Bay Area anti-Israel groups have traditionally held an anti-Zionist "seder" some time during Passover to commemorate whatever it is they commemorate. This year was no different.
2012 Community Passover Seder Dinner
Co-sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black, International Jewish anti-Zionist Network
Friday, April 6, 2012
Doors open at 5:30pm, Program starts promptly at 6pm
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church
(1255 1st Ave at International Blvd, Oakland)
Dinner will be served.
$10-50 sliding scale ($25 donation suggested), no one turned away for lack of funds.
Funds raised will benefit IJAN, the Middle East Children's Alliance's Silwan Project and Bareed Mista3jil - Queer Arab Women's Stories Project.
I think I can guess what haggadah they used.
From Arutz Sheva:
"The Jewish anti-Israel organization, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), has recently published a new type of Hagaddah, aimed not at celebrating the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt, our journey from slavery to freedom, or the miracle of attaining national self-determination in our ancestral homeland. The Haggadah does, however, aim at demonizing the State of Israel, promoting the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement and rallying the ‘Palestinian’ cause."
Its not just Arutz Sheva that's shaking their head in disbelief. Jonathan Tobin of Commentary Magazine writes:
"...the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) has now gone completely beyond the pale with a new version of Passover in which Israel is transformed into Egypt and the Palestinians have become the Jews.
This Haggadah, which was brought to our attention by the Anti-Defamation League, isn’t merely an expression of dissent against the policies of the Israeli government about which Israelis and Americans may differ. By appropriating the symbolism of the Festival of Freedom to promote a cause whose purpose is to deny the Jewish people their rights and liberty, the group is committing an act of spiritual vandalism. Identifying Israel with Pharaoh and Egyptians is an effort at delegitimization that crosses the boundary from bad taste to anti-Semitic invective...
JVP has demonstrated that it has no place within the organized Jewish community or among the society of decent Americans. Their desire to wage economic war on Israel already places them outside the boundaries of normal political dissent. But their compendium of Passover-themed slurs is an act so despicable that it merits their being shunned the same way we would any other hate group."
And from the inimitable Jon Haber from Divest this
"...No amount of cynicism could possibly explain this latest release on the JVP hit parade: their own version of the Passover Hagaddah, complete with “The Israelis are the new Egyptian Pharos!” words and imagery, delivered with the same subtlety as having a cinder block dropped on your head.
One is first tempted to simply stare dumbfounded at the combination of historic ignorance and cultural contempt required to cast the Jews as the villains in their own foundation story. Even in an era when Passover readings and rituals have been leveraged for every imaginable political purpose (featuring Hagaddah’s written specifically for those of the woman’s rights, civil rights, Zionist and transgender perspectives), JVP’s foray into this long-abused genre sets a new precedent for utter tastelessness and self indulgence. It is truly a work that could only have been contemplated (much less executed) by those whose universe consists of nothing but themselves."
I understand we'll be hearing be hearing more from Jon regarding the JVP Haggadah. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label haggadah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haggadah. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
For Pesach: There were Four Sons
This one's for you Bea,in honor of your Dad and for all the unsung heroes of the Bergson Group who against all odds helped build the Jewish state. The lessons hold fast even today
This was written by Rafael Medoff, director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and originally appeared in the Jewish Exponent March 18, 2010
"Many of us recall the use of Passover themes in such Jewish political activity as the "Freedom Seders" of the Jewish student movement of the 1960s or the "Let My People Go" campaigns by Soviet Jewry advocates in the 1970s and 1980s.
But the appearance of Passover imagery in contemporary Jewish politics goes back much farther than that. With Passover approaching in 1945, Zionist activists in the United States undertook an information offensive that utilized the holiday's themes to challenge the small but influential segment of the Jewish community that opposed Zionism.
Shortly before Passover, the Jewish activists known as the "Bergson Group" issued a pamphlet that retold the "four sons" portion of the Haggadah with a starkly modern twist.
The booklet, titled "There Were Four Sons," bore no author's name, but it had all the dramatic hallmarks of the Academy Award- winning screenwriter Ben Hecht, who was the most prominent of the Bergson Group's publicists. Hecht had previously authored a series of attention-grabbing, full-page newspaper ads for the group that stoked controversy by boldly criticizing Allied policy toward European Jewry.
"There Were Four Sons" was illustrated by the famed artist Arthur Szyk, who, in between drawing covers for Time and Collier's, and political cartoons for the New York Post, put his talents at the disposal of the Bergson Group.
Szyk's four sons are taken straight out of the debates then raging in the American Jewish community over the future of Palestine. The first three are different types of American Jews who opposed, or at least were uninterested in, the fight for a Jewish state.
The "wicked son" represents the wealthy, assimilated Jew who actively opposed Zionism. He asks: "What is this nonsense about a Jewish nation and an independent homeland? When all this fuss blows over, let them return to the countries they came from ... ."
"Answer him," the pamphlet continues in the style of the traditional Haggadah, that "since he elects to hold himself aloof from a physical concern about his brother's plight, he has disqualified himself from a voice in the life-and-death affairs of a foreign and persecuted people." The Jews in Europe and Palestine fear his involvement in their affairs "more than the plotting of the anti-Semites," since "the adverse testimony of a supposed friend can be as scriptures in the mouth of the devil."
Szyk's depiction of the wicked son looks suspiciously like Joseph Proskauer, at the time the president of the American Jewish Committee, who was one of the most prominent and influential anti-Zionists of that era. Later, AJC would change its position and support the creation of Israel, but at that point, in 1945, it argued that the existence of a Jewish state would compromise the status of Jews in the Diaspora.
The second son, whom English-language Haggadahs typically call the "Simple Son," is here called the "Indifferent Son." He appears to be a middle-class businessman, wearing a fedora and chomping on a cigar. "Why don't we leave well enough alone?" he asks. "Aren't we doing OK here?" He worries that paying too much attention to European Jewry might "prod anti-Semitism here in America."
"Answer him," the Bergson pamphlet instructs, that fighting for a Jewish state would ultimately help decrease, not increase, anti-Semitism. Achieving "freedom and safety for your less fortunate kin in the death valley of Europe will create a sound moral foundation for a world order of peace and security," and that would include "banishing anti-Semitism."
Szyk's "Uninformed Son" (whom most Haggadahs call "the son who does not know to ask"), wearing a laborer's cap, is the stereotypical Jewish workingman. He says that he cannot understand why the Jews "complain" against the British administration in Palestine." After all, "Do Jews not have freedom there to live, work, sing, play and worship as they please?"
"Answer him that Palestine is far from a land of freedom today," the pamphlet asserts. "In Palestine, there are concentration camps" (meaning the detention camps where Jewish activists were held without charges), "torture chambers" (Jewish militants were often mistreated by their British captors), "ghettoes" (a reference to the curfews and other restrictions imposed on many Jewish neighborhoods) and "explicit anti-Jewish laws" (such as those prohibiting most Jewish immigration and land purchases).
The Bergson Group's "Wise Son" contrasts sharply with the other three. He is a Jewish soldier in the U.S. Army. He asks: "How can I help my fellow men in Europe and Palestine?" The pamphlet answers him by urging him to "join this crusade" for Jewish statehood "with all his heart and all his soul," and "add his voice, his influence among friends, and every penny he can honestly spare ... ."
The long dark night of Nazi persecution was drawing to a close, and the struggle for a Jewish state was about to begin in earnest. It was a struggle waged in Palestine with guerrilla warfare, on the high seas with refugee ships and in the court of public opinion with broadsides such as "There Were Four Sons," which invoked ancient imagery to sway hearts and minds. "
This was written by Rafael Medoff, director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and originally appeared in the Jewish Exponent March 18, 2010
"Many of us recall the use of Passover themes in such Jewish political activity as the "Freedom Seders" of the Jewish student movement of the 1960s or the "Let My People Go" campaigns by Soviet Jewry advocates in the 1970s and 1980s.
But the appearance of Passover imagery in contemporary Jewish politics goes back much farther than that. With Passover approaching in 1945, Zionist activists in the United States undertook an information offensive that utilized the holiday's themes to challenge the small but influential segment of the Jewish community that opposed Zionism.
Shortly before Passover, the Jewish activists known as the "Bergson Group" issued a pamphlet that retold the "four sons" portion of the Haggadah with a starkly modern twist.
The booklet, titled "There Were Four Sons," bore no author's name, but it had all the dramatic hallmarks of the Academy Award- winning screenwriter Ben Hecht, who was the most prominent of the Bergson Group's publicists. Hecht had previously authored a series of attention-grabbing, full-page newspaper ads for the group that stoked controversy by boldly criticizing Allied policy toward European Jewry.
"There Were Four Sons" was illustrated by the famed artist Arthur Szyk, who, in between drawing covers for Time and Collier's, and political cartoons for the New York Post, put his talents at the disposal of the Bergson Group.
Szyk's four sons are taken straight out of the debates then raging in the American Jewish community over the future of Palestine. The first three are different types of American Jews who opposed, or at least were uninterested in, the fight for a Jewish state.
The "wicked son" represents the wealthy, assimilated Jew who actively opposed Zionism. He asks: "What is this nonsense about a Jewish nation and an independent homeland? When all this fuss blows over, let them return to the countries they came from ... ."
"Answer him," the pamphlet continues in the style of the traditional Haggadah, that "since he elects to hold himself aloof from a physical concern about his brother's plight, he has disqualified himself from a voice in the life-and-death affairs of a foreign and persecuted people." The Jews in Europe and Palestine fear his involvement in their affairs "more than the plotting of the anti-Semites," since "the adverse testimony of a supposed friend can be as scriptures in the mouth of the devil."
Szyk's depiction of the wicked son looks suspiciously like Joseph Proskauer, at the time the president of the American Jewish Committee, who was one of the most prominent and influential anti-Zionists of that era. Later, AJC would change its position and support the creation of Israel, but at that point, in 1945, it argued that the existence of a Jewish state would compromise the status of Jews in the Diaspora.
The second son, whom English-language Haggadahs typically call the "Simple Son," is here called the "Indifferent Son." He appears to be a middle-class businessman, wearing a fedora and chomping on a cigar. "Why don't we leave well enough alone?" he asks. "Aren't we doing OK here?" He worries that paying too much attention to European Jewry might "prod anti-Semitism here in America."
"Answer him," the Bergson pamphlet instructs, that fighting for a Jewish state would ultimately help decrease, not increase, anti-Semitism. Achieving "freedom and safety for your less fortunate kin in the death valley of Europe will create a sound moral foundation for a world order of peace and security," and that would include "banishing anti-Semitism."
Szyk's "Uninformed Son" (whom most Haggadahs call "the son who does not know to ask"), wearing a laborer's cap, is the stereotypical Jewish workingman. He says that he cannot understand why the Jews "complain" against the British administration in Palestine." After all, "Do Jews not have freedom there to live, work, sing, play and worship as they please?"
"Answer him that Palestine is far from a land of freedom today," the pamphlet asserts. "In Palestine, there are concentration camps" (meaning the detention camps where Jewish activists were held without charges), "torture chambers" (Jewish militants were often mistreated by their British captors), "ghettoes" (a reference to the curfews and other restrictions imposed on many Jewish neighborhoods) and "explicit anti-Jewish laws" (such as those prohibiting most Jewish immigration and land purchases).
The Bergson Group's "Wise Son" contrasts sharply with the other three. He is a Jewish soldier in the U.S. Army. He asks: "How can I help my fellow men in Europe and Palestine?" The pamphlet answers him by urging him to "join this crusade" for Jewish statehood "with all his heart and all his soul," and "add his voice, his influence among friends, and every penny he can honestly spare ... ."
The long dark night of Nazi persecution was drawing to a close, and the struggle for a Jewish state was about to begin in earnest. It was a struggle waged in Palestine with guerrilla warfare, on the high seas with refugee ships and in the court of public opinion with broadsides such as "There Were Four Sons," which invoked ancient imagery to sway hearts and minds. "
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