A short supply of historical knowledge can be a real problem—skewing our thinking and bringing about needless despondency. An example is the recent and persistent chorus that “things are worse than they used to be.”
There is no doubt that we face real challenges and dangers, but it does not take a lot of historical knowledge to realize that humanity has been facing these kinds of difficulties for a long, long time. Take the Hebrews’ experience in ancient Egypt. After having been welcomed into Egypt by Pharaoh and having lived there tranquilly for centuries, “a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1.8), and their good life turned into the nightmare of slavery.
We Jews have been oppressed by many hateful powers: Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Seleucids, Romans, Crusaders, Inquisitors, Cossacks, Nazis, Soviets, and terrorists. But we have not been alone in our victimization. Intolerance and violence have afflicted many, many religious and ethnic groups throughout history.
In recent years, many of us have learned about the shameful history of race massacres in early 20th Century America. The destruction of Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street” is just one example of mobs attacking Black neighborhoods and bringing hate, destruction, and death. Such terrible incidents are reminiscent of pogroms against Jews in Russia, the Turkish genocide against the Armenians, the Japanese “Rape” of Nanking, Idi Amin’s massacres of Ugandan Christians, and Myanmar’s Buddhist massacres of the Rohingya Muslims.
However, we should note that, in 2020 America, the large-scale protests at the public murder of George Floyd were not met by White pogroms against Black neighborhoods. The response was remarkably different from what it would have been in 1920. As despicable as it is to gerrymander and decrease the political power of minority groups, people of color in the United States can vote and hold office. As obnoxious as it is to prohibit volunteers from bringing water to voters in long Georgia lines, those sweaty citizens can vote. There are real problems in our democracy, and we have a lot of improving to do, but anyone who says that “nothing has changed” or that “things are worse” is not paying attention.
The same can be said for political divisions and political anger. Think back to the draft riots during the Civil War. Idealists in the North believed that the Southern insurgency needed to be stopped, but many of the draftees did not want to fight the war. Of course, the Civil War is itself an example of terrible conflict within our country. Jumping forward, do not forget the violence of the early labor movement, or Depression Era demagogues like Huey P. Long, Theodore Bilbo, and Father Charles Coughlin, or Senator Joe McCarthy’s “anti-Communist” crusade, or the Civil Rights or anti-War movements. Political fury is not a new historical phenomenon.
We humans have been fighting for fairness and tolerance for a long, long time, and, though the challenges continue, we should realize that we have had some noticeable successes. While there is something in the human heart tempted by the Sitra Achra / the Dark or Impure Side, there is also something in the human heart which inclines to the Sitra d’Kedushah / the Side of Holiness and Good. Temptation tempts, our wills are weak, and thus the struggle for goodness and justice continues to be necessary. The Bible’s “Golden Rule” (Leviticus 19.18) and the similar teachings in religions all over the world were not given out of context. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is in the Bible because we need the reminder.
The message of the Exodus story is particularly relevant. People will do evil, but God does not approve. In fact, God works through both miracles and human angels to make things right. God is the power through which humans understand goodness, fairness, and peace—and through which we work to achieve these blessed states. I believe that we can face the dangers and tragedies of our time without losing hope. Evil and injustices are real, but God is with us in our struggles, and we can be angels.