Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Elder of ZiyonA couple of days ago a number of Hasidim traveled to Jordan's airport and started dancing to wedding tunes as they were waiting for their plane, presumably to celebrate an impending or new marriage of one of them.
Even though no one at the airport complained and the others in the waiting area did not seem upset, video of the event went viral in the Arab world to widespread disgust,
Now, Jordanian parliament members are complaining and asking what the kingdom plans to do about this terrible spectacle of celebrating, dancing Jews.
MP Bassam Batos called the behavior disgusting and revolting and provocative and asked what the government had to do with the event.
(UPDATE:) MP Yahya al-Saud demanded a government response to "Talmudic rituals" at the airport.
Tareq Khoury asked if anyone if filing an official complaint, and demanded that the government translate the lyrics of the songs being sung.
I can help there!
The first song comes from part of one of the blessings given at a Jewish wedding:
[Blessed is G-d] Who created joy and celebration, bridegroom and bride, rejoicing, jubilation, pleasure and delight, love and brotherhood, peace and friendship.
The next song, from the same blessing, is going to make the Jordanians a little more uncomfortable, notwithstanding that it originally comes from the Hebrew Bible, Jeremiah 33:10-11, which is a prophecy that foretells the Jewish return to Israel and Jerusalem.
May there soon be heard in the cities of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem, the sound of joy and the sound of celebration, the voice of a bridegroom and the voice of a bride.OK, that's pretty Zionist, even if it predates modern Zionism by several thousand years.
The third song has only three words. From one of the zemirot sung on Shabbat, it takes on a dual meaning in this context:
שמחם בבנין שלם Gladden them with a complete structure(h/t Nursemedic)
