In a classic and timeless MAD Magazine spread from 1977, satirist Frank Jacobs and artist Jack Davis skewered societal double standards based on wealth. Their article, "When You're Poor And When You're Rich," contrasted the divergent language used to describe identical behaviors in members of upper and lower economic classes. There is a certain deference or respect granted to the rich that the poor will never receive while exhibiting the same manners. For example: 

• When you're poor, you're the town weirdo; when you're rich, you're the local eccentric.
• When you're poor, you throw your money away on booze; when you're rich, you have a well-stocked bar.
• When you're poor, you vomit; when you're rich, you succumb to a sudden attack of nausea. 

Most relevant to us this week, however, is this shockingly biblical gem:

* When you're poor, you breed like rabbits; when you're rich, you are blessed with a large family. 

As the Jews multiplied in Mitzrayim, how were they viewed by the Egyptians?

וּבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל פָּר֧וּ וַֽיִּשְׁרְצ֛וּ וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ וַיַּֽעַצְמ֖וּ בִּמְאֹ֣ד מְאֹ֑ד וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ אֹתָֽם׃ 

But the Israelites were fertile and they swarmed; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them.

That evocative word, וַֽיִּשְׁרְצ֛וּ, is typically used to describe insects or vermin. These שרצים are the kinds of creatures that have you calling the exterminator within two seconds of spotting them in your kitchen:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל־הָאָרֶץ עַל־פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם׃

God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

כֹּל שֶׁרֶץ הָעוֹף הַהֹלֵךְ עַל־אַרְבַּע שֶׁקֶץ הוּא לָכֶם׃

All winged swarming things that walk on fours shall be an abomination for you.

וְכֹל שֶׁרֶץ הָעוֹף אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ אַרְבַּע רַגְלָיִם שֶׁקֶץ הוּא לָכֶם׃

But all other winged swarming things that have four legs shall be an abomination for you.

The term שֶׁרֶץ appears almost thirty times in Tanach, and always brings to mind a pest-like invasion:

וְשָׁרַץ הַיְאֹר צְפַרְדְּעִים וְעָלוּ וּבָאוּ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבַחֲדַר מִשְׁכָּבְךָ וְעַל־מִטָּתֶךָ וּבְבֵית עֲבָדֶיךָ וּבְעַמֶּךָ וּבְתַנּוּרֶיךָ וּבְמִשְׁאֲרוֹתֶיךָ׃

The Nile shall swarm with frogs, and they shall come up and enter your palace, your bedchamber and your bed, the houses of your courtiers and your people, and your ovens and your kneading bowls.

There are only two occasions where this language is applied to people: the aforementioned pasuk about the Jewish population growth in Egypt, and much earlier, commanded to Noach and family in the aftermath of the Mabul and the degradation of mankind, using the trigger word that was not articulated to the first man and woman:

וְאַתֶּם פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ שִׁרְצוּ בָאָרֶץ וּרְבוּ־בָהּ׃         

Be fertile, then, and increase; swarm on the earth and increase on it.

I share this etymological-entomological context with you in order to communicate the shock value of וּבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל פָּר֧וּ וַֽיִּשְׁרְצ֛וּ וַיִּרְבּ֥וּ וַיַּֽעַצְמ֖וּ בִּמְאֹ֣ד מְאֹ֑ד. This is language that is disrespectful and dehumanizing, and accurately reveals the Egyptian attitude toward the Jews in their midst, the family of their national hero, Yosef. When you apply that verb to people, you view them as an inferior population that must be controlled, and eventually exterminated. Those Jews, they're not blessed with large families; they breed like rabbits. We have to do something about this problem; a Final Solution is born. 

And so, when harsh slave labor does not curb the population growth - וְכַאֲשֶׁר יְעַנּוּ אֹתוֹ כֵּן יִרְבֶּה וְכֵן יִפְרֹץ - the midwives are ordered to murder all Jewish male newborns. This plan backfires, though. The heroic midwives do not comply with the cruel decree and offer the following excuse to Pharoah:

וַתֹּאמַרְןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶל־פַּרְעֹה כִּי לֹא כַנָּשִׁים הַמִּצְרִיֹּת הָעִבְרִיֹּת כִּי־חָיוֹת הֵנָּה בְּטֶרֶם תָּבוֹא אֲלֵהֶן הַמְיַלֶּדֶת וְיָלָדוּ׃

The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are like beasts. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.”

The midwives here unleash an antisemitic trope that Pharoah eagerly laps up: The Jewish women are like wild animals (Rashi's interpretation). They give birth quickly and without assistance, and we can never arrive in time for the delivery. Pharoah buys this because he already believes this population reproduces like lower creatures. Clearly, they also give birth like animals. The Jew is biologically different, and thus must be treated differently, first through laws, then enslavement, and ultimately extermination. It all starts with dehumanization and the power of words.

We, who have suffered the sting of hatred for millennia, who are cast simultaneously as too rich and powerful and too poor and reliant on others' resources, who somehow both control and manipulate nations while isolating ourselves from the concerns of humanity, have a right to be especially vigilant about attempts to dehumanize us and strip us of the basic rights all other nations enjoy.

As promised, the new mayor of New York City, on Day One of his administration, repealed the city's utilization of the IHRA definition of antisemitism and canceled all anti-BDS regulation. He did this in a cowardly roundabout fashion, by revoking all of his predecessor's executive orders and then reinstating only the ones he supports. Mamdani claims that he did not directly attack these twin hallmarks of protection against hate, and that cares about protecting New York's Jews; that's rich. The IHRA language is important precisely because it correctly labels attempts to treat the Jewish people as less than any other nation as antisemitism. Only if you view us as a swarm or beasts can you justify denying the right to self-determination, such as by saying that Israel's mere existence is racist. Only if you look at us like Pharoah did can you accuse Jews of being more loyal to Israel than to their own countries, compare Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, and hold Jews collectively responsible for Israel's actions.

Antisemites interpret every move we make in the same way that people prejudge and characterize the poor, offering no benefit of the doubt, seeing us as a scourge on society. And now we are expected to accept this erosion of basic protection against hate? As if we don't know from personal experience that it begins with words and ends with acts of violence? This, in the same week that the NYPD released a report stating that Jewish New Yorkers were targeted in 330 reported hate crimes in 2025, more than all other groups combined.

The eternal lessons of the Torah beckon us to pay careful attention to the nuances of language. We are blessed with a small but wonderful family, one that has withstood the test of time and survived threat after threat. Our true riches, which cannot be expressed in mere numbers or gems, וְרָחֹק מִפְּנִינִים מִכְרָהּ, are our incomparable heritage and bond with God. This birthright has taught the world that a spark of the divine transforms mere beasts of the field into human beings, all worthy of honor and respect.