Bearing witness: A Jewish legacy of resistance |
Recently, a student in my government class wore a shirt that read, “Save paper, burn books.” Whether satiric or not, this article of choice shocked me with its moral depravity. Burning books is the first step to taking away one’s freedom. Heinrich Heine, a Jewish writer, wrote this statement in 1821, over 100 years prior to the 1933 Nazi book burnings: “Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people as well.” His prophetic words remind us that the destruction of knowledge and civility begins the descent toward violence and immoral logic.
To counter this descent, Jewish tradition offers the imperative of bearing witness. Rooted in the Torah, bearing witness is the act of testifying to God’s unity, the truth of the covenant, and the demands of ethical law. From this obligation emerges a moral responsibility: to uphold the Ten Commandments and actively counteract injustice. This principle is reflected in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), a tractate of the Jewish Mishnah within the Talmudic tradition: “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to reject it.” In the context of bearing witness to tragedy, this teaching becomes a perpetual call to continuous responsibility, an enduring generational effort even when completion can never be attained.
This obligation is long-standing. In Lion Feuchtwanger’s 1933 novel, The Oppermans, written as the Nazi regime rose to power, the urgency of testimony is central, the only tangible act of resistance in the face of such atrocity. A recurring motif echoes throughout the narrative: “It is upon us to begin the work. It is not upon us to complete it.” Initially, this work is the safeguarding of history; it quickly evolves into the political and ethical duty of witnessing, combatting evil, and preserving Jewish identity at a time when Nazi Germany sought to erase it, and much of the world remained unwilling to offer refuge. Feuchtwanger understood that the only act of defiance is to save the written word, to document the fire in the midst of the Nazis’ book burnings.
This historical context is vital to understanding Jewish sovereignty. Israel was not granted its independence until 1948, when the UN voted in favor of making Israel a legitimate state, marking the closure of the British mandate. For nearly 2,000 years, following the exile from their ancient homeland, Jews lived without sovereignty as the land came under successive foreign empires, including Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman rule. Today, Israel— the world’s only Jewish state—reaffirms its value to fight existential threats, with the United States as a crucial ally. Israel stands out not only as a refuge, but as a living embodiment of the imperative to bear witness: to endure, remember, and seek to eliminate injustice. This enlightening legacy transforms survival into the power to fight existential threats.
Today, the “work” of bearing witness continues to reflect itself in the political sphere, where silence is never neutral. The global struggle for human rights can be seen in the Iranian people’s fight against the tyrannical authority of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In a modern world where truth is increasingly contested and distorted, bearing witness seeks to influence policy change and eliminate the “burning” of facts. Social media platforms, while necessary for modern communication, also serve as propaganda machines, a dangerous news source for ignorant spectators. According to the American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America 2025 report, 71% of American Jews say that they have encountered antisemitism online or on social media in the past year, an increase from 67% in 2024. This extremely dangerous increase is reflective of a culture that normalizes Jew-hatred. Furthermore, A Tel Aviv University report found that 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic violence in over 30 years, a notable rise after the October 7 massacre. These developments demonstrate the increasing interconnection of online rhetoric and real-world violence.
This cycle of words leading to violence manifests in the radicalization of NYC. Jewish communities have long been integral to NYC’s vivid cultural and civic life, contributing to its theater scene, academia, culinary staples, garment industry, networks of charities and synagogues, and public institutions. Although Jews make up approximately 10% of the city’s entire population, data from the NYPD reveals that over half of NYC hate crimes in the first quarter of 2026 targeted Jews. This extremism outwardly shows itself in the mayoralty of Mamdani. Since his first day in office, he has made it clear where he stands, revoking predecessor Eric Adams’ executive orders, including the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Moreover, he has openly and unapologetically called to globalize the intifada. His clear hateful rhetoric against Israel, the sole homeland for Jews, is blatantly prejudicial. This is when book burning becomes normalized.
Educational institutions, spheres to protect books and intellect, are a necessary means of confronting bigotry, yet many colleges and universities have become safe harbours of radicalism. This is exemplified in recent years through encampments and violent threats against Jews in universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and UCLA. When education is influenced by ideological pressure and misinformation, it paves the way for a poisonous pattern of subconscious manipulation, unchangeable in the neglect of truth. Memory becomes fallible, and moral responsiveness fades.
A critical step towards combating extremism is calling for government accountability. Jew-hatred rarely begins with violence; it fuels itself through words that dehumanize, normalize prejudice, and silence dissent. Expressions of hate that may seem minor lend permission for dangerous laws and physical violence to follow. ‘Never again’ is not a working statement if it is not applied. It begins with the willingness to use one’s voice, to challenge, and to “begin the work” of refusing to let hate go unaddressed. We must prevent the book burnings of the future.