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Don’t hide your Judaism in the face of adversity and danger. Be proud, don’t be afraid!

Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 29:8:

We have mentioned before (Chapter 1:3) the saying of Rabbi Yehudah ben Teima,28 “Be bold as a leopard…” [which teaches] not to be ashamed before people who deride you when you worship the Creator, blessed is He. Nevertheless, you should not answer them rudely,29 so that you will not acquire the habit of being impertinent even in situations not involved with the worship of God, blessed be His Name.

1:3 says:

Yehudah son of Taima says: “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in heaven.”4“Bold as a leopard” means, you should not be ashamed before people who mock you for worshipping Hashem, Blessed be His Name. “Light as an eagle” refers to what the eye sees. This alludes to the requirement to be swift to close your eyes to prevent the seeing of evil because the sight of evil constitutes the beginning of sin. The eye sees and the heart desires and the organs capable of action culminate the sin. “Swift as a deer” refers to the legs, for your legs should run to do good things. “Strong as a lion” is a reference to the heart, because true valor in serving the Creator, Blessed is He, emanates from the heart. He also states: “Strengthen your heart to serve Him, and overpower your evil inclination and defeat it as a hero triumphs over his enemy, defeating him, and casting him to the earth.”

Note 29 from 29:8 above says:

“This paragraph refers to the case where an individual is being mocked for his performance of a certain mitzvah. However, if the mockery is intended as a flagrant demonstration against Torah Judaism as a whole, as an attempt to influence others to abandon God’s way by holding an observant Jew up to ridicule, then these efforts must be thwarted by whatever means possible, no matter how harsh or drastic they may be. (Biur Halachah 1:1)”

This is what antisemitism seeks to do. We know this from Vayikra 26:3-7 and 14-39

Antisemites try and make Jews not follow Torah and not be Jews because this is how they defeat us, so according to this you’re obligated to “thwart this by whatever means possible, no matter how harsh or drastic they may be.”

This does not preclude physical defense as necessary, and you should be ready to defend yourself against antisemitism that attacks Jews for being proud and open (source 1) (source 2), but the main thing is to be open and proud regardless of the danger you may face.

Don’t hide your Judaism in the face of adversity and danger!

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