In case I don't get to post again before the holiday starts, a Chag Kasher v'Sameyach (Happy and Kosher Passover) to all of you. And since there's still a little time left, let this Passover - and if not this certainly the next one - be celebrated with the paschal lamb being sacrificed in the rebuilt Third Temple in the Holy City of Jerusalem. There's plenty of room for a tent for all of you to stay in my backyard :-)
At Legal Insurrection, Miriam Elman reports that the loony Jewish Left, lead by 'Jewish' Voice for 'Peace' (JVP) has published a Haggada this year. I have my doubts that anyone who reads this blog is going to want it in their house, but....
I was curious to see what they do for the end of the seder, when we all say "Next year in [rebuilt] Jerusalem. Here's the answer.
Question 4. “Next Year in Jerusalem!”
We now end our Seder meal once again with the proclamation “Next Year in Jerusalem!” And so
we ask: what will we do to ensure that Jerusalem lives up to its name as a city of peace? How will
we respond as the Jewish state increasingly implements policies that claim this holy city in the
name of one people only? Do we dare to dream of a city divided or a city truly united for all its
inhabitants?
...and if we do believe that Jerusalem must be, once and for all, a true City of Peace, what are we
willing to do to make it so?
CLOSING
As we close tonight, go around your table and say goodnight and one thing that you are taking
away with you from this evening’s seder.
TOGETHER:
Next Year in Jerusalem! Next Year in al-Quds! Next year in a City of Peace!
Kumbaya.... Totally delusional. Either the Jews will control Jerusalem or the Arabs will make it Judenrein (Jew-free).
But as Miriam reports, the loony Jewish Left has done much more than publish a Haggada.
This week JVP activists have also been partnering with other Jewish activists affiliated with the recently founded If Not Now movement to field a “public Passover action” on April 19-21.
The effort is spread on social media through this week’s trending
hashtags #LiberationSeder and #IfNotNow (see samples below). It’s a five
city (Boston, NYC, Chicago, Bay Area, and Washington, D.C.) series of “seders in the streets”
and in various buildings that house major Jewish organizations in order
to appropriate the holiday’s rituals and texts for an anti-Israel
narrative.
The explicit goal of these publicly staged seders is to replace the
essential Passover themes—the retelling of the exodus from Egypt and the
Jewish people’s redemption in the land of Israel—with messages
concentrated on the “fight for Palestinian liberation”.
Let's go to the videotape.
Even more, it’s a bizarre program of anti-Jewish propaganda that has a
precedent. As I describe below, in the 1920s some deluded Jews in the
Soviet Union also enlisted in a campaign to eliminate the true meaning
of Passover.
It gets worse and there's a lot of it. Read the whole thing, but please don't let it ruin your Passover.
For Obama, it's never enough to greet Jews as Jews. He has to turn Pesach (Passover) into a black holiday (if you missed it, follow the link to Weasel Zippers and he has it highlighted).
For the seventh year in a row, President and Mrs. Obama hosted the
annual White House Seder. The Seder provides an opportunity for the
First Family to join in retelling the story of the Israelites’ arduous
journey through the desert from slavery in Egypt to liberation in the
Promised Land. In recounting the story, they joined their guests in
performing the Seder rituals and followed the Haggadah’s command that we
see ourselves as though we personally were liberated from Egypt. And
they acknowledged how this story has inspired generations of Americans
in the struggle for civil rights.
Silly me. I thought Pesach was a Jewish holiday.... Obama is just not capable of seeing anything except in his own context. An empathizer he's not.
Moadim l'simcha, a good holiday to all of you. Since I live in and am in Israel, I only have one holiday day, and therefore I may be online tonight.
A senior Israeli police officer was murdered and his wife was moderately to seriously wounded when 'Palestinian' terrorists opened fire on their car near Hebron shortly before the holiday started on Monday evening.
Chief Superintendent Baruch Mizrahi Hy''d, a husband and father of five, is the man who was murdered near Hevron on Monday by terrorists right before Passover began.
Mizrahi was driving to Kiryat Arba for a seder meal with his pregnant
wife and three of his children when a terrorist opened fire on the
family car, killing him and leaving his wife moderately to severely
wounded.
The superintendent was born in 1967 in Tel Aviv, was raised in Bat
Yam on the coast, and has lived for the past 15 years in Modi'in with
his family.
In his last role, which he has held for the last three years, Mizrahi
served as head of the Technology Division in the Sigint Unit, part of
the Intelligence Brigade in the Investigations and Intelligence Branch.
Mizrahi served in the IDF for 25 years, including many years as a
professional soldier, in which he filled many operational and technology
oriented roles. The last position he held was as Lieutenant Colonel in
Intelligence Unit 8200.
8200 is the high tech unit that has spawned much of Israel's high tech industry. May God Avenge his blood.
Rabbi Nachman Seltzer is proud to present a brand new Shira Chadasha
Boys' Choir video in honor of Pesach 2014. The song is called, "Chasal"
(חסל). Composed by: Yishai Saks
Arranged by: Gavriel and Yishai Saks
Mixed and Mastered by: Yitz Berry
Recorded at: Durango Studios Beit Shemesh www.durangostudios.com
Recording Engineer: Baruch Bergenfeld
Video Filmed and Directed by: Tiferet Shish
Guitars: Yehuda (Judah) David
This song is the one that indicates that the actual seder has ended.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: BY - son # 2, child #3).
Okay - we have until Monday night to learn this by heart....
What do you get when you take four sweet voices, singing a brand-new,
high-energy version of the"Dayeinu" Passover Seder song in their native
Hebrew, & set it against the backdrop of the sweeping foothills of
Israel? Check it out ... and prepare for a trip to a whole new world!
The photo is a parody, the story unfortunately is not. The Seattle chapter of the radical leftist 'Jewish Voice for Peace' is holding a 'seder' at which wine from Israel is banned, and the Haggada is reinterpreted to turn the 'Palestinians' into the Jews.
The Seattle Chapter of the radical Israel hating Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) invites you to a very special Passover Seder. They will be using their own one of a kind Passover Haggadah. Highlights of the JVP Haggadah include many helpful tips, like a reminder not to confuse Egypt with “Egypt” or Israel with “Israel”.
You will be especially moved and inspired by the Ten Plagues of the Israeli Occupation (Page 10). With a flair for the original, JVP adds an orange and a bowl of olives to their seder plate....
The ADL notes that
“the introduction to the JVP Haggadah compares Moses’s famous
declaration to Pharoah, “Let My People Go!” to the efforts of the Gaza
Flotilla to “free” the Palestinian people by breaking Israel’s blockade
of Gaza. According
to JVP, the third cup of wine, which is traditionally consumed after
the meal portion of the Seder, represents the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanction (BDS) of the Jewish state and Seder participants are
encouraged to “make a L’Chayim” to BDS.”
“The
constant supremacy of the Palestinian cause is also startling. When the
text, for example, reaches Yachatz, the breaking of the middle matzah,
the text reminds participants to acknowledge the “break that occurred in
Palestinian life and culture with the establishment of the State of
Israel in 1948″.”
Believe it or not, JVP and its ilk are slated to march in the Salute to Israel parade in New York City in June. A protest against the prospect of groups that support BDS being allowed to march in the parade is being held on April 8 from 4:00 - 7:00 pm in front of UJA-Federation of NY, 130 East 59th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues, New York, NY.
The fact that US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro even has to say this speaks volumes about the acrimonious state of US-Israel relations in the Age of Obama.
US President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Jerusalem
- the first of its kind since he entered the White House in 2009 - will
be without precondition, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told
Israel Radio on Wednesday morning.
Obama will discuss three main
issues with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: restarting the peace
process with the Palestinians, the Iranian nuclear program and the civil
war in Syria and the risks it poses to Israel, Shapiro told Israel
Radio.
"President Obama very much respects the Israeli political process,"
he said. "He won't intervene in elections or coalition talks, and he
will arrive after a new government is formed. They agreed that the start
of his second term and the new Israeli government will be a good time
for him to come and renew the deep connection that is ongoing between
Israel and the US."
Shapiro added that Obama is coming without
preconditions, but rather as in the framework of consultation on all
issues facing both Israel and the United States.
As I wrote last night, I believe that the trip's timing is connected to Passover (Pesach) and the hope that most Israelis will have better things to do with their time than to come out and demonstrate against Obama.
If Obama really wants to repair his relations with Israel, he should drop the 'Palestinians' until they are ready to come to the table without preconditions. But Obama has shown absolutely no willingness to drop the 'Palestinians' to date. He is only interested in pressuring Israel.
And a bold prediction: This will be Obama's last trip to Israel as President. I don't believe he's going to accomplish anything he wants to accomplish.
This year, there are more egregious examples of this trend. The National Jewish Democratic Council has published a new version of the “Four Questions” from the Haggadah that is a paean, not to the liberation of the Jews from Egypt, but to the wonders of Barack Obama, to whom the NJDC directs Americans to express thanks rather than their Creator. One need only read the NJDC’s questions to understand their desperation to make up for three years of Israel-bashing by President Obama as well as to get a feel for the attitude of the group toward the president that can only be characterized as worshipful.
The president’s shaky record on Israel — which was made all too clear by the constant fights and sniping against the Jewish state that only abated once his re-election campaign began — has made it imperative for Democrats to pretend as if the administration’s stands on Jerusalem, the 1967 borders and years of failed engagement with Iran never happened. They can rightly claim he has not trashed the alliance with Israel and has even done the right thing at the United Nations and continued to fund programs begun under his predecessor like the Iron Dome missile defense system (which Obama falsely claims credit for initiating). He has also said all the right things about stopping Iran’s nuclear threat though his actions (and a series of insidious leaks from his staffers) have demonstrated that he is more concerned about stopping Israel from defending itself than actually doing something about Iran.
The NJDC’s questions also attempt to use Passover to promote their party’s stands on ObamaCare and the defense of entitlement spending that is bankrupting the nation. There is nothing wrong with Democrats taking those positions if that’s what they believe, but the attempt to link these partisan stands on divisive issues — about which Jews as well as non-Jews can disagree — with Judaism is absurd.
An old joke about Reform Judaism had it that the movement’s concept of the faith was merely the Democratic Party Platform with holidays thrown in. As unfair as such a characterization was, it appears the NJDC wants to go it one better by attempting to transform Jewish holidays into partisan talking points. Such things show no respect for Judaism by trivializing the Exodus as merely an excuse for political rhetoric.
I think most of you can already guess what the video is going to be this evening. I'm just posting it a little bit early so that I can get the schnorring post on top at candle lighting.
Yes, it's Yaakov Shwekey and Yonatan Razel with v'Hi she'Amda (And that which has sustained our forefather and us), which comes from the Pesach seder.
Let's go to the videotape.
Chag Kasher v'Sameyach - a Happy and Kosher Passover to all of you. I'll be back on Saturday night, God willing, since the holiday on which work is forbidden here is only one day.
Oh - and we have all the children and grandchildren for the seder tonight. The last time that happened there were no married children and no grandchildren.
President Obama will be holding a Passover seder again on Friday night, and an email that has been making the rounds suggests these four questions:
For Friday night's Obama White House seder, we hear there's talk of an alternate version of the traditional four questions:
Introductory Question Mr. President, why is this administration different from all other administrations?
First Question Why is it that all other administrations acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but this administration refuses to say Jerusalem is even located in Israel?
Second Question Why is it that all other administrations try to be friendly to the democratically elected prime minister of Israel, but this administration is bitter towards him?
Third Question Why is it that all other administrations try not to pick fights with Israel even once, but this administration picks fights with Israel more than twice?
Fourth Question Why is it that in other administrations the president visits both Muslim and Jewish states, but this administration visits only Muslim states?
Forget that he gave massive financial support — not to mention weekly attendance — to a church whose pastor, Jeremiah Wright, delivers anti-Semitic jabs on a regular basis. Forget that his first phone call from the Oval Office after his inauguration was to Mahmoud Abbas, and that his first formal TV interview as President was with al-Arabiya. Forget that one of his top advisers is Samantha Power, an inveterate Israel-hater who recently said that the U.S. should be prepared to send in our military to subjugate the Jewish state and facilitate its takeover by the Arabs. Forget that whereas Obama bowed to the Saudi king, he treated Prime Minister Netanyahu like something the cat dragged in.
We’re supposed to forget Obama’s unrelenting disparagement and undermining of the Jewish state because… he attends a Passover seder. That, he supposes, will make everything okay. To quote the man himself, “Do you think we’re stupid?”
Obama sees the Passover message in Muslim uprisings, Palin says 'next year in Jerusalem'
And you thought he couldn't top last year's 'Passover message' in which he managed not to mention God, Israel or Jerusalem.... Here's this year's message.
In a signed letter, Obama noted that the story of Passover – "the passage of the children of Israel from bondage and repression to freedom and liberty" – applies to the "modern stories of liberation" in the Middle East.
"The Seder instructs each generation to remember its past, while appreciating the beauty of freedom and the responsibility it entails," Obama wrote. "This year, that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modern stories of social transformation and liberation unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa."
"Against the backdrop of change, we continue to pray for peace between Israel and her neighbors, while reaffirming our enduring commitment to Israel's security."
Obama wished Jewish families around the world a happy Passover and urged that the world must work to "alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice, and hunger of those who are not yet free."
Once again, God gets no mention. Neither does Jerusalem despite the fact that Jews around the World ended their seder with 'next year in Jerusalem.' (What does that mean, Barack? Hint - no it doesn't mean a 'Palestinian state' nor Egyptian 'democracy). Israel gets a mention but only for the pipe dream of Obama's brand of peace with our neighbors.
Passover recalls the bondage and suffering of Jews in Egypt and the miracle of the Exodus, but U.S. President Barack Obama says its message is reflected in Muslim uprisings.
In his annual message, prior to his third straight participation in the Passover Seder, President Obama stated, “The story of Passover…instructs each generation to remember its past, while appreciating the beauty of freedom and the responsibility it entails. This year that ancient instruction is reflected in the daily headlines as we see modern stories of social transformation and liberation unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa.”
Having constructed a link between the Arab uprisings and Chosen People's experiencing the miracles of the Creator that led them out of Egypt and towards the receiving of the Ten Commandments, the President concluded, "As Jewish families gather for this joyous celebration of freedom, let us all be thankful for the gifts that have been bestowed upon us, and let us work to alleviate the suffering, poverty, injustice, and hunger of those who are not yet free.”
For good measure, he also added the Hebrew term “Chag Samayach,” which means “Have a happy holiday.”
Let me add what I said about this last year.
Obama's concept of the 'lessons from the Exodus from Egypt' is so obtuse, it must be answered lest silence be interpreted as acquiescence.
The lesson of the Exodus from Egypt is that God came and redeemed His people from bondage because, as the Rabbis tell us, "they did not change their names [to Egyptian names] and they did not change their language [to Egyptian]." Instead, the Jews maintained their unique identity throughout the 210 years of bondage in Egypt, and as a reward God gave them two mitzvoth (commandments) to perform (circumcision and the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb). Our reward for performing those mitzvoth was that God redeemed the Jews from Egypt.
There was no 'oppression to fought' or 'freedom to be won.' As the Hagaddah relates the story, God himself (not through an angel or a spirit or a messenger, but God himself) came to Egypt and redeemed our forefathers from Egyptian bondage. This had nothing to do with 'suffering and discrimination' in the sense that Westerners think of those words. The story of the Exodus from Egypt is a Jewish story and not a universal one. That's one reason why any Pesach message that omits God is false. It was God who took us out of Egypt. We did not take ourselves out.
Read the whole thing. Obama did hold a 'seder' on Monday night, although from the picture above, it is clear that it started before sundown (a no, no) and the New York Times reports that the seder was not Kosher (YNet was more politically correct and reported that it was not "Kasher l'Mehadrin").
The LA Times tried to help Obama save face by saying that his Passover message was 'similar' to Sarah Palin's Passover message posted on her Facebook page. Far from it. Here's Palin's message. Note what I've highlighted.
Tonight is Passover, the Jewish people’s celebration of their deliverance from bondage and their Exodus to the Land of Israel. Passover contains poignant spiritual and historical meaning for Jews, but it also reminds all of us of mankind’s universal aspiration to be free from bondage and oppression. Today, in the same region where the story of Exodus took place, Arabs suffering under despotic regimes are seeking their own freedom and self-determination. As Jews in Israel, the Middle East’s only liberal democracy, gather for Passover, we hope for the spread of freedom and peace throughout the region. On this Passover holiday, our family sends our best wishes to the Jewish community. Chag kasher V'Sameach. Happy Passover. And next year in Jerusalem.
Yes, she didn't mention God either. But in her case, if she did, she'd probably be accused of having someone else in mind.
As many of you know, one of the centerpieces of the Passover seder is the song Dayeinu. If you've been to a seder once, you know the tune.
In Friday's tribal update, LATMA introduced Tawil and his friends singing Dayeinu. I'm sure some of you didn't have the patience to watch the whole newscast, and even those who did would love to hear the song again. (The song really does deserve to go viral).
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
