“You need to warn yourself against making lightning-fast assessments” – Kommersant

Times of crisis always give rise to people speculating on untouchable topics, feelings and fear. For the sake of imaginary authority and fame, they are ready for the most blasphemous words and actions. Unfortunately, false and sometimes dangerous ideas quickly find their supporters and like-minded people – after all, evil and violence always seem to be the fastest means of achieving selfish goals. Unfortunately, the goal may be immediate fame. This is how essentially absurd statements are born, taken out of context, spread with lightning speed, and in the era of clip-based, fragmented consciousness, people make judgments based on loud headlines. Is it possible to fight this? Yes. But any counterargument requires at least minimal involvement, analysis and knowledge. And we absolutely need to warn ourselves against lightning judgments that apply to an entire ethnic, religious and social group. If you hear terrible things, it is better not to believe it than to succumb to another wave of hatred, increase hostility and mistrust of each other.

Recently, on the popular television program “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” on the federal channel, extremist statements were made by a person introduced by a rabbi and commenting on the events in Gaza. Even the name of this person was not mentioned. And this is no coincidence: he is completely unknown. But therein lies the danger: he seems to represent some kind of collective image, as if he is typical. It’s monstrous that people could actually believe it. After all, nothing but real indignation can evoke the image of a religious person who betrayed the commandments of the Almighty and justifies the murder of innocent people. His words contradict the very Jewish law and religious principles that even children know. “Holy War” does not exist outside of biblical context and chronology. The killing of children, women, and old people is categorically and categorically prohibited by the Torah. This goes against everything Judaism teaches. With such statements, this person devalues ​​and betrays the history of his entire people. After all, Jews were persecuted and exterminated so mercilessly, indiscriminately by age and gender, for centuries. And only faith based on the principles of mercy and tolerance helped people not to harden their hearts.

The speech of this noname rabbi has been translated into several languages. For what? It is more logical to erase this video so as not to multiply either the words spoken or the bloodthirsty associations they give rise to. The Torah mentions one villain whose absolute evil is not in question, and in connection with this the commandment is established to “erase the memory” of him. When we take the words of such people on faith, we not only do not erase the memory of them, we give them strength. It is also impossible to seriously listen to the sermons of schema-abbot Romanov, who was excommunicated from the church, and compare them with Orthodox teaching. Or see the precepts of Islam in the calls of extremists to kill all Jews. The history of mankind and, in particular, the history of the Jewish people is rich in examples when, due to errors of perception, wars began and nations were destroyed. The task of each of us is not to succumb to the tricks of quasi-preachers, not to lose the guidelines on which not only the Jewish, but also any world religion is based. It is unacceptable for the radical views of unknown people to be presented as the position of Judaism or another religion. It is impossible to reproduce criminal statements aimed at inciting interreligious and interethnic hatred. It is on mutual respect and reverence for good that the world is built.