The Nero Effect: Are We Jews Distracted by Claims of Genocide while Judaism is Burning?

We all know the apocryphal story that the Emperor Nero “fiddled” while Rome was burning in the Great Fire of 64 CE. The story, of course, is a myth, the fiddle wasn’t invented until centuries later, and although Nero was well-known for his musical talent on the lyre, he was not likely playing it during the blaze that threatened his empire. Whatever its origins, the story has become a symbol for the lack of concern for crisis or, perhaps, a lack of attentiveness, even care, to what is happening around us. I kept coming back to Nero as I read Omer Bartov’s op-ed in The New York Times, “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I know Genocide When I See It” (NYT July 15, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/opinion/israel-gaza-holocaust-genocide-palestinians.html) and listened to Yuval Harari’s interview on “Unholy: Levi and Freedland” about the impact of Gaza on Judaism (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD7YOmqENTM). In fact, I think it was Bartov and Harari together that brought me back to Nero. Below

We all know the apocryphal story that the Emperor Nero “fiddled” while Rome was burning in the Great Fire of 64 CE. The story, of course, is a myth, the fiddle wasn’t invented until centuries later, and although Nero was well-known for his musical talent on the lyre, he was not likely playing it during the blaze that threatened his empire. Whatever its origins, the story has become a symbol for the lack of concern for crisis or, perhaps, a lack of attentiveness, even care, to what is happening around us. I kept coming back to Nero as I read Omer Bartov’s op-ed in The New York Times, “I’m a Gen