The Importance of Believing True Conspiracies
Some readers don’t seem to understand why conspiracies even matter.
Answer: Ever heard of Tzom Gedaliah?
From Chananya Weissman’s newsletter:
[Yirmiya] Chapters 39 to 41…
Even after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, Hashem in His incredible mercy gave the remaining Jews a lifeline. The Babylonians exiled most of the survivors, but they let the most impoverished Jews remain in Israel to work the land. They appointed Gedalya ben Achikam to govern them, and deferentially gave Yirmiyahu the freedom to go wherever he pleased. He chose to remain in Israel.
Just like that, the Jews had a settlement in Israel, some semblance of autonomy, and a prophet to help them build from the ruins.
The Jewish partisans and their leaders who were in the outlying fields heard about this and returned. Gedalya swore to look after them and invited them to join the nascent settlement wherever they desired. The Jews who were in neighboring lands also heard that the king of Bavel allowed a remnant to remain under a Jewish governor, and they returned as well. They gathered a huge quantity of wine and dates. There was real hope.
Then things took a twist. Yochanan ben Koreach and the other partisan captains warned Gedalya that one of their colleagues, Yishmael ben Nesanya, had gone rogue. Yishmael came from royal stock and prominent men, and he was jealous of Gedalya (41:1). He had defected to the king of Ammon, who was surely none too pleased to see the Jews rebuilding, and planned to assassinate Gedalya (40:13-14).
Gedalya didn’t believe them.
Yochanan then met privately with Gedalya and offered to surreptitiously knock off Yishmael. Otherwise, Yishmael would murder him, the Jews in Israel would scatter, and the last hope of this remnant would be lost.
Gedalya refused. “You are telling lies about Yishmael,” he said (40:16).
Gedalya didn’t even bother to look into the matter.
He didn’t believe in conspiracy theories.
Gedalya was so sure that these warnings were “baseless” that he welcomed Yishmael and ten of his men to have a meal with him. They had some bread, then Yishmael and his gang promptly murdered Gedalya and everyone who was with him (41:2). Yishmael proceeded to go on a killing spree, took the remaining settlers hostage, then set off for Ammon.
…
Gedalya did not have to believe that Yishmael planned to assassinate him. But why, why couldn’t he investigate the matter? Why didn’t he turn to Yirmiyahu for guidance? Why in the world would he be so reckless, so sure of himself, that he would allow Yishmael to bring a small army with him for a meal? Was this really necessary?
Once again, the Torah does not teach us lessons about insane people, and we would not mourn Gedalya’s death if he were wicked. He was a righteous man and a leader who cared about the people.
But he was given a credible warning from credible people, and he dismissed it out of hand as a crazy conspiracy theory. He believed what he wanted to believe, and refused to reexamine his beliefs in light of new information. He refused to even allow for the slightest possibility that these warnings were credible.
He paid with his life and brought destruction on the remnant of Jews who were resettling Israel in spite of everything. For that we mourn to this day.
So many of those who mourn Gedalya’s death are repeating his tragic mistakes. They dismiss credible warnings from honorable people as “baseless”, they dismiss everyone who warns them as lunatics, and they refuse to examine the information behind these warnings. If they look at the information at all, it will be for no purpose other than to discredit it or the people sharing it. They refuse to entertain the slightest possibility that the warnings are indeed credible, even though they are gambling everything in the process. On the contrary, they defiantly rush headlong into the danger, like Gedalya breaking bread with his assassins.
The events preceding Gedalya’s murder are not recorded in the book of Yirmiya as a matter of historical interest. There is a great deal of historical information that the prophets did not record, and every word is measured. This story is recorded in detail because it is a timeless prophetic teaching, just like the actual prophecies that surround it.
I would add Wikipedia on the Chevron Massacre:
Former Haganah member Baruch Katinka recalled that he had been informed by his superiors that 10–12 fighters were needed to protect the Jews in Hebron. On August 20, a group travelled to Hebron in the middle of the night and met with a Jewish community leader, Eliezer Dan Slonim. Katinka said that Slonim was adamant that no protection was needed as he was on good terms with the local Arabs and he trusted the a’yan (Arab notables) to protect the Jews. According to Katinka, Slonim postulated that the sight of the Haganah might instead cause a provocation. The group was soon discovered and Police Superintendent Raymond Cafferata, an officer recruited from the Black and Tans, ordered them to return to Jerusalem. Two others remained in Slonim’s house, but the day after, they too returned to Jerusalem as requested by Slonim.
Holocaust:
Too many examples to cite.
Shabbos 82b:
אמר ליה רב הונא לרבה בריה מאי טעמא לא שכיחת קמיה דרב חסדא דמחדדן שמעתיה אמר ליה מאי איזיל לגביה דכי אזילנא לגביה מותיב לי במילי דעלמא א”ל מאן דעייל לבית הכסא לא ליתיב בהדיא ולא ליטרח טפי דהאי כרכשתא אתלת שיני יתיב דילמא משתמטא שיני דכרכשתא ואתי לידי סכנה א”ל הוא עסיק בחיי דברייתא ואת אמרת במילי דעלמא, כ”ש זיל לגביה.