Many people equate cultural sophistication and education with morality and ethics. This confusion of education and goodness has, tragically, been contradicted many times by historical facts. According to George Riemann's book about the famous German philosopher and Nazi sympathizer Martin Heidegger, 37% of Germany's 157 non-Jewish philosophy professors joined the Nazi party. The Holocaust Encyclopedia, a publication of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, writes: “As in other fields, a wide variety of professionals in academia, from university presidents to deans to professors, actively carried out or responded to the dismissal of Jews,” Colleagues said. Academic experts, especially in the fields of physical anthropology, psychiatry, and genetics, were ardent supporters of eugenics even before the Nazis came to power, and became public spokesmen for Nazi racial policy…Science The experts taught courses for SS doctors. ”
The infamous Wannsee Conference, where the Nazis planned the “Final Solution” of killing all Jews, had 15 participants, eight of whom held academic doctorates. (Lawrence Rees, Holocaust: A new history. New York: Public Relations)
We are witnessing a wave of hysterical, violent, and furious anti-Semitism washing over college campuses. This campaign of hate involves students, doctoral candidates, professors, and faculty at America's “best” universities. They are not looking for peace. They call for the dissolution of the State of Israel “from the river to the sea.”
They are not asking for a ceasefire. They are calling for a global intifada. They are not protesting Israel's response to the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7th.th; the protests began before Israel's response.
They aren't even protesting against rape. I have seen some of these students display the “rape is resistance” sign.
Denying the rights of our people is bad enough, but they are not just anti-Zionists. These protesters are anti-Semites. Their hatred, violence, and abuse are directed at Jewish students and professors, synagogues and Hillel Houses, kosher restaurants, Jewish community centers, Jewish artists, and anything Jewish.
My father told me in privileged memory that in pre-war Poland, anti-Semitic students tried to prevent Jewish students from entering universities to take exams. He was able to take the exam with the help of several Jews who worked at a nearby slaughterhouse. Armed with butcher knives, they accompanied the Jewish students to the exam center.
In America in the 21st centurycent Since the 20th century, Jewish professors and students have been barred from campuses, blocked from classes and study sessions, and threatened in the “sacred halls” and lush quads of Columbia, Yale, UCLA, and Harvard universities. , has been attacked.
Am I offended by this? yes. Does this make me angry? yes. Were you surprised by this? No, because I'm a history student. People are well-educated, technologically advanced, and malicious. People can become civilized and completely evil. A person can be a philosopher, a physicist, a Nazi, all at the same time.
Philistine!
While touring the Museum of Modern Art in London, I wondered aloud whether I was looking at a contemporary art exhibition or at the construction going on inside the building. My friend looked at me with disdain and said, “Becher, you're a Philistine!'' What he meant was that I was uneducated and ignorant, and that I didn't read the Bible. It does not mean that they are enemies of the Jews.
In fact, for hundreds of years, the Philistines have been associated with barbarism and a lack of culture or sophistication. Their name entered the English language as a synonym for “an uneducated person, a person whose interests are material and mundane” (Concise Oxford Dictionary).
Education is not the same as ethics, and a sophisticated civilization is not necessarily civilized. And unless there is “fear of God'' everywhere, people can do anything.
However, archaeological excavations in the city of Gath uncovered a sophisticated and advanced culture of the ancient Philistines. Water collection systems, advanced metallurgy, beautiful architecture, and formidable military power.
Some see these discoveries as contradicting the Biblical depiction of the Philistines. But there is no contradiction. The Hebrew Bible does not say that the Philistines were uncivilized. In fact, they are depicted as having advanced technology, armies, and large cities. (Judges 14:3; 1 Samuel 13:19-20). The Bible depicts the Philistines not as uneducated and ignorant, but as immoral and evil. As Abraham said when he entered the territory of the Philistines, “There is no fear of God in this place; they will kill me for my wife” (Genesis 20:1).
My ancestor Abraham wasn't fooled by the sophisticated pretenses of the Philistines, my father wasn't fooled by the Lublin students, and I wasn't fooled by the Ivy League thugs on college campuses. .
I'm not arrogant enough to tell anyone of I think the lessons of the Holocaust even help me understand something about the event. But recent events have made me think about one thought in relation to Holocaust Remembrance Day. It means don't be fooled by the superficial pretense of civilization. Education is not the same as ethics, and a sophisticated civilization is not necessarily civilized. And unless there is “fear of God'' everywhere, people can do anything.
