Part I. What is a Jew?

This question is more relevant than ever because the core of the conflict between democratic America and Israel on the one hand, and autocratic Islam on the other, is an all-compassing theological conflict; and it seems that neither America nor Israel possesses the spiritual leadership capable of dealing with this conflict. This is especially true of America, as was evident in the 2012 Democratic National Convention (DNC).

We saw that the Democratic Party tried to remove the name of God from its 2012 campaign program. This fact has not been properly understood. That unprecedented effort of the Democratic Party should be construed as indicative of the triumph of atheism in that party. Atheism is now rampant in the world’s most powerful democracy, a democracy confronted by totalitarian Islam.

Moreover, this democracy is intellectually incapable of dealing effectively with America’s mortal enemy because the United States has been emasculated by the doctrine of moral and cultural relativism. The United States imported this doctrine from Europe in the second decade of the twentieth century – Europe, today called “post-Christian” and “Eurabia.”

Although the Democratic Party reversed itself on the God-issue, the motive was political, not theological. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that America’s Democratic Party is the party of atheism.

The same may be said of Israel’s Labor Party. Is it any wonder that Jew-hatred is rampant in the Leftist oriented West and is spreading in the United States?

The Left have always hated the Jew

It is not widely known that the Left was weaned on Jew-hatred, as may be seen in Marx’s anti-Semitic diatribe, “On the Jewish Question.” What needs to be emphasized, however, is that Jew-hatred in the United States – note its eruption on campuses – should be attributed to the non-violent “Liberal-Left,” which is steeped in moral relativism. The Liberal-Left simply abhors the morality of the Old Testament, which it attacks via the Catholic Church to avoid the charge of anti-Semitism. This hatred of Judaism is more than enough to make the Left and Islam allies. True, the Left is atheist; but Muslims are not purists and have no moral qualms consorting with the devil. What’s decisive for them is the target – the Jews.

But the Jews have always been a target. Why?

The Jews gifted mankind with ethical and intellectual monotheism. At the outset of the twentieth century, however, many isms arose and captured the minds and ambitions of men and nations: suffice to mention scientific materialism, Darwinism, socialism, fascism, and nationalism. In Europe, the Judeo-Christian heritage was abandoned in the First World War; and it was annihilated in the Second World War if only because it gave people a bad conscience.

God strikes the balance between egalitarianism and authoritarianism

Be this as it may, the Bible places restraints on indiscriminate freedom and equality on the one hand, and on the ever encroaching power of the state on the other. While the former annoyed egalitarians, the latter disturbed authoritarians. But all begins with the God of the Bible.

Since God provides the only solid foundation for America’s Declaration of Independence, the primary foundational principle of the American republic had to be ignored or trashed, as indeed it was by all levels of higher education. This is not all.

Erasing God from the Democratic National Party program was tantamount to erasing God from the Declaration of Independence. Since the God of the Declaration is the God of the Jewish Bible, the Democrats came close to symbolically erasing the Jews!

So, the brouhaha at the DNC was not simply the God issue but also the inseparable Jew issue. One may arrive at this conclusion by noting the unholy alliance of Islam and the Left that appeared at the Democratic Convention, which surfaced by the omission of God and Jerusalem from the initial draft of the DNC party program. Let’s probe a little deeper.

Part II. What is it that makes the Jew the world’s gadfly?

The word Jew derives from “Judah” (Yehudah) which means “he shall exalt.” In his very name we behold the Jew’s world-historical purpose. As stated in Isaiah 43:21, “This people have I created that they may relate My praise” – praise meaning God’s infinite wisdom, power, and graciousness in every domain of existence.

We learn from the Ethics of the Fathers (Avot 1:18), that the world is established on three principles: truth, justice, and peace. The order is significant: Truth is the prerequisite of justice and of genuine peace. The paramount issue is Truth, one of the names of God.

Truth permeating the totality of life is the paramount concern of the Sages and Prophets of Israel. For them, Truth and Torah are identical. And today, because of the theological crisis of our times resulting from the ascendancy of Islam, as well as from the remarkable advancements in theoretical physics, men learned in the sciences are beginning to reveal the vast array of knowledge hidden in the Torah.

It’s no accident Jews have excelled in the sciences. The convergence of science and Torah is on the agenda of the most learned Jews. This is the unknown reason for the eruption anti-Semitism, more accurately, of Jew-hatred. It is in this light that we are to understand why the nations have been savaging Israel. We are approaching a world-historical climax. Ponder this well.◙