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| campus_sukkot_2024 [2024/10/16 11:56] – rcif | campus_sukkot_2024 [2024/10/16 12:02] (current) – rcif |
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| The Palestinians are winning the public relations war in students unions across America, because their activism has these elements, which Jews also have in abundance but neglect to deploy: | The Palestinians are winning the public relations war in students unions across America, because their activism has these elements, which Jews also have in abundance but neglect to deploy: |
| - They have universalist religious or humanitarian messages of salvation. (which are all somewhat oppressive) | - They have universalist religious or humanitarian messages of salvation. (which are all somewhat oppressive) |
| - They have eschatological visions of the future. (which have already been tried and found wanting, and are no longer all that progressive) | - They have eschatological visions of the future. (which are now regressive, having already been tried and found wanting. They are no longer progressive, although framed as such.) |
| - They move people to take collective action to seek liberation. | - They move people to take collective action to seek liberation. |
| - They have enthusiastic group chanting, which people find inspiring (despite the vicious falsehoods, violent incitements, and suicidal tendencies) | - They have enthusiastic group chanting, which people find inspiring (despite the vicious falsehoods, violent incitements, and suicidal tendencies) |
| - They speak and preach in public, and they hold vigils, marches, and demonstrations, and rallies in public. | - They speak and preach in public, and they hold vigils, marches, and demonstrations, and rallies in public. |
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| All even better versions of these are found in Torah Judaism than in the three ideological systems underpinning Palestinian identity and the war against the Jews and against Israel (orthodox catholic christianity which is based on abrogation of the law, supercession of the Jewish people by the church as the "spiritual Israel", the "new Jerusalem", and the "light to the nations". Next, militant Islam which borrowed the anti-Jewish polemics and replacement theology from christianity. Finally, the anti-capitalist border free Marxist-Leninism of PFLP/Samidoun which primarily co-ordinated the campus intifada - Hegel and Marx translated the christian supercessionism into the dialectics of critical reason and historical materialism.). But most people never experience these elements of Torah Judaism or have any idea that they even exist. And Jews themselves experience them only in synagogue, in Hebrew, and/or during liturgy, and not in public in an immanently realizable way, which is why Jews and pro-Israel activists are losing the public relations battle: they are failing to joyfully fulfill the mitzvot in which they are commanded, and neglecting to give gentiles their place within the commonwealth of Israel as Noahide God-fearers, and failing to understand how this can bring both personal and collective liberation to the nations. God's prophets have repeatedly predicted that exile would be the penalty for this sin of failing to joyfully do the mitzvot, starting with Moses in [[https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.28.47?lang=bi&aliyot=0|Deuteronomy 28:47]], and the prophets have been proven correct time and again. Its time to listen. Would you rather serve your enemies with pain and suffering, or serve your God with love and rejoicing? Shema Israel! | All even better versions of these are found in Torah Judaism than in the three ideological systems underpinning Palestinian identity and the war against the Jews and against Israel (orthodox catholic christianity which is based on abrogation of the law, supercession of the Jewish people by the church as the "spiritual Israel", the "new Jerusalem", and the "light to the nations". Next, militant Islam which borrowed the anti-Jewish polemics and replacement theology from christianity. Finally, the anti-capitalist border free Marxist-Leninism of PFLP/Samidoun which primarily co-ordinated the campus intifada - Hegel and Marx translated the christian supercessionism into the dialectics of critical reason and historical materialism. For details, see "Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition" by [[wp>David Nirenberg]], Norton, 2013) |
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| | But most people never experience these elements of Torah Judaism or have any idea that they even exist. And Jews themselves experience them only in synagogue, in Hebrew, and/or during liturgy, and not in public in an immanently realizable way, which is why Jews and pro-Israel activists are losing the public relations battle: they are failing to joyfully fulfill the mitzvot in which they are commanded, and neglecting to give gentiles their place within the commonwealth of Israel as Noahide God-fearers, and failing to understand how this can bring both personal and collective liberation to the nations. God's prophets have repeatedly predicted that exile would be the penalty for this sin of failing to joyfully do the mitzvot, starting with Moses in [[https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.28.47?lang=bi&aliyot=0|Deuteronomy 28:47]], and the prophets have been proven correct time and again. Its time to listen. Would you rather serve your enemies with pain and suffering, or serve your God with love and rejoicing? Shema Israel! |
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| ==== The universalist eschatology of the commonwealth of Israel ==== | ==== The commonwealth of Israel in universalist eschatology ==== |
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| The Harvest festival of booths is the time of Israel's rejoicing, zman simchateinu, and it provides an opportunity to change this situation by getting out of the dorms and dining halls, out of the libraries and computer labs, out of the synagogues and study halls, out of the yeshivas and beit midrashim, and to sanctify God’s name among the multitudes, by performing the commandments (mitzvot) and singing the [[http://www.sefaria.org/Psalm.113|hallel psalms 113-118]] in the sukkah, under the starry skies, and to bear witness in public of the exodus from Egypt, in order that this and future generations might know. To this end, I pledge $67 to every student group that puts up a sukkah on their campus, as a place to study and organize, to eat and drink, and to sing and dance, to discuss current politics, ancient prophecy, and future redemption, and the universal and particular commandments. Beautifying your sukkah will soferut will remind Jews of these, and of why sukkot was commanded, and help them fulfill the mitzvah of "שננתם לבניך" and "למען ידעו דרתכם". Here are examples of [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ODgKFlGauih4z00-EQT7fe91okhUxKK7QFgOKGVYi0/edit?usp=sharing|Scribal artwork in Sukkah of CK"I]], [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Igt3qdRuaLa2svglJWEA2FUQI3u0EntxPQjlTlrZsK4/edit?usp=sharing|Scribal artwork in Sukkah of CB"Y]]. Gentiles will naturally come, attracted by the beauty of holiness. Although they are not obligated in the mitzvot, and therefore should not be taught to say the berachot over "kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu", and they should be taught the [[https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/268033.9?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en|eschatalogical significance of chag sukkot and the universal message of the feast of harvest ingathering]] (Chinese and Persians have this as their autumn full moon festivals. Europeans and Americans could also learn and adopt it). Whereas the mitzvot around sukkot are particular to the Jews, the mitzvah of giving thanks to God for the bounty of the harvest, is a universal obligation (chova). Although it doesn’t come with any particularly ritual requirements, Gentiles could and should sing hallel with you - especially [[http://www.sefaria.org/Psalm.117|psalm 117]] - even if only the niggun, while they read the psalms in translation. They can also learn the book of Ecclesiastes, and prophecies that concern them, such as Zechariah 14. | The Harvest festival of booths is the time of Israel's rejoicing, zman simchateinu, and it provides an opportunity to change this situation by getting out of the dorms and dining halls, out of the libraries and computer labs, out of the synagogues and study halls, out of the yeshivas and beit midrashim, and to sanctify God’s name among the multitudes, by performing the commandments (mitzvot) and singing the [[http://www.sefaria.org/Psalm.113|hallel psalms 113-118]] in the sukkah, under the starry skies, and to bear witness in public of the exodus from Egypt, in order that this and future generations might know. To this end, I pledge $67 to every student group that puts up a sukkah on their campus, as a place to study and organize, to eat and drink, and to sing and dance, to discuss current politics, ancient prophecy, and future redemption, and the universal and particular commandments. Beautifying your sukkah will soferut will remind Jews of these, and of why sukkot was commanded, and help them fulfill the mitzvah of "שננתם לבניך" and "למען ידעו דרתכם". Here are examples of [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ODgKFlGauih4z00-EQT7fe91okhUxKK7QFgOKGVYi0/edit?usp=sharing|Scribal artwork in Sukkah of CK"I]], [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Igt3qdRuaLa2svglJWEA2FUQI3u0EntxPQjlTlrZsK4/edit?usp=sharing|Scribal artwork in Sukkah of CB"Y]]. Gentiles will naturally come, attracted by the beauty of holiness. Although they are not obligated in the mitzvot, and therefore should not be taught to say the berachot over "kidshanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu", and they should be taught the [[https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/268033.9?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en|eschatalogical significance of chag sukkot and the universal message of the feast of harvest ingathering]] (Chinese and Persians have this as their autumn full moon festivals. Europeans and Americans could also learn and adopt it). Whereas the mitzvot around sukkot are particular to the Jews, the mitzvah of giving thanks to God for the bounty of the harvest, is a universal obligation (chova). Although it doesn’t come with any particularly ritual requirements, Gentiles could and should sing hallel with you - especially [[http://www.sefaria.org/Psalm.117|psalm 117]] - even if only the niggun, while they read the psalms in translation. They can also learn the book of Ecclesiastes, and prophecies that concern them, such as Zechariah 14. |