Rabbi Farhi Responds to IDF Soldier Smashing Christian Holy Symbol | WATCH
The double standard Jews face globally isn't only antisemitism, it's the fulfillment of a divine mission that both history and prophecy confirm. The practical response is to build identity first: when we and our children internalize who we truly are, the behavior and the standard follow naturally.
The Torah opens this week's parashah with a striking teaching about the kohen: he must raise his children with the awareness that they are different. A kohen cannot eat what his neighbor eats, cannot go where his neighbor goes, and his daughter cannot marry just anyone - she must marry within a family that shares that elevated standard.
Why? Because the temptation is always there to look around and say, "I just want to be like everyone else." The Torah is answering that temptation directly: you are not like everyone else. You are different. You are held to a higher standard.
This applies not only to kohanim but to every Jewish person. We are described as a mamlechet kohanim, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. What does it mean to be a nation of priests? It means we carry the responsibility of showing the world what it looks like to live as a godly person. That is the defining mission of every Jew, regardless of lineage.
This reality plays out on the world stage in a way that can feel unfair - and it is, in a certain sense. Iran has reportedly killed tens of thousands of people in the past year, and Arab nations have caused enormous damage to Christian holy sites across the world, from Iraq to France, with barely a headline.
Yet when an Israeli soldier damages something sacred, the world erupts. Natan Sharansky identified this pattern in his "three D's" of antisemitism: demonization, double standards, and delegitimization. But beyond antisemitism, this is something deeper, it is a prophecy being fulfilled. Both Christianity and Islam acknowledge that the Jewish people were spoken to by God and given a higher standard to live by. The world, consciously or not, is watching to see if we'll live up to it. You cannot escape that. You cannot blend in, because you never fully will.
The question then becomes: what do you do with that? The answer is identity. A writer must first say to herself, "I am a writer." A Jewish girl who wants to dress modestly must first say, "I am a daughter of God, a princess." A young man who sits and learns for hours must first carry the identity of "I am a son of God, and I am responsible to hear His word." An Israeli soldier who gives his body and his time must first believe deeply in what he is protecting. In every case, performance follows identity. The standard you hold yourself to is the level you rise to.
This is the gift and the responsibility we give our children when we raise them with a strong Jewish identity. Don't raise them to blend in - that's not a realistic option, and it's not our calling. Israel is a tiny country that is always in the news. Jews are a small people that the world cannot stop talking about. That visibility is real. The only question is: what do you want to be known for?