In their passion to defame the memory of Thomas Jefferson by desecrating the spirit of the Jefferson Memorial, in their zeal to turn a wall of separation into a prison wall, in their will to triumph against a false enemy, the leaders of the Empire State reveal themselves to be imperial in attitude and impious in ambition.
The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is one of two such cowards. The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, is the other. If they have their way, they will rid New York of Jews instead of saving Jewish lives; instead of saving a single soul, regardless of religion, from the coronavirus.
As Cuomo and de Blasio have their way, the most recognizable Jews become the most available targets of hatred. The two show pictures of the many, of more men than a minyan, of more Jews than all the names in the Book of Numbers. The two imply that crowds—Jewish crowds—are evidence of causation, that Jews are the virus.
The two politicize science by advancing race science, a lie too taut to untangle; a tautology too transmissible to undo. The lie mutates in every city and country. The lie adapts to conditions high and low, from the hallways of the academy to the alleyways of the slum, from the rostrum of the United Nations to riots in the nation, from the meticulous observance of due process of law to the lawlessness of the mob.
Either the lie is an inherited trait, dominant in most and recessive in some, or the lie proves the existence of free will. Either Cuomo and de Blasio know not what they say, or they choose to do what they say: render Jews invisible. Either they believe the virus stops whenever people gather to protest injustice, or the lie spreads wherever Jewish gatherings occur.
What de Blasio believes is clear. He blesses marches by Black Lives Matter while he seeks to prevent Jews from walking to shul. In his campaign against Jews lies the endpoint of his illogic. His unspoken conclusion is that Judaism is cursed, that the cure to the coronavirus—the solution to all problems—is to eliminate the teaching and practice of the Jewish religion.
His solution would apply to visibly identifiable Jews and Christians. The Hasidic rabbi with his headdress, the Catholic nun with her habit, the cantor with his tallit, the minister with his collar, each is an infidel. Each denies the assertion that politics is the one true faith. Each refuses to join the pilgrimage to Gracie Mansion or the Executive Mansion.
So long as Judaism endures, politicians will issue anti-Semitic edicts. Such is the nature of man and sin.
Greater still is the power of the God of the heavens and the earth, whose divine nature is eternal. His greatness is a promise no politician can break, no king can eliminate, no tyrant can exterminate. The promise lives not only in the Promised Land, but in all lands, uniting the children of Noah and the sons of Abraham and the daughters of Sarah.
The promise is the glory of an everlasting name.