Passover Thoughts 5776: Yousef Al Otaiba, Baruch Cohen, CIJR, Apr. 21, 2016— “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.”
Passover, Our Festival of Freedom and Miracles: Isi Leibler, Candidly Speaking, Apr. 20, 2016— On the first night of Passover, the festive meal is preceded by the Seder, which chronicles our emergence from bondage into a nation and recounts the miracles associated with the Exodus from Egypt.
A Zionist in the UN: Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll, Jerusalem Post, Apr. 14, 2016— Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch in Geneva, lives to take down the bad guys.
Bernie Sanders Versus the Tenth Commandment: Edward Alexander, Algemeiner, Apr. 17, 2016— Bernie Sanders, with the regularity of a steam engine, has pounded away for months at the injustice, the wickedness, even the racism of “income inequality.”
The Passover Video You Will Not be Able to Stop Watching!: Israel Video Network, Apr. 13, 2016
Passovers of Past and Present – A Time of Rebirth and Compassion: Dr. Sima Goel, Jerusalem Online, Apr. 12, 2016
The Bipartisan Enemy of the Good: Caroline Glick, Breaking Israel News, Apr. 10, 2016
Superman Is Not Jesus: Kenneth Lowe, Paste, Apr. 16, 2016
Baruch Cohen
CIJR, Apr. 21, 2016
In Loving Memory of Malca z”l
“And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.” (Passover Haggadah, [Exodus 1.7])
“Even the poorest Jew, a recipient of charity, must, on the eve of Passover, eat only in a reclining position, as a mark of freedom…” (Mishna, Pesahim 10.1)
The key idea expressed in Passover is the certainty of freedom. With the Exodus a new age dawned for humanity: redemption from oppression and misery. If the Exodus had not taken place, humanity would have been destined to follow another course.
During the night of Passover the Jew says, that if not for Exodus, “Neither my fathers, nor I, nor my children would be free, we would still remain slaves.”
Passover respects the universal, indivisible greatness of freedom and liberty. The Passover holiday calls us from the most abject misery to the mizrah by which human dignity is restored. The night of the Seder forces man to face, and to fight for, himself. The Haggadah call becomes quite clear: it summons every Jew to join his brothers and sisters in the building of Jerusalem, of Judaism and in the strengthening of the State of Israel.
AM YISRAEL CHAI!
“The People of Israel Live!”
(Baruch Cohen is Research Chairman of CIJR, and a member of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Center)
PASSOVER, OUR FESTIVAL OF FREEDOM AND MIRACLES
Isi Leibler
Candidly Speaking, Apr. 20, 2016
On the first night of Passover, the festive meal is preceded by the Seder, which chronicles our emergence from bondage into a nation and recounts the miracles associated with the Exodus from Egypt. The central theme of the ancient Haggadah resonates powerfully with the contemporary Jewish condition. In the turbulent times in which we live, with the barbarians at our gates and the betrayal of Israel by much of the world, it is with a feeling of awe that we repeat the verse that our ancestors recited for over 1,000 years:
“The promise made to our forefathers holds true for us. For more than once they have risen against us to destroy us; in every generation they rise against us and seek our destruction. But the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hands.” Other recurring historical analogies appear in the Haggadah. What was to become the template for Jews in Exile for over 2,000 years – anti-Semitism, persecution, expulsion and attempted genocide – was initially experienced by our ancestors in Egypt.
We are told that while in Egypt, the Hebrews prospered and multiplied and “became very strong and numerous.” This led the Egyptians to consider them as aliens, as a fifth column, raising the specter of dual loyalties – that “when war occurs they will be added to our enemies and fight against us.” What started as discrimination was followed by the appointment of taskmasters in order to oppress them – “and Egypt made the children of Israel labor rigorously” – and was ultimately extended to attempted genocide when Pharaoh decreed that all newborn Jewish males be killed.
This is the sequence that we effectively endured throughout our Exile with cycles of toleration, discrimination, physical persecution, and exile or murder. The most horrific experience was the Nazi era culminating in the Shoah, which to this day no theologian or philosopher can possibly rationalize. It remains enigmatic that on Tisha B’Av, we lay almost all the emphasis on mourning the destruction of Jerusalem which resulted in our exile but barely acknowledge the persecution and suffering that the Jewish people underwent subsequently and in particular the greatest disaster of all, the calculated murder of 6 million.
One can raise the same question about Passover, our festival of freedom. It is a reflection on our religious leadership that when we review our origins as a nation and marvel at the wonders associated with the Exodus from Egypt, we do not rejoice at and highlight our privilege to be the generation who are living witnesses to miracles no less profound.
On this festival we should be giving thanks that – notwithstanding the turbulent and barbaric region in which we are located, the exponential growth of anti-Semitism, and the manifold challenges facing us – we are undoubtedly the most blessed and privileged generation since the Exile.
We have witnessed the miracle of the rebirth of Jewish nationhood after 2,000 years of dispersion and persecution. In the entire history of mankind there is no remotely comparable example of a people in all history which experienced a renaissance after such a lengthy interlude. In 1947, at the height of the Cold War, in an unprecedented occasion, the United States and the anti-Semitic Soviet Union voted together, to endorse the creation of a Jewish state. Indeed a miracle.
Even more extraordinary was the ability of the fledgling Jewish state to militarily overcome a combined effort by a far more powerful combination of Arab states to destroy it. But the greatest miracle of our time is the ingathering of the exiles that has taken place since Israel was created. Jews from all corners of the world have returned to their homeland. These have included those from diverse origins ranging from survivors of the Holocaust to Jews persecuted in Arab countries, from the developed world of the United States and Europe extending to Jews fleeing primitive societies such as Ethiopia.
What stands out is the miracle of the aliyah of a million Jews from the Soviet Union – an exodus we should surely be celebrating when we commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. We must recall that many had previously dismissed hope for rescuing these Jews, regarding them as assimilated and lost to the Jewish people. Furthermore, this exodus was launched by a few hundred heroic Soviet Jews from assimilated backgrounds who overnight discovered their Jewish identity and amazingly stood up against the most powerful totalitarian government in the world. With the support of world Jewry, they achieved their goals and in fact became a major contributing factor in the ultimate collapse of the Evil Empire. Nothing short of “miraculous” can describe these extraordinary events.
And the incredible success in molding these Jews – most of them refugees from oppression – into a rejuvenated nation state based on Jewish culture and tradition and the resurrection of Hebrew into a spoken language, is surely a miraculous event. After attaining nationhood, the people of the book, powerless for 2,000 years, almost overnight succeeded in creating the most powerful regional army which, despite its small size, would be classified as one of the strongest military powers. Israel demonstrated an incredible capability of deterring aggression and defending the Jewish people.
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It is thus regrettable that as we gather around and recite the Haggadah dealing with our emergence as a people, as a rule, our rabbis fail to highlight the link with those events and the privileged and miraculous status that we have achieved in our lifetime. During the Passover Seder, atheists and agnostics should offer thanks “to Whom it may concern.” Those of us who believe that there is a Divine presence should express joy and thanks to the Almighty for engineering our miraculous rebirth and pray that He continues watching over His people. Chag sameach!
Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll Jerusalem Post, Apr. 14, 2016
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch in Geneva, lives to take down the bad guys. He faces some of the world’s worst perpetrators of human rights abuses as they deny their crimes and scapegoat Israel at the same time. Talking with Neuer, two things become clear. The first is that he cares deeply and passionately for human rights. The second is that he is Canadian and that he credits his nationality with helping him in fighting for Number 1. He is a strange mix of poised seriousness and a good sense of humor- another thing he says helps him do his job.
Anyone who follows the UN to even a minimal degree knows that Israel is singled out disproportionately for resolutions and condemnations. Among other things I asked Neuer, what is behind this seeming bias? How entrenched is it? And what can we do about it? A few of his answers surprised me. Who is Hillel? Where did he grow up, what did he study, how did he become the man who stands up for Israel and human rights at the UN?
I grew up in Montreal studied poli-sci and liberal arts. I went to law school and earned degrees in civil law and the common law system. I then studied for a masters in law in Jerusalem in comparative international and institutional law. I was at the Shalem Center as fellow, and clerked in the Supreme Court here. I worked for a New York law firm and left there to work for UN Watch.
How did UNWatch come to be?
UNWatch was founded by Morris Abram, the Jewish legendary civil rights attorney who worked closely with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and won the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case granting equality to the votes of African-Americans. In the 1960s he represented the United States on human rights committees in the UN, and eventually became the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva. He voted against the anti Israel biased resolutions in the 1960s-70s, and in 1993, he created an organization dedicated to monitor the UN and make sure it lived up to its own principles, fought against anti Semitism and anti Israel-bias, and fought for universal human rights. That was UNWatch.
It’s pretty clear to see that Israel is singled out for condemnations and resolutions in the UN. What is behind this?
The UN onslaught against Israel has been entrenched since 1975, when the UN adopted the Zionism is Racism resolution. It was repealed, but the infrastructure of anti Israel resolutions is still there. For example, there were 20 resolutions against Israel this year at the General Assembly in New York, compared to only three resolutions against all other countries combined. In Geneva, at the UN Human Rights Council, there have been five condemnatory resolutions against Israel this year, and four on the rest of the world combined. The campaign against Israel was started by the Arab and Islamic states in the late 1960s. Together, they have 56 votes, and they use them to bring support to their causes: if you vote for them, they will vote for you. Believe it or not, terror also helped their cause. In the 70s, when there were Palestinian hijackings, governments including Switzerland went to the PLO and made a deal: if the PLO stopped terrorism in each country, then those countries would vote for the Arab causes in the UN. And so they did.
There is also the fact that those who go after Israel want to deny the Jewish people safety and security. There is no question that demonizing Israel is the new anti-Semitism. Neuer’s work at UNWatch means that the three months a year the UNHRC is in session, he gives speeches, many speeches. In the last session he spoke 10-15 times covering all kinds of issues and human rights around the world including Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, China etc. I suggest that the countries whose human rights offenses he exposes must not like him very much. His reply? “The governments don’t. The human rights victims do.” And this seems to be the most important thing to him.
In the videos of your speeches, you are so calm and collected despite constant interruptions and accusations by some of the worst regimes in the world. How do you remain so calm and not react to the insanity going on around you?
It helps to be Canadian. When I take the floor, I express the full passion that I have for human rights victims around the world who are being ignored, whether in China, Iran, Russia, Turkey- and I bring that to my presentation. So too, when I address the anti-Semitism and the demonization of Israel, I bring the full passion of that injustice to my speech.
At the same time, to be effective one has to know how to restrain oneself — and so I bring my full Canadian-ness which is to be calm, cool, collected. Just like a surgeon who comes to the operating table and there is blood and guts all over the place, at that time the worst thing to do is to allow your emotions to get a hold of you. You must be focused on the job at hand and be calm and collected. So when I’m in that room and I see the equivalent of blood and guts- dictators, tyrannies, people like the Syrians and Iranians who murder their own people, and others who torture theirs, and they speak of human rights, it’s horrific. But I have only two minutes to best further the cause of true human rights and democracy, to think how best to fight dictatorships and double standards.
Outside of that room do you ever become ‘not Canadian’ for a few minutes?
He laughs, “Um… After twelve years, on the job…you have to know how to be effective. You need to know when and where. We use humor to expose the Orwellian absurdity of the place. For example, there is a UN expert of 15 years who is the co founder of the Muammar Gadhafi human rights prize, a man named Jean Ziegler. He not only founded the prize, but he won it! We exposed that and you have to see the humor in it at the same time as you decry the injustice and the disgust of such appointments.
“Of all that you see and experience, the bad, the worse and the ugly, what of the past 12 years stand out most?” The answer comes easily.
Of many moments, the most classic is Durban II. Durban was the world UN conference on racism turned anti-Semitic hate fest, where thousands marched in the streets saying that Hitler should have finished the job. This was a traumatic time for Jews and others. The sequel in 2009 was held in front of the UN Watch office in Geneva. We initiated a major counter effort during Durban 2, which had Ahmadinejad as the opening speaker. We brought thousands of demonstrators to Geneva and organized a real human rights conference, where real victims of human rights from around the world testified about real experiences.
We also exposed the hypocrisy of the UN conference where Gadhafi’s secretary was the Chair of the preparatory committee for two years. We brought in a famous Libyan victim, a Palestinian doctor who suffered discrimination because he was a minority. The Libyan ambassador, shocked to be faced with this victim of her regime, continuously interrupted the doctor’s testimony and eventually turned off his microphone, but enough of his story was heard covered by the media.We also held a rally to speak out about Israeli victims of human rights abuse, who were ignored by the UN conference where Israel was singled out yet again. Natan Sharansky spoke, Elie Wiesel, and many others spoke against anti Semitism.
Beyond countering and exposing the conference for what it was, Neuer employed what Israelis call ‘rosh gadol’ – or ‘smart thinking’ to thwart those who came to demonize Israel.
There is only one square in front of the UN in Geneva and we booked it for the whole week. There is only one youth hostel, one major conference center, and we booked it. We booked them well in advance so when the anti Israel, anti Western activists came to town to support Iran and attack Jews, they couldn’t find a conference center, a square, or a place to stay. The anti-Israel activists who were there said that (despite the fact that Israel didn’t participate in the conference), Geneva looked like ‘occupied Zionist territory’. This was a major Zionist victory. That was a week where the true victims of HR abuses were able to have their say and the imposters were frustrated. It’s easy to see this victory meant a lot to Neuer. Chalk one up for the Jews… [To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
BERNIE SANDERS VERSUS THE TENTH COMMANDMENT Edward Alexander Algemeiner, Apr. 17, 2016 |
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Bernie Sanders, with the regularity of a steam engine, has pounded away for months at the injustice, the wickedness, even the racism of “income inequality.” If ever there was a Johnny one-note on the American political scene, he is it. Yet almost nobody, and least of all his hapless opponent Hillary Clinton, has thought to call into question the ethical validity or inflammatory character of the covetousness this political slogan urges upon the public, with a recklessness that has visited untold calamities upon Europe. (Among politicians, Charlie Rangel of New York did have the temerity to say, “OK, income inequality… But does he [Sanders] have anything else to say?”) Has religious illiteracy now reached the point in America where the Tenth Commandment has been so entirely forgotten that the most blatant repudiations of it go unnoticed? Here it is, for the sake of those who have forgotten (or never knew):
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” — Exodus 20:17.
This last of the ten commandments, as Biblical commentators have often observed, differs from previous “negative” ones in that it prohibits not an action (murder, adultery, theft, false witness) but a state of mind—covetousness—that is at the root of most sins against our neighbors. No doubt John Stuart Mill, a far more literate liberal than Bernie Sanders, had it in mind when he complained that “’thou shalt not’ preponderates unduly over ‘thou shalt’” in Biblical morality.
The ethical wisdom of this commandment has all too often been demonstrated by the way in which covetousness expresses itself in the murderous character of “negative” politics, which directs the wrath of the covetous against a particular group. In Sanders’ typical stump speech, it is usually “Wall Street” or “the one percent.” In the rhetoric of the “Occupy Wall Street” and other “Occupy…” mobs that Sanders admires, it gets a bit more specific about attaching a name to “the one percent.” But most specific of all is Noam Chomsky, whom Sanders has praised as “a very vocal and important voice [sic] in the wilderness of intellectual life in America…a person who [sic] I think we’re all very proud of.”
Chomsky, who has publicly endorsed his friend Sanders for the Democratic nomination, has strong views about just which group of Americans should be named as the chief target of an aggressive campaign of class warfare against “the rich and privileged” whom Sanders is daily berating. “Antisemitism,” Chomsky has declared, “is no longer a problem, fortunately. It’s raised, but it’s raised because privileged people want to make sure they have total control, not just 98% control. That’s why antisemitism is becoming an issue.” To this does covetousness very often lead. Is it even remotely possible that Sanders doesn’t know?
The rapidly accumulating evidence of Sanders’ intense hostility to Israel will, if he should gain the Democratic nomination, require examination of his contempt for what Emil Fackenheim, in a famous essay of 1967, called the 614th Commandment: “From this beginning confrontation [with the Holocaust] there emerges what I will boldly term a 614th commandment: the authentic Jew of today is forbidden to hand Hitler yet another, posthumous victory.” Since Passover is now approaching, perhaps Sanders will put to himself the following, Fifth Question recommended by Ruth Wisse. It too implies a commandment that Sanders might do well to consider:
“History will ask only one question of our generation: did you secure the state of Israel? Woe to a North American Jewry that does not ensure a rousing reply in the affirmative.”
The CIJR Daily Briefing Will Not be Published on Friday Because of the Passover Holiday CIJR Wishes All Our Friends: Hag Sameah and a Passover Full of Joy, Freedom & Peace!
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The Passover Video You Will Not be Able to Stop Watching!: Israel Video Network, Apr. 13, 2016— Join Elliot Dvorin, the Key Tov Orchestra and the Chicago Hoop Dancers for this fantastic Passover experience at Daley Plaza in Chicago. The songs take you straight through the Passover Seder from “Let my people go” straight to the “Ma Nishtana” and on to “Avadim Hayinu”, “Dayeinu” and “Chad Gadya”.
Passovers of Past and Present – A Time of Rebirth and Compassion: Dr. Sima Goel, Jerusalem Online, Apr. 12, 2016— Here in the West, the cold march of winter seems never-ending. The calendar predicts the arrival of Passover but whether it comes on the arms of a mild spring wind or accompanied by the last gust of a tempest is up to Hashem. In the Iran of my youth, Passover came trumpeted by flocks of birds and perfumed by the jewels of the orchard and garden. It was easy to believe in the divine; the fruits of the Bible were all around.
The Bipartisan Enemy of the Good: Caroline Glick, Breaking Israel News, Apr. 10, 2016— It is hard to accept the credibility of those who refuse to learn from their mistakes. On March 25, The New York Times published an editorial effectively calling for US President Barack Obama to abandon the US alliance with Egypt. The Obama White House’s house paper urged the president to “reassess whether an alliance that has long been considered a cornerstone of American national security policy is doing more harm than good.” The editorial concluded that Obama must “start planning for the possibility of a break in the alliance with Egypt.”
Superman Is Not Jesus: Kenneth Lowe, Paste, Apr. 16, 2016— Superman dies at the end of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the victim, perhaps, of a decade of jealousy toward Marvel’s unprecedented and invincible movie franchise success even as his own films have struggled. I don’t spoil things for people unless an unspoken statute of limitations has passed or the work in question has received abysmal reviews, and, well. While there are plenty of criticisms to level at Superman’s portrayal in the Snyder era, for me it boils down to something pretty simple—I’m kind of tired of seeing Superman taking lumps for all the wrong reasons.
