This came today in an e-mail from Americans for Peace Now. Those of you planning a Passover seder, perhaps you can incorporate this important drash/prayer into your own:
Reject Hate, Embrace Hope, Recommit to Peace!
AT THE POURING OF THE FOURTH CUP:
Traditionally, we fill this cup to welcome the Prophet Elijah, who heralds the start of the Messianic era. For centuries, we have recited Psalm 79:6-7: “Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know you and on the kingdoms that do not call upon Your name. They have devoured Jacob and made desolate his dwellings.”
In the Middle Ages, Jews invoked this fantasy of divine retribution as a poultice for the wounds inflicted during our long history. This bitterness was understandable, if unproductive. Now we live in a time that we are ostensibly free, yet the nations who actually invoke God’s name continue to desolate one another. God’s Holy Land is riven by terror and revenge. Jacob’s forbears, Isaac and Ishmael, remain gripped in the medieval mind-set. Despair makes us yearn for the arrival of Elijah.
We cannot bear to wait any longer. We cannot endure endless war. Elijah seems but a faint hope, not a solution. Tonight, we open the door to our neighbors, to dwelling with one another in quiet and shared delight. As we open the door we raise our fourth cup in a toast to the fresh breeze of renewed commitment, to the rejection of hate, to embracing hope, and to the hard work of making peace. And, we raise our glasses to life. We pray this “LeChaim,” will bring us the longed-for redemption. Let this be the way we welcome Elijah.
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They said:
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In the Middle Ages, Jews invoked this fantasy of divine retribution as a poultice for the wounds inflicted during our long history. This bitterness was understandable, if unproductive.
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Actually, it was VERY productive. It gave the Jewish people the energy and motivation to build a Jewish State in Eretz Israel when the opportunity arose, and it still motivates those who defend it.
Actually, Israel’s enemies are still hard at work at destroying us, just as much as they were then.
And no, our enemies do not invoke the name of God, they worship other gods like Allah or Jesus, or in your case, Liberalism.
The wisdom of the bible becomes clear when a person like you tries to dismiss it.
@ Bar Kochba:
“it still motivates those who defend it.”
Yes, Jewish rage & vengeance DOES motivate some of those who defend Israel: the Border Police who taunt, maim & kill Palestinian children, the IDF which fires artillery shells killing scores of Palestinian civilians, & the zealots who wage pogroms against Palestinian villagers because one of the residents’ sons engaged in an act of terror.
Given a choice between embracing a vision of Jewish history outlined by a professor of midrash at JTS & you I know which one I’d choose. Sorry, you lose.
@ AJ:
“our enemies do not invoke the name of God, they worship other gods like Allah or Jesus…”
This is Jewish religious triumphalism at its worst.
“The wisdom of the bible becomes clear when a person like you tries to dismiss it.”
I’m not dismissing the wisdom of the Bible as it’s a book I cherish & have studied all my life. I am rejecting a particular, vengeful interpretation of the passage in question. Examining, questioning & embracing or rejecting Biblical commentary is a long & honored rabbinic tradition about which you appear to know nothing.
Richard, aren’t there any Israeli soldiers you have any respect for, or are all they all baby killers?
I don’t blame Israeli soldiers per se unless they’ve specifically targeted & harmed civilians in an unlawful way. I more blame the senior officer echelons, intelligence establishment & politicians for not training soldiers properly & not giving them a mission that is achievable & viable. I feel the same way about U.S. troops in Iraq. This is a failure of leadership just as much as a failure of execution on the ground.
Ok, Richard, tell me- how do you interpret Psalm 79:6 ? I’m curious.
@aj: I’m not so up on my Tehilim these days. Why don’t you quote whatever passage you’re asking me about so I don’t have to go dig out my Tanach & find it.