A Pro-Israel, Zionist Palestinian Organization?

In addition to the few and far-in-between lone Arab voices out there (though thankfully their ranks are increasing) who are vociferously pro-Israel, among them Wafa Sultan, Brigitte Gabriel the founder of American Congress for Truth,  Joseph Farah of World Net Daily (an American of Arab descent), and more recently Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a Hamas leader--who renounced Islam, converted to Christianity and spied for Israel for ten years--there has just been created a new organization which is pro-Israel, pro-Zionist, anti-two state solution and pro one-state-solution: the State of Israel--by a Palestinian Arab.

Elias Issa, from Judea-Samaria (referred to in the media as the "West Bank") has stated on his website the Palestinian Zionist Organization, that Palestinian leaders and spokesmen have lied to the world about the causes of Arab terrorism; that their jihad against Israel has nothing to do with the Israeli 'occupation' of Judea and Samaria, and that the Palestinian Authority as well as Hamas have no interest whatsoever in creating a Palestinian state, rather their true goal is the destruction of Israel.

Israel National News wrote about this new organization, founded in honor of Israel's 62nd Independence Day:

The latest Arab to show his public support for Israel is Elias Issa, who describes himself as a “European West-Bank Palestinian.” He writes that he chose a unique approach by which to celebrate Israel’s 62nd birthday – namely, by launching the Palestinian Zionist Organization. He says is goal is “to show the world why it must support the Jewish people and to [distance itself] from the terrorist Palestinian government.”
Statements on the new website include warnings that a new PA state, if it were to arise, would “become the most terrorist state in the world… The Palestinians don't believe in a two-state solution; they only believe in a one-state solution - a land called Palestine [which] does not involve any Jewishness."
Issa, who now lives in the United States, explains that the international community is blind “to what's truly going on in this Middle East conflict. [I hope] to make a difference by shining a different kind of light on the Palestinian-Israeli situation.”

On the website of the Palestinian Zionist Organization the history of the Jews' connection to the land of Israel is outlined, and Mr. Issa is forthright when he states:

•Israel is the promised land for the Jewish people, not for the Palestinians! It’s a sin to give away G-ds Holy land.

It is unusual, to say the least, to hear an Arab stating that Israel is G-d given to the Jewish people, and that she should not relinquish any of her land "for peace", which he states outright is an illusion and a great Palestinian lie believed by the world.

The world refuses to learn from history that all the prior concessions made by Israel were met with terrorism, not peace.  It is compelling to read what Mr. Issa says when he writes;

Being a Palestinian myself, I advise Israel NOT TO GIVE the Arabs even one inch of land! The radical Palestinians and the other Arabic nations will only use this land to destroy Israel and to murder as many Jewish people as possible. THIS is was history teaches us! I am absolutely pro peace, but you can't make peace with people who do not want peace.

And while the entire world, including the left wing in Israel condemns the 'expansion of territory' and the 'settlers' as being the heart of the Israel/Palestinian conflict and creates a major crisis over 'construction' and 'illegal outposts', Mr. Issa suggests to the settlers what he thinks they should do: 

A word for the settlers

Stay where you are and keep the Land that G-d promised you, you have the right to be on this land and you deserve all the land which is promised in the Tanakh to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So this includes parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt! If they ever attack you....YOU HAVE TO TAKE BACK THE LAND WHICH BELONGS TO YOU! I am not pro war, but this is the risk that these nations are taking when they attack you. So you have the right to take that land from where they attack and to keep it as a security zone.

 The government in Israel and Jews world-wide need to muster the courage of this man to speak the truth and to stand their ground in what is factually and morally right:

1) Keep all the 'territories' which were captured in the six-day war in June 1967 and formerly annex them as part of the State of Israel, and

2) Officially declare Jerusalem the undivided (it is still considered an 'international' city) Jewish capital of Israel.

3) The state of Israel should sanction construction and encourage people to settle the hilltops now considered "illegal outposts" to create a strong Jewish demographic presence.

And if president Obama here in the United States really wants a just peace between the Arabs and their Jewish neighbor--key word here being "just"--he for starters should show solidarity with strengthening Israel's hand by two executive acts:

1) Freeing Jonathan Pollard who has been given a life sentence, incompatible with his crime, and in violation of his plea agreement; and finally

2) Moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, per the Jerusalem Embassy Act enacted by the 104th Congress on October 23rd, 1995.

The Arab mentality, as past history has shown, responds to a stand of strength, not to concessions from weakness.

"Defying All Odds"

Although slightly after-the-fact of Israel's celebration of it's 62nd Independence Day, here is a video outlining many positive and wonderful acts which Israel has accomplished, facts the world either does not know, or chooses to ignore (hat tip Arlene from Israel, April 28th, 2010).

Instead, the world doesn't say or do too much about true human rights violations such as subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia, rape, murder and genocide of various tribal or ethnic groups, attacks on free speech and death threats to cartoonists for example, perpetrated by others over the years (think Rwanda, Darfur, Turkish mass murder of Armenians, Theo Van Gogh, South Park, etc.)

For deep pathological reasons (which subject I will return to in a future post), the global community is again placing the blame for all the world's ills on. . . Israel and the Jews.

Here is the truth about. . . Israel and the Jews:

The Latest HH (What's in a Number?)

The newest Haveil Havalim, often known merely as "HH", is up and running at Blog d'Elisson.  It's number 264.  Or not.  Read it.  Thank you.

The Backlash against Political Correctness is Beginning

I have been reading several articles now about 'calling a spade a spade' and 'telling it like it is.'  It seems people are beginning to snap back from this political correctness of kowtowing to the Muslims and stating that we are 'not at war with Islam' and that 'Islam is the religion of peace.'

I hope this is true.  I hope this movement, if it even is a movement, will counteract the withdrawal of 'offensive' South Park episodes and the withdrawal of 'offensive' cartoons.  What are we waiting for? For the next artistic director, or writer, or cartoonist to be murdered in cold blood in the name of Islam? How stupid can we be?

Here are but two great examples of what everyone should be doing: speaking out, standing up for free speech, and calling evil by its real name. And Islam is one of them.

Mike Adams has a wonderfully sarcastic way of standing up to those who threatened the creators of South Park.  He wrote letters addressed to the "Revolution Muslim."  Here is a sample:

Dear Revolution Muslim:
I am disappointed that the post I left on your blog http://revolutionmuslim.blogspot.com/ has been deleted. In that post, I called you on the carpet as being cowards because I simply do not believe you have the courage to engage in real Jihad. If you did, you would not have taken the pains to clarify your recent comments about the creators of South Park. There is no Jihad Lite. You are either willing to die for Islam or you are not. Anyone who is afraid he will get arrested for threatening people who write cartoons for a living cannot be considered a true Jihadist. In fact, I am so certain that you are cowards and frauds that I have little confidence you will leave this post on your blog either. I think you have disgraced Allah and that, in all likelihood, 72 male virgins await you in heaven.
Mike Adams

Read the whole thing here.


And on his website, Stephen W. Browne is not afraid to mince words.  

Yale University Press Director John Donatich said a committee of experts’ “overwhelming and unanimous recommendation” was to withdraw all images of Muhammad.
Of course they gave a reason. And of course it was longish and left out the single word that would have summed it all up – cowardice.
Long-time readers know I try to avoid using vulgarity, satire, and personal insult too often. Not so much from delicate sensibility, but because overuse diminishes effectiveness.
Nor do I usually care to belittle any man’s religion. However absurd I may think another’s opinions on the Great Perhaps may be, if it gets you through this vale of tears with any amount of courage and grace, more power to you.
So here’s my thoughts on the matter: Fuck you Yale University Press. You Ivy League assholes used to produce scholars, leaders, and heroes.
How are the mighty fallen!

Shame on you, Yale University Press, for being cowards in the face of threats against free speech.  I'd rather go to Metro.

(This cartoon isn't even a lie: Muslims have bombed, murdered and mutilated in the name of Muhammad and Islam. Call it like it is, people.)

Oh, gosh--and I almost forgot to remind you about  May 20th, which everyone knows is Everybody Draw Muhammad Day.

Judaism's Conflicts

 I was reading comments on another blog, and one commenter related a joke, which was pretty funny, but got me to thinking about Judaism, and and change.  Some change can be good, and some change, unnecessary, and even bad.

This was the joke:

An old man goes to visit his nonobservant grandson. He asks, "What's that on your necklace?" The young man proudly says, "It's my mezuzah! See, I'm proud to be Jewish!" The old man goes to the door and starts looking around the doorway. "What are you looking for, Pops?" "I'm looking for your tzitzis!"

I am throwing this post out there for discussion, as I could be wrong (moi? never!), and anyway I would love to dialogue with my readers, many who might be more knowledgeable than I.

For centuries, Judaism - and I am speaking of Ashkenazic Judaism, because that is my background, and I know less about the Sephardic stream - was more or less unchanged.  A "Jew" was not classified as either religious or secular, but just a "Jew."  An ordinary Jew would lay tefillin every day, wear tzitzit, have a mezuzah on his door.  That was just what being a Jew 'meant.'

A Jew would daven three times a day, mostly (maybe some were...lazy, and didn't...).  A Jew kept "kosher" - there was no other way to be, as for centuries Jews would not eat with their non-Jewish neighbors because of kashrut and hitbolelut reasons.  Jews, plain and simple, followed the laws delineated in the Torah and Shulchan Aruch, more or less the same.  It is only since the haskalah movement in Europe, that any thought was given to deviating from the norm.

Now, we have people wearing mezuzot around their necks instead of placing them on their doors (the 'joke' is actually true), and women wearing tallitot and kippot.

Now, why take that on? Why take on the outer-garments that were worn traditionally by Jewish men? By the same token why take on the name "Rabbi" for a woman teacher instead of using the established feminine form, "Rabbanit," or "Rebbetzin?"

I am certainly not averse to women learning, being scholars, and even being religious leaders and teachers in their own communities or in the larger Jewish community--in fact, I am for it: women have been--although their role as homemakers and mothers are elevated in Judaism--denied certain rights outside the home but inside their congregations (if you can call them "rights").

Take for example, a woman speaking in front of the congregation (how is that the same as davening in front of the amud?), which right-wing Orthodoxy including Chassidic sects such as Chabad do not allow. We ourselves had a very interesting experience, years ago when our daughter Rambo had her bat-mitzvah in our shul. 

We were already members of our Chabad/Lubavitch congregation, and had her bat-mitzvah there.  We had planned a special kiddush after the davening, and our daughter had written a dvar Torah on the parsha, the Torah portion read that Shabbat, eight years ago December.  The mechitzah was taken down after the davening, and she went up to the amud in front of the congregation, on the stage in front of the Aron HaKodesh (which was closed, with curtain drawn), and read her dvar. People listened.  It was insightful.  It was wonderful.  And it was the last.  The Rabbi never allowed any girl to read a dvar in front of the congregation ever again.  He must have gotten flak from the congregants, or from Lubavitch Central, or had second thoughts himself.

Whatever the reason for his decision, from then on, b'not mitzvah were merely announced with a 'mazal tov,' a man, either the father of the bat-mitzvah or the Rabbi, gave the dvar Torah, and the kiddush was 'in honor of the bat-mitzvah', men and women sitting at their separate tables, as usual.  Any speeches or divrei Torah by the bat-mitzvah girl were held at a women's-only celebration.

And how about the proscription against singing in public, commonly known as the proscription against "kol isha," the 'voice of a woman.'  There was a time, not so long ago, in the early 1900's up to the fifties or sixties, when it was accepted for Orthodox girls to sing in a mixed choir.

Now, it is not accepted for women to sing in mixed choirs, let alone sing solo in public.  However, I know of many Orthodox men who love classical music and opera, and will go, with their wives,  to hear a woman sing arias in an opera.  Are they committing a religious transgression? Will this lead to wanton sexual misconduct? The idea is utterly ridiculous.  And the Talmud, which states "kol b'isha erva*" and was written by men, might be misinterpreted, or (horrors) might be wrong.  To this day, there is an Orthodox Jewish idea that Gemara should not be studied by women.  What are they afraid of (guess I am a transgressor) ?

In general, there has been a creeping,  inexorable move to the right in Orthodox Judaism, with a simultaneous move for left-wing Jews to take on the religious trappings traditionally held by Jewish men.

Is that a backlash to the Orthodox move to the right? And does that move to the right constitute the beginnings of a Jewish Taliban culture?  I believe it is time to discuss it.

(For further insight into some of these issues, here and here are some sites for perusal.)


kol b'isha erva: the voice of a woman is nakedness

Metamorphosis of a Mother

I always defined myself as a mother of my children.  I even have that description in my "about" page on my blog.  It is so true: I used to be--many, many snows ago--the original "Earth Mother".  I have a mental image of me, walking somewhere with four children: with an older child (ten, perhaps?) pushing a little one in a stroller, my holding a four-year old's hand, and an older baby in a backpack on my back.  I so loved being pregnant, having children, raising them--just being a mother.  That is how I defined myself, for years and years (I have five, Baruch Hashem). 

And then, without warning, everything changed.  It's funny how I was not even aware of it; my eldest had moved out of the house long before (there is a 17 year difference between her and my youngest).  Then, in 2003, my sons moved out together--to live overseas.  And in 2004, my baby, then only fifteen, moved to that same country to attend three years of high school and then, serve in the army.  In 2005, my middle daughter graduated high school and left for a college year abroad, which (of course) turned into another three years attending a different college for her Bachelor's degree in business administration.

There I was: empty-nested, but mentally still defining myself as. . .a mother of small children!  I didn't somehow, emotionally and psychologically keep up with the changes in my family, and with the passage of time.  They just "happened," and suddenly I found myself--even though I had already been a grandmother since the year 1999--different: missing my children.  I think I realized that I was. . .OLDER.  With no apparent purpose, and a big emptiness in my heart.

Slowly but surely, this is beginning to change.  I am evolving, as we all must do as we age and (hopefully) mature.  I watch my younger son, a new father now with two children, being hands-on and a participant father in raising them, a boy and a girl, only 17 and 7 months respectively, and I am proud of him.

This developed even further during Pesach (Passover) with the first visit of my older son and his wife, whom I hadn't seen since their wedding over two years ago.  I watched my older son, who is expecting his first child, being demonstrative and loving to his wife, doting on her in her first pregnancy, and I am amazed: the two brothers are both better husbands than I ever hoped they would be.

I am certain that they, following that same path of kindness, love, and participation in the raising of a child--the most important job in the world--will be outstanding fathers.

My eldest, a daughter who also lives far away from us, is an entrepreneur but also a loving mother of three.  In addition, she deliberately went about avoiding making the same mistakes her mother made (!) in raising her children, and has succeeded at it.  I am hoping that my two unmarried daughters will find the right partner for each of them soon: their soul-mates, and embark on that miraculous journey called "life."

Meanwhile, I now am beginning to really appreciate them as my adult children, with families of their own.  And my role is changing, too-- to be a good "Savta" to my grandchildren, wherever in the world they might be.

Haveil Havalim, Yom haShoah Edition

Simply Jews says it's number 263. . . I say it's #265. . . whatever!  It's up, so just read it, okay? I was never good at math, anyway (if I'm right, you can thank me later).

Islam: A Religion of WAR, not Peace.

Thank you to Arlene Kushner for alerting us to this video.  Visit her website for comprehensive and thoughtful information on Israel and the related political climate in the United States.



You might also want to go to this site (thanks again to Arlene Kushner) and see how the Arabs treated the Jewish residents of the Jewish Quarter in the old city in 1948--oh, and that was before the "Israeli occupation" of 1967.  Try Arab Occupation of 1948 .

There is a Future. . .

This is not a propaganda piece.  Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Israel.org) doesn't even know that I'm posting this (although maybe I should tell them).  I am posting this for the entire Jewish People, because I see, at this time, no other option: there is no one else out there with the vision of Moshe Feiglin.

But mainly,  I am posting this for my children.

Judge Richard Goldstone: Black Sheep of the Family

Apparently Judge Richard Goldstone is persona non grata, at least to some of his family members, which prompted his decision not to attend his grandson's bar-mitzvah.

Judge Richard Goldstone, who headed a war crimes probe that has infuriated Israel and Jewish communities around the world, will not be attending his grandson’s bar mitzva in Johannesburg next month, according to a South African newspaper.

Goldstone will not be present when his grandson performs the religious rite, following an agreement between the family, the South African Zionist Organization (SAZF) and the Beith Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue in Sandton, where the event will take place, the South African Jewish Report said.

 I mean, would you want him in your family?

We Need to Connect the Dots

It had been evident from the start--from the beginning of the campaign when we began learning about that hitherto unknown entity called Barack Hussein Obama--that he was not totally enamored with Israel.

There were so many clues, such as his membership for years in a Christian church with a radical, anti-White, anti-Jewish pastor, and Mr. Obama's nefarious connections with Bill Ayers, to name just a few.  He just seemed not to like these United States.

These affiliations over the years should have meant something to the American people, but apparently they were looking for the American Idol and had stars in their eyes, and only heard the flowery rhetoric, especially pleasing to the ears after eight years of totally inarticulate G. W. Bush.

Now we are faced with an American president who seems to actively dislike Israel.  From the Washington Examiner, by John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the U. N.:

Consider, for example, Obama's September 2009 U.N. General Assembly speech, profoundly anti-Israeli, and to a body where Israel is perennially even more isolated than the United States. There, among other things, Obama called for a "Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967."

"...that ends the occupation that began in 1967..."?  No mention here of the reason for the occupation: that defensive, existential war fought by Israel against a total of nine Arab/Muslim nations, three of whom were prepared to annihilate her and six of whom contributed arms and personnel to the effort.

For at least half a year now there have been sporadic articles about the subtle-and-not-so-subtle shift in the American political attitude towards Israel.  Last year, Mr. Obama stated at the U. N. General Assembly that

"America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." 

-In the same breath as he said it is time for peace in the Middle East "without preconditions."

In the light of the fact that Mr. Obama bowed to the Saudi Prince, is still trying to court Mr. Ahmadinejad of Iran, sends polite letters to Mr. Karzai of Afghanistan, and rebuffs Mr. Netanyahu on his visit to the White House, isn't it time that someone started to connect the dots?

Hebrew: To Unite All Jews

This post actually began its life as a reply to a comment about how Hebrew unites all Jews, on the FrumSatire blog, until I realized that it was turning into a post.  So here it is.

Esther, you have a valid question.  Yiddish, most recently, is the language which united Eastern European Jews whose parents and grandparents emigrated (those who survived the Sho'ah) from there; it was the vernacular of the Ashkenazim, those Jews who, after the expulsion from Spain settled in Germany and surrounding areas of Eastern Europe.  I too, wish that I knew more Yiddish than I do, which is mainly only isolated words and phrases.

Your question, 'how does Hebrew unite the Jews,' is a very sad one.  There was a time which lasted for centuries, when the Hebrew language--the language of the Torah--was a universal language for Jews all over the world. 

No matter where they lived or what language they spoke in their adopted countries, the lingua franca of the Jews was always Ivrit (Hebrew).  Through Hebrew, they could communicate across boundaries far and wide, which they often did, for all sorts of reasons--such as helping each other in times of great persecution--and also in conducting business and commerce. 

How was that possible? Because of something that is not universal anymore, especially not for the majority of Jews in the United States: a thorough Jewish and Hebrew Education.  There was a time, not too long ago, when most if not all Jewish children attended Jewish schools, even if they were afternoon schools, but they did so on an almost daily basis, where they learned their heritage and the "Alef-Bet," the Hebrew alphabet, and then continued on with the Hebrew language.

Did you ever see the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?"  At the movie's closing sequence, the protagonist and her husband send their daughter to "Greek School," just as she herself did at the beginning of the film, when she was a child.  This was true for Jews as well, no matter where they lived.  Jewish life in the United States changed, however--ironically, because of the great freedoms we had here, freedom (relative to Europe, as there were still many instances of prejudice and negative discrimination here)  to a free, public education, freedom to pursue a career of one's choice, freedom to advance in life.  Because of this, many, many Jews chose to leave their religion and heritage; they chose to study only secular subjects, and not Jewish ones.  They chose to blend in in order to become like the general, non-Jewish population: why be different, when in the past, 'different' meant 'persecuted'?

Most Jews, for centuries--were Jewishly-literate Jews: they knew their heritage, they knew their holy texts and they knew their sources, including the language of their people.  In the early days of the State of Israel, I remember stories going around on how an ordinary bus driver knew passages from Psalms or the Torah, or could quote Jewish literature.  I fear this is no longer true.  Even in Israel, the generation that is being raised is at most only semi-literate with its heritage, if at all.  Most Israelis don't even know their own Hebrew grammar, dikduk.

This, actually, is part of the problem with Israel's personal 'identity crisis' these days.  Israel doesn't know if it should be a nation "like all other nations," or a "Jewish" nation.  So far, it seems to have chosen the former; and look what that has achieved: almost universal hatred by the entire world, including possibly the president of the United States.  How can the world respect Israel and the Jews, if we don't respect ourselves?

Perhaps it's time for Israel and all Jews to try the latter: to be proud of our heritage and knowledgeable in it.  To learn our universal language of Hebrew, which would strengthen us and unite us again.  In short, to be proud to be a Jew in today's non-Jewish world.  And not to be afraid.

Esther, perhaps it is time to go out and find out who you are: go, learn Hebrew!

Thank You, Former Mayor Koch

The Huffington Post featured a good article by the former Mayor of New York City, Mr. Ed Koch, in which he assesses President Obama's bad policy towards Israel. He contrasts Obama's attitude towards Israel with his reactions towards the Karzai government in Afghanistan, and sums it up thus (emphasis added):

I weep today because my president, Barack Obama, in a few weeks has changed the relationship between the U.S. and Israel from that of closest of allies to one in which there is an absence of trust on both sides. The contrast between how the president and his administration deals with Israel and how it has decided to deal with the Karzai administration in Afghanistan is striking.

The Karzai administration, which operates a corrupt and opium-producing state, refuses to change its corrupt ways - the president's own brother is believed by many to run the drug traffic taking place in Afghanistan - and shows the utmost contempt for the U.S. is being hailed by the Obama administration as an ally and publicly treated with dignity. Karzai recently even threatened to join the Taliban if we don't stop making demands on him. Nevertheless, Karzai is receiving a gracious thank-you letter from President Obama. The New York Times of April 10th reported,

...that Mr. Obama had sent Mr. Karzai a thank-you note expressing gratitude to the Afghan leader for dinner in Kabul. 'It was a respectful letter,' General Jones said.

On the other hand, our closest ally -- the one with the special relationship with the U.S. -- has been demeaned and slandered, held responsible by the administration for our problems in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. The plan I suspect is to so weaken the resolve of the Jewish state and its leaders so that it will be much easier to impose on Israel an American plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving Israel's needs for security and defensible borders in the lurch.

I believe President Obama's policy is to create a whole new relationship with the Arab states of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, and Iraq as a counter to Iran -- The Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Muslim world, which we are now prepared to see in possession of a nuclear weapon. If throwing Israel under the bus is needed to accomplish this alliance, so be it.

The irony is that the Arabs are not really interested in "peace" with Israel, nor have they ever been. Their hidden agenda--hidden to most undiscerning eyes--is the utter destruction and elimination of Israel as a Jewish State.

If only more prominent people would have the courage to speak out, as did ex-Mayor Koch.

Israel: the Conscience of the World

In addition to being there to protect the Jewish People, another reason for Israel's existence--for those who have the audacity to question it--is that it serves as the the world's conscience.






Hat tip, A Soldier's Mother.

Yom Zicharon HaShoah*

As seen on Undhimmi: for all of us, for all time. For the sake of life on this Earth.




We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses
We are shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers
From Prague, Paris and Amsterdam,
And because we are only made of fabric and leather
And not of blood and flesh,
Each one of us avoided the hellfire

– Moshe Szulsztein, Yiddish Poet

Never, ever forget.

(And I add: NEVER AGAIN.)



*Yom Zicharon HaShoah: Holocaust Remembrance Day

Haveil Havalim #264 is UP. . .

. . .and running at Frume Sarah's, here. So what are you waiting for? Go, seek--and ye shall READ!

Pour Out Thy Wrath. . .

I was totally dismayed when I read on the first day of chol ha-mo’ed Pesach, an article entitled Offensive Liturgy in the Passover Seder: Take It Out, by Joshua Stanton.

In the article he described his personal seder and highlighted a passage in the Haggadah which he termed “offensive,” and at which (he wrote) the Jewish guests winced. He made a point to say that the non-Jewish guests were not the ones who were offended, but that the Jewish participants cringed at reading those words. And then, he proposed removing this “offensive” passage from the Haggadah entirely.

What is this special paragraph, and why was it considered so offensive? This behooves a little historical background: the Haggadah* which has the order of the Seder* and is read on Seder night, was codified into booklet form around the thirteenth century. Before then, it had been appended to the Hebrew prayer book, the siddur. It itself dates back to the period of the Tannaim, who compiled the Mishna part of the Talmud, around 170 C.E. It is mentioned by Rabban Gamliel who was the head of the Sanhedrin* at the time. In the eighth to the tenth century, the Haggadah was formulated to a similar version to what it is today.

The Haggadah relates the story of the humble background of the Jewish people, their period of slavery in Egypt and how G-d through Moshe Rabeinu* slowly formed the Israelites into a nation, first through His miracles, signs and wonders which caused the Egyptians to finally release them, only to pursue them into the split waters of the Reed Sea (almost always mistranslated as “Red Sea”) and come to their deaths as the waters returned, crashing down upon them and drowning them all except for their Pharoah, who was on the Egyptian side, watching (as opposed to modern Israeli officers, true leaders who lead their troops into battle, and whose famous motto was “aharai” – ‘after me’).

We are supposed to read and discuss the Haggadah with the mindset that this is our story, not just our ancestors’ – we need to feel as if this is happening to us, today: that we ourselves were slaves and are now free men and women, and show gratitude to Hashem.

We even show, in the ritual of reading the ten plagues, a little sadness, by removing a drop of wine from our cup with our little finger, one drop for each plague read out loud in the liturgy. Wine symbolizes joy and happiness, and by removing ten drops, we remove some of our happiness, because even though the Egyptians were our enemies and slave-masters, they were G-d’s creations too, and we regret that Ribono shel Olam* had to destroy them. What other people ever shows that kind of understanding and empathy for an enemy in their liturgy?

The controversial passage was added in the Middle Ages at a time of great persecution during the Crusades, and after centuries of other nations and later the world's "great" religions--the Greeks, Romans, Christians and later Muslims—forcing Jews to convert upon penalty of death, blaming Jews for economic ills, perpetrating blood libels accusing Jews of murdering Christian children in order to use their blood in baking matzah, and then going on pogroms murdering the Jews for this heinous lie.

The passage, “Shfoch Hamatcha,” or “Pour out Your wrath” was a verbal response to these atrocities and heinous crimes. It can be translated thus:

Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the wrath of Your anger overtake them. Pursue them with anger, and destroy them from beneath the heavens of the L-rd.

Did the Jewish people retaliate? Could the Jewish people defend themselves? They had every right to, for at least 2,000 years of frequent brutal persecution. But they didn’t. They didn’t have a country. They didn’t have an army. All they had was an unshaken faith in the G-d who “chose” them to be His people. And they turned to Him to protect them and avenge their persecution.

Why are we ashamed of this? We are ashamed because of a lingering “ghetto mentality.” Because, in our touchy-feely-goody world of nicey-nicey where it is politically incorrect to tell the truth and call evil by its rightful name, this passage doesn’t ‘fit.’ It is blunt. It is biting. It is angry.

And it is right.

We are not the ones who should be ashamed. Those other nations and religions, some of whom perpetrated these terrible crimes, and the others who stood by and looked the other way—they are the ones who should be ashamed.

Finally, for the first time in 2,000 years of exile, we have our country back--you know the one: the one promised to us in the Bible by G-d.

It is a Jewish country, and should remain so. We rule it. We have an incredible army, strong, yet ethical. On the eve of Holocaust remembrance day (should we forget that, too?), it is very appropriate to cite this passage in the Haggadah which we have just read so recently. To emphasize, "Never Again."

We, with G-d’s help, will never allow the destruction of our people to happen again.

The passage should stay.




*Haggadah: comes from the Hebrew verb “le-haggid,” to narrate.
*Seder: Hebrew word meaning “order”.
*Sanhedrin: the Jewish legislative body in Jerusalem
*Moshe Rabeinu: Moses our Teacher
*Ribono shel Olam: Master of the Universe

Late Notice: HH #263 was UP last Sunday!

With the stress of eight people living here for Pesach, the normal whirlwind of the holiday and my being sick with severe bronchitis for the entire chag, I didn't get to  post the notice of Haveil Havalim, the Jewish Blog Carnival, let alone post since the beginning of the chag.

So here it is, folks, the latest Haveil Havalim #263 at Super Raizy's--better late than never--and better read it fast, too, 'cause the next one will be out this Sunday.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Pesach!