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The Repeated Error of Assimilation

by Ram ben Ze'ev


The Repeated Error of Assimilation
The Repeated Error of Assimilation

Judaism teaches that words have power. Speech can wound, heal, elevate, or destroy. That is why our sages warn against לשון הרע (lashon hara – evil speech), the misuse of words to belittle or harm. This prohibition applies even to words that are true, if their purpose is to shame or diminish another Jew.


But guarding against lashon hara does not mean we must remain silent when Torah itself is distorted. On the contrary, the Torah obliges us to speak truth when falsehood masquerades as Judaism. The difference is clear: lashon hara attacks people, but defending the integrity of תורה (Torah) exposes ideas that contradict it.



This distinction brings us to what is called “Reform Judaism.” To be plain: there is no such thing as a “reformed” Torah. Har Sinai was not subject to amendment. תורה is eternal and unchanging. Any ideology that denies its Divine origin or reshapes the מצוות (mitzvot – commandments) to suit the times is not a continuation of Judaism but a departure from it. To say this is not lashon hara—it is fidelity to truth.


A Jew who affiliates with Reform remains a Jew, because Jewish identity is eternal. But the ideology itself—stripping Torah of its Divine authority, redefining mitzvot as optional, erasing Zion to prove loyalty to the nations—is foreign to Torah. It is assimilation, not Judaism.


And this error is not new. It is the repeated mistake of our people through history.

In מצרים (Mitzrayim – Egypt), many Jews assimilated into Egyptian life so completely that they did not wish to leave. The Midrash teaches that only a fraction merited the Exodus; the rest perished in the plague of darkness. Their desire to be “good Egyptians” severed them from redemption.


In the time of the חשמונאים (Chashmonaim – Hasmoneans), countless Jews embraced Hellenism, adopting Greek names and practices, even undoing their ברית מילה (brit milah – circumcision). They sought to be “good Greeks,” but their compromise led to decrees against Torah and persecution until the faithful rose up.



In the Roman period, Jews who imitated Rome’s grandeur while neglecting Torah helped weaken the nation’s spiritual fabric, hastening the חורבן (Churban – destruction) of the Second Temple. Being “good Romans” did not save them; it accelerated exile.


In Spain, conversos who converted outwardly to Christianity believed assimilation would protect them. Yet the Inquisition hunted them mercilessly. They gained neither safety nor acceptance, only betrayal and death.


And in Germany, centuries later, Reform Judaism promised that Jews could finally be accepted as “good Germans” if they abandoned Torah. Prayers were translated into German, mention of Zion was erased, mitzvot were reframed as ethics. Yet when the Shoah came, assimilation offered no refuge. The ovens did not distinguish between those who lived by Torah and those who abandoned it.


This is the pattern of history. Each time Jews have chosen assimilation over Torah, destruction followed. Each time we sought survival by appearing as loyal citizens of the nations first, we learned the same bitter truth: the nations never forget that we are Jews. Our survival has never come from blending in—it has come only from clinging to the covenant of Har Sinai.


And the danger has not passed. Today the same whisper tempts us: that to survive we must soften Torah, adjust mitzvot, and mirror the world. But history has already answered. Every time we tried this path, it ended in calamity. Our only true strength lies in remaining what we are—Am Yisrael, bound by the eternal covenant. To forget this lesson is to risk repeating the same cycle once more.


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