The Endless War by Leviticus
April 3 starts the Passover holiday. It is commemorated as the holiday of freedom; the exodus from slavery. For over 3000 years the Jewish people have been persecuted, slandered, hated, and killed but we still survive. This year these words in the Haggadah ring especially true \
“For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation, there are those that rise up against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand.”
Even the most progressive Jews cannot deny the overt animosity our president and his minions have displayed towards the Jewish state. Unfortunately, they also can’t deny their own culpability. This is also an old story that we have seen for millennia and it doesn’t end well.
The Jewish people have been an integral part of this country from its very beginnings. The first 23 Jews landed in Nieuw Amsterdam ( New York under British rule) in 1654. Although the governor, Peter Stuyvesant , wished to rid the colony of its new immigrants, his bosses refused his request and Jews have remained important to the economic, cultural, and political development of this country. Many of our Founding Fathers studied Hebrew as part of their religious training and were educated at Harvard or Yale, which were started as bible based ( Old Testament) schools.
Today we have Jews, non-Jews, Muslims, NGOs, and countries lined up to curse Israel, Zionism, and of course its purveyor the Jew. This gives the murderers free rein to murder rabbis at prayer, children at school, and shoppers at kosher markets. According to those who pledge their lives to hate and kill, the morass in the Middle East is all because of that tiny Jewish country which they all pledge to wipe off the map. For some Jews, that doesn’t pose a problem. They jump on the band wagon, scream “Free Palestine,” and denigrate their own people. An example of this is the hipster Lena Dunham’s latest piece in The NewYorker. Leaving the unbelievable meanness to her boyfriend,stupidity and terrible writing aside, the title alone is disgusting.
What if the title of Lena Dunham’s screed was “Dog or My Black Boyfriend: A Quiz” or lets really push the envelope and change it to “ Dog or my Muslim Boyfriend: A Quiz?” I don’t think I’m exaggerating if I write that the internet, Twitter, and Facebook would be lit up with all kinds of name calling, cries of racism, Islamophobia, and even death threats. There is no rational reason for this hatred, especially since Lena Dunham’s mother is a Jew. Tony Kushner, Peter Beinhart, Thomas Friedman, and let’s not forget Henry Kissinger, have all made it clear of their detestation of the tribe they were born into. Kissinger even refused Israel arms and weapons when Israel was attacked by Egypt on Yom Kippur.
Seven people were injured and three were murdered during Spring Break. The shooter was black. That wasn’t in the headline or in the article. A commentator made a comment about Mrs. Obama looking like a character out of “Planet of the Apes” and he lost his job. Maybe he meant she looked like Charlton Heston. The insult, however, was not in the league of the Dunham tirade against her boyfriend. Instead, her Jewish editor decided to publish it. The blowback against her has proven to be minimal.
This Passover, at every seder, all of us should take that ancient warning seriously. Progressive Jews, Lefty Jews , and Communist Jews- “dayenu” Jabotinsky states that Jews we have nothing to apologize for. We have had enough of your crawling and appeasing. Jabotinsky said we should tell all the haters to go to hell. “Dayenu”Jews , of the Left stand up for yourselves and your people. Now that’s true freedom. Happy Passover!
