The Idolatry of Outrage: How the Nations Amplify Evil and Distract the Jewish Mission
- WireNews
- May 5
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
by Ram ben Ze'ev
I believe that evil is not merely sustained, but amplified by and through the Nations—that is, the nations of the world. With every act of antisemitism, the global chorus of outrage grows louder. Governments, organisations, influencers, and even well-meaning individuals rush to condemn, protest, and "raise awareness." But beneath this façade of moral virtue lies something far more troubling: a subtle, collective redirection of the Jewish soul away from its true purpose—toward a path that, for all its noise, leads away from G-D.
This constant external focus on antisemitism—on injustice done to us—trains the Jewish people to see themselves as victims first, as political actors second, and only occasionally as servants of the Divine. It invites us into a theatre of activism where the rules are written by others and where our role is scripted by foreign ideologies. It tempts us to seek validation from the Nations, to demand justice from those who have never truly cared for our well-being, and to measure our identity by how the world treats us, rather than by how we serve G-D.
And in this subtle shift—this chasing of justice through the courts of man instead of the mitzvot of the Torah—we lose our centre. We are lured into a kind of idolatry, not of stone or wood, but of ideas. We begin to worship visibility, acceptance, safety, and equality—as if these were the ultimate goals of the Jewish people. But they are not.
Our mission is תיקון עולם (Tikkun Olam), not in the modern political sense, but in the eternal, Torah-rooted sense: to repair the world by repairing ourselves. Not to fix Rome, Babylon, or Brussels—but to refine our middot (traits), return to mitzvot, and draw light into the world by walking with G-D.
Evil thrives on attention. Our sages have long warned us of this, though few truly understand it. When we shine the spotlight on evil, we do not weaken it—we feed it. We make it the centre of the conversation, the object of analysis, the subject of documentaries, books, protests, and forums. All of this attention gives evil power. And while the Nations lead the charge in publicising evil under the banner of “fighting it,” the Jewish people are dragged along, shouting about antisemitism, demanding apologies, filing petitions—while our Torah gathers dust.
“We won’t combat Jew Hatred by focusing on the hatred. Rather, non-attention is how it should be handled. Do not allow it to occupy your time, nor to become a focal point of any kind. It is a rule that Esau hates Jacob.” — רם בן זאב
Case in point: It’s been 80 years since the Holocaust. Millions of words, thousands of institutions, and entire global initiatives have been dedicated to “Never Again,” and then, "Never, Again, Again," following the atrocities of 7 October 2023. And yet antisemitism is surging—in Europe, in America, and across the digital world. The question isn’t whether awareness has failed. The question is: What are we really trying to fix—and who told us how to fix it?
We must not let the outrage of the Nations replace our faith in G-D. Our healing does not come from the United Nations, from interfaith vigils, or from press releases. It comes from תשובה (teshuvah – return), from prayer, from Torah study, from ahavat Yisrael (love of our fellow Jews), and from the quiet, determined refusal to let the Nations define our mission or our identity.
Evil will not be defeated by shouting about it louder. It will be defeated when the Jewish people rise—not in protest, but in holiness. Not to demand protection from the Nations, but to reassert our unbreakable bond with the Creator of the Universe.
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Bill White (Ram ben Ze'ev) is CEO of WireNews Limited, Mayside Partners Limited, MEADHANAN Agency, Kestrel Assets Limited, SpudsToGo Limited and Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue
