Now we all need to be Simon Wiesenthal
In face of anti-Semitism, we must expose all types of bigotry starting from within our very own communities
The Holocaust is a subject that the world may not be allowed to forget, no matter how painful the memory.
For many Jews this responsibility is burdensome. We would rather not have to keep pointing out anti-Semitism to the world to awaken them to its dangers.
We feel uncomfortable begging the world to deal with a direct threat such as Iran. And even when we do campaign for our own protection we are accused of manipulating powerful nations for our own benefit. It seems that we can never win.
Nonetheless no matter how dark the world seems, we have no choice; as Jews we have a special obligation to fight all types of prejudice and hate including anti-Semitism in whatever guise. This is the lesson I learned this week from Simon Wiesenthal.
Simon Wiesenthal passed away on September 20, 2005 age 96 and this week saw the premier in Denver of "I have Never Forgotten You" - a documentary which tells the story of his life. The documentary was produced by Moriah Films which is the Simon Wiesenthal Center's documentary film division and was both inspiring and educational.
However there was one thing that struck me most. Simon Wiesenthal lived through the Holocaust and as a survivor he felt the immense need never to forget those who had been murdered. He therefore worked tirelessly to bring the evil perpetrators to justice. For this mammoth lifelong effort Wiesenthal has been rightly venerated.
Today's threats
Today however, I would venture to say, we have an even more important task ahead of us. Once again bigotry and fascism is on the rise all over the Europe and the Middle East. In fact this was one of the reasons I left the UK with my family.
After a religious fanatic who threatened to blow up my synagogue and do untold things to my wife and family just because they were Jewish walked free from court I knew I and my family had no future in the UK.
However, as this kind of scenario becomes increasingly commonplace worldwide, we can no longer remain silent. Each of us must become a pre-fact Simon Wiesenthal.
We must expose all types of bigotry starting from within our very own communities and moving outwards. Just as Simon Wiesenthal would not rest until every last Nazi who committed a crime against humanity was brought to justice, we as Jews should not rest until we expose and stop every last bigot and fascist.
We must not allow them to hide in the shadows of respectability; organizations, whether religious or secular, with a bigoted ideology must be campaigned against.
Clearly in some cultures and places in the world it is more acceptable to be a bigot than it is to be tolerant. Although the Simon Wiesenthal Center's stupendous effort to teach tolerance here in the USA and abroad is incredibly important, the main source of bigotry seems to be in places beyond the center's reach.
The documentary about the life of Simon Wiesenthal clarified for me the urgency of the need to empower individuals with the mission to fight bigotry wherever it may be in the world. It has further inspired me to continue a project I began a few years ago with a partner in Pakistan.
Jewish-Muslim cooperation
The Movement for a Tolerant World was born out of discussions with Imran Aziz of Lahore, Pakistan. We were searching for new ways to confront the increasing threat of terrorism and fascism that are emerging as dominant in Asia and the Middle East.
The answer we came up with was to empower individuals to act and spread a tolerant message. The thesis is that just as light pushes away darkness a tolerant message will be more powerful than a bigoted one. We therefore set up inroads to spread a tolerant message to places that needed it most.
Although we have come across numerous challenges along the way including the lack of any real funding, we were able, with our very limited resources, to establish two websites www.tolerantworld.org and www.toleranceaction.com . A third website with the address www.tolerancespace.com which will be a myspace type network for spreading tolerance is in the pipeline.
With the generosity of Sarah May Bates and the award winning DDB Los Angeles advertising agency The Movement for a Tolerant World recently ran an advertising campaign on University Campuses in the LA and now in Denver as well.
Rabbi Levi Brackman is executive director of Judaism in the Foothills and the author of numerous articles on a whole range of topics and issues, many of which can be found on his website
