Mark Twain is attributed with saying: “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” As Jewish Americans struggle to understand and process the events of the past years, it is clear that there are lessons to be learned from history. This, even though we live in unprecedented times where technology, scientific advances, and the rapid pace of communications changes everything.
As two seminal events coincide this week, (Martin Luther King Day and the inauguration of President Joe Biden) a retrospective with an eye to what we might learn for our own times is in order.
On July 25, 1958, Reverend King said the following in a speech to the American Jewish Congress:
My people were brought to America in chains. Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe. Our unity is born of our common struggle for centuries, not only to rid ourselves of bondage, but to make oppression of any people by others an impossibility,
There are Hitlers loose in America today, both in high and low places…As the tensions and bewilderment of economic problems become more severe, history(’s) scapegoats, the Jews, will be joined by new scapegoats, the Negroes. The Hitlers will seek to divert people’s minds and turn their frustrations and anger to the helpless, to the outnumbered. Then whether the Negro and Jew shall live in peace will depend upon how firmly they resist, how effectively they reach the minds of the decent Americans to halt this deadly diversion.
We witnessed the horrific t-shirts emblazoned with Nazi symbolism in the disturbing images of the marauding mobs on Capitol Hill. King’s words remind us that if we are to fight the antisemitism rising in our country, it is imperative for us to strengthen our alliances with those who will stand with us in opposition to some of our fellow citizen’s worst instincts. History doesn’t repeat itself—but it often rhymes. When there are times of great darkness, we can join hands and lead one another towards the light.
What have you learned from events of the last few weeks? How will you be inspired to join hands with others and walk together towards a just society?
— Rabbi Ron Stern