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Editorial

With Us As Jews
mu At Every Peril

T

hroughout the ages, Jew-
haters have sought to
annihilate us; but God
has always intervened on our
behalf no matter what the danger.
Neither the hatred nor the help
will change, unfortu-
nately. Jewish survival
is a relentless pursuit.
So relates one of the
most significant pas-
sages in the Haggadah.
Soon after the story
of the Four Sons, we
cover the matzah and
lift our wine cup, our
symbol of great joy, as
we praise God while
saying: And it is this
that has stood firm by our fathers
and us. For not only has one risen
against us to annihilate us, but in
every generation, they rise against
us to annihilate us. But the Holy
One, Blessed is He, rescues us
from their hand."
The pronoun "this" refers to
God's promise to Am Yisrael, the
Nation of Israel, to always shield
the Jewish people from oppressors
whether anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist
or anti-Israel.
The passage is a tribute to the
Jewish will to press on.
The custom of lifting our wine
cup while reciting the passage
derives from Psalms 117:13: "I will
lift up a cup of salvation and call
out the Name of
the Lord."
Rabbi Berel
Wein, a modern-
day sage based
in Israel but well
known in Jewish
Detroit, elabo-
Rabbi Wein
rates. "God's

EDITORIAL BOARD:
Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett
Interim Editor: Alan Hitsky
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar

promise to Abraham that his
Jewish people, who remain vital
children would be redeemed from
and the center of the world's atten-
Egyptian slavery centuries later
tion."
stood the test of time and was ful-
Much of that attention isn't pos-
filled," Wein writes in The Pesach
itive; but it does remind us of the
Haggadah: Through the Prism of
influence that tiny Israel wields on
Experience and History.
the world stage — thus the lineup
So it wasn't just the
of Jew-haters poised to demean or
idea of redemption
destroy it.
from Egypt that was
My parents' generation thought
part of God's covenant
the aftershocks of Hitler's Germany
with Abraham, but also
and Stalin's Russia would give
the implicit promise
diaspora Jews a badly needed break
that Israel would never
from blatant anti-Semitism, often
have to fear oppressors
the underlying real reason for
and would never be
despising Israel. But says Wein, the
annihilated.
belief in such a break has proven
The historical context "hopelessly naive."
of this promise is chill-
The harsh reality is that you
ing (I shudder to imagine Israel's
have to go back to the Holocaust
fate without God's eternal sup-
for a time when European Jewry's
port), but it's also elevating (we
anti-Semitism meter registered
know we're not alone in defending so high. Whereas Christianity was
the Jewish state against terror
to blame for not doing more to
mongers). As Wein relates: "From
disrupt the culture of anti-Jewish
Pharaoh to Hitler, from Titus to
venom infecting Europe following
Arafat, our enemies have attempt-
World War II, the radical forces
ed to solve the 'Jewish problem by within Islam who believe they are
the genocidal destruction of the
serving Allah now stand together
Jewish people."
in terrorizing Jews and Zionists.
Think about it: From slavery to
The short, but resonant anti-
exile, from the Inquisition to the
annihilation passage we recite
Holocaust, amid the terrible loss
each Pesach to remind us about
of life, Am Yisrael has persevered
eternal threats to the Jewish peo-
and not only survived, but also
ple and our ancestral homeland is
prospered despite the near-cata-
not constructed with paranoia and
clysmic sweep of foes.
unjustified concern; a look back in
Wein put it well: "It is more than history punctuates that.
ironic that Natan Sharansky has
Reminds Rabbi Wein: "In our
been a minister in the government hope for a better tomorrow, we
of Israel while Mikhail Gorbachev
should not blind ourselves to the
is reduced to appearing in Pizza
realities of today"
Hut commercials. Pharaoh,
Embrace that cogent thought
Haman, Titus, Godfrey of Bouillon, and share it at your seder table,
Czars Alexander and Nicholas,
just as you do the bread of afflic-
the Nazis and Stalin — all are on
tion. Chag kasher Pesach v'sameach
the ash heap of history. Not so the
and Shabbat shalom! II

Democratic Freedoms
In Israel Are Strained

T

he so-called "Nakba" Law, imposing fines on
any activity that undermines Israel and con-
tradicts its values, portends a clear and pres-
ent danger to Israel's democratic principles. Equally
disconcerting is another new law permitting Negev and
Galilee Jewish communities with fewer than 400 fami-
lies to vet possible residents via admission committees
despite most of the land there being state owned.
Israeli Arabs – a substantial minority – are obvious
unstated targets. They deserve the right to criticize
and demonstrate peacefully, however wild their nar-
rative. In America, flag burning and neo-Nazi rallies
aren't banned.
The March 22 Knesset votes enacting the bills
into law marked a sad day in the affairs of America's
strongest ally in the Middle East and the only legiti-
mate democracy in that embattled part of the world.
Regardless of whether a fine is ever levied or a family
is ever rejected, both laws threaten the state's tim-
bers of unfettered debate and inclusion. Attempts at
revisionist history won't take down Israel; but citizen
discrimination could.
Nakba is Arabic for "Catastrophe." That's what the
Arab world calls Israeli Independence Day – May 14,
1948, the day the United Nations created the modern
Jewish state in the ashes of the Holocaust.
The Nakba Law, sponsored by the Israel Beiteinu
party, bars local councils and other state-funded
groups, such as universities and art institutions, from
organizing or funding events that: mark the Nakba,
deny that Israel is a Jewish state, desecrate the state
flag or nation symbols, or support armed struggle
or racism against the state. The floodgates could
selectively open on basic rights of freedom of politi-
cal expression, artistic expression and protest. Laws
already exist to punish terrorists or racists.
The Nakba Law fine, deducted from an entity's
operating budget, would equal up to three times the
event's sponsorship cost; repeat violations could
double the fine. The new law has a lesser penalty than
a 2009 version (which allowed up to three years in
prison), but is just as destructive. Haaretz speculated
that the law is liable to apply to academic conferences
and historical research focusing on the Israeli War of
Independence. "In essence," the Israeli newspaper edi-
torialized, "this is a law designed to shut people up."
The Admission Committees Law, cosponsored by
Israel Beiteinu and Kadima, formalizes and empowers
the committees to review potential residents and ulti-
mately reject people deemed incompatible with set cri-
teria or the current sociocultural character. Possible
targets: single parents, same-sex couples, new immi-
grants and low-income families. This law is sure to be
appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court. (No one can be
denied because of race, nationality, religion or physical
handicap.)
Both the Nakba Law and Admission Committees
Law trample equal rights under Israeli law. The chill-
ing effect could trigger repercussions on fundamental
human rights across societal and ethnic groups in
Israel. II

April 14 - 2011

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