The Progressive's Passover

What kind of sense does it make for Jews to celebrate freedom when the Jewish state is the oppressor?


Some edits, thanks to Kendall, and some additional verbage.


The Progressive's Passover
By Niel Bornstein


   It's the time of year when Jews celebrate one of their oldest
   festivals, Pesach or Passover. Pesach commemorates the Jews' escape
   from bondage in Egypt and their flight to freedom in the land of
   Israel. As a nominal Jew, I have observed Pesach with my family for
   35 years. Since my father's death and my brother's estrangment from
   Judaism, and despite my own fall from belief in organized religion,
   I have been called upon to serve as the leader at my family's Seder,
   the traditional festive meal of Pesach.
   
   The rituals of the Seder are set forth in the Haggadah, which tells
   the story of Pesach and the exodus from Egypt through stories,
   songs, and readings from the five books of Moses and various learned
   men from the centuries of Jewish knowledge. My family has, as long
   as I can remember, used a set of Haggadot published by
   [1]Manischewitz, makers of many Jewish foods and other products.
   These books are showing their age lately, but I still like them
   because the dog-eared copy from which I lead has my father's copious
   marginalia to help me know which parts to skip over, which parts to
   read aloud, and which parts to ask guests to read around the table.
   
   This year, however, my mother borrowed a set of Haggadot from a
   friend of hers. This set was simpler, explained it better for the
   non-Jews at our table, and would make for a more enjoyable
   experience for all concerned.
   
   Except for one thing: even more than the older set, this text makes
   obvious the ridiculous hipocrisy of Zionism.
   
   Even as we sat at our comfortable table, stuffing ourselves with
   matzoh ball soup and gefilte fish, a people continue their struggle
   to regain their homeland. While we read in the Haggadah about a
   40-year journey through the desert, from oppression to the land of
   milk and honey, we ignore another displaced people who want nothing
   more than to return to their homes in Israel, née Palestine. As we
   self-righteously tell the story of Moses' exhortations to Pharoah to
   "let my people go," we in the United States continue to fund the
   murder of Palestinian protesters to the tune of over [2]US$5.5
   billion per year. As long as the Israeli government kills
   rock-throwing Palestinians with helicopters and tanks, I can not
   read such a one-sided story. And the [3]one-sidedness of the
   killings is astounding: while Palestinian civilians and security
   forces have killed 303 Israeli civilans between December 1987, the
   beginning of the Intifadeh, and the end of February 2001, Israeli
   security forces alone have killed 1,661 Palestinian civilians -- 346
   of them under the age of 17.
   
   The Jews have a lot to be thankful for on Pesach, to be sure: that
   the Jews were freed from slavery in Egypt, that the Jewish people
   survived the Holocaust, that there is a Jewish homeland. But there
   are still oppressed, exiled, and enslaved people throughout the
   world, and some of them are oppressed as a direct result of the
   establishment of Israel. What irony, what chutzpah to preach freedom
   in the midst of such turmoil!
   
   I'm working on a more progressive Haggadah for next year, one that I
   won't be ashamed to read from. I plan to cite historical and modern
   struggles for freedom -- and there are many to choose from,
   historical and modern. For example, besides the politically
   inflammatory Intifadeh, there are the Indian struggle for
   independence from British rule; the Chinese occupation of Tibet and
   subsequent Tibetan exile; the East Timorese vote for independence
   from Indonesia; and our own issues with civil rights and slavery
   reparations.
   
   Of course, there's a lot of good in the traditional Haggadah; but a
   dose of reality is sorely needed. Citations and reading suggestions
   from our readers would be most welcome.

References

   1. http://www.manischewitz.com/
   2. http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1297/9712043.html
   3. http://www.btselem.org/files/site/english/data/Total_Casualties.asp


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Posted on Monkeyfist at http://monkeyfist.com/articles/749