and not confined to the pamphlets.
Kiddush was said over raisins from
our trail mix, two granola bars were
served as a substitute for the challah,
and we found candles and matches in
the cabin to welcome the Shabbat.
So, there on the top of a mountain
in Utah, with 18 strangers, we fulfilled
the Shabbat rituals and concluded the
service with the singing of Hatikvah,
Israel's national anthem. The experi-
ence emphasized to us that no matter
where you are, in even the most
remote place, there is comfort in cele-
brating the Shabbat with a community
of other Jews.
And, as we said our goodbyes and
skied down the trail, we were filled with
a sense of belonging and peace. ❑
coffee; it comes with the imprimatur of
their government, not the taint of some
fringe group.
Saudi Arabia is not an aberration.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, con-
fronted recently by Jewish leaders in
Washington about the rabid anti-
Semitism in Egyptian newspapers,
whined that he had no control over what
his government-appointed editors allow
in the government-controlled media.
His interlocutors were not impressed.
Mubarak doesn't permit a peep of criti-
cism of his authoritarian regime, but he
says he's powerless to stop Nazi-like anti-
Semitism. The fact that anti-Semitism
seems to be intended as a device to divert
attention from the Egyptian govern-
JAMES D.BESSER on page 32
Jewish identity, indeed, is dependent
on mothers. According to Halachah,
or Jewish religious tradition, while a
Jew's tribal genealogy follows the
paternal line, whether a child is a
member of the Jewish people or not
depends entirely on the status of his or
her mother.
It's only speculation, but might the
recurrent numerical theme in our
exquisite Haggadah, employed each
year to instill Jewish identity, be
reminding us of that? After all, the
book has its own number-decoder
built right in, toward its end, where
most good books' keys and indexes are
found.
It's a little hazy once it's reached,
after four cups of wine, but it's unmis-
takably there: "Schad Mi Yodea" or
"Who Knows One?" — the song that
provides Jewish associations with
numbers.
"Who knows four?"
If you don't, it's the four Matriarchs:
Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah. ❑
Celebrate Freedom
New York City
he 20th century philosopher
and social historian, Isaiah
Berlin, argued in his Essays on
Liberty that "men do not live
only by fighting evils. They live by posi-
tive goals, individual and collective ... "
Each year, as we tell the Passover story,
we affirm Berlin's understanding of liberty.
We do this by imagining the
moment when the newly freed slaves
made it across the dried out seabed.
Behind them, the Pharaoh's armies
have vanished into the waves. Before
them lay a vast desert sky and the
journey toward national dignity, social
responsibility and a safe homeland.
While freedom stories begin with
liberation or revolution from past
oppression, they lead us to think about
the challenges of a collective future. In
the last few months, Americans liberat-
ed a people thousands of miles away.
In Israel, tensions have escalated to
new highs. And at home, we are facing
the new task of balancing our security
concerns with our basic freedoms.
All of these events push us to ask What
freedoms cannot be diminished? Should
privacy, equal protection, and the freedom
of religious and political expression change
in a time of uncertainty? And should
these freedoms be extended to all? In
ways both political and personal, we are
asking what we really mean by freedom.
The idea of discussing freedom on
seder night is not new In creating the
T
Haggadah, the rabbis added a
politicians who laid out princi-
salute to freedom with each cup
ples of freedom in America and
of wine. Their idea was that as
Europe. In the years since, free-
we recall the biblical phrases
dom and the rights and responsi-
"brought us out," helped us,"
bilities that it entails have
"redeemed us" and "took us
become an integral part of our
out," we are challenged to
lives and ideals.
think about a different aspect
In telling the original story of
of liberation with each cup.
escape from oppression, the
RABBI
Just as the rabbis connected
Passover seder celebrates libera-
DANIEL
four phrases of redemption to
tion. It sparks a yearly conversa-
BRENNER
the four cups of wine, my
tion about contemporary libera-
Special
colleagues and I at CLAL — - Commentary tion struggles and challenges to
the National Jewish Center
equity and justice. But ultimately,
for Learning and Leadership — sug-
it asks us to consider the future — to
gest the following four questions be
find, "positive goals, individual and col-
included to deepen the meaning of
lective" that spur us to fulfill our ideals.
each of the four cups at your seder:
When you sit at your seder and answer
• First cup – Remembering the time
the four questions on freedom, the dis-
of liberation: What stories of freedom
cussion may seem very different from the
have you witnessed in your lifetime?
ancient rabbinic visions of messianic
• Second cup – Telling the story of
redemption. But in reality, the dreams
Moses, Aaron and Miriam standing up are the same. Just as the rabbis imagined
to Pharaoh: What freedoms would
Elijah's return, an end to exile, a reunion
you stand up to defend if they were
with God and peace among the nations,
threatened in your own country?
on Passover night we imagine that
• Third cup – Blessing the abundant despite the terror and anger in the world,
meal: What responsibilities do the
we may all someday live without the
freedoms you enjoy carry?
Pharoahs and barriers that block us from
seeing the Divine image in all people.
• Fourth cup – Declaring redemp-
tion as a universal human goal: How
Passover's Exodus is only complete
might the freedoms that you enjoy be
when we, from a position of safety,
can utter and live by the words from
shared by people around the world in
the coming years?
Leviticus 25:10: "Proclaim liberty
throughout the land."
From a Jewish perspective, the idea of
freedom can be traced to the quest for a
Rabbi Daniel Brenner is a senior teach-
just society that began with the Exodus.
ing fellow at CLAL-the National Jewish
At the beginning of the Enlightenment,
this idea was amplified by the efforts of a Center of Learning and Leadership. His e-
small group of intellectuals and visionary mail address is dbrerzner@clai org
,
❑
Perspectives on Israel: a continuing series
An Arab Palestinian State?
'
t h is month, the United Nations Security Council
passed a resolu
tion endorsing a Palestinian State.
The tragedy is, such a State could have come into existence more
than 50 years ago.
Earlier
Israeli diplomat Abba Eban used to say, "the Arabs never miss an
opportunity to miss an opportunity." He is all too correct.
On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations voted (33-13) to recommend
the establishment of a Jewish State and an Arab State in British
Mandatory Palestine.
The Jews accepted the Partition Plan, although it would have sepa-
rated them from the 100, 000 Jews living in an "internationalized"
Jerusalem, and 60% of their state was to be the arid Negev desert.
The Arabs violently rejected Partition, claiming it all belonged to
them, and killed more than 600 Jews in the six months before Israel
declared independence. Five Arab armies then invaded the new
Jewish State. Many Jewish villages were destroyed and syna-
gogues and cemeteries desecrated. All Jews were expelled from
the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. More than 6,000 Jews,
1% Israel's Jewish population, were killed.
, -
The historical record is clear; the Arabs had a chance to set up a 22nd
Arab State, avoid a refugee problem, and live in peace. This pattern
continues to this day bringing untold suffering to Jew and Arab alike.
For more information about this topic, visit www.jewishvirtuallibrary.com
Join the community to hear Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, live by satellite, on Sunday, March 24, at 12:00 noon
at the Max M. Fisher Federation Building in Bloomfield Hills,
for Detroit's participation in We Stand by Israel Day.
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert will participate in the broad-
cast and people on the front line of the conflict and victims
of terrorist attacks, from several locations in Israel. The Max
M. Fisher building is located at 6735 Telegraph Road. For
more information, call the Jewish Community Council office
at (248) 642-5393.
Jewish
Community
Councilgamearimr-
To learn more about how you can become an effective Israel advocate, visit www.jewishcommunitycouncil.orq
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2002
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