A lot of people are making fun of Rudy, but is he really wrong?

The fact is that Torah is very clear: if Jews do not observe Torah, one of the punishments involved includes more oppression from the nations around us.

In fact, if you look at Jewish History, the worst explosions

of antisemitism all happened in the countries where we were the most assimilated.

It’s not to say that the observant community is blameless, because whenever a Jew with a beard and a hat doesn’t live up to what the Torah asks of him, it’s even worse as far as consequence goes.

shevereshtus Yemeni Jews faced consistent antisemitism for centuries, with the worst event arguably being the Mawza Exile, and they were the furthest thing from being assimilated.

~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו I agree, and I also said that it is not solely assimilation that is the cause. Antisemites don't get a free pass either.

You can see what the Rambam wrote to them about their oppression in his Iggeret...

shevereshtus I’m very well aware of Iggeret Teiman, I just don’t agree with this notion that explosions of antisemitism occurred where we assimilated. Practically every century in Yemeni Jewish history there’s an edict levied against Jews in Yemen, with Mawza occurring centuries after Rambam

~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו Saying the worst explosions we've seen of antisemitism in our history (namely Spain and Germany) were where Jews were the most assimilated doesn't in any way preclude antisemitism from happening anywhere, I never said such a thing.

shevereshtus So you don’t see our exile to a barren desert for over a year where upwards of 1/3rd of the Yemeni Jewish community died, our synagogues destroyed and literature burned, as one of the worst explosions of antisemitism then?