Last night Rabbi Waskow was at the Center for Jewish History to commemorate that work and talk about his “MLK+50 Interfaith Seder” haggadah (or guidebook), which aims to “reawaken” King’s prophetic spirit. Nobody on the panel mentioned Israel and Palestine, but in the Q-and-A, Robert Herbst of Jewish Voice for Peace asked what Waskow’s Seder says to Jews and African-Americans about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. “A lot of the people who are drowning these days are Palestinians, and there’s a lot of silent agony and callousness over there,” Herbst said.
Waskow said he’d decided not to touch on Palestine in his new seder. “Between taking on the big empire and taking on the little empire, I think the Shalom Center [his organization] should take on the big empire– that is the United States,” he said.
But he had often written about Palestine, including an article for Tikkun on the 50th anniversary of the occupation last year. And he went on:
“I did a whole series of attempts to bringing Torah to bear. I said, what is the line between loving the state and making it an idol?
“I quoted two passages from the Talmud about what makes something an idol. One is, they were living, you remember, under the Roman empire. One tells the story: A Jew goes to a rabbi, and says, I just bought a house from a Roman. It’s a wonderful house, it’s got a wonderful pool, and at the end of the pool there’s a statue of a naked lady. I really worry it might be Venus. In which case I guess it’s an idol. Do I have to tear it down, destroy it?
“The rabbi says, Well it depends. If the statue was built to make the pool still more beautiful, it’s a statue. If the pool was put there to venerate the statue, it’s an idol.
“The second story from the Talmud is this. The rabbis decided to go hunt for yetzer harafor idolatry, the evil impulse for idolatry. They thought if they could find it they could kill it and then idolatry would end. So they hunted and they hunted and they hunted and they hunted, and they finally found it in the holy of holies, in the center. That’s where the impulse to idolatry was. So I take it as a warning that it may be the most sacred thing you can nevertheless turn into an idol. And I ask myself, what makes the difference? It seems to me, the ability to criticize the living god, as Abraham did, as Jacob who wrestled I think with God. ‘Why did you set up the world so that the only way I could get to be who I was supposed to be was to rob and steal and lie? What kind of a God is that?’ Wrestling!
“When you can’t wrestle with something you think is sacred, when you can’t criticize it, when you can’t call it into account, it’s an idol.
“And for huge chunks of American Jewish life, but not for all– for huge chunks, Israel has become an idol.
“Our tradition teaches us that’s the most dangerous disastrous thing in the world. The Psalm says, what are these things, they have noses but they can’t breathe. they have legs and they can’t walk, they have arms and they can’t touch. And those who make them will become like them.”
Waskow went on that in his seder he was “dealing with the Pharaohs of Washington, of corporations,” but that’s not to say that this is not a moral question.
“I talk about the carbon pharaohs who not only killed human beings, but are bringing plagues upon the earth, disastrous plagues that are also killing human beings…
“My own view is there are two serious tests for the Jewish people in the most basic sense, in this generation. One is to treat Israel not as an idol. If it could be, it has to be made to be the creative center for Jewish thought and culture and action. But that center could not possibly, could not possibly!– expel people who are looking for asylum… Not possibly. The Torah says if somebody comes to you fleeing his master, a runaway slave comes to you, then you must let him live wherever he wants within your gates. You must not expel him. How could a people that sees itself as a band of runaway slaves act any differently from that? Well, the present government of the state of Israel absolutely does act like that– about the Palestinians and the asylum seekers.”
Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net. Other posts by Philip Weiss.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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Things to ponder
While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented.
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
Unfortunately, such voices within the Jewish community have been suppressed to such a degree, that at this point, the whole community is not only infected with the perversion of his point, but all of the Jewish community itself is seen as Talmudic satanism essentially. AntiJewism is rising and the Jewish community by abandoning the principles this rabbi expresses, have brought it on themselves.
Exactly. As I have expressed many times to Jewish friends—to no avail—their silence in regard to Israel’s enormous crimes stokes the fires of global anti-semitism. American Jews, complacent in their newfound security in the US, are forgetting they are giving the ancestral enemies unbeatable materials to persecute them with, should the historical winds shift again, and they will. The courage of people like Phil Weiss, Glenn Greenwald and this Rabbi are redeeming examples, but it is not enough.
This sounds like blaming the victim…. ‘she deserved it, look what she was wearing’. Christians do not need an excuse to prosecute jews…. They already rally around the call that the jews killed jesus…. and have been doing this no matter how ‘well behaved’ the jewish community is. Singling out what the left to believes ‘proper’ jews, just reinforces the extent of anti semitism in christian nations…. And then the jews in turn, with the potential for a resurgence of anti-semitism have found their own underdog – the palestinians. And so it goes on and on- the unbroken cycle violence… Read more »
“And then the jews in turn, with the potential for a resurgence of
anti-semitism have found their own underdog – the palestinians.”
No, the difference between Jews and Zionism is something else entirely, and the goal of Zionism is in no way connected to that.
Then why all the blaming of jews, with dire predictions of a swell of anti-Semitism. Christianity will always find a way to blame the jews… and so the cycle of violence of the semitic religious tradition goes on and on and on.
The only way to end it is to opt out the religions that are the holy trinity of terror on the earth,
Either you refuse to recognize the brutal Zionist pact of AIPAC (christian Zionists) with their partners in crime (ZioIsrael), or play the fatigued “religion card.”
Either way, it is obviously futile on my part to attempt debating such matters of such calibre and non-starter.
And yet there are threats of anti-semitism and no anti-christian threats….
Zionism is just another buzzword for jew in the lexicon of christian anti-semitism…. despite denials to the contrary… with clarifications that do little to stem the tide of anti-semitism.
Christianity, judaism and islam are the three most violent religions… any allegiance to any one of these religions just fuels the flames of hatred and violence…
Stop blaming the victim… Jews did not bring anti-semitism on themselves,. NO matter how well behaved, they were targeted as the killers of jesus…. There is to say that jews brought anti-semitism on themselves… That they are acting just as christians have done for millennia in apartheid Israel, that is no reason to single them out…. That their actions are violent and cruel, they are not unique in this. Have your forgotten the crusades, the inquisition, the holocaust, forced conversions, endless proselytizing, invasion of muslim lands to convert, dominate and control the infidel… Judaism is no worse than christianity…. yet… Read more »
Blaming the victim for anti-semitism is still anti-semitism. Does anyone blame christians for the the almost total desrtruction of native americans, with blame and hints of a backlash. No… Jews no matter how ‘well behaved’ will always be blamed for killing jesus… And yes the treatment and persecution of palestinians is by israel is deplorable… but just as deplorable as all the violence of christians to the non-believers through the millennia, with no threats of punishment… The whole semtic religious tradition is so fraught with internecine violence, that the only way to end the violence is to opt out of… Read more »
Let’s put it this way. A Jewish banker financed the American revolution. And who did they finance? Christian slave owners who also oversaw genocide and imperialism. This does not mean that the Jewish people are to be condemned, nor all Christians. But both groups see themselves as separate and above the rest of humanity, with predictable consequences. I saw through that and got out. It is a ghetto of the mind.
‘But both groups see themselves as separate and above the rest of humanity, with predictable consequences. I saw through that and got out. It is a ghetto of the mind.’
I agree with you on this and would add both also consider themselves above animals & the natural order as a result of religious teachings that revolve around human supremacy and exclusivity.
Exactly!
I am not sure what you mean by I got out of the ghetto state of mind…. I left that 15 years ago. I no longer support when I joined a Jain community. I have opted out of the eternal cycle of violence of all three of the semitic religions: judaism, christianity & islam.
I was merely pointing out that singling out the jews, telling them they better behave or there will be anti-semitic consequences…. is just the same old anti-semitism.
Ruth, you certainly made a wise decision. My point is not to exercise a threat but to recognize the law of Karma. By denigrating others one brings on the same response from them. Israel’s (and the USA’s) actions result in corresponding anti Israel/Jewish/USA reactions
What you say sounds neutral… and you may well be. What concerns me…. is that there is more than the laws of karma at play…. when articles are written that imply that jews who support Israel and those who are too frightened to speak out against the violence to palestinians will somehow be at the receiving end of anti-semitism… There are no corresponding threats against christians with the same views…. We must face the reality that the west is predominantly christian – and so the old bugaboos of christianity are still i being invoked….
Here, precisely is the problem with what you are saying:
“My point is not to exercise a threat but to recognize the law of Karma. By denigrating others one brings on the same response from them. Israel’s (and the USA’s) actions result in corresponding anti Israel/Jewish/USA reactions”
Why are there anti-israel, anti-jewish reactions, while there are only anti-USA reactions, not anti-christian reactions…. to the brutality of the palestinian occupations.
The myth of jewish culpability dies hard.
You say that Israeli/ USA brutality of the palestinian occupation will “result in corresponding anti Israel/Jewish/USA reactions””
This is not corresponding… anti Israel/Jewish is not the same as anti USA reactions…
There seems to be no empathy in this evaluation…. Jews are afraid. They know that that christians will never leave them alone… It is this fear that has driven so many to abandon principles of fairness and justice…. It is for this reason, that I have formally left the judeo.christian tradition. The violence of this tradition will never cease. Christians blame jews for the killing of Jesus, when in fact it is the other way around…. It is the followers of jesus who kill jews…. There is no anti-semitism in India, where a more tolerant ethic – ahimsa has influenced… Read more »
Beg pardon? Jews and Muslims are semitic, no?Fact is, there is nationwide discrimination against the Muslim people by the racist Hindu religion and Modi regime as a tool to wage war against Pakistan over Kashmir.
Beg Pardon? Are you at all familiar with the nature of anti-islam in India. To begin with the attacks on muslims are carried out only by a fringe minority of hindu extremists. For the most part Muslims in India have been integrated into society. Abdul Kalam, a physicist, humanist, a poet, a vegetarian and a Muslim was President of India. Amjad Ali Khan a muslim, is an Indian musician who is adored in India. At a concert I attended he was given three standing ovations before he even began to play, by the majority Hindu audience. Aamir Khan is a… Read more »
That is not to say that racist christian america is free of Islamophobia… Christian exclusivity targets all those who do not accept jesus as their lord and master…. Have you forgotten the genocide of native americans who were forced to abandon their religion, their culture, their language and forced to become christian. I have been to a Hindu temple where people are taught to appreciate and tolerate all religions… Gandhi had good words to say about jesus. I have yet to hear a christian say good words about Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva or Mahavir, the great Jain teacher. You are either… Read more »
“Let’s put it this way. A Jewish banker financed the American revolution. And who did they finance? Christian slave owners who also oversaw genocide and imperialism.”
And yet no one is threatening anti-christian repercussions for christian forages into exploitation of the marginalized…
That is the point. When jews are threatened with anti-semitism if the don’t fall in line, a line has been crossed…. a line established by christianity so many thousands of years ago – the jews killed jesus.