Before, there was Fear.

A family joke about my late Uncle Hymie was that he started every story in the beginning, meaning with Adam and Eve. While our patience may have been tested, there is a wonderful logic in starting a story at its first instance.  I applied that logic to the story of the Exodus from Egypt and found a compelling lesson about fear as a foundation for oppression.

A Pharaoh who does not know Joseph rises to power noting that the Hebrews have multiplied greatly. Pharaoh has the unsubstantiated fear that the Hebrews could align with Egypt’s enemies. Enslavement begins when Pharaoh is motivated by that irrational fear. In turn, the Hebrews feared for their lives, subjugated to the whims of an irrational Pharaoh.

Fear is critical to any system of oppression. Not only does fear motivate the oppressor but also the oppressor uses fear to dehumanize those enslaved. But the system of fear doesn’t end with a time of emancipation. When slavery ended in the United States, the white supremacists painted themselves as victims and used fear of violence as their motivation. The absurdity is that African Americans were generally poorer, often disenfranchised, and less well educated, posing no real risk at all to the white majority.


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When modern day Pharaohs accede to power, they invoke the tropes of fear.  Foreigners are a threat.  Immigrants are a danger.  Refugees are sub-humans bringing violence and disease. 

I have a different sort of fear. My fear is that hatred has been unleashed sufficient to undermine our democracy as it metastasizes and leads the nation into a state of tyranny. Congress and the President are now debating the limits of an Executive who operates through constructs of fear and expands his use of presidential power. Commentators wonder, are we ambling toward the death of democracy? 


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In an autocratic system, power is secured by offering protection to the power elites while disadvantaged groups are the subjects of scapegoating. Whether the Jews of Europe or the immigrants from Central America, protectionists and supremacists will demonize minority groups by citing fear of their increasing numbers and claiming a predilection to violence.

To counter this trend, we might focus our attention on making positive use of this fear that our Country is turning to despotism. We must recall the beginning of the story of America. This country was created as an answer to tyranny, as an inclusive haven for oppressed people, and as a safe harbor against religious discrimination. Yet, the founding fathers drafted a Constitution which considered African Americans no more than 3/5 a person. Women were (and may still be) denied equal rights. The fight for human rights continues. That ongoing struggle is what calls us to create a more perfect union.

And that struggle continues. Prejudice is persistent. Hatred is stubborn. Today, we must reject fear-induced factionalism. In any system where hate is given legitimacy every one of us is endangered. In any government where protection is offered to supremacists all of us are potential victims.

Efforts to curtail immigration to the United States should remind us of the irrational fears that supported the passage of laws in 1924 keeping foreigners and particularly, Jews, from disembarking on these shores. An irrational fear of Jews gave rise to restrictive land covenants and exclusive institutions that rejected Jewish participation. The anti-Semites forgot the beginning of our collective story when America was to be a haven for religious groups. How about today? Are we to be a welcoming America or a fear-laden fortress?

By going back to the beginning of the story, we learn the full extent of the danger we confront. Fear mongers and power abusers must be countered by those who derive their values from a full knowledge of history and a higher source of inspiration.

R’ Evan J. Krame