Home › Forums › In The News › Fighting Jew haters on social media.
So as a jew and especially one that lives in central New Jersey you will see many anti-semitic comments on social media not from my friends of course but friends of friends for instance, a couple months ago such a person commented that we should go back to were we come from I don’t know this person but i decided to reply and said where were your immigrant ancestors from maybe you should go back there. She replied I just love my country and my president i said i love my country too and part of loving a freedom loving country is respecting the rights of people who’s ancestors came here legally and I’m sure your freedom loving immigrant ancestors would be ashamed of you well that shut her up.
So yesterday a friend of mine posted about shopping at Costco in Brick NJ which was obviously slammed because of the coming holiday and of course some people chose to use this post to jump on the nearby Lakewood community one said go on Saturday no penguins no measles and there were other comments of the same ilk the question is, is there any point fighting with these haters on social media?
Side topic: an anti semite is one who hates all Jews but ther eare many who hate only Jews who are not secular aka religious is there another term we should use for this kind of hate?
To answer your first question: No.
As for the second: Goyim who live near large frum communities.
Those who hate “only” religious Jews are the same anti-Semitic as those who hate all Jews.
There is a distinction between bigotry based on religion and bigotry based on ethnicity.
Secular jews hate frum jews from jealousy.
Laskern, so why do you hate secular Jews? You are from Hungary. Did the Arrow Cross ym”s differentiate? How, just out of curiosity, do you define “frum”? What about someone who rips off the government and/or other people?
“Non-Jews hate Jews indiscriminately, therefore we must not make any
distinctions between Jews” doesn’t seem like a strong argument to me.
I agree with Yserbius on the first question.
Ran, Rav Soloveichik said that this is the lesson of the Holocaust. In fact, every group of Jews were sure that the Nazis meant some other group, perhaps because they did not consider them to be “real” Jews. Many of the German Jews i, for example, thought that the Nazis only meant the Ostjuden, whom they also held in contempt.
Avi K, We only hate secular jews if they influence others in their beliefs not letting them keep shabbos OTW we hope they do teshuva. Frum is one who eats kosher and keeps shabbos and how they behave towards the government is their own concern.
There is a saying that if you tell a lie often enough people will begin to regard it as truth. So yes, of course there is a point to arguing with “the haters” on social media. You have to. You don’t need to be rude or vulgar in your rebuttals but you do have a responsibility to not just sit silently by and take it. Don’t let the lies get enough traction to start becoming truth to the weak minded. Speak up!!
As to your side note, hard core anti Semites make no differentiation between observant and secular Jews. To them a Jew is a Jew is a Jew. They would need six active and firing brains cells, which they sadly lack, to make the differentiation. A secular Jew is like a secular anything else, they want to do whatever they want, whenever they want, without having to answer for their behavior to a governing deity. I am more saddened by secular Jews wanting to separate themselves and stand apart from observant Jews. Like they’re embarrassed or something and don’t wish to be associated with the observant. Practicing or not, secular or observant, they should be proud to call themselves a Jew.
Laskern, then you are saying that honesty is only an option? The Torah calls dishonesty in business a toeva (Devarim 25:13-16). What about chillul Hashem?
@Mariana Santos: Not just the hardcore anti-Semites. Even the cowardly “I only criticize Zionism” types have difficulty explaining why they level the same “criticism” at Jews of every stripe and color.
I don’t consider honesty an option, but we must know for sure that he was dishonest which requires hearing both sides and not from hearsay. If you don’t trust someone, get it in writing. Someone lends money witout witnesses is ovar on lifnei iveir.
Laskern, not i he hasa shetar. In any case, I was referring to falsifying requests for aid, cheating on taxes, etc.
You know the excuse why they do it, high yeshiva tution, kosher extra expenses.
Laskern, every aveira has an excuse. Those who do not keep Shabbat say that their careers require it. Those who eat prohibited foods say that they are cheaper and/or taste great. What is even worse is that some people find rationalizations in Torah. For example, I heard of an insurance company employee who filed false documents so that people he knew could get compensation even though they were not covered. He considered himself to be a big baal chesed.
Avi K, you know the GRA on כמה גדולים דברי חכמים שאומרים לא יקרא לאור הנר and they did not give a reason in the mishna that they might bend it because then people find an excuse that it does not apply to them as we find by King Solomon about marying many wives. The Baal Akedah explains by this הרהורי עבירה קשה מעבירה since people rationalize and try to explain an aveira.
Frummie, do you agree that social media isn’t a place to teach anything, so the only thing we can do is make a kiddush Hashem?
BTW, the ליצני הדור say about אם ראית תלמיד חכם שעבר עבירה בלילה – אל תהרהר אחריו ביום, שמא עשה תשובה that he wrote a teshuva proving that he was right.
Laskern, first of all it’s קשים not קשי. various other commentators say that it is a sin of the intellect, which is the tzelem Elokim. See “פרשת צו: מדוע הרהורי עבירה קשים מעבירה?” on hidabroot.org.
