New Passover Rituals

Recently I became aware of a new addition to the progressive Seder plate which had me aghast. With the addition of a coconut one can be reminded of the experience of gay people who have not yet come out of the closet and announced to the world they are gay and proud.

I can appreciate that it can be traumatic and difficult to come out but in what way could a coconut come to symbolise this struggle? Well, a coconut is hard on this outside but soft on the inside. If I was gay I would be offended by this description. Plus I would also wonder why this potential experience might be in any way comparable to Slavery. The Seder plate has its role and that it to remind us of the experience of leaving Egypt-where according to tradition-we were enslaved by the Egyptians. The Seder does two things: it reminds of us Slavery/Bitterness and at the same time of Redemption. However, this is-and should be-localised to the Tribal Knowledge of Jews because it is important and self-defining within the Jewish context.

It is clear to me that progressive Jews suffer from the guilt that they are in anyway special or different from others. They try to minimalise this but widening the goalposts and bringing in the negative experiences of all other people so that the Seder plate could well have been endorsed by Amnesty International. Some examples were presented to me about what else could this World Anti-Slavery Day that is Pesach could incorporate.

How about a Tongue on the Seder plate to symbolise everyone who is not allowed to speak openly because their views are too old-fashioned and traditional?

Some dog faeces to symbolise the slavery of the modern age, working like a dog to fulfill societal standards of achievement.

A mirror to show us ourselves in truth

A broken flower to remind us of female genital mutilation

A Dildo to highlight the terrible affliction of all those women who are not getting enough Sex or to highlight the afflictions of women messed up by the Porn Industry

A small tree to represent all those animals that have lost their natural habitats through deforestation.

A graduation gown for all those poor people who didn't get into Oxford or Cambridge.

A plastic baby to either highlight anyone who has ever lost a baby (rahamana lislan) or suffered from Infertility.

Perhaps we should davka eat bread at Pesach to highlight all those people who do not get enough to eat either through Poverty or Malnutrition. Perhaps someone could organise an Occupy Sit-in protest on First day Pesach by sitting outside Synagogues eating Gregg's pasties.

Baahhhhh Matzah

Big deal

I would like to thank Rabbi Jeremy Rosen for reminding me that I don't have to take it all so seriously. http://jeremyrosen.blogspot.com/

Five Rhythms Tashlich

Just a very short post about the fun I had with 2 friends the other night imagining how certain elements within the Grassroots mob would have performed their highly experimental and expressive Tashlich service which, radically enough, did not take part on Rosh Hashana. There we were dancing like Morecambe and Wise in true camp-comedy style laughing our heads off. Fun times.

Paying lip service

I am writing in sheer disgust at the Reform Movement again after an article which appeared in the Jewish Chronicle 25/03/2010 titled: "BBC editor: Jews should think of Palestine during Seder". Interestingly enough I was initially upset by the comment of the BBC editor until I realised that he was actually just asking a question. Evidently the rather sensationalist title of the article written by Simon Rocker seemed to suggest that Jews should consider the plight of palestinians at the Seder table, whereas, in actuality, it was asked as a question to the organisers of an interfaith Seder designed to give members of the press and other faith communities an insight into an important Jewish ritual. The fundamental problem here is that whilst this sounds right and in perfect harmony with Blair/Brown's Multicultural Britain it should not be solely down to the Reform movement to provide this experience because they are inept. Inept? Yes! They do not have the guts to stand up for themselves, their religion or Israel. They pay lip service instead of presenting the true meaning of the Pesach. How could this event be educational and informative when it ignores the essence of Pesach?

Responding to the BBC Editor's question Tony Bayfield said:

"Many people don't do enough to adapt the Seder meal to remember the Palestinians. Israel has got itself into an ethnically unjustifiable situation. But the implication that it's all Israel's fault is not something that I share."

Is this the person you would want representing Jews and Jewish Ritual to the wider non-Jewish world? Chas ve Shalom! I would like to ask Tony Bayfield is he thinks the highest Islamic courts should consider adding and/or ammending an existing Islamic rite to include a remembrance of the oppression of Jews living in Islamic countries before and after 1948.

Must every Jewish holiday get the "how does this apply to the Palestinians" treatment? I have never seen anything about "this Easter, we must reflect on how the true meaning of Easter is to ease the oppression of the African Christians" or "The true purpose of Ramadan is to reflect on the suffering of Jews from Arab lands."

Yimach Shemo!

Selling Judaism by the Pound

Just a note about something I heard which was truly shocking to behold. A prominent reform rabbi in the UK is ditching the normal friday night proceedings to celebrate with the local muslims. The community will "pray" with the muslims (of regents park) and break bread together in the name of interfaith dialogue. I have heard of another reform rabbi who is, surprisingly enough, quite observant and who will be unable to attend the interfaith event because they cannot get to the venue on Shabbat. Upon hearing of this inability to attend the head rabbi said that it is a problem that this person keeps Shabbat because it excludes them from the events organised by the synagogue.

This initially conjured up all sorts of images as I have been very interested recently in the Disengagement Plan (disaster) of Gaza and have watched lots of videos on the subject. It is surreal to watch Jews forcing Jews to leave a place they were invited to by the government. Here is a situation whereby large established communities were forcibly removed from their homes on land that was not in contention even as far as the international community were concerned, by Jews themselves in order to foster better relations with their Muslim neighbours. In time it was hoped that the population of Gaza would grow to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining and would come to use the existing agricultural infrastructure to this end. Not one of the desired outcomes became a reality and the expulsion was in vane. The episode mentioned above is (at least in my mind) quite similar. Here we have a situation where a community leader leads his community away from their place of worship with intention to eat with Muslims (sacrificing Kashrut) in the hope that this will increase peaceful relations between interfaith communities.

If we learn anything from the failure of the Tochnit HaHitnatkut (plan of disengagement) it is that selling your people and your way of life for the sake of peace is simply not worth it. Muslims will not compromise on their practice and if the intention is to meet them on terms which are agreeable to both Jews shouldn't compromise either. During the month of Ellul we should be very careful not to be Choteh (commit a wrong act) and be Machtii (causing other to commit wrong acts).

Thanks for reading

For videos on this subject please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbzOVJCWykw&feature=related

New Lot

Here I refer to the growing trend of open-egal-all is truth-all is love, independent, unafilliated minyanim whom congregate is participants houses. I think the thing that makes them different from your bog standard well established community is that they are tree huggers. They are young, intelligent and for the most part single. It is, in my opinion, solely down to this singledom that they are able to manifest their version of community. My point being that very few are married and there aren't that many kids running around making all the parents worried about how to educate them. Part of being part of a community is having to accept many different types of people and attitudes but not separating yourself from them. In essence they are as selective as anyone else is.

On the flip side they are encouraging many Jews to engage with an intellectual/cultural aspect of Jewish life much like the Limmudniks who are albeit wishy-washy, milky, all social conscience, PC and right on, do seem to have the kept Anglo-Jewry engaged is something for much longer than any of these new communities have.

I am conflicted.

The Mahamad

The recent developments of the Rabbi of Bevis Marks and the Mahamad's treatment of him are difficult to bear. The Rabbi in question has had a terrible year. I don't wish to list the details as the case has been widely reported in the Jewish media in the UK. The more I hear the more I deplore these old committees with their stale attitudes and inability to adapt. It reminds me of the Pasuk in Mishlei


אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם מְפַחֵד תָּמִיד וּמַקְשֶׁה לִבּוֹ יִפּוֹל בְּרָעָה

What to do?

More info can be found here: http://www.levibrackman.com/politics/malice-at-britain-s-oldest-synagogue.html