page Eight"
JEWISH WEST.ERN BULLETIN'
Passover; Issue, Friday, April-20, 4951
T
By Rabbi I>avid C. Kogen
■^he Passover Haggadah contains a great deal of histoi'ical material in it. For example, immediately following the section >^pf the Four Sons we get a flashback through Jewish history. We ai*e carried back in time to the days when our ancestors were Idolaters in ancient times. We are told especially about the warning and the promise-of God to Abraham. God told Abraham: "Know indeed that thy descendants shall be strangers in a land not their own. There they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years." That was God's warning. But^Gbd had also promised Abraham that his descendants would later go free, saying, '^The very nation, which they shall serve, shall I bring to judgment, and they shall go fo.-th with great wealth."
Then we read in the Haggadah: * "This promise made to our fathers holds true for tis in every generation." Not one alone — not only One tyrant^-—has risen against us,-but in every generation there are those Avho rise against us- to destroy us — Pharoah, Haman, Antio-ohiis,- Titus, Torquemada, Hitler. "But the Holy One, blessed be. He, rescues us from their hands."
Unfortunately the emphasis in Jewish life is on hatred and persecution. The least common deno-minatxir that all-Joavs have.is theiit readiness to combat antirSemitism. In our major Jewish campaigns, like the United Jewish Appeal, the emphasis is on the tragedies in Jewish life. We talk about persecution and destruction. In recent years we stressed - the tragedy, of the Displaced Persons, and today Ave are concerned with the terrible plight of the unfortunate, poverty stricken Jews in the Arab countries. One million lost souls who are deprived of every civil liberty, of every human right. One million prisonei^ ■ under the despotic rule of maitfisted tyrants. One million Je\Vs couped up as hostages In .Arab lands, many of them not permitted to live or leave.
Unfortunately, the worst that we can imagine about the-fate and tragedy of the life of our brothers in the Ai'ab countries; is tnie. But the constant emphasis on tragedy in Jewish life is bound to be harmful to all of us, to our morale, to our outlook on the worthwhile-
RABBI DAVID C. KOGEN
ness of being Jewish. Therefore, I believe'that we should take great
in
Viway 'j-i
pains tp;: go; out of our stressing tKe joy and creat Vity that is "to be found in Judaism. We should stress the joyous holidays. We must. emphasize - the, creative achievements^of our \ bitifheris i in-Israel in buildiiig • up the' waste places, into gai'dehs of- Eden^ : M bringing schools ;£ind hospitals, tractors and irrigation canals to the Near East;; in reviving pur glorious, ancient; and holy tongue, Hebrew;" in creating new patterns Of. life... ■. ' -
When we look jatJeswish history, let us not' regard it as one long raartyrology, as one; group after, another dieing for the sanctifica-tion of God's namet. True, these
2 Su
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tragedies were - suffered- by ■ our people. But in spite of all oppdsii tion, in spite of all obstacles, - in spite of everything, we hives shown a tremendous "vitality, an unsurpassed power of renewal. Whenever we speak about a set-back or a tragedy in Jewish history, let us stress the readjustment that followed the tragedy, iaet us see how our, people literally pulled themselves up by their boot-straps and overcame; all obstacles. Let us stress the power of renewal In Jewish life.
When ~I read Jewish history, I am constantly impressed by one fact: As one centre of Jewish life was coming to-an end, as one Jewish community declined in importance— another, newer centre was always ready, to take over the .mantel of leadership and responsibility. To me this is a miraculous act of Providence, . God rescues us, sustains us," and gives us the power of .renewal to carry on the struggle.
Just look at Jewish history yourself, and see what I mean. After the destruction of the. first Temple in 586 B.C.E. the "Jews were driven from Palestine to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzer. It was tragic and pitiful. The Babylonians puf out the eyes of Zedeklah, the King of Judah. All very tragic. The Levites refused ot sing: "How can we sing God's song in this strange land'\ by the rivers of Babylon? . Then, after the destruction of the second Jewish commonwealth and the ruin of the second Temple in the year 70 C.E., all seemed lost again. Our best youth were thrown to the lions in the ampitheatres of Rome. Judea was a! captive; An arch- of, triumph was erected in Ronie. But we have- outlived the Rbmansl We outlived them because God saves us. He grants us a power of renewal." We renewed life in Babylon for another thousand years. Academies rose and flourished. The Talmud was completed and edited.
; Then Babylonia declined in importance, and Spain was all ready as a mature Jewish community to take its place in the vanguard of Je^vish life and 'creativity. The Jews enjoyed a "golden age" in Spain. A Judah Halevi enriched our religious and national literature. X
And -when- the Jews were expelled from Spain oh tlie 9th day of Av in 1492, they found lands of refuge in Holland, Italy,, and Turkey. After the Grusades Poland attained importance as a Jewish centre, iBven though a-Chmelnitsky arose to exterminate a half million Jews in Pola^nd in 1648, Polish Jewry flourished. It produced Yeshivos and Hasidim< and ■ Mis-nagdim. It produced a Vilna Gaon, and it remained a centre of Jewish learning until; America and Palestine came -joi' age, America and Palestine wpre- ready • to hold; high the torch of Judaism before it fell from the failing hands of the martyred Jews of Eastern Europe, That is the miracle that we should striess.. God preserves us and rescues us from the hands of all tyrants and gives us ■ the .strength of renewal, the power to;carry on Jewish life in its finest-land noblest forms. Let us be j^prthy of these miracles by i living .good Jewish lives, lives which; sare dedicated to God, Isra^el, l^ndj'Eprah;:
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