Do You Know What to Answer?

This week, a Jew hater with 1.6 million Twitter followers posted an image consisting of a collection of supposed passages from the Talmud that paint Jews as disparaging towards and discriminating against non-Jews, seeing them as inferior, and treating them with a bias and double standard. The image isn’t new but this was likely the biggest audience it had ever been published to. Some of the quotes don’t exist altogether, others are taken out of context, and others are intentionally misrepresented or misquoted. No matter, the post was viewed more than 5.9 million times, liked more than 33,000 times and shared 8,300 times.

I posted the following in response:

Since the Talmud was written it has been misquoted, twisted and used to fuel and justify antisemitism. Those who hosted “disputations” disappeared into oblivion while the Talmud is alive, well and studied more than ever around the world. @DanBilzerian and @RealCandaceO – you don’t scare us. You will long be gone and the Talmud will continue to light up the world.

Putting Judaism on trial goes back to our very beginning. Avraham holds a religious debate with Nimrod. The Talmud records stories of disputations between Jews and Roman tormentors. In the Middle Ages, Jews were forced to defend the Talmud against Christians authorities who accused it of containing blasphemy and anti-Christian sentiments. Some famous incidents include Nicholas Donin, a Jewish apostate, disputing R’ Yechiel of Paris in 1240 that resulted in the burning of 24 wagonloads of hand-written volumes of Talmud (which was memorialized in a Kinnah we recited last week). In 1263, King James I of Spain ordered the Ramban to debate with apostate Pablo Christiani at a disputation in Barcelona. In the 15th century, R’ Yosef Albo participated in the disputation of Tortosa. In 1757 in Kamenets, Polish Jewry was tasked with defending Judaism and the Talmud against Jacob Frank that included the spurious blood libel charge, the false accusation that Jews baked their matzahs with the blood of murdered Christian babies. The list could—and sadly does—go on and on.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Who would believe that in 2024, public personalities with large platforms could continue to shamelessly promote blood libels and unfounded accusations about the Talmud to an audience eager to hear it.

The response to my post was predictable, but it was nonetheless jarring. A torrent of antisemitism, including hundreds of hateful comments, was unleashed in my direction. A small sample of some of the ones I can print here:

• “The only lighting up the Talmud should do is when it’s drenched in gasoline and set fire to.”
• “Nicholas Donin was a hero”
• “The Talmud is satanic garbage”

An educator named Rabbi Yisrael M. Eliashiv wrote a detailed thread addressing each of the alleged Talmudic statements, finding and posting original sources, and debunking the lies in the offensive image. He introduced it by saying, “Preface: None of this is new; most of these fake quotes originate from a couple of antisemitic German books that are over a hundred years old and they’ve been debunked over and over in many places. Sadly, most of them are not so accessible so I’ll go over them myself.”

Impressively, the response has been viewed 2.1 million times. While it does set the record straight for those who are willing to read it and be open to the truth, sadly, that number is less than half of the number who read the original, hateful post.

The Jewish people are under attack. We are the target of false accusations and distortions of our Torah, of our country, and of our people. Ignorance is not bliss, it is irresponsible. How can we expect others to defend us if we are unaware and unfamiliar with the facts and truths ourselves? We may well encounter a hateful antisemite, or even someone well-intentioned who came across a post that made them question what we believe, who saw something that makes them ask us about our sacred texts. When the moment arises at the watercooler at work, on the checkout line of the supermarket, or with our seatmate on the plane, will we be ready, armed and informed with the facts? Are our children sufficiently literate on the basics of our people, our history, our Torah, and Israel to stand up and defend if they are ever under attack?

Our rabbis teach (Pirkei Avos 2:14):

רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי שָׁקוּד לִלְמֹד תּוֹרָה, וְדַע מַה שֶּׁתָּשִׁיב לְאֶפִּיקוֹרוֹס.

Rebbe Elazar said: Be diligent in the study of the Torah and know how to answer an apikores, a heretic.

Commentators wonder, why doesn’t Rebbe Elazar command us tashiv, answer the apikores, the disputer, why is the instruction dah, know what to answer? They answer that the greatest response to our enemies and attackers is not necessarily to engage and debate but to be knowledgeable, literate, informed, passionate and practicing. That is why the Mishna begins by telling us to be diligent in studying Torah. How much? Until you are armed with the knowledge, confidence, and clarity to not be threatened or challenged by the apikores and instead to live a passionate, rich Jewish life.

Just like the antagonists and disputants who came before, Dan Bilzerian, Candace Owens and the raging antisemites of our time will not be effective and will not be remembered, but our sacred Torah and our timeless Talmud will continue to be learned around the world.

If they are looking into the Talmud to discredit it, we must be inspired to look more often and more deeply into our Talmud to be informed, inspired and guided by it.

We must continue to confront and stop antisemites, but the most important response we can offer is to not only never apologize, be ashamed or defensive of our Talmud or tradition, but to channel their hate into a greater love and commitment for our wisdom and our way of life.

They want us to stop learning and living Torah? The response must be to learn it and live it more. They want us to abandon our values? Lean into them, hold on to them stronger, tighter. They want you to hide your yarmulka, tuck in your tzizis? Get a bigger yarmulka, longer tzitzis.

Someone asked me, if I had $100 million to fight antisemitism what would I do? I said I wouldn’t buy ads on television or hire lobbyists in Congress. I would put every penny into reaching out to our Jewish brothers and sisters to stand taller, prouder, to live more Jewishly. I would send a mezuzah for every Jew and every Jewish student on a college campus to hang on their door. I would send candles for every Jew to light Friday night or for Chanukah.

We cannot win if we don’t know what we are fighting for. Become a better, bigger, and more practicing and learned Jew.

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