America Is Not Our Home

The Rebbe once said that it was absolutely clear to him that only Hashem's protection made it possible for there to be Jews in America who remain faithful to Torah and mitzvos after so many years of pressure to abandon Judaism. In other countries, he noted, secularism had left not even a trace of Yiddishkeit. Since Hashem knew that at the end of days a group of Jews would have to settle there, He caused signs of anti-Semitism to appear as well, so that people in the streets would admire the Nazis and respect the name of Hitler, the ultimate enemy of the Jews. That would keep Jews from mingling with the nations, and every Jew would know that America is not truly his place. He would not take pride in the praises of this malchus shel chessed, or take part in its festivities when a new president is inaugurated. The Rebbe said he had spoken this way publicly thirty years earlier, and that people had looked at him in surprise and begged him not to say such strange things, since in their view there was no hatred of Jews in America. In those days an American flag was displayed at every wedding, even those of religious Jews, and the national anthem was sung. He once attended a wedding where he did not stand for the song, and everyone was quick to remind him to stand. After thirty years, he said, everyone had seen that hatred of Israel and of Jews exists there as well, and people are afraid to go out in the streets lest they be attacked. When he first came to America, he once walked from Williamsburg to the East Side over the large bridge, among all the goyim, without fear, and none of them tried to harm him. Today, he believed, no one would take that route alone at night.