The Bizareness of Shalom

Even before Mubarak practically declared war on Israel after the elections,the Israel bashing and straight-out Jew-hatred in Egypt had been going on for years. On May 5, for example, “Yideot” quoted a veteran “New York Times” journalist and Mid-East expert who spoke of the virulent hatred for Israel that exists in Egypt today.

All this comes as no surprise. But one who follows events closely will notice the interesting phenomenon that after the peace agreement, the hatred which always had existed grows exponentially! Sound unbelievable? Indeed it is for the confused and brainwashed Israeli who for years has been force-fed how successful the peace with Egypt is.

Why does the hatred grow? The peace agreements always came at a time when the Arabs were in an inferior, weak position, and so they agreed to the treaty, waiting for they day they recover and can return to their natural situation of trying to obliterate Israel. This feeling of weakness amongst the Arabs humiliates them, and produces a natural and vicious hatred for the”Jewish Satan”, where he dreams of the day that the proud Arab will again arise and wipe out the reproach of the agreements. This, by the way, is the historical trend of all anti-semitism: The more the Jews try to assimilate and be loved by the gentile, the more the hatred intensifies.

And how easy it is to pull the wool over the eyes of the Israeli public! For years the peace with Egypt has been toted as the example of the success and splendor of “peace”. And suddenly, Egypt has become more hostile than Syria, and its Jew-hating propaganda tops even that of Iran! It has gotten to a situation where the Israeli foreign dept. cannot find a volunteer to replace the Israeli ambassador to Egypt. The Israeli ambassador is the most hated man in Egypt, humiliated and beaten wherever he goes.

Video: Rabbi Kahane at National Press Club

Rabbi Kahane at National Press Club

Vayetze: Time to Go Home

It is a well-know Torah principle that, “the actions of the fathers are precedents for the sons.” The Rambam in his introduction to the Book of Exodus explains: “All the events (that the founding fathers of the Israelite Nation experience) are like pictures of things that hint and inform us of all that will occur to them (the Israelite Nation) in the future) in the future.” This rule not only applies to positive actions, but to negative actions as well. Indeed, Rabbi Kahane often pointed out how the conflict between Jacob and Laban that is recounted in parshat Vayetze provides us with a prototype of Jewish-Gentile relations that remain valid as long as the Jews abide in the lands of their dispersion.

First, Jacob is forced to flee his home due to the fact that Esau plots to murder him as vengeance for an alleged wrong, “Behold, Esau your brother comforts himself (by planning) to kill you. And now my son, listen to me and arise, flee to Laban, my brother in Haran.” (Genesis 27:42)

Jacob makes the wearying journey, full of travails and diversions, and finally arrives, penniless, in his new place of residence. He immediately seeks and finds work (as a shepherd) and begins to rebuild his life. He works hard and is scrupulously honest: “These past 20 years that I was with you, your sheep did not miscarriage and the rams of your flock I did not eat. I did not bring you a carcass (of a dead sheep attacked by wild animals) without reimbursing you, and took responsibility (for stolen sheep) whether stolen in the day or night” (ibid 40). For his trouble he is repeatedly cheated and ripped off by his employer Laban, “You have switched my wages (i.e. contract) ten times” (ibid 41). And yet, despite this, his dilligence and faith in G-d pay off: “And the man increased (his wealth) very much (ibid 30:43).

Yes, Jacob became a financial mogul with influential connections and an impressive mass of wealth and possessions to boot. He had “made it”. He had reached the highest echelons of society. What could possibly go wrong? “And he heard the sons of Laban saying, Jacob has taken all that belongs to our father and it is from our father’s possessions that he has glorified himself. And Jacob saw Laban’s expression (when looking at Jacob) and it was different from that way it has always been” (ibid 31:12). The atmosphere grows thick with jealousy. The hatred that accompanies it spawns false accusations and outright lies: “The Jews control the economy! The Jews are feeding off of us! It’s the Jews fault!”

Jacob, an honest and law-abiding citizen of Padan Aram finds himself, once again, in physical danger regardless of his innocent intentions and contributions to society. He is momentarily shocked. What has he done to deserve this? The “old friend” of yesterday is the new enemy of today. He realizes he has overstayed his welcome, but hangs on a little longer. Eventually he hits the road only to begin somewhere else where the same nightmare can be replayed again.

This, then, is the immutable cycle of the Jewish exile. But where does it end? Shall his weary feet never find rest? Is he doomed to a life of perpetual wandering? Or is there a place where he will be able to grow and prosper, a place where his children’s future will be guaranteed; a place by which he has a rightful claim? The Almighty gives the answer, and it is an answer that we would do well to take seriously: “Return to the land of your fathers, your homeland, and (there) I will be with you!” (ibid 31:3)

This familiar pattern repeats itself over and over again. In each new place the hapless Jew “finally” discovered comfort and security. “It can’t happen here” he reassures himself, and blithely goes about his way, all the while stubbornly ignoring the lessons of history, not to mention a Torah commandment…

There is only one way to escape the vicious cycle, and that is the way in which the Torah implores us: “Return to the land of your fathers, your homeland, and (there) I will be with you!”

Worker

One the last day of the late, unlamented year, the Worker, organ of the Communist conspiracy in the United States, published an editorial aimed at the Jewish people. Titled “Chanukah’s Tradition,” it is a stupefying lesson in brazenness.

“The beginning of Chanukah–Feast of Light–last week is a reminder once again of the magnificent record of the Jewish people’s struggle for freedom and liberty.” Thus spake the Worker, and even opponents of Mother Russia’s movement for freedom must be moved to sights of admiration for the cool audacity and sheer gall of the American representatives of Soviet Jewry’s oppressors.

And yet, one is sadly but absolutely convinced that there are Jews who will be moved by these words to feelings of magnanimity for Gus Hall’s hate sheet. The yearning to be loved and the eagerness to believe the capacity of the leopard to change its spots is most clearly typified by the recent tour of the Polish Yiddish State Theater, during which thousands of Jews sold their souls for a few Yiddish words. Surely even Esau got a better deal than this…

And just as Poland succeeded in making some forget their purge of Jews, their hatred of Israel, their banning of the Joint Distribution Committee and its aid for needy Jews and their vicious resurgence of anti-Semitism through a few Yiddish words, so one may be sure that the little editorial in the Worker in praise of Chanukah, will also find a sympathetic chord in the hearts of our more gullible Jews.

But, rather than consign the editorial to its proper resting place–the nearest trash can–it would be far better to discuss some of the more recent contributions of the Worker’s Moscow masters in furthering this “magnificent record of the Jewish people for freedom and liberty.”

In 1948, the struggle of the Jewish people for freedom and liberty, for the right to live free of programs and attacks by Muzhiks that had so marked their history in places like Russia, for the right to live their religious identity in freedom and security, reached a dramatic climax with the establishment of the third Jewish commonwealth, the State of Israel. Moscow’s attitude toward this yearning for freedom is well known but lest one think that with the comparative calm that has settled over the Middle East, Moscow has stilled its vicious incitement and shut the flow of poison against Israel, he is sadly mistaken.

The following are some very recent comments from the government-controlled Soviet press. We commend them to the attention of the editorial staff of the Worker. “In the practical application of Zionism to the affairs of the Middle East, there are elements of genocide, racism, perfidy, aggression and annexation–all characteristics of fascism. “The notorious ‘expansion for Lebensraum’ principle was at the root of Hitlerite Germany’s aggression. Israel is now elevating this principle to the rank of foreign policy…

“While fascism was at its height the Zionists cooperated actively with Nazi chiefs and, in a number of instances, acted as their direct accomplices. Today, the German reactionaries are rendering invaluable services to Zionism…”

(“How Far Lunacy?” by E. Evseyev, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Moscow) …

Still another vicious attack on Zionism and Israel, the last hope of countless refugees and displaced persons, comes in an article, ” The Jewish ‘Racists’,” by Yuri Ivanov:

“Zionism today is an ideology, a system of organization and practice of the Jewish imperialistic bourgeoisie. Its basic content is anti-Communism. It is just this, the anti-Communism of the international Zionist corporation, of smart dealers in politics and finance, religion and trade, that has strengthen Zionism and turned it into a reliable driving-belt for the United States and her military apparatus… “In other words, it is to fight against the Socialist camp, against the Communist, the workers’ and the national liberation movements…

“When a new and perfidious aggression against the progressive Arab world was perpetrated, the Zionist machine worked to full capacity. At present, when all progressive humanity demands that Israel, the aggressor, liquidate the results of the war, the international Zionist network administers its dirty affairs with redoubled energy.

“Zionism is not, by any means, obsolete. it was and is to this day a dangerous weapon of the imperialist West, an enemy of workers of all nationalities.” (Translated from Novosti Press Agency, Moscow) There is much, much more but one final example will suffice to indicate that the Jewish people are still the beneficiaries of Moscow’s peculiar aid in achieving that “freedom and liberty” the Worker speaks of.

In 1963, when Nikita Khrushchev was still not yet a non- person, the Kremlin embarked on one of its more notorious anti-Semitic campaigns. The height of the obscenity was reached with the publication of the infamous “Judaism Without Embellishment,” a thinly veiled anti-Semitic attack upon Judaism and Jews, replete with cartoons worthy of Der Sturmer, of Julius Strecher fame.

The book was so blatantly anti-Semitic that it horrified the Communist parties of Western Europe and America, for fear that they would lose their hold on the Western electorate. Consequently, the book was withdrawn and its author, Trofim Kichko, consigned to the intellectual woodwork.

It was, therefore, somewhat of a shock to all believers in Communist repentance to find that Kichko had returned to the pages of the Soviet press. The following is an excerpt from his first article since his return–the comeback statement of an anti-Semite: “In order to justify the influx of Jews into Israel and its aggression against neighboring Arab states, the Zionists have shed hypocritical tears over the ‘eternal suffering’ of the Jews.

“Out of 2.6 million inhabitants of Israel, approximately 500,000 are doomed to semi-starvation. Even more hopeless is the situation of Israeli immigrants who have been caught in the nets of Zionist bankers.

“Chained to the imperialist chariot, the ruling circle of Israel have pushed their country into a war with the Arab world. Poisoned by chauvinism, Israeli youth became a tool in the hands of the adventurists, men like Moshe Dayan…”

Kichko had just begun to hate. Writing of an alleged Israeli student named Osman, who had called for the retention of the present boundaries as the true borders of Israel from Biblical times, Kichko says: “During the period of Israeli aggression, the aforementioned Osman might have been among those who marched over the corpses of Arab women and children, driven by the pathological obsession to exterminate the Arabs.”

(“A Pathological Obsession,” by Trofim Kichko, Komsomolskoye Znamaya, Kiev) The pathological obsession is, of course, Moscow’s. It is an obsession with Jews that has its roots in the anti-Semitism of Russia that dates back centuries. The Worker is correct when it depicts Chanukah as the holiday representing Jewry’s struggle for freedom and liberty. What it neglects to point out is that Jewish freedom and liberty was imperiled throughout the ages by nations such as the Soviet Union which attempts to destroy Judaism’s right to exist.

Judah Maccabee fought against edicts that forbade the dissemination of Torah. Another nation, in our times, is attempting to do the very same to the children of those Maccabees. We give our solemn pledge to the Worker and its Moscow masters that we will fight them just as our ancestors fought kindred tyrants of their time.

And a happy Chanukah to you too, Worker.

Dear World

Dear World,

It appears that you are hard to please. I understand that you are upset over us, here in Israel. Indeed, it appears that you are quite upset, even angry and outraged? Indeed, every few years you seem to become upset over us.

Today, it is the brutal repression of the Palestinians; yesterday, it was Lebanon; before that it was the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Baghdad and the Yom Kippur War campaign. It appears that Jews who triumph and who, therefore, live, upset you most extraordinarily. Of course, dear world, long before there was an Israel, we, the Jewish people – upset you.

We upset a German people who elected a Hitler and we upset an Austrian people who cheered his entry into Vienna and we upset a whole slew of Slavic nations – Poles, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians, Romanians.

And we go back a long, long way in the history of world upset. We upset the Cossacks of Chmielnicki who massacred tens of thousands of us in 1648-49; we upset the Crusaders who, on their way to liberate the Holy Land, were so upset at Jews that they slaughtered untold numbers of us.

We upset, for centuries, a Roman Catholic Church that did its best to define our relationship through Inquisitions. And we upset the arch-enemy of the Church, Martin Luther, who, in his call to burn the synagogues and the Jews within them, showed an admirable Christian ecumenical spirit.

It is because we became so upset over upsetting you, dear world, that we decided to leave you – in a manner of speaking – and establish a Jewish State. The reasoning was that living in close contact with you, as resident-strangers in the various countries that comprise you, we upset you, irritate you, disturb you. What better notion, then, than to leave you and thus love you – and have you love us? And so we decided to come home – to the same homeland from which we were driven out 1,900 years earlier by a Roman world that, apparently, we also upset.

Alas, dear world, it appears that you are hard to please. Having left you and your Pogroms and Inquisitions and Crusades and Holocausts, having taken our leave of the general world to live alone in our own little state – we continue to upset you.

You are upset that we repress the poor Palestinians. You are deeply angered over the fact that we do not give up the lands of 1967, which are clearly the obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Moscow is upset and Washington is upset. The Arabs are upset and the gentle Egyptian moderates are upset.

Well, dear world, consider the reaction of a normal Jew from Israel. In 1920, 1921 and 1929, there were no territories of 1967 to impede peace between Jews and Arabs. Indeed, there was no Jewish State to upset anybody. Nevertheless, the same oppressed and repressed Palestinians slaughtered hundreds of Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Safed and Hebron. Indeed, 67 Jews were slaughtered one day in Hebron – in 1929.

Dear World, why did the Arabs – the Palestinians – massacre 67 Jews in one day in 1929? Could it have been their anger over Israeli aggression in 1967? And why were 510 Jewish men, women and children slaughtered in Arab riots in 1936-39? Was it because of Arab upset over 1967? And when you, World, proposed a U.N. Partition Plan in 1947 that would have created a Palestinian State alongside a tiny Israel and the Arabs cried and went to war and killed 6,000 Jews – was that upset stomach caused by the aggression of 1967? And, by the way, dear world, why did we not hear your cry of upset then?

The poor Palestinians who today kill Jews with explosives and firebombs and stones are part of the same people who – when they had all the territories they now demand be given them for their state – attempted to drive the Jewish State into the sea. The same twisted faces, the same hate, the same cry of “idbah-al- yahud” – “Slaughter the Jews!” that we hear and see today, were seen and heard then. The same people, the same dream – destroy Israel. What they failed to do yesterday, they dream of today – but we should not “repress” them.

Dear World, you stood by the Holocaust and you stood by in 1948 as seven states launched a war that the Arab League proudly compared to the Mongol massacres. You stood by in 1967 as Nasser, wildly cheered by wild mobs in every Arab capital in the world, vowed to drive the Jews into the sea. And you would stand by tomorrow if Israel were facing extinction. And since we know that the Arabs-Palestinians daily dream of that extinction, we will do everything possible to remain alive in our own land. If that bothers you, dear world, well – think of how many times in the past you bothered us. In any event, dear world, if you are bothered by us, here is one Jew in Israel who could not care less.

Rabbi Kahane against Jackson

Rabbi Kahane giving an interview regarding Reverend Jesse Jackson’s run for presidency

Rabbi Kahane vs. Rev. Wyatt T. Walker

Rabbi Kahane debating Rev. Wyatt T. Walker on Rev. Jacksons run for president, and anti-semtism

Rabbi Kahane at National Press Club