The Uyghur Genocide and Sukkot

The Sukkot festival celebrates the fall harvest and is a time of joy in the Jewish religion. Interestingly, though, when the farmers in ancient Israel brought their offerings of first fruits to the temple, they were required to recite a proclamation that briefly told the story of the Exodus, starting with how the Jews went down to Egypt where they were enslaved by the Egyptians, after which the Lord heard their cries of pain, and with an outstretched arm and signs and wonders brought them out of slavery to a land flowing with milk and honey.  This proclamation appears in the book of Deuteronomy (26:5-9) and is a central text in the Passover Haggadah.  

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz noted recently that the obligation of Jews to remember their enslavement, and even to speak about it “in a loud voice,” as they are told to do in the Talmud, is something that sets them apart from the ancient Pharaohs and modern-day dictators like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, who exaggerate their victories and hide their defeats since they don’t want to show any sign of weakness.  By contrast, Jews believe that remembering their enslavement and how they were ultimately redeemed is a source of strength and wisdom.

The great 12th century philosopher Maimonides explained that the shared lesson of the two holidays of Passover and Sukkot is that we ought to remember our worst days in times of prosperity and good fortune, since this will help us appreciate G-d’s gifts and “learn the importance of a modest and humble life.” It will also help keep us grounded in reality and grateful for our good fortune, which we should understand as a blessing in a world where there is so much suffering — past and present.      

Remembering their enslavement in Egypt also helped Jews become resilient and able to survive 2,000 years of exile and persecution. During the two millennia of Jewish exile, many all-powerful rulers and the empires they towered over disappeared and turned to dust, like the statue of Ozymandias decaying in the desert that is the subject of Shelley’s famous poem by that name. Ozymandias is the Greek name of Ramses II, the Pharoah who ruled over Egypt during the Jewish Exodus.  

Rabbi Steinmetz reminds us that Natan Sharansky was a prisoner in one of those empires, the now-defunct Soviet Union, and that he wrote in his memoir, “Fear No Evil,” that he survived in the gulag by telling himself that history did not begin with the birth of the Soviet regime.  “You’re continuing an exodus that began in Egypt,” he continuously repeated to himself. “History is with you.”  

Sharansky has not been silent about current crimes against humanity, especially the genocide that the Chinese totalitarian regime is currently committing against the Muslim Uyghur people. “The free world cannot stay silent about China’s horrific persecution of its Uyghur minority,” Sharansky said in a message to a demonstration organized on September 28 in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington by congregants of Adas Israel and other synagogues in the city. “The Chinese regime, in fact, has put Uyghur people into the biggest concentration camp that exists today in the world. I know firsthand the power of outside support to those standing bravely against totalitarian regimes.”

As Sharansky said, the free world must not stay silent in the face of China’s terrible repression of the Uyghurs.  We must stand in solidarity with their struggle to survive. 

As Sharansky said, the free world must not stay silent in the face of China’s terrible repression of the Uyghurs. We must stand in solidarity with their struggle to survive.  Even small acts of support are of great importance, like the demonstration at the Chinese embassy that coincided with the start of Sukkot or the “Ushpizin”
 poster produced by the Uyghur Crisis Response Team at Adas that names prominent Uyghur prisoners who become symbolic guests when the poster is hung in the sukkah.  Such acts have a power that should not be underestimated since they will resonate in the hearts and minds of Uyghurs and give them fortitude.

May our Uyghur brothers and sisters find hope in the Jewish story of struggle and faith.  May they become more resilient in their suffering.  And may they draw upon their own history, which began long before Xi was born, to deepen their conviction and unbending faith that they will outlive this modern Pharoah and the cruel system he leads. 

May this be so — and may the Uyghur people live.

Carl Gershman retired in 2021 after 37 years as the Founding President of The National Endowment for Democracy.  He is a member of the board of the Uyghur Human Rights Project and a senior fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. This article is based on the address he delivered at the demonstration on September 28 in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington.