The closing invocation of the traditional seder is l’shana ha-ba’ah b’Yerushalayim (“Next year in Jerusalem”). It’s sung to a rousing melody and can be quite moving and liberating especially after a long seder narrative. Barack Obama plans a White House seder tomorrow with his Jewish and African-American staff. I’d suggest a slogan that most of us can get behind: “Next year in a shared Jerusalem” (…Yerushalayim meshutefet).
Bibi’s seder is going to hear something quite different: “Next year in Sheikh Jarrah, next year in Ramat Shlomo, next year in a rebuilt Temple.” That tells you all you need to know about the difference between the kind of Jew Bibi is and the kind of Jew I am.
Our ancestors were slaves in Egypt who threw off the yoke of bondage through violent resistance to oppression. Their resistance earned them liberation, freedom and the right to live as free men and women in their own land. Their leader was an angry man who himself killed an Egyptian taskmaster, no doubt transforming him into a terrorist in his day in the eyes of the Egyptian Pharoah. Remind you of anyone? Not many Israelis are going to be thinking of this as they celebrate Passover seder. Not many Israelis ever think much about the Palestinians unless they’re forced to do so. And it’s a shame really.
Back in the day when this blog was young and no one read it, I wrote a long essay, The Life of Moses as an Allegory of Jewish Existence, about the character of Moses and his relationship to contemporary issues of Jewish identity. It makes good Passover reading. I’ve also written numerous Passover-themed posts to which I’ve devoted much thought and attention. You can recollect them in tranquility here.
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- Next Year/This Year in Jerusalem (rabbibrian.wordpress.com)
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- A New Tradition at the White House: the Seder (nytimes.com)
- Happy Passover from Gaza (tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com)
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A shared Jerusalem is a truly beautiful thought. I hope we all enjoy this soon.
A happy Pesach to you and yours, and many thanks for this blog. 🙂
Bradley Burston has a beatiful piece too in a similar vein (on how the root of the Hebrew word for sharing, is the same as that of the word for dividing).
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1159711.html
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well, it was shared before jews got here.
next year, no, tomorrow in brooklyn, the capital of the jews.
Sad to say, I think those of you who are hoping for a shared Jerusalem are going to have a long wait. About as long as it takes the US to get its ass out of the Middle East.
HolyMoses!
Shared Jerusalem? With Netanyahu in power? Don’t hold your breath.
How many Israeli PM’s have been willing to even talk about sharing Jerusalem?
And how many Israelis?
Exactly. It doesn’t matter a whit who is in power. This is not about Netanyahu, it is about the fundamental nature of Zionism and Israel.
Israeli public opininon is in favor of it. Now all we have to do is beat it into the pols’ heads & they’ll get it too.
Prove it. I have only seen one poll, that of the Geneva Intitaitive people from about 6 years ago that claims that a “majority” of Israelis want to divide (or to use your Orwellian expression, “share”) Jerusalem.
I don’t have to “prove” it. It was a Jerusalem Post poll & I wrote an entire post about it. Now go find it & next time do some research before you get on yr high horse.
Since when is “sharing” Jerusalem “Orwellian?” George Orwell would blanch at your misuse of the English language & his name.
Obama’s Passover message:
“The celebration of Passover reminds us to fight oppression everywhere, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his annual holiday greeting on Monday, also highlighting the battle against all forms of discrimination.
In a statement released by the White House and signed by Obama, the U.S. president wrote that the story of Exodus taught that, “wherever we live, there is oppression to be fought and freedom to be won.”
“In retelling this story from generation to generation, we are reminded of our ongoing responsibility to fight against all forms of suffering and discrimination,” Obama wrote, adding that by doing so “we reaffirm the ties that bind us all.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1159938.html
Mr. Netanyahu, are you listening?? Can Obama’s message be more relevant?
‘The celebration of Passover reminds us to fight oppression everywhere…’
Other than Moses’ slaying of one Egyptian, where else was there fighting in the Passover story?
Fleeing yes. Fighting, well not against the Egyptians.
Neither this statement you quoted nor anything else I’m aware claims anything about “fighting” the Egyptians with physical force. But the actual Passover story is filled with repeated acts of resistance to Egyptian oppression. Or do you believe such resistance can only take the form of overt violence?