. For we are G-d’s people who He loves like a young child – unconditionally.
As I stood under the Chupa in the holy land of Israel wedding two Jewish souls, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and shed tears of joy. Dvir and Danielle are children of families with combined histories that survived the Holocaust, the perils of living in Islamic regions and more recently the strong pull of assimilation so pervasive in our open societies.
Standing under the open sky, enveloped under the traditional canopy of the Chupa, dedicating themselves to build a Jewish home together, the eternity of the Jewish People was highlighted and celebrated.
I am epically optimistic about our future.
In Israel of course. And anywhere that we create pockets of Jewish life – spiritual Israels.
The hate?
Yes, it is still here. We thought it was stamped out. But like a bushfire that was almost extinguished only to start raging again from some lingering smoldering trees, so it is with the fires of antisemitism. They were receding and dying down when whoosh, in the most irrational way they flare up.
Our unique role in the world started when G-d gave us the Torah 3338 years ago at Mount Sinai.
Ironically, this was also the same time that the hatred toward the Jewish people intensified.
Who even noticed though.
Imagine you were just named the administrator of all the diamond mines in the world, do you think you would not have opposers?
It wouldn’t matter what you did. Even if you intended to let everyone have their fair share of the business there would be those who could not bear to see you receive this special appointment.
Would you turn away or repeal this epic gift because there are some jealous disgruntled haters?
The gift we received by Almighty G-d conferring His great and holy name on to us makes anything and everything else immaterial and of no real consequence.
This is why as painfully and agonizingly torturous our history has been, Jews have continued to be Jewish and follow Hashem’s path of Torah and Mitzvot, defiantly and more importantly joyfully
As we come to the anniversary of our becoming a people by receiving the Torah at Sinai it is a great time to reflect on what a gift it is to be a Jew.
There is something else we should take to heart when facing so many voices who seek to delegitimize us.
Our strength is in our unity. We have differences to be sure, but we are ONE people at our core.
At that time, when G-d gave us the Torah just after liberating us from Egypt, there was one main preparation that the Jewish people made which made them ready and worthy to receive the Torah.
The Jewish people camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai ‘like one man with one heart’.
That pristine unity was the final act of preparation that sealed the deal and positioned the Jewish people to receive the Torah a few days later.
In our times too.
As we prepare to receive the Torah on Shavuot this coming Friday, let us prepare by being united.
Feeling united and acting united.
Get together with fellow Jews who you may not usually associate with.
Reach out to say hi to fellow Jews you may have had a falling out with.
And meditate on this simple metaphor: one twig can be easily broken. Multiple twigs bundled tightly together cannot be broken.
AM YISRAEL CHAI.
One people connected to the One G-d who gave us His One (and only) Torah.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yosef Kantor