Dear Libs of Tik Tok,
I began watching your interview with Tucker Carlson the other week with great interest. No Orthodox
Jew other than Ben Shapiro has as large a Twitter following as you do, and I was eager to see what kind
of Kiddush Hashem you would make.
Imagine my shock, then, when I saw you clearly avoid mentioning that you’re an Orthodox Jew – or even
a Jew at all – during the interview. I’ve watched many of Tucker’s long-form interviews in the past. He
almost always asks his guests about their background. He didn’t ask you about yours, which leads me to
believe that perhaps you asked him not to before agreeing to do the interview.
For the life of me, I don’t understand the thinking that went into this decision, if that is the case. During the interview,Tucker asked you why you weren’t on social media until 2020. Here was a glorious opportunity to explain that Judaism doesn’t encourage people – especially women – to parade their private lives in public for the whole world to see.
You could have quoted the famous verse, “Kol kevudah bas melech penimah,” and spoken about how far modern society has diverged from G-d’s ideal, leading to much misery – especially among teenagers.
Instead, you replied that you’re a private person and left it at that.
Later, Tucker asked you if you see a spiritual angle in the transgender campaign to encourage confused
boys to become girls and confused girls to become boys. What an opening! You’re Lubavitch. Your
Rebbe spoke many times – publicly – on how moral society collapses without belief in G-d. He urged his
chassidim to teach non-Jews about the seven Noahide Laws and their obligation to keep them specifically because G-d said so. He argued that we can’t “leave it to the law-enforcing agencies to be the keepers of the ethics and morals of our young generation” and that children “have to be ‘trained’ from their earliest youth to be constantly aware of ‘the Eye that seeth and the Ear that heareth.’”
You were speaking to an audience of tens – if not hundreds – of thousands of people. It was your first
proper interview. Everyone was eager to hear your thoughts. And Tucker threw you a fastball right down
the middle to hit out of the ballpark (if I may be permitted a baseball metaphor). Rather than swing at it,
though, you dodged it and said you prefer not to answer.
Someone suggested to me that you don’t want Lubavitch to be associated with the political right lest left-
wing Jews avoid going to Chabad Houses as a result. I don’t think this outcome is very likely. Your
average leftist Jew doesn’t avoid traditional Judaism simply because Ben Shapiro is Orthodox, and you’d
have to be a bit crazy to avoid Chabad Houses just because one Lubavitcher – you – is fighting the culture wars. Besides, your average radical leftist doesn’t exactly watch Tucker Carlson.
But let’s say for argument’s sake that a handful of radical leftists won’t enter a Chabad House because of
you (which may already be the case despite your best efforts). Is that a reason to hide your Jewishness
and not do one of the most important mitzvos of all – making a Kiddush Hashem?
Millions of American Christians are only familiar with liberal Jews like George Soros, Bernie Sanders,
Chuck Schumer, and Dianne Feinstein who are destroying this country. Or they read about Jews in
Hollywood making degenerate movies.
These Jews and those in the progressive camp, make a terrible chillul Hashem, which you could have helped correct in this interview.
You could have explained that the Torah categorically condemns sexual perversity. You could have
promoted belief in G-d as the antidote to transgenderism and sexual depravity in general. You even could have possibly decreased anti-Semitism – and thereby saved Jewish lives – since many American anti-Semites hate Jews precisely because so many of them are at the forefront of the godless left.
Alas, you decided to remain silent.
What’s done is done. The interview is out there. But in the future, I would strongly urge you to discuss
your background should you be asked about it or your motivation in exposing transgender radicalism. It’s
possible that some people may be upset at you – or Orthodox Judaism, or Lubavitch – if you identify as
an Orthodox Jew or as hassidic. But sometimes you just have to let the chips fall where they may.
The Rebbe spoke very openly about many controversial issues – e.g., including homosexuality and land
for peace – which undoubtedly scared some Jews away from entering a shul or a Chabad House. But
that’s the price one pays for spreading divine truth. Some people won’t like it. It’s our obligation to say
the truth nonetheless. Hashem didn’t give us a Torah so that we should hide it from the world.
You didn’t set out to become a hero to the right with 1.7 million Twitter followers. But that’s the position
you’re now in by Divine Providence. And you told Tucker you plan to soon fight the transgender
movement alongside likeminded individuals in a more public fashion. In other words, many
opportunities to make a Kiddush Hashem will soon cross your path. I appeal to you: Don’t avoid these
opportunities. Embrace them.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Orthodox Jew