Slave To The Grind

Steg sings his second Passover Hymn, ”No More AuctionBlock For Me” at the Seder. Although feeling other peoples’ suffering is noble and praiseworthy, I believe that celebrating other peoples’ freedoms on Pessach is inappropriate. There are 358 days in the year to do that, but during Passover we celebrate our own independence and our own formation as a nation – nobody else’s.

There is, however, a far, far deeper aspect to the differences between our freedom and the blacks’ emancipation.

Redemption from physical slavery is a central theme on Pessach, but it isn’t the only one - certainly not the main one.

G-d tells Moishe Rabeinu: “Sanctify to me each firstborn in Israel”. Moishe Rabeinu goes and starts tormenting Israel with halachic minutia: for seven days now, no bread, no bagels, no pizza. Then, when you will be in the land of Israel, on this day, you will have to slay a lamb in this and this manner, and keep this holiday, and teach it to your children, and even strap these laws on your arms and your foreheads with leather strings. The parshes must be written in such and such manner, on such and such kind of parchment etc. etc. etc. Poor Jewboyz! They’ve just heard the good news that they’re finally leaving Egyptian servitude, and here comes Moshe showering them with halochos, without letting them breathe even for a second! Heck, not even a muffin before setting out to the desert? Nope. Stale hand matzos. Bada”tz shmura, with Brisker chumrahs. But how does this sanctify the Jewish firstborn (who were originally meant to serve in the Mishkan with the Leviim)?

Until then, in order to become a true ‘עבד ה one had to truly, completely and absolutely devote his entire being, inside and out, mind body and soul to G-d’s servitude to a degree of perfection, – in other words, become an Avrohom, Yitzhcok, Yaakov or Moshe. At יציאת מצרים the people united to obey one G-d, one Law – a Law that shall encompass their entire life and being, from cradle to crypt, with G-d’s hot breath in their necks forever: when they sin, they’ll incur supernatural retribution – plague, defeat and exile. When they’ll do His will, they’ll be tempted by their neighbors, and will have to withstand the arrogance and decadence that comes with power and prosperity. Every moment and passing breath will have to be dedicated to Him – what they eat, how they eat, how to sleep, to tie shoes, how to wage war and how to make peace, how and when to bring קרבנות… That’s how we became a people. That really meant that from now on, one belonging to this nation would be able to live G-d and His Law despite his sins and shortcomings.

That’s how our בכורות became קדוש we all became קדוש, and they became more קדוש. They were singled out on the day that sanctified us all, and their קדושה depends on our acceptance and observance of קדושה.

The problems begin when we lose focus, and start following Pharaoh's command: תכבד העבודה על האנשים ואל ישעו בדברי שקר. When we start enslaving ourselves to materialism, that's when our Torah becomes a שקר, and we become slaves again... Yet even so, even when mincha/maariv is but a pain and chol hamoed becomes an excuse to go to lavish hotels and amusement parks, we're still bound together -"ועוד ידו נטויה"- and need no artificial glue - durags, rap, and buggy pants ”50% off” to identify ourselves and create kinship.

A nation whose plumbers, engineers, cabbies, lawyers, chefs and schoolteachers gather after a long day’s night to learn their Law – intricate hair-splitting on oxen goring sheep, wheat adding 1/200th of growth in proximity of grapes and hilchos tumah vtaharah is a Free Nation – even if it has swindlers, concert-banning thugs and “rabbis” who cover up for child molesters.



© Joseph Izrael 2008

Two Minutes To Midnight

My 17th cousin, fellow pyromaniac and ideological twin (in the sense that our ideas always run parallel to each other; they never meet), Hagaon Hakadosh Reb Steg (not to be confused with Steg, Steg, Steg, Steg or Stag) posted two “Passover hymns” on his website: the first, ‘Creeping Death’ by Metallica, deeply disturbs him. The second, ‘No More Auction Block For Me’ performed by several artists, including Maran Reb Zimmermann, deeply inspires him.

Brother Steg; please be not disturbed by a drunken, LSD saturated rock’n’roller who spends his life between Sunset Boulevard and different rehabs, and his money between CAIR, NAMBLA and the DNC. The idea that our G-d is cruel and vengeful is not new. In fact, I am fond of worshiping Him rather than some wussy surfer telling me to turn the other cheek or a pedophile obsessed with conquering the world by sword and fire.

But why indeed, did G-d pass over the houses with lambs’ blood on the lintels? According to one widely known peirush we were commanded to take a lamb ten days prior to the Exodus. The Egyptians would see how their deity is destined to be slain, yet be unable to prevent it.

What is idol worship? According to R. Avrohom Grodzniski (of the early baalei mussar), anything to which one attributes power, and worships it one way or another.
The Egyptians, even after witnessing G-d’s great power, clung not only to their idols, but their wretched slaves. (I mean, let’s be serious – how much could those kikes with big noses, Yerushalmi hats and flying pajes already worth as slaves? They probably swindled out half of Pharaoh’s hay, then smuggled it to Nubia and sold it as premium Egyptian gold dust.)

The lamb is not a major Egyptian deity – far behind Ra, Osiris, Isis, the scarab and some aquatic fowl. True, it is perhaps the only one fit for a korbon – but it was also the Jews’ parnossah (at least formerely - aparently, they still posessed flock even at that time). So now the G-d of Legions tells them that they will soon be out of Egypt – but first they’ll have to slay their own idol – to take Egypt out of themselves. The lamb will be no more a mere object of livelihood and nutrition. They’re not going to freedom just to build another empire like Egypt. And they're not going for a picnic either. They were going in an arid desert to receive a Law – a Law to cherish and live by, as a nation and as individuals. And to proclaim this, they had to stain the openings to their abodes with the lamb's -their own Gelt’s- blood. And while they sat inside, pondering on their future as the Torah’s Nation, The Giver Of Life smote the readers of the Book Of The Dead, who, even after witnessing G-d’s greatness in so many ways, after so many warnings, instead of rebelling against Pharaoh’s egomaniacal tantrums, followed him blindly, as slaves... to the power of death…

© Joseph Izrael 2008

Breaking The Law

…then Kerick said: ‘Let go!’ and then the men clubbed the seals on the head as fast as they could.
Ten minutes later little Kotick did not recognise his friends any more, for their skins were ripped off from the nose to the hind flippers—whipped off and thrown down on the ground in a pile.
“They’re killing all the holluschickie [young seals] on all the beaches!” said Kotick.
The sea-lion turned his head inshore. “Nonsense!”, he said; “your friends are making as much noise as ever. You must have seen old Kerick polishing off a drove. He’s done that for thirty years.”
“It’s horrible,” said Kotick,
“I suppose it is rather awful from your way of looking at it; but if you seals will come here year after year, of course the men get to know of it, and unless you can find an island where no men ever come, you will always be driven.” said the sea-lion.

… he found that no one sympathised with him in his little attempts to discover a quiet place for the seals. They told him that men had always driven the holluschickie—it was part of the day’s work—and that if he did not like to see ugly things he should not have gone to the killing-grounds…

…Even gentle Matkah, his mother, said: “You will never be able to stop the killing. Go and play in the sea, Kotick.”

… But the holluschickie and Sea Catch, his father, and all the other seals, laughed at him when he told them what he had discovered…

From The White Seal, by Kipling. (In The Jungle Book.)

A flood of condemnations followed the proclamation of heroic rabbis that the treacherous government of Israel must be dealt with just as the oppressors of yore. Interestingly, the admirers of Cromwell, Rousseau, Marat, Robespierre and Castro couldn’t have enough screaming bloody murder.
Even the boldest right-wingers felt an irresistible urge to apologize and explain the statements away. The Israelis can be excused for living in constant phobia; police has the right to detain anyone, at any time for any reason (i.e. no reason given), with no writ or warrant, for a duration of 48 hours. Then they are released every 48 hours only to be immediately apprehended again. Several ‘dangerous’ Israelis live in jail this way on flimsy charges.

Yet in the U.S. of A., land of the free speech and home of the brave Muslims who invariably speak their minds at will, and the government/media never curtails their oral emissions, little Jewboy still feels compelled to play Mr. Moderate. Oooh hooh, how nasty to say such things! That a man who caused countless deaths, abandons his citizens on a regular basis, betrays his army – sends them to battle with inadequate arms and armor, insufficient provisions and no war plan, then when the BBC says that a poor Freedom Fighter (that’s British for ‘child-murderer’) got a boo-boo and the evil IDF didn’t give him a band-aid™ he runs home – that’s OK. Calling for his execution, oh la la, now that’s extremism! What about the kidnapped boys (who were abandoned in insecure positions to begin with)? Who cares? We went to war for them, no? And we bombed like, um, six houses with Terrorists all around them, no? OK, so now leave me alone, I have a government to run – sugar please – one teaspoon, yes, and milk too – so what were you saying Eli? You want a school? I’ll give you a highway.

Charles I, Louis XVI and Mussolini were executed for much less than that. But on the other hand, good rulers who took necessary precautions – Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao all escaped the noose. So did ten of Olmert’s predecessors – so why pick davke on him?

And whom do the “Jewish” rags and so-called rabbis and leaders condemn? Who is vilified by the pseudo-alternative media, i.e. the heiliga “blogs”? Those who say what everyone should say. The utter cowardice of these people is simply nauseating. And even more puke-inducing is the reason behind the masses’ silence: the sweet addiction to the coziness of good life. Don’t bother us with taking our fates in our hands – we’re busy makin’ a living. The comfort of the immediate overrules the dangers of the future. But deep down we all know what the truth is.

Oh, if we need to appease our consciences, there sure is a teiretz for every minute of the day – hey, “we” killed the Freedom Fighter who’s slain eight Jewboyz in Mercaz, so whacha screamin’ ‘bout?! Oh, we release 90% of other “insurgents”? We let them perpetrate their “insurgency” and then do a show-reprisal to appease you idiots? Heck, by the next soccer match you’ll forget it all, and if it’s your son blowing up on a bus, heck, he’ll be just another hero in a bag.

There is a great deal of screaming against all real or imaginary evils in the world: child molestation, habeas corpus for terrorists, national healthcare, Lipa Schmeltzer, global warming, tsnius-rioters in Bet Shemes and what not. People roll up their sleeves and step in action to repair all the world’s evils, often with very practical solutions, and lead smear campaign against their favorite villains. Yet when it comes to stand up for Jewish lives – nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. The very people who denigrate those exterminated in death camps – putting them down for not resisting and rebelling, are those who scream bloody murder at today’s true opposition and rebellion. Oh my Gosh, to even suggest the people take their fate in their hands - why, that is a serious crime! Oh, then, back then, it was all different. But today, we have a big government with a big army who will protect us against all harm.

Seems like you can take the Jew out of the death camp, but you can’t get the death camp out of the Jew. The law of the jungle is so hard to break…


…but it’s time for breaking the law!


© Joseph Izrael 2008