Iggeret Teiman: How do the Jewish People Survive Persecution?

The Rambam focuses on the fact that as a nation we have suffered the most terrible anti-Semitic persecutions over the course of history and explains the hard truth that the glory of our nation is our ability to withstand the suffering, while still maintaining the awareness of God and our mission as a nation. That quality of holding suffering with our nation’s mission is equivalent to a complete sacrifice, atonement on top of the alter. Despite the fact that we do not necessarily have to go through suffering as a nation, when the nation goes through persecutions we have the attribute of maintaining spiritual focus throughout the hardships, even in the most devastating of times.