For Jewish Antisemites: A Cautionary History Lesson

May 14, 2024 by Susan Rosenbluth

By Rabbi Menachem Levine 

One of the most shocking observations of our post-October 7 world is that a small but very vocal minority of Jews have chosen to act as defenders for the murderers and kidnappers of our people.

Groups such as IfNotNow and Jewish Voices for Peace encourage further attacks on Israel by justifying and defending Palestinian terrorists and vilifying supporters of Israel.

They collaborate with our enemies in the most deceitful and harmful way possible by using their Judaism as a banner to support their anti-Israel stance. These people display external symbols of Judaism, such as wearing a kippah or a tallit. They proclaim their Jewish names and perversely use narratives of their own families’ persecution to defend the current-day persecutors of the Jews.

Grigory Zinoviev

Sadly, they have a precedent in Jewish history, and examining one of their predecessors provides insight into their inevitable downfall.

Grigory Zinoviev, born Hirsh Apfelbaum (1883-1936), was one of the top three members of the Communist Party. Although he is not as well-known as his contemporary, Leon Trotsky, he was a major power player in the Communist movement. He was one of Vladimir Lenin’s closest associates and used his talents as an orator to support the revolution within the Soviet Union and abroad.

In fact, when Lenin was unwell at the end of his life and could not deliver the Central Committee’s reports to the 12th and 13th Party Congresses (the equivalent of the US State of the Union Address), Zinoviev was appointed to speak in his place.

No Help to Fellow Jews

During Lenin’s final illness, Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and Joseph Stalin formed the Troika, taking over the rulership of the Communist Party. According to Trotsky, Stalin’s appointment as Lenin’s successor was due to Zinoviev’s initial recommendation.

However, Zinoviev did not use his influence to help his fellow Jews at all. He spent his life building the regime that would utterly destroy the Soviet Jewish community.

Yet, for all of his devotion to the cause and his role in giving Stalin the leadership position, his idealism would reveal itself to be naive. At the end of the day, as far as the enemies of the Jews were concerned, a Jew is a Jew. Member of Troika, Lenin’s confidante, orator of the Communist movement – it was all irrelevant when he was no longer needed.

Misplaced Loyalty

The end began in 1925 when the Troika started to fall apart. With manipulations and deception, Stalin gained total control over the Soviet Union. In December 1934, Stalin had Zinoviev, Kamenev, and their closest associates arrested, accusing them of murdering Sergei Mironovich Kirov. Zinoviev was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In his letters to Stalin from prison, Zinoviev still retained his loyalty to the Soviet dictator: “I… stare at your portrait in the newspapers… thinking: my dear ones, look into my heart, and surely you will see that I’m no longer your enemy, that I am yours, body and soul…”

This loyalty was misplaced. In August 1936, Zinoviev and his associates were brought to trial on new charges. Despite Stalin’s promise to spare their lives in exchange for an admission of guilt, after Zinoviev and his co-defendants were found guilty on August 24, Stalin gave orders that they be executed that very night.

Painful Message

The painful message of Zinoviev’s end to the Jews who support our enemies is clear. Sure, Hamas and Palestinian supporters welcome your support and will stand arm-in-arm with you as you both stand against Israel. But, as Zinoviev discovered, when they are done using you and your idealism, the antisemites will turn against you just as they fight against your Jewish brothers and sisters. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew.

But Zinoviev’s story has not ended yet.

There is another message that can be learned from Zinoviev. It is a message of hope that perhaps even people who have become so evil that they actively endanger Jewish lives can have their eyes opened to the truth.

Message of Hope

As the executors were dragging him from his jail cell to be killed, Zinoviev pleaded with them to call for Stalin, confident that Stalin would save him. Laughing in his face, they responded, “Stalin? Stalin is the one who told us to kill you!”

In his final moments, when the edifice he had spent his life building crumbled before his eyes, Zinoviev saw the truth. Facing the firing squad, he raised his hands to the heavens and shouted, “Shema Yisrael!” With his last words, he returned to his God and his people.

In his death, he demonstrated that although the Jewish soul may be muted, the spark within remains.

These two ideas – the inevitable destruction of our enemies and the poignant potential for return – are reflected in the text of the prayer recited three times daily, the Shemoneh Esrei. Among other requests, there is a blessing in which we ask that the enemies of the Jews – both within and without – be destroyed. The urgency of this request is evident in that the word “meheira (quickly)” is reiterated three times in the text.

Yet, in an earlier blessing, we have a different request. We ask for help returning – that all those who have strayed and are wasting their lives on fruitless or utterly destructive endeavors should return to their true purpose.

May we see both prayers answered quickly.

Rabbi Levine is CEO of Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov-Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi, the largest Jewish school in the US Midwest. He served as rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA, from 2007 – 2020. His website is https://thinktorah.org