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April 19 A Hatred As Old As TimeSixty-six years ago today, on April 19, 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. Coincidentally, that year, April 19 was the eve of Pessach (Passover).
Three weeks separate the start of Pessach and Israel's Independence Day. Three weeks between the festival that marks our emergence on the stage of History as a people rather than as a desert tribe, and the festival that marks our renaissance, after two millenia of exile, as a sovereign nation in our own land. Between them, eight days before Independence Day, we commemorate one of the most traumatic events in a history replete with traumatic events - Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, which falls this year on Tuesday, April 21.
The rest of the world commemorates the Holocaust on January 27, the day of the liberation of Auschwitz, but this commemoration has in many places been watered-down by turning it into a commemoration of other acts of genocide - or so-called genocide - thus downplaying the uniqueness of the Jewish experience.
The symbolic connection between the Holocaust and Israel's rebirth might be obvious to some. Indeed, Israel has frequently been accused of exploiting European guilt feelings about the Holocaust, first, to garner support for the establishment of the Jewish State and thereafter, to stifle criticism of Israel. Less obvious, perhaps, is the connection between Pessach and the Holocaust. Yet, to my mind, the connection between these last two is clear. In the Haggadah, which we read at the eve of Pessach meal, the Seder, we are told how Pharaoh planned the extermination of the Children of Israel. Quoting from the Book of Exodus, chapter I, the Haggadah tells us how a new Pharaoh arose "who knew not Joseph", who tried first to suppress the growth of the Children of Israel by enslavement and forced labour, and the breaking of family ties and then, when that failed, by ordering the destruction of all newborn male babies among the Hebrews. Thus, the story of Pessach incorporates the first recorded case in history of attempted genocide. Then, as so many times thereafter, it was directed at the Jews.
Why?
If we look for a reason for the deep-rooted antisemitism in Europe, which was the breeding-ground for the Holocaust, we can see that the doctrine of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches and later, of Martin Luther, according to which the Jews were collectively guilty of the murder of Jesus, proved to be fertile soil for this most ancient hatred. I could (and probably shall) write a whole blog about this alone, but it does not wholly answer the question. As we have seen, hatred of the Jews (or, as they were then known, the Children of Israel or the Hebrews) predates Christianity by almost fifteen centuries. It is the oldest recorded form of racism - and the most persistent. It sheds its form and takes on new guises with each generation. Since the end of World War II, with the revulsion against Nazi atrocities, it has become "politically incorrect" to be antisemitic, so now, our detractors claim to be anti-Zionist rather than anti-Jewish. Hatred of the Jewish State has "replaced" hatred of the Jewish People, but in most cases, if you scratch the surface, dig a little deeper and engage in Socratic dialogue with the "anti-Zionists", they will soon show their true colours.
Another form of antisemitism can be seen in the attempt to deny the very existence of a Jewish People. "You are not true descendants of the Children of Israel", it is claimed. "You are Khazars, with no claim whatsoever to the land you have stolen from the Palestinians." Thus, having failed physically to eradicate us, they attempt to negate our very being as Jews, by the revision of history. If we are Khazars ( a Central Asian people who more or less disappeared as a separate national and cultural entity in the 10th century C.E.), then the Jews don't exist any more and "the Jewish Problem" is solved. This too is a subject for an entire blog and I shall no doubt return to it in the not-too-distant future.
My friends - I don't have an answer to the age-old question "Why us?". In my forthcoming blogs, I shall endeavour to explore further some of the points I have raised, in the hope of provoking (civilised) discussion. Your comments (as long as they are polite) will be welcome. As they say on the talkback shows - "The lines are now open". Feel free to respond. April 11 For behold, the winter is past......the rain is over and gone.
Well, not exactly. It was hardly there to begin with and we are, in fact, facing a severe drought. However, as it is traditional at Pessach to read the Song of Songs and since, for the past few days, as I walk around the neighbourhood and see flowers peeping out from almost every crack in the pavement (not to mention in gardens and window-boxes), I've been whipping out my camera phone and snapping away at the least provocation, I thought I'd add a photo album to show my readers what spring is like in Jerusalem. I've given captions to all the photos but I find that Live Spaces has a mind of its own and, once the photos are uploaded, changes the order so that the captions don't really make sense. In order to view the photos in the order in which I intended, please click on "Slideshow". Otherwise, the captions will make no sense, especially as there aren't any pictures of fig trees or turtle doves (though I may add some later, if I get lucky with my camera
 ).Meanwhile, enjoy!
חג שמח April 07 SunriseTomorrow will witness an event which, according to Jewish tradition, occurs only once every 28 years. At sunrise, the earth, the sun and the moon will be aligned in exactly the same places they were on the day they came into being, on the fourth day of Creation. Please note: tomorrow is Wednesday - the fourth day of the week. Hundreds of thousands of worshippers are expected to rise before dawn, to witness the sunrise and say special prayers, for tomorrow marks Birkat Ha'Hama - "The Blessing of the Sun" - marking the end of a 28 year solar cycle and the start of a new cycle. Even rarer, the event will take place on the eve of Pessach, in the middle of the lunar month, when the rising sun and the setting moon are both clearly and completely visible in the morning sky. In a way - and this is the way it has been explained to Jewish children for countless generations - one could say that tomorrow is the sun's birthday.
So I'd better go and get a good night's sleep now - I need to be up early tomorrow  .April 03 The Face of the BeastI had intended to devote this week's blog to my choir's concerts last week and again, the day before yesterday. That was before yesterday's cowardly terrorist attack on the children of Bat Ayin, in the West Bank.
Yesterday (April 2nd) at noon, a Palestinian terrorist (believed to have been acting alone) entered the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin, armed with an axe, with which he proceeded to attack a group of children playing in the centre of the village. His first victim, 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ, received a fatal wound to the neck as the terrorist scumbag tried to behead him. Mortally wounded, and bleeding, he managed to stagger to his home nearby, where he collapsed and died in his mother's arms.
The next victim was 7-year-old Yair Gamliel, who sustained severe wounds to the head and is now in hospital. Yair's 8-year-old brother, Yosef, who was playing with the other children, miraculously escaped injury after the ball with which they were playing had just fallen, some distance away, and he had run to fetch it.
Who knows what might have happened had not one of the adult residents happened along and tackled the murderer? He managed to disarm him, but the scumbag escaped and is even now being hunted by the Israel Defence Forces. When they find him, I hope and pray they do not take him alive, only to have his freedom added to the already exhorbitant list of demands Hamas is making for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (who may, or may not, be alive). I hope, instead, that the Beast may be killed while trying to escape capture.
I would happily put a bullet through his black heart myself.
Wouldn't you? |
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