What the Rabbi Learned from the Neo-Nazis


Ok. Admit it. With a title like that you just have to read on! It’s true; this week I learned several life lessons from a Polish couple who will be featured in a CNN documentary about Poles who have rediscovered their Jewish roots. Of special interest is a couple known as Pawel and Ola. They were childhood sweethearts and grew up to marry. As young adults they became Neo-Nazi skinhead “nationalists.” Ola speaks of their lives then as follows “I was 100% nationalist… back then we were skinheads, it was all about white power… that Jews were the biggest plague and worst evil in the world…”
So far it sounds like the typical hatred that is re-emerging across Europe. Sad but true, and I can’t tell you how many times I have heard survivors speak of Polish hatred for Jews. So far nothing remarkable here. Well Pawel and Ola’s story took a remarkable twist when they discovered that they were both actually Jews! Records in the Jewish Historical Institute showed that their ancestors had hidden their Jewish identities to escape the Holocaust. Imagine what a shocker that was for a nice middle class skinhead couple! So how does this twisted tale of hate and secrets end? Now both Pawel and Ola are 33 and live as Jews and are active members in their orthodox synagogue.
So what has this rabbi learned from this very strange tale? First, God has a heck of a sense of humor! Well he must if he made us, clearly the most curious species on the planet. Even animals learn from their mistakes but it seems like we never do! In the course of a mere sixty years we can get burned by the same fires that consumed us in the past. Next, the story reminds us that, sometimes, we are not who we think we are and there may be someone or something out there that knows us better than we know ourselves. There is always a divide between the part we play and who we are behind the mask.
Then this little fact- if you hate others you really only end up hating yourself. No matter what you claim to be the “worst evil” in someone you hate, it already exists within you. The only way you can respond to that discovery is to realize that none of us are without the “worst evil.” The question is what you do about it. Any flaw you see in your fellow human being is only a reflection of the one within you.
I also learned that it’s true what they say about the Jewish soul- a Jew can never stray so far away from God that he can’t find his way back. An important lesson for all of us when we are feeling so lost that we wonder if we remember the way home. Lastly, this strange story affirms a truth that anyone who grew up in New York knows, see… I told you everybody is Jewish!
I hope that God reads my columns… maybe if he reads this he will get a really good laugh out of it and feel a little more patient the next time we really mess up!