Antisemitism Does Not Define America

Yated Editor, Rabbi Pinchos Lipshutz (Matzav)

When (Rabbi Lipschutz’s aunt was) still living in Poland before the war, she became ill and was recommended to a specialist in Germany. A young girl, she traveled with her father (R’ Chatzkel Levenstein) aboard a train to the German city. All they had was the doctor’s name and address, but they had no idea how to get there.

They asked a German man how to get to the given address. He looked at them and realized that they were foreigners. He told them that it was too complicated to explain, so he would accompany them to their destination.

When they arrived at the doctor’s office, they thanked him profusely for his assistance and he smiled and left. Zlata turned to her father and commented on how gentlemanly the man was and how a Polish person would never have been that courteous.

Rav Chatzkel admonished her and said that if there would be a law to kill Jews, that same gentleman would not hesitate to kill them. 

We walk in the street and eyes of hatred follow us. We fly on an airplane and those same eyes of hate are on us. We can’t get rid of them. We go to a park and those same eyes are there. We move in to a new house and those eyes are there. Even in a place of justice, we can’t take anything for granted. If looks could kill, there wouldn’t be many places we could safely go.