We Must Stand Together
Jews and Hindus face a common enemy, but together, we cannot lose.
To my Indian Hindu friends and neighbors,
I am not a rabbi. I am not a politician. I am just a neighbor - a Jewish neighbor - and I wish to stand by your side and hold your hand in this painful moment.
Watching what happened last week in Kashmir tore a little of the scar tissue from our October 7 wounds. We get it. We understand what it is like not only to see your people identified, singled out, targeted, and massacred for who they are, but then also to be told you must not complain or defend yourself.
Within days, I watched as social media exploded with claims that India is an artificial entity. That it does not have the right to exist. That it is a colonial, Hindu project. That it cannot respond to terrorism within its borders. That it has no right to abrogate a treaty with Pakistan regarding water rights after experiencing state-sponsored terrorism at Pakistan’s behest.
Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it?
My friends, we face a common enemy. Our common enemy operates out of the same playbook. Hamas, Hizballah, ISIS, Lakshar e-Taiba – they are all one and the same. They are all Islamist radicals who engage in terrorism followed by a smear campaign of delegitimization, victim inversion, gaslighting, and whitewashing. One cannot negotiate with such enemies, for their sole, sworn purpose is our literal destruction. They represent a concerted, globally orchestrated, and relentless war on everything we hold dear.
Peace. Freedom. Tolerance. Love.
Our enemy seeks the direct inverse of what our respective religions promote and espouse. Our enemy has no room for differences, free thinking, coexistence, or progress. Our enemy sees us all as kuffar. Infidels. Our enemy has no interest in finding common ground or making peace. Our enemy would see us all dead or converted.
It truly is that simple and stark.
Not since WWII has the justness and rightness of a cause been so clear, yet so few in the world seem to comprehend the true nature of this spectre on the horizon. Europe remains hoodwinked, even as its inhabitants face the increasing incidence of stabbings, rapes, and murders. Our most educated elite have been hoodwinked into believing they share common cause with the enemy, as western Islamists prey with devilish genius on their liberal predilections and fear of appearing politically incorrect. Our youth are being picked off by the enemy to stand against their family’s belief systems, depriving us of our very future.
This is why we must stop fighting in silos and grasp hands to say no. No! You will not take from us all we hold dear. We must draw a line in the sand, and then stand side-by-side in defiance of those who would watch the world burn.
My Jewish brothers and sisters, we have no hope of winning this existential battle alone. There are only 15 million of us globally, still one million fewer than existed before the Holocaust. This is not a fight we can win without allies.
My Hindu brothers and sisters, the numbers are on your side. You are far more numerous than we, but we also have been waging existential battles for millenia. We each have something to offer the other, and we each grasp the magnitude of current events for our people. For all people.
We have so much in common. We value education and academic success. We value tightly knit communities. We value life and love over death and destruction. We love to throw kick-ass parties where food is paramount, we force our children to do enrichment whether they like it or not, and our ancient civilizations have stood the test of time not through violence or conquest, but through duty, love, and light.
We must fight this common enemy – hatred bred of intolerance and religious extremism – together. Because together, we cannot lose.
We are here with you in your time of need, as brothers and sisters, standing for more than just tolerance or coexistence, but in solidarity and love.
My heart is with you.
How well Jews, especially those in Israel which has sent forces to India to combat the enemy, understand what the people of India have endured. We are both a people who worship light and enlightenment, who have fought their enemies for thousands of years and have survived. Now, we fight a common enemy, intent on our destruction. It is time to unite and fight as one.
It will require Jews, Hindus, Christians, and all other "infidels" together. JMO.