A Jew is a Jew

There are some who believe that by hiding their Jewishness they will be protected from anti- Semitism. The Megillah teaches us a lesson: When Haman persuaded King Achashverosh to issue the decree against the Jewish people, he argued that those Jews who acted as “one nation” – refusing to assimilate – deserved the decree because they were different, while those who were “scattered and separated among the nations” – who did assimilate – deserved the decree because they tried to imitate their non-Jewish neighbors.

The Sages teach: “It is a natural law that Esau hates Jacob.” Even if the “Jacob” imagines that his identity is hidden, the “Esau” will sense it, all the way down to the Jew’s greatgrandchildren – as we saw in our own generation, in the persecution in Europe…

When an evil phenomenon takes place in the world, it exists only to intensify its parallel in the realm of goodness. Why, in fact, does the non-Jew sense the Jew, even one whose family has been assimilated for several generations? Because “A Jew, even if he has sinned, is still a Jew.” No matter how many generations have passed, he still possesses a Jewish soul, “A part of G-d Above.” Nothing can destroy the Divine spark within a Jew’s soul – and because this is his essence, his eternal self, the non-Jew will always sense it.