Hirsh Apfelbaum (1883-1936) is the mirror image of a Jewish protestor today in sympathy with Hamas terrorists.

He was an ardent communist who couldn’t say enough kind things about his political intimate and personal hero, Joseph Stalin. Things did not end well for Apfelbaum. (His preferred pronoun was the more comrade-sounding name Grigory Zinoviev.)

As his executioners dragged him from his prison cell, he implored them to contact comrade Stalin. The guards were amused by his name dropping and informed Apfelbaum/Zinoviev that he’s about to be shot on Stalin’s orders.

Reality can be a tough taskmaster, and no one will ever know whether it penetrated the idealistic skull of comrade Apfelbaum/Zinoviev. It turned out that a Jew was a Jew, and comrade Stalin routinely targeted them.

Not to pick on any one rabbi today, but Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg is the spitting image -- an exact political doppelgänger -- of the deluded but passionate Zinoviev.

Admittedly she suffers from gender confusion (formerly a man), but this does not diminish her passionate support for an enemy who hates her. She regards herself as “loud and proud” as a leader in the imaginative sounding group named, “IfNotNow.” They are not to be outdone in their political commitment by other Jewish groups useful to Hamas because they are made up of Jewish supporters, including “Rabbis for a Ceasefire” and “Jewish Voice for Peace.”

The absurdity of Rabbi Rosenberg taking her cause to Gaza is nearly as mind-numbingly stupid as Apfelbaum begging his executioners to clear up matters by contacting his dear friend Stalin.

One can only guess at the treatment Hamas thugs would reward a Jewish supporter who happened to be a “transgender rabbi.” She doesn’t try to conceal her former self, and appears to advertise her crossover look by sporting an elaborate up-do, bright red lipstick, and confusing juxtaposition of a nicely coiffed beard. She would be lucky to have a quick end with a bullet to the brain, rather than the usual treatment given LBGTQIA+ community in Hamas-controlled territory.

This is not where the similarities end between Rabbi Rosenberg and Apfelbaum/Zinoviev.

It is sad but true that Zinoviev, a powerful communist, even recommended Stalin for the job the dictator would hold for life. Whereas Rosenberg, no less delusional, continues to champion the military aims of Muslim extremists by calling for a “ceasefire” in Gaza. She, too (like Zinoviev), must wear blinders to mass murder and the butchery of innocent civilians. Although Stalin stands apart in terms of sheer horrific number of murders, estimated at nine million and up.

Zinoviev, an unwitting stooge, appeared to remain loyal to the end. He wrote an impassioned letter to comrade Stalin from his prison cell professing his loyalty to the party. “I stare at your portrait in the newspapers,” Zinoviev wrote in his hopeful manner, “Thinking my dear ones, look into my heart… I am yours, body and soul.” Living the fantasist’s dream has rewards for fascist regimes.

Rabbi Rosenberg, following closely in Zinoviev’s footsteps, refuses to waver in her loyalty to the “IfNotNow” cause. She exhibited her “loud and proud” persona by making a public spectacle of herself and interrupting President Biden at a recent event in Minnesota. Her words were no less deluded than Zinoviev’s assurance to Stalin of being his in “body and soul.”

“If you care about the Jewish people, as a rabbi,” Rosenberg asserted, “I need you to call for a ceasefire right now.”

Her fellow Jews in Israel, who endure horrific assaults by Hamas, must have been aghast at the perverse assertion of her statement. Tragically. Rabbi Rosenberg’s proclamation fails to factor in aiding the cause of an enemy eager to kidnap, rape, or torture Jews while keeping them as hostages.

In this, Rabbi Rosenberg might actually have surpassed the deliberate blindness and mind-numbing delusion of Comrade Zinoviev. It is worth noting that Rosenberg, and her merry band of fantasists, are set apart from Jewish communists of yesteryear owing to one distinct advantage in history.

They don’t have to worry about professing their loyalty to Hamas while imprisoned and awaiting their fate in one of the group’s terror tunnels (stretching more than 300 miles). Championing the cause of Muslim extremists is one thing, but they don’t want to risk actually going to Gaza and risking abduction, rape, or being paraded in the streets among jeering crowds.

That would place Rosenberg, and her well-meaning demonstrators, on the receiving end of Hamas, and enduring the catastrophic fallout from their actions.

Image: National Archives