“UNJUST TREATMENT”
Persecution (מרדף, Murdaf) refers to the sustained and unjust treatment because of religious and/or ethnic identity. This concept encompasses a wide range of experiences, from discrimination and social exclusion to violent attacks, expulsions, and attempts at genocide.
In scripture, we have multiple examples of persecution including enslavement in Egypt, attacks from neighboring tribes, and exile by powerful empires like Babylon and Rome. These early experiences of persecution have shaped the religious understanding of suffering, resilience, and the importance of maintaining faith and identity in the face of adversity.
The modern period saw the continuation and escalation of anti-Jewish persecution, culminating the systematic murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II.
Persecution is often coupled with covenantal theology, viewing suffering as a test of faith, a punishment for communal sins, or a mysterious aspect of G-d's plan for the G-d’s people and the world.
When Abraham asks G-d how he will know that his descendants will inherit the promised land, G-d responds:
“Your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. They will be servants and slaves and afflicted for 400 years.” (Genesis 15:13)
Partaking in temporal physical persecution is often seen as an element of greater things to come, and enduring trials lead to greater rewards. Persecution has also motivated the oppressed to become involved in social justice movements and the defense of human rights, reflecting a commitment to ensuring that such atrocities do not happen again to anyone else, even on a lesser scale. Forcing the hand of the righteous to see and implement needed change that they overlooked previously.
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