Since October 7, we have been in an earthquake

A 1755 copper engraving shows the city of Lisbon, Portugal, in flames and a tsunami sweeping away ships in the harbour. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia/Creative Commons)

(RNS) – I came to Lisbon for a post-Easter holiday.

Lisbon is a beautiful city. Its people are generous. Its locations are compelling. Her wine is delicious.

But almost wherever you go, you remember that Lisbon was the place where the worldview collapsed and a new worldview was born.

On November 1, 1755, two natural disasters devastated the city of Lisbon.

First, there was a massive earthquake, and then in its wake, there was a massive tsunami. And if you ask historians how many people died that day, they don't know: 15,000? 50,000? 60,000? (Here's a great video on the subject.)

Here was the bitter irony. November 1 was All Saints' Day, and no city in Europe strived to be holier than Lisbon. Of its population of 250,000, 25,000 of them – 10% of the population – were priests, monks or nuns.

Which raised the theological question: How did this happen to this holy city?

No other moment in human history has shaken faith as much as that day in Lisbon. In the 18th century, people used the word “Lisbon” in the same way we use the word “Auschwitz” today.

The destruction of Lisbon created waves of religious doubt and secularism. Barely four years after the disaster, Voltaire wrote about Lisbon in his famous satirical book, Candide.

Aftershocks continue to this day.

In the words of my teacher, Thomas Long:

The seismic shock waves that destroyed Lisbon were quickly followed by moral and theological shock waves that shook the intellectual, philosophical and religious foundations of Europe and the West, and continue to shake them to this day… The Lisbon tragedy occurred in the midst of a major turning point in human understanding, in the midst of the collapse of the way in which It brought medieval society into the world and the emergence of a new set of assumptions about knowledge, reason, and nature – a time we have come to call the Enlightenment. So the Lisbon earthquake not only destroyed churches, shops and homes; It also symbolizes the fall of the ancient world and the way this world absorbed faith and held on to hope.

Which brings me to October 7, and more than six months since that Black Saturday.

The October 7 attacks were like an earthquake.

Then came the aftershocks – the war in Gaza, the world's reactions, and the ever-present threat posed by Iran.

FILE – Visitors look at photos of Israelis killed during the Hamas attack on October 7 and those who died during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, displayed on a giant screen at the National Library in Jerusalem, Israel, January 28, 2024. (Photo from AP/Leo Correa, File)

And then, the tsunami – of raw hatred for Jews.

More aftershocks: American Jews were shaken in their former secular faith in the university.

Since the Middle Ages in Europe, the university has been the means by which Jews and others enter the world of culture, literature, and thought.

For American Jews, in particular, a college degree was their ticket into the middle class. We fought hard to open the doors of elite institutions, and we fought hard to stay there.

And yet we are here. It is happening on one campus after another, especially the elite campuses that Jews have sought and fought to gain access to. It happened like mushrooms growing on the grass after rain. Pro-Palestinian tent cities began to appear. The students were chanting pro-Palestinian slogans – some of which turned completely anti-Semitic.

Let me be clear, especially for young Jews who consider themselves part of this campus movement.

If the demonstrators had only said: We want dignity for the Palestinians, the leaders of the American Jewish movement would have agreed to that. If the protesters had just said: more humanitarian aid for Gaza, American Jewish leaders would have agreed. If the protesters had been saying: We want a two-state solution, many American Jewish leaders would have agreed. At least, with the ultimate goal. If protesters were saying: We disagree with the policies of the Netanyahu government, many American Jewish leaders would agree, and they have said so loudly and often.

But that's not what the protesters are saying. They demonstrated a fundamental inability to distinguish between humanitarian and political goals and a deliberate hatred of the state, its people, and all Jews.

Let me be clear about something else. I deplore and condemn acts of violence by pro-Israel students. It is harmful on all levels. We know better. We must be better.

A banner reading “Welcome to the Popular University of Palestine” is displayed in front of tents set up at the pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at Columbia University in New York, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

This is what makes Columbia 2024 different from Columbia 1968 – and other universities during the Vietnam era.

We demonstrated against American intervention in Vietnam. We marched in support of the Vietnamese people.

We did not call for the destruction of the United States. We also did not call for the killing of Americans everywhere and everywhere.

When China was deliberately destroying Tibet's independence, no one said about China: “Destroy it.” The Chinese students on campus did not feel threatened.

During the anti-apartheid movement, South Africans living in the United States did not feel at risk – and South African students on campus certainly did not fear for their safety.

What does the phrase “globalization of uprising” mean? There is only one interpretation of this slogan, and it is a satanic interpretation. This means that there should be no place on this planet where Jews feel safe. This is, by definition, hatred of Jews.

“Zionists don’t deserve to live,” said Khemani James, one of the leaders of the protest at Columbia University, who has since been banned from the university over the remark. James has since apologized for the remark – but how could any Jew sympathetic to Zionism – in other words, the majority of Jews – not fear the spread of such sentiments?

These are the aftershocks of the October 7 earthquake. At the very least, these aftershocks should lead to self-examination on the part of American Jews and their institutions. Are we doing everything we can – to provide our Jewish youth with Jewish minds, Jewish souls, and a Jewish backbone?

But those aftershocks extend wider and deeper.

American Jews are worried. We want our young people to be safe on campus – safe from harm and from attacks on their fundamental identities as Jews.

But beyond this, American Jews and others see what is happening on campus, and witness the slide into chaos and nihilism.

Because the inability to distinguish between political speech and hate speech is a failure in basic morality.

Perhaps we are wrong in thinking that universities have, or should have, a role in shaping the moral worldviews of our young people. Once upon a time, academia had such a role. Not longer.

So here's the question.

Beyond the family, what institutions can and should provide young people with a moral vision?

I hope: religious institutions.

Do they do that? Can they still do it?

And here lies another slight earthquake of questions.

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