For thousands of years we have survived. We have survived the Cossacks, the Spanish Inquisition, and we have survived the Holocaust. But most importantly we have survived ourselves. Throughout the generations there have been many battles fought by the Jewish people; some we have won and some tragically we have lost. But through our losses, we have only grown, stumping the world with our persistence, with our strength, with our unity.

Chassidim, Sepharadim, and Ashkenazim are just some of the many groups the jewish people have split into,opening the door for controvercy and dissension.types of clothes and customs passed down from father to son each one growing until they have branched the jewish people out into what we see today.walking through the streets in Brooklyn or Lakewood or anywhere where there is a jewish presence you will see not one or two but tens of different types of jews.each one going about his or her business thinking that when he or she puts on those clothes that morning or washes their hands according to the custom that they were tought ,that is the correct way of doing things.

We even have different ways of pronouncing words.the same words given over to moshe at Sinai said in only one way are now being pronounced in over a dozen ways.the same tzinus that sarah imeinu kept are now being interpreted in dozens of ways.and the same halachos that the rama and mechaber wrote in the shulchan aruch are now being kept in hundreds of different ways.

But we all strive for the same thing.we all strive to understand what G-D wants from us and we all struggle to do those things that He wants of us.

So where did it all go wrong?why is it that when we bring up our children seemingly in an unjudgmental fashion they turn out the way our generation has?why do our children belittle and ridicule children of those other jews the ones with the other customs who too are just trying to serve G-D the best way they know how relying on the customs that their parents tought them?and why do their children do the same to ours?how is it that they don’t see that it is us..all of us..against the world?!

There is no question that when those few jews gathered together to eat matzah in the concentration camps fearing for their lives knowing that one wrong move would be their end,they did not stop to bicker over gebrochs!they did not look at the person next to them and think that he isn’t getting the mitvah he isn’t doing what G-D wants!no they understood that despite our differences despite our constant arguing,we all have the same goals!

The answer is very simply that the problem is us.all of us.all of those fathers and mothers who come home and openly speak disparagingly of other jews.who speak despairingly about other customs.desparingly about our brothers and sisters who were brought up to serve G-D in a way other than ours.we are teaching our children that there is no jewish people there is only us,only our customs and beliefs.

But if that is not enough every time controversy strikes within the world of the jewish people this dissension that we have bred into our children is magnified,turning strive into battle.we no longer respect each other and take time to understand both sides of the argument.we don’t take the time to respect the side that isn’t ours.we immediately jump into attack mode,forgetting the people that we respected yesterday as our leaders and looking at our brothers and sisters of last week as enemies.breathing life into the fire of machlokes and bringing ourselves to the brink of destruction.

Had the greeks the Spaniards or the germans understood what we would do to ourselves in generations to come they may not have bothered to plot our destruction instead leaving it to us to finish each other off.

Looking through jewish history there have been many a battle within the jewish people.chassisim versus litvaks,sefardim versus Ashkenazim and so on.only one thing has kept us together.that one thing is respect.respecting the other side and understanding that our goals are the same.but some time we forget.sometimes hate and lack of understanding creeps into our hearts and G-D does something that im sure He would rather not.he brings us together in a way that history will testify has not been kind to the jewish people.He brings the holocaust He brings the Inquisition,He brings our enemies.He does these things to show us that we are all on the same side.to show us that no matter what we wear or how we choose to keep His mitzvos we are one.we are one people,one nation,one family.

So what we must do togther as one nation is instill in our children and the future of our people this belief.this belief that we aren’t our own enemies.we must learn to respect and understand one another no matter how wrong it may seem to us.we must stop belittling others in front of our children.we must ingrain in ourselves these beliefs so that we may pass it on to our children.so that when dissension strikes ,when there is an argument within the jewish people it should not become a fire which threatens to do the work of haman but rather we should all come together to understand and settle the argument,with the unity that is us….the jewish people.