Meir Y. Soloveichik: Second Passover
Though the day is not named in the Bible, it was Jewish tradition that lovingly bestowed the phrase “Second Passover” upon it, capturing how it symbolized a second chance to celebrate freedom, the potential for a second opportunity for celebration when the first was lost.
And this, in turn, reflects the nature of Jewish history itself. When Menachem Begin was told by Jimmy Carter that he faced Israel’s last chance to make peace, Begin told the press, “This, of course, is one of the important events of our time.” He added: “If people say this is a fateful meeting, we disagree. The fate of our people should not depend on any meeting—this meeting or any other. Our people lived thousands of years before Camp David and shall continue to exist thousands of years after.” For the Jews, Begin continued, “there are no last opportunities or chances.” Centuries after the Temple was destroyed, Jews would mark “Second Passover” by eating a bit of the matzah left over from the month before, pondering when the next chance of celebrating freedom would occur in Jewish history.
It is therefore no coincidence that Schacter, looking back at that moment in Buchenwald, called it a “Second Passover.” It was not yet a month after the festival, as Schacter acknowledged, but “it was Pesach Sheni in the most meaningful sense for these Jews, who were unable to have an actual Pesach.” And that ingestion of matzah in a Nazi movie theater allows us to understand the sublime symbolism of the day itself. Is there a better parallel to the origin of Second Passover—those defiled by the dead ultimately celebrating freedom—than a liberation celebration of survivors following an encounter with the ultimate embodiment of death? And is there a biblical day, established so many millennia ago, whose symbolism more strikingly joins together all the modern markings this month, of the Holocaust and the birth of Israel, of Jewish life after Jewish death?
Two weeks after the first service in Buchenwald, another was held on April 27, which happened to be “Second Passover” itself. This time, the chaplain had prepared enough matzah for all. Schacter’s assistant, Hyman Schulman, explained the service in a letter to his wife: “Yesterday was Pesach Schanee, you know,” adding about the survivors, that “the miraculous thing about it was that not one of them ate a piece of matzah until the chaplain said the blessing over the Matzoh.” One participant, Avraham Schneur, told Medoff that up till that point in the camps he had been incapable of faith. Suddenly, the chaplain intoned the memorial prayer for those who had been murdered, and he realized that this included “my father my mother, and my brother, and perhaps also my sisters.…When I heard the prayer, the knowledge that they were gone took on a different character; it became absolute.” And “from then on I knew I had to recite a prayer for them. When I recovered, I noted that two lines were forming; at the front of one line the rabbi was handing out matzo to everyone, and in the other line they were handing out prayer books. I received a prayer book and knew that I was resuming being a Jew.”
Thus did Schneur come to terms with Jewish death, and embrace Jewish life, thereby embodying Jewish history in its totality. It is safe to say that for most reading this article, a “Pesach Sheni” will not be central to their celebrations this year. But if we take pains to mark it, it will render our more modern commemorations more profound, reminding us of what it means to be part of a nation that has no last chance, and will never die.
In Every Generation They Rise Up to Destroy Us
The recent murderous attacks in Israel had no specific political objective other than to murder Jews. They followed the general objective issued in countless public statements and enshrined in the Hamas charter: the eradication of the Jewish state and the elimination of Jews from every inch of Israel.Lost in Germany
There is a word for violent, unprovoked attacks against innocent Jews going about their ordinary lives: pogrom. But unlike the situation in late 19th-century Russia, when Jews relied on the czar's good graces for protection, today we can defend ourselves, thank God. These terrorists are modern-day Cossacks, and they are not perpetrating terrorist attacks with clear political objectives but pogroms.
Theodor Herzl, who helped form the modern Zionist movement, believed that if Jews, the only nation in Europe without a country of their own, could only have their state, it would end the hatred. But it didn't. The bitter irony is that the Jewish state has become the new focus of anti-Semitic hatred.
How is it possible that this country, on a sliver of land smaller than New Jersey, has been the target of more UN Human Rights Council resolutions than the rest of the world combined? The only country in the world with a global movement denying its right to exist. How can it be that within living memory of the Holocaust, there is a new credible threat to obliterate another six million Jews, only this time with a single detonation?
For generations, Jews have understood the biblical prediction: "Vehi sheamda" - "In every generation they rise up to destroy us" - which we recall every year on Passover. We must sing those words on Seder night not with fear or sadness or bitterness. Instead, we should feel the pride of the generations of brave Jews who came before us, and hand these truths to our children so they will know who they are, so they will know our enemies and not fear them.
In an interview with Deutschlandfunk (Broadcast Germany), Blume fabricated that there are “right-wing extremists” within the Jewish community who react with “hatred” toward his German Muslim wife. I know of no one in the Jewish communities to whom the accusation applies. Blume provided no evidence.
Why Blume defames Jews, of all people, in the interview is quite disconcerting for an antisemitism official. His inclusion in the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s “Global Antisemitism Top Ten” list of people committing the worst antisemitic incidents in 2021 is no coincidence.
THUS, AS a Jew in Germany, one obviously has to come to terms with the fact that the position of an antisemitism commissioner is in most cases cosmetic, in order to soothe the German conscience, but in reality can hardly make a difference.
Now, as is well known, the fish stinks from the head first.
During her recent visit to Israel, Germany’s new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, one day after visiting Yad Vashem, assured Palestinian Authority head, Mahmoud Abbas, that Germany would be his reliable partner.
This means that Palestinian terror pensions will continue to be indirectly financed by German taxpayers, and that UNRWA will not have to worry about printing anti-Israel hate textbooks.
The show must go on.
Israel is currently experiencing one of the worst waves of terror in recent years, with 14 dead in just over two weeks.
In its statement, the federal foreign office uses the boilerplate language that is already familiar from the bad times of the previous foreign minister, Heiko Maas. It speaks of a possible “spiral of violence” between Jews, Muslims and Christians. The fact that it is a matter of Islamist terror is not mentioned. Thank God, they do not call for “moderation on all sides.”
It seems as though Germany’s politicians want to ignore the fact that the Islamists who commit terror attacks against “infidels” in Germany have the same mindset as the Islamists who attack Israelis. It’s no use mourning the dead terror victims in Israel, if the money keeps flowing to the Palestinians, and Germany indirectly co-finances “terror pensions” paid to the families of Palestinian terrorists.
How good it is that in the worst of all cases for us Jews, there is Israel.
I have no idea where non-Jewish Germans can flee.
The Jews Who Didn’t Leave Egypt
This weekend, millions of people will sit around Seder tables and memorialize the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.Daniel Greenfield: White House seder makes a mockery of Passover and Jews
Guided by the Haggadah, or Passover text—one of the most popular Jewish books ever written—Seder participants are led along in a series of prayers, texts, and activities. We talk and talk and talk about the miracle of liberation; we parse the details of its unfolding, enumerating the many miracles involved; we go over whether we are supposed to commemorate the blessing of freedom only in this life or also in the next one; we assert in words and song the gratitude we feel for being the lucky descendants of those who escaped from slavery.
One thing we do not generally discuss, however, are the Jews who didn’t leave.
“Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt,’” states Exodus 13:17. But it is in the next sentence that a mystery emerges: “So God led the people round about, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up chamushim out of the land of Egypt.”
Wait—what? The Jews went out of Egypt how? What does “chamushim” mean? It is generally translated as “armed,” but nearly all commentaries note that its definition is, in fact, uncertain.
Into this breach arrives the legendary medieval Torah commentator Rashi, with a startling assertion. After acknowledging the “armed” option, Rashi offers, with casual sangfroid, another idea: That “chamushim” relates to the Hebrew word for five, and the text should be understood to be saying that only one-fifth of the Jewish people chose to leave Egypt.
What happened to those who stayed? Nothing good. “There were among Israel of that generation wicked individuals who did not wish to depart Egypt and they died during the three days of gloom,” Rashi continues.
Rashi’s contemporary, Ibn Ezra, was positively outraged by this interpretation, calling it “a sick evil.” But Shemot Rabbah finds Rashi’s explanation perfectly reasonable, and even adds to it: “There were sinners among the Jews who had Egyptian patrons, and they had wealth and honor there, [so] they didn’t want to leave.” In other words, they liked the good life in Egypt.
"Good evening to the thousands of you who are joining us from around the country," Doug Emhoff, the Hollywood lawyer serving as Kamala's husband, intoned.For Passover and Good Friday, NYT essayist writes about ‘killing’ ‘hateful God’
The sign-language interpreter on the small box next to him spread her arms in what was either an attempt to sign Passover or a gesture of disbelief and contempt.
The "People's Seder" was about to begin, with its apostrophe in the right place and heart in the wrong one.
As the Biden White House rushes to enable Iran's nuclear program and the modern-day pharaonic mullahs plotting, like the original, to wipe out the Jews, it put on a "People's Seder" to distract American Jews from its complicity in the latest acts of terror from Iran to Israel.
The People's Seder sounds like a Berkeley commune. A day before the eve of Passover, the administration's second virtual seder served no function except to give Emhoff something to do. Perhaps knowing that, Emhoff claimed, with a mostly straight face, that he had traveled the country hearing from people "how much last year's virtual seder had meant to them."
Emhoff made no mention of the over a dozen Israelis recently killed in terror attacks. Neither, seemingly, did so many of the speakers who rambled on about the importance of "empathy."
Empathy applies to everyone except the Israeli Jews mourning their dead.
Passover, to Emhoff, proved to be about Ukraine, about the pandemic and "protecting democracy." Maybe Emhoff can tell us which democratic process elected Moses.
Then a particularly haggard Biden, looking awkwardly at things off camera, boasted that this was the "first time in three years that families sit around the seder table."
That might be true in Washington, but it certainly isn't true in America.
Biden then declared that during Passover, his hearts were "with the people of Ukraine."
The New York Times decided to publish a guest essay heavily criticizing God on Good Friday and the start of Passover.British Filmmaker Christopher Morris Explains the FBI
Shalom Auslander composed a piece insisting that this Passover, we should stop paying attention to God:
"In this time of war and violence, of oppression and suffering, I propose we pass over something else: God," he began, before claiming God is "hateful," full of "brutality," and, if mortal, "would be dragged to the Hague."
Auslander criticized God whose "wrath" and "plagues" harnessed against the Egyptians during the original Passover story from the Book of Exodus, remind him of what the Russians are doing to the Ukrainians right now.
According to the author, Israel’s ancient enemies were troubling, "But just as troubling — even more so today in light of the brutal slaughter taking place in Ukraine — were the plagues themselves."
Now that the chair Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker threw at his hostage-taker is headed to the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, I hope it isn’t too rude to note that numerous all-too-quickly-memory-holed questions remain about January’s crisis at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Those unknowns all suggest the type of farce that ensues when supposedly crackerjack national spy agencies get tangled up in the comic-book plots of inept jihadis, who most likely would never have made it out their own basements if the aforementioned security agents hadn’t given them that final and just-as-often initial boost they needed to live out their dreams. Given the complexities involved, it should come as no surprise that this kind of elaborately witting-unwitting collusion can sometimes go horribly wrong. On one side of the equation are people who seem to be barely able to master the basics of what most of us understand to be everyday reality—perfect marks for those who believe themselves to be the protectors of that reality, a role they pursue with light oversight and fewer legal limits on their tactics and behavior than citizens in a democracy might hope for.New Task Force established to root out antisemitism in education at all levels
Consider the case of the pistol-toting, crack-brained Colleyville terrorist Malik Faisal Akram, who was on an MI5 terrorism watchlist as a “subject of interest” and yet was somehow allowed to leave his native Great Britain and enter the United States, a notably security-conscious country across whose vast territory he was permitted to freely travel. Great Britain is often said to be the United States’ closest security and intelligence partner among foreign governments. After arriving in the U.S. through New York two weeks before the attack, Akram immediately made several calls to a New York phone number—nothing to see here, unnamed law enforcement sources told The Washington Post, insisting this mysterious and still-as-yet unidentified individual had nothing to do with any of the events leading to the synagogue assault: Surely, he was an innocent friend of Akram, who had no involvement with either British or American law enforcement. Akram traveled long distances and obtained an illegal firearm in a country in which he was not a citizen, as part of an amateurish and scatterbrained attempt to free Aafia Siddiqui, an al-Qaida operative and Brandeis University Ph.D. recipient held at a federal prison in Texas, thousands of miles from Akram’s north England home. Maybe Akram was always fixated on Siddiqui’s case, which is one of the minor causes in the world of international jihad, a seemingly doable project for an Englishman with narrow odds of ever blowing up an airplane or offing Bashar Assad. Or maybe someone fixated him on it.
For those whose memory stretches all the way back to January, it is possible to remember that an FBI spokesperson’s claim that the attack “was not specifically related to the Jewish community” came in for particular scorn. But what if the FBI flack was technically telling the truth? Maybe the plot didn’t originate solely with the world’s most ancient hatred. Is it so crazy to believe that the bureau or one of its confidential sources had a hand in it, too?
There is nothing but loose circumstantial evidence tying the Colleyville siege to any level of U.S. law enforcement, but the evidence is always only circumstantial until the truth comes out. A right-wing militant plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, one of the most politically salient of recent American terror cases, turned out to have been hatched by FBI agents and informants, greatly complicating the bureau’s investigation of an incident that broke just weeks before the 2020 election. Earlier this month, prosecutions against four of the alleged plotters resulted in two acquittals and two hung juries. There’s a long post-9/11 tradition of American sting operations carried to self-defeating extremes, ranging from the Liberty City Seven to the Fort Dix Five, to other fiascos with less memorable nicknames.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Antisemitism heard testimony in March 2022 from Jewish university students about their experiences of antisemitic and anti-zionist harassment at universities. This followed a request by Mrs Susan Storring, a Trustee of UKLFI Charitable Trust, to her MP, Theresa Villiers, a Vice Chair of this APPG.
As a result of the students’ testimony, an Antisemitism Task Force has been set up to root out antisemitism in education at all levels.
Mrs Storring also submitted written evidence of promotion of Hamas ideology by university lecturers and in school textbooks. This was sent to both the APPG and Lord Mann, the government’s independent advisor on antisemitism.
Four students gave evidence to the APPG. One of them spoke of the support she had received from UKLFI.
They reported on having been defamed, dismissed, and isolated by senior university staff. They spoke of a climate of “othering”. They referred to course material containing outright lies, distortions and inversions of reality, for example material on “settler colonialism”, “Israeli apartheid” and “American police brutality learned from Israeli police”. They mentioned one student whose essay had been marked down for discussing Hamas crimes instead of “Israel’s crimes”.
They also spoke about Oxford University accepting the Alexander Mosley Trust’s donation, in disregard of the concerns of Jewish students, in contrast with their circumspect care of the “Rhodes Must Fall” furore. Academics had been openly campaigning against the IHRA definition of Antisemitism, while claiming there had been “Zionist smears against Labour” and that “professors have been falsely accused”. There had been diversity training with nothing about antisemitism.
Ilhan Omar @IlhanMN attacks a group of Christian volunteers on an @easyJet flight in Europe delivering aid to Ukraine ????, because they’re singing. She has no idea about what transpired and whether or not it was approved. But it’s suddenly about her. https://t.co/uELEsEbq8D
— Avi Kaner ??????? ??? (@AviKaner) April 17, 2022
K-pop group under fire for Nazi-related lyrics, outfits in new single
A k-pop boyband and its music label have come under fire for Nazi-related lyrics and imagery in a newly released single and music video.The Israeli Alchemists Turning Waste Into Reusable Plastic
The eight-man South Korean pop group, EPEX, released their single "Anthem of Teen Spirit" on April 11 as part of their third EP, Prelude of Anxiety Chapter 1. '21st Century Boys.'
The song and accompanying music video themselves were received positively by many fans, with many on social media praising both new releases.
Others, however, took issue with the track, specifically lyrics referring to crystals such as "Crystal Night" and "The night in the crystal." This, to many, seemed to be referring to Kristallnacht, a defining moment in the Holocaust in November 1938 when Jews suffered a violent pogrom that saw the glass windows of their shops and homes shattered, which is where it gets its name.
This was made worse by a design choice in the video. The members of EPEX wore dark military-style outfits that bear a striking similarity to the uniforms that would be worn in a totalitarian, authoritarian regime – such as Nazi Germany.
Fan outcry was vocal and eventually, the music label, C9 Entertainment, issued a response.
In a statement shared over social media days later, C9 Entertainment apologized for the misunderstanding.
From volunteering apps that connect people with nonprofits, waste that turns into reusable plastic, an AI platform that analyzes CT scans, and robots that save the bees and the food chain, there are plenty of Israeli startups that are focused on doing good.History Can’t Forget the Jews of Bollywood
When UBQ Materials started out in 2012, its founders Yehuda Pearl (co-founder of American-Israeli hummus brand Sabra), lawyer and El Al pilot Eran Lev, and serial climatech entrepreneur Jack (Tato) Bigio, wanted to try their hand at reducing environmental pollution around the world.
Simultaneously, their initiative was also proposed by the Environmental Ministry, which called to cut down the amount of waste buried underground by 20%. Their method? Turning waste into reusable thermoplastic, which the company calls “UBQ.”
The company intercepts waste that is headed to landfills, redirecting it to UBQ’s facilities at Kibbutz Tze’elim on Israel’s southern border. The facility then separates metal from glass, and takes the leftovers — whether they be food scraps, PVC plastic, cardboard, or paper — and turns it into reusable “UBQ” plastic. It then sells this version to a variety of industries at a price similar to traditional plastic that is made from fossil fuels byproducts.
The material can be used to make a variety of products. For example, McDonald’s uses the material to build its food trays. It can also be used to make hangars, car parts, and other items. “It’s a material that can be used in place of regular plastic in any type of industry,” explained Bigio. UBQ is currently focused on expanding its business internationally. Some of its customers include large world corporations like Mercedes Benz, Mainetti, and Arcos Dorados Holdings (a company that owns McDonald’s based in the Latin Americas). In Israel, UBQ works with the Keter Group and Carmel Olefins Ltd. from the Bazan Group.
Can you imagine a museum showcasing the history of electricity without featuring Thomas Edison? Or a museum on the Cubism movement in art that failed to acknowledge Pablo Picasso? And yet, that’s what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently did when they opened their new multi-million-dollar museum in Los Angeles, which inexcusably left out the Jewish founders of Hollywood.New Jordan Valley spring named after terror victim Rina Shnerb
Thankfully, after justified criticism from the Jewish community and others, the Academy acknowledged their error and said they would repair this egregious oversight.
But the incident raises a broader issue — are there other industries of entertainment that the Jews have been erased from or downplayed in, as well? It appears there are.
One such industry the Jewish community helped build up was the Indian film industry of “Bollywood.”
India’s tiny Jewish population played a large role in Indian cinema during the first half of the 20th century. Jewish writers, performers, and especially female actresses captured the imagination of Indian audiences, becoming household names, winning awards, and setting cinema records.
But despite the significant role that Jews played in transforming India’s growing movie industry into one of the world’s most prolific film enterprises, most Indian filmgoers had no idea their favorite stars were Jewish. In fact, the superstars of Bollywood almost always kept their Jewish identities hidden, both on-screen and in interviews, and avoided playing Jewish characters.
Luckily, this untold forgotten story has been well-recorded, enabling us to learn about how the Jews of India helped shape the vibrant culture of South Asia.
A new spring was inaugurated in the Jordan Valley on Sunday and named after 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, who was killed in a terror attack while hiking with her father and brother in Judea and Samaria in August 2019.Menorah graffiti: Carving on Ephesus Celsus Library stairs an enigma
The spring was built by youngsters from the Mehola settlement with the help of the Kol Rina Foundation, which was established in Shnerb's memory, and works to set up hiking sites in her memory.
Her father, Rabbi Eitan Shnerb, who survived the attack along with his son, thanked the group for their efforts and invited Israelis to visit the site, which is open to visitors.
Director of the Kol Rina Foundation Matanya Shnerb said, "Rina, who loved Israel and used to go on many trips, was killed on her way to the spring. By establishing springs and hiking trails we follow in her footsteps."
He vowed the foundation would continue establishing sites in Shberb's memory across Israel.
Once considered the official cultural and economic capital of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor, the southern Aegean Sea port city of Ephesus, located today in Turkey, was also home to one of the ancient world’s largest and most impressive libraries which housed over 12,000 scrolls and manuscripts, some tucked away in niches along the inner wall.
This month marks both US National Library Week and National Librarian Day.
Julius Aquilas, the son of Roman senator and Roman Legion Commander Celsus Polemeanus, began construction of the Celsus Library in honor of his father, around 110 CE and it was completed in 135. Celsus is buried in a sarcophagus beneath the main entrance of the library.
Somewhere along the ancient history of the library, someone carved a graffiti image of a menorah into one of the steps of the library’s marble staircase. The history of the menorah can be nothing more than conjecture, noted Dr. Avner Ecker of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University.
Still, he said, located in a very central spot, adjacent to the Agora of Ephesus, the image of the menorah is not meaningless.
In a 1980 companion article to his book Fishers of Men: The Way of The Apostle tracing the path of Paul the Apostle co-authored by photographer Gordon Converse, and archaeologist Robert J. Bull, American Near East scholar and lecturer B. Cobbey Crisler describes their discovery of the menorah based on his memory of having seen the menorah seven years earlier during excavations being conducted by Austrian archaeologists.
A plaque has been put up next to the menorah, but it can be easily missed if one is not walking up the stairs in just the right place.
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