Sixteen years ago I stood at the entrance to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland under the infamous sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” as part of thousands of Jewish teenagers on the March of the Living trip. As I looked up at that sign surrounded by my peers from every part of the globe I understood that the Jewish community is committed, by both historical necessity and moral courage, to the idea of “Never Again”. Indeed, in the years since that trip as I assumed positions of leadership in the Jewish community as a rabbi I have seen time after time the organized Jewish community rise up to that clarion call.
I have joined protests of the former Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, when he used his platform to call for the destruction of the Jewish state. I have seen Jewish Federations respond with speed and determination to the surge of anti-Semitic hate speech and violence committed in France over the past several years. I grew up hearing stories of the heroic struggle to free Soviet Jewry and to convince American administrations to make the freedom of Soviet Jews a priority. In so many instances the organized Jewish community responded with moral clarity and courage.
Yet, in this moment and in this time, the Jewish community is playing it safe. The organized Jewish community with the exception of a handful of entities has adopted a wait and let us see approach. The President-elect of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has selected Stephen Bannon, the former editor of Breitbart News, a place that Bannon himself described as the “platform for the alt-right,” as his chief strategist in the White House. This platform for the alt-right published an article in March that called a certain 30-year old, Richard Spencer, as a “center for alt-right thought”. This very same Spencer just hosted a conference in Washington D.C. in which he led the attendees in chants of “Hail Trump!” and Nazi salutes. Spencer in his speech at this conference called on “white Europeans” to either “conquer or die” and assaulted the very humanity of Jews and other minorities.
If we are truly committed to the notion of “Never Again,” we must be committed to it even when it is inconvenient or challenging. It is precisely because staying quiet is always easier and equivocating is always less controversial that we have demanded “Never Again!” for the past seven decades. If “Never Again” was easy then everyone would see to it and it would not need to be stated and restated for years. To truly mean “Never Again” means not only pointing to crises happening over there (whether in France, former Soviet Union or elsewhere) and demanding action, but also when the crisis is happening right here, in our own backyard. If it means we are not on the guest list for President Trump’s White House Chanukah party that is the price worth paying for taking a stand in this time.
Millions of people in the United States are terrified right now because of the rhetoric, campaign promises and hatred that has been riled up during this election season. The President-elect has unfortunately chosen to only continue the aggressive tone in early morning Twitter sessions even after winning the presidency. As Jews we understand that hatred directed at one group rarely ends without it finding its way to us. It is because of our own history, our religious principles and our moral center that we must affirm “Never Again” in this moment and in this time. We must do so not only for us but for all the others who are being marginalized and threatened right now. To not stand up now is to expose a deep moral failing in our stated principles and values for the past seven decades.
As I did sixteen years ago at the entrance to Auschwitz I am once again committing myself to “Never Again,” because our time demands it of us. Will you join me?