Jewish Current Issues

Condi's Lessons

From my review of Condoleezza Rice’s memoir, No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington, in the February issue of COMMENTARY:

At 766 pages, Condoleezza Rice’s memoir of her service as national-security adviser and secretary of state is not long as such memoirs go. Henry Kissinger’s ran 3,955 pages in three volumes; George Shultz’s book, covering six and a half years as secretary of state, ran 1,184 pages, with small print; Madeleine Albright’s memoir of her four years, in what was in retrospect a holiday from history, ran 548 pages. Rice covers a decade, starting in 1999 when she joined George W. Bush’s presidential campaign as foreign-affairs adviser.

She has written a straightforward chronological account, providing a great deal of detail but relatively little reflection on the lessons of her experience. The lessons she does draw and that one can draw about her tenure are worth noting, however, particularly on the issue that appears to have been the most important to her personally, to which she devoted most of her last two years as secretary of state and nine chapters (and parts of others) in this book: the Middle East peace process.

Continue reading here.

Leonard Cohen -- Old Ideas, New Songs

Next week, Leonard Cohen releases his 12^th studio album, Old Ideas: An Album of New Songs, recorded after a year-long world tour that featured three-hour long, sold-out shows (the video from the LA one is here) -- including one at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv on September 25, 2009, which Cohen held after rejecting Palestinian demands that he cancel it (He not only proceeded, but sang “Lover, Lover, Lover” to the crowd).

The new album has the feel of an elegy. The New Yorker has published the lyrics of the first song, “Going Home.” The poem/lyric is below. After reading it, listen to it here; it is hauntingly beautiful as music. You can also listen to the entire album at NPR, at least for a little while.

 

I love to speak with Leonard

He’s a sportsman and a shepherd

He’s a lazy bastard

Living in a suit

 

But he does say what I tell him

Even though it isn’t welcome

He will never have the freedom

To refuse

 

He will speak these words of wisdom

Like a sage, a man of vision

Though he knows he’s really nothing

But the brief elaboration of a tube

 

Going home

Without my sorrow

Going home

Sometime tomorrow

To where it’s better

Than before

 

Going home

Without my burden

Going home

Behind the curtain

Going home

Without the costume

That I wore

 

He wants to write a love song

An anthem of forgiving

A manual for living with defeat

 

A cry above the suffering

A sacrifice recovering

But that isn’t what I want him to complete

 

I want to make him certain

That he doesn’t have a burden

That he doesn’t need a vision

 

That he only has permission

To do my instant bidding

That is to SAY what I have told him

To repeat

 

Going home

Without my sorrow

Going home

Sometime tomorrow

Going home

To where it’s better

Than before

 

Going home

Without my burden

Going home

Behind the curtain

Going home

Without the costume

That I wore

 

I love to speak with Leonard

He’s a sportsman and a shepherd

He’s a lazy bastard

Living in a suit

 

Back in 2007, Cohen published “The Book of Longing,” and “Going Home makes me recall the title poem from that book -- which reads as follows, with the hyphen in “G-d” in the original, a song/poem perhaps addressed to you:

 

I can’t make the hills

The system is shot

I’m living on pills

For which I thank G-d

 

I followed the course

From chaos to art

Desire the horse

Depression the cart

 

I sailed like a swan

I sank like a rock

But time is long gone

Past my laughing stock

 

My page was too white

My ink was too thin

The day wouldn’t write

What the night penciled in

 

My animal howls

My angel’s upset

But I’m not allowed

A trace of regret

 

For someone will use

What I couldn’t be

My heart will be hers

Impersonally

 

She’ll step on the part

She’ll see what I mean

My will cut in half

And freedom between

 

For less than a second

Our lives will collide

The endless suspended.

The door open wide

 

Then she will be born

To someone like you

What no one has done

She’ll continue to do

 

I know she is coming

I know she will look

And that is the longing

And this is the book

Since he wrote that poem/lyric, Cohen held his world tour, released a CD with 12 songs from it, and has now produced 10 new songs on this latest CD to be released this week. Hallelujah.

Wandering Down the Paths of Memory

Today is a significant one in Jewish history. Sixteen years ago today, the President of Israel, Ezer Weizman, 71 years old, born in Tel Aviv, addressed a joint session of the German Bundestag and Bundesrat, the first such speech by an Israeli president and only the fourth by a foreign head of state in Germany.

He spoke in Hebrew. It is one of the most remarkable speeches ever given by a Jewish leader. Here is how it began:

It was fate that delivered me and my contemporaries into this great era, when the Jews returned to and re-established their homeland. I am no longer a wandering Jew who migrates from country to country, from exile to exile. But all Jews in every generation must regard themselves as if they had been there, in previous generations, places, and events. Therefore, I am still a wandering Jew, but not along the far-flung paths of the world. Now I migrate through the expanses of time, from generation to generation, down the paths of memory.

Memory shortens distances. Two hundred generations have passed since my people first
came into being, and to me they seem like a few days. Only two hundred generations have passed since a man named Abraham rose up and left his country and birthplace for the country that is today mine. Only two hundred generations have elapsed from the day Abraham purchased the Cave of Makhpela in the city of Hebron to the murderous conflicts that have taken place there in my generation.

Only one hundred fifty generations have passed from the Pillar of Fire of the Exodus from Egypt to the pillars of smoke from the Holocaust. And I, a descendant of Abraham, born in Abraham's country, have witnessed them all.

I was a slave in Egypt. I received the Torah at Mount Sinai. Together with Joshua and Elijah, I crossed the Jordan River. I entered Jerusalem with David, was exiled from it with Zedekiah, and did not forget it by the rivers of Babylon. When the Lord returned the captives of Zion, I dreamed among the builders of its ramparts. I fought the Romans and was banished from Spain. I was bound to the stake in Mainz. I studied Torah in Yemen and lost my family in Kishinev. I was incinerated in Treblinka, rebelled in Warsaw, and emigrated to the Land of Israel, the country whence I had been exiled and where I had been born, from which I come and to which I return.

I am a wandering Jew who follows in the footsteps of his forebears, and just as I escorted them there and then, so do my forebears accompany me and stand here with me today.

Then he thanked everyone for the honor, noted how many familiar and friendly faces were before him, expressed gratitude for the friendship of Germany, and told his audience that it was not an easy visit -- since only 50 years, “a mere moment in the lengthy history of my people,” had
passed since the end of World War II:

It is not easy for me to travel around this country and hear the memories and voices crying out to me from the ground. It is not easy for me to stand here and speak with you, my friends in this house. Jews have lived in Germany for a thousand years or more. German Jewry was the oldest Jewish community in Europe until the Nazis destroyed it. From the first traders who came here in the footsteps of the Romans to the scientists of the twentieth century, from Kalonymos to Mendelssohn, from the blood libel of Fulda to the horrors of Kristallnacht; from the badge of shame to the yellow patch; from Martin Luther's anti-Semitic missives to the Nuremberg Laws, from the commentaries of Rashi to the poems of Heinrich Heine; Rabbeinu Gershom, the Light of the Exile; Walther Rathenau; Martin Buber; Franz Rosenzweig; Albert Einstein -- these are only some of the names that this country has known.

Among the millions of my people's children whom the Nazis led to their deaths, there were other names that we might have uttered here today with the same degree of esteem and admiration. But we do not know their names. How many unwritten books died with them? How many uncomposed symphonies suffocated in their throats? How many scientific discoveries did not mature in their intellects? Every one of them was killed twice: once as a child led by the Nazis to the camps, and again as the adult he or she might have been. The Nazis stole them not only from their families and their people, but from the whole of humankind. I, as President of the State of Israel, can grieve for them and commemorate them, but I cannot forgive in their name.

Then he turned to the present:

We did not return to our borders in warships; we did not march home waving spears. We returned in convoys of dreamers and in boats of oppressed refugees. We returned, and, like our forefather King David who purchased the Temple Mount, and our patriarch Abraham who bought the Cave of Makhpela, we bought land, we sowed fields, we planted vineyards, we built houses, and even before we achieved statehood, we were already bearing weapons to protect our lives.

Time and again we stretched out our hands, and time and again we were rejected. Time and again we went to war; time and again we killed and were killed. Time and again we left our homes, offices, universities, and orchards for the battlefields. Time and again we discovered that beyond even the greatest victories, only crises and losses lurked. …

In the last century, since we returned to our country, we have built more than villages and towns, factories and barns, shops and army bases. We have also installed democratic governance and built a massive cultural and educational system: schools, research institutes, libraries, museums, conservatories, and universities. But transcending all of these -- which exist in any civilized state -- we have wrought a unique cultural miracle: the revival of our language, the Hebrew language. It is the language in which I am speaking to you now, the language which, more than anything else, symbolizes and attests to our revival.

We and our language are alive. We who have arisen from the ashes, and the language that waited in the shrouds of Torah scrolls and between the pages of the prayerbooks, are alive. The language that was whispered in prayer only, that was read only in synagogues, that was sung only in liturgy, that was shrieked in the gas chambers -- in the prayer "Shma Yisrael" -- has been revived. I know that German is richer than Hebrew in many ways, but I do not lack the words to express my feelings, nor have Jews ever lacked words to express their faith, love, dreams, yearnings, and hopes.

We have developed a suitable vocabulary for our special needs. We await, we yearn, we desire, we anticipate, we long for, we hope, we thirst, we crave, we imagine.... I stop here in order to apologize to the interpreters in case they find it hard to select the right words. …

We still pray in Hebrew, but now we also use it to speak, to write, to work and study, to argue, to court each other, and to sing. And the miracle is all the greater because if Isaiah, Solomon, and Jesus were here today, they would understand what I am saying just as I and my daughter and grandchildren understand their words, spoken and written and preserved in the same language thousands of years ago. …

There was a lot more in the speech. But here was his final paragraph:

Ladies and gentlemen, we are a people of memory and prayer. We are a people of words and hope. We have neither established empires nor built castles and palaces. We have only placed words on top of each other. We have fashioned ideas; we have built memorials. We have dreamed towers of yearnings -- of Jerusalem rebuilt, of Jerusalem united, of a peace that will be swiftly and speedily established in our days. Amen.

Israel, Palestinians, and the Aged Leaders of Fatah

Thank you to Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (CJHS), which has distributed my post at COMMENTARY entitled “Reminiscing with the Aged Leaders of Fatah.”

The post includes two important quotations from Australian foreign editor Greg Sheridan's report on his trip to Israel this week. 

As for the rest of the post, it’s best to read it while listening to Adele sing “Rolling in the Deep” (“I can’t help feeling . . . we could have had it all”).

"Hey, Morgan!" Gets Extended to February 2

Hey, Morgan! -- the musical comedy about the fictional Morgan Farkas, growing up in “The Tony Hills of Brentwood,” following her throughout her life from summer camp to identity crisis to college to first job to dating to identity crisis to marriage to motherhood to grandmotherhood, all in 14 songs and 55 minutes -- has been extended at the Black Dahia Theater in Los Angeles through February 2.

It is the second extension for the show, which opened in October and received rave reviews from Variety and the Los Angeles Times.

Below is a video of one of the songs (JCI email subscribers can click here) -- four years at college in four minutes, complete with the third year abroad (sung in Italian), ending with a transition to reality (“Senior year is a bridge between college and life/It’s a tough job market and we majored in psych”):

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You can buy tickets here. Don't miss it.

He Had Them at "Shalom"

When Barack Obama appeared before the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) last week, his 31-minute speech was interrupted by applause 69 times. Obama was speaking to the same group that invited 1,000 rabbis to hear him on a “High Holy Day conference call” in 2009 to -- in the words of the URJ invitation -- “urge your congregants to contact their elected officials in support of health care reform this year.” 

Last week at the URJ, Obama could have ended his speech as soon as he started, because he had them at shalom:

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you so much.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Please, please have a seat.  You’re making me blush.  (Laughter.)  Thank you, [Rabbi] Eric [Yoffie], for that extraordinary introduction and for your many years of leadership in the Reform movement.  And even though it is a few hours early, I’d like to wish all of you Shabbat shalom.  (Applause.) 

When you get laughter and applause simply by asking everyone to sit down so you can wish them Shabbat Shalom, you know you’re speaking to the faithful. 

Back in 2009, Obama asked the rabbis to help pass his health care legislation; this year, he needs help because of that legislative effort. His re-election has been jeopardized by Obamacare -- hyper-partisan legislation adopted in a hyper-partisan manner, with disingenuous promises that everyone could keep their plans and that a massive new government entitlement would save money -- ignoring warnings that Obamacare could harm the entire medical care system.

At the URJ last week, Obama suggested Obamacare reflected the Torah portion. His speech was a classic sermon from what Norman Podhoretz has called the “Torah of Liberalism,” converting the Torah portion into support for his political agenda, arguing the issues were moral ones, when they are actually political disputes about how best to reduce the cost of health insurance and extend coverage.

There is a moral hazard associated with the Torah of Liberalism, reflected in the mini-sermon of the rabbi who issued a Biblical condemnation (described in this post) of the opponents of Obamacare. It can lead to the demonization of opponents, and to the elevation of a politician into sort-of-God. 

From the rapturous response Obama received from the URJ last week, it is obvious he has the URJ fired up and ready to go, just like last time. But why Jews continue to fall for this stuff is a bit of a mystery. It would take an extraordinary book to explain it.

The Hon. Irwin Cotler -- On Leaving the Docket of the Accused

Last weekend, the Hon. Irwin Cotler spoke at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles as the 2011 Roz & Abner Goldstine Scholar and made an extraordinary presentation on “The Delegitimization of Israel.” Below are three videos from that presentation.

The first is Cotler on why the large number of UN resolutions against Israel is not the most significant part of the UN de-legitimization of Israel.

The second is on why Cotler refused the UN invitation to be part of a “fact-finding” mission to investigate civilian casualties in Gaza, and what he told Richard Goldstone before Goldstone chose to accept that mission.

The third is Cotler’s advice on what is to be done about all this, how to “leave the docket of the accused.”

These are three essential videos. Watch them over the weekend.

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Shabbat in Chelm, Courtesy of Professor Mandelbaum

Allen Mandelbaum, one of the giants of American poetry and translation, died last month. One of his books of poetry was entitled Chelmaxioms: The Maxims, Axioms, Maxioms of Chelm, a book described by Robert Alter as “an important book . . . a rare attempt . . . to shape an instrument of expression out of Jewish tradition, in English verse."

Here is a brief excerpt, about Shabbat:

A port beyond our portulans,

a bay too brilliant for man,

where light alone can dwell:

from that elusive harbor

the Sabbath Queen sets sail

 

And reaches us – always as dusk

would touch the patient foothills –

some three days after she began

her journey out of speechlessness,

her pilgrimage to Chelm.

 

She stays a single day – until

another dusk has touched the foothills.

 

Would she might moor for all the week

to spare herself the long fatigue

of three days journey out

and three days journey in

and the uncertain seas

 

and so save us

the anxiousness,

the everlasting labor,

the mourning her departure,

the six days waiting for her.

 

Shabbat Shalom.

[And todah rabah gadol to Mannie Sherberg, for the extraordinarily beautiful comment below].

Catcher in the Rye Bread

“Hey, Morgan!” is the brilliantly written comedy-musical about the life of Morgan Farkas, growing up in the affluent Jewish neighborhood of Brentwood, covering her travails from age 13 through the rest of her life.

It opened at the prestigious Black Dahlia Theatre in Los Angeles in October and has been playing to sell-out audiences since then. It has now been extended to mid-December.

The Variety review by Bob Verini read in part as follows (with bolding in the original):

Unveilings are exciting. The mostly unheralded cast and creatives of "Hey, Morgan!," an hour-long song cycle on the life choices of a maiden from "the tony hills of Brentwood," all seem poised to break out and dazzle. Sure, the piece is wispy, but like great meals, major careers always need a distinctive starter. If "Hey, Morgan" is merely a theatrical amuse bouche, that could explain why it's virtually impossible to leave the Black Dahlia without a big grin on your face. ...

The score by Matthew Fogel, Isaac Laskin and David Richman more or less follows Jonathan Larson's "Rent" playbook, in which lush melodies express genuine emotion that is suddenly undercut by a stroke of irony or snark. ... But even when the sentiments are stock, their musical expression keeps lifting us to a place very like bliss. The sensational pop-rock tunes are rip-snortingly performed by Richman and his other four band members, five if you count onstage guitarist Laskin.

Wit and heart rule the lyrics in equal measure. ... And there's no gainsaying the cast's unflagging appeal as they're surefootedly moved around by helmer Matt Shakman and choreographer Courtney Miller Jr. Shapiro and English prove accomplished shape-shifters, while an always-winning Marion subtly suggests the maturing of a decent human being, physically and emotionally, over the course of 50 years.

That human being is deliberately dramatized as nobody special. But if as the show's anthem proclaims, "Whether you're Michelle Obama/Or selling tickets at the Cinerama" we all have a story to tell, then Morgan's is as worthy of the telling as any. And more toe-tapping than most.

The Los Angeles Times review by Kathleen Foley read in part as follows:

Youthful ebullience abounds in “Hey, Morgan!” at the Black Dahlia –- the first musical in that prestigious theater’s history. The show, with music by Matthew Fogel, Isaac Laskin and David Richman and book and lyrics by Fogel and Laskin, is a bubbly divertissement that features lively songs and an endearing cast. ...

The bulk of the action concerns Morgan’s quest for love and her eventual marriage. Charming Meagan English and hilarious Adam Shapiro, who scores many of the laughs, play all the other roles, with Laskin functioning as a guitar-strumming singer/narrator.

In his logistically masterful staging, director Matt Shakman attacks his challenging material like Grant took Richmond. “Morgan” is almost entirely sung and musical director Richman, who helms the excellent live band, elicits superlative performances from his game actors. Choreographer Courtney Miller Jr. overcomes the constraints of the Dahlia’s small stage in ingeniously compressed dances … If you’re in the mood for glitzy escapism, consummately rendered, this could be your ticket.

Tickets are here. I’ve seen it (many more times than once). Don’t miss it.

More on Zivotofsky v. Clinton

Two excellent editorials at the New York Sun on Zivotofsky v. Clinton, the case considering the constitutionality of the law giving Americans born in Jerusalem the right to have “Israel” on their passports as their place of birth:  “Jerusalem and the Founders,” and “The Presidential Instrument.” 

My summary of Monday’s oral argument, as well as my thoughts on (1) how the whole case could have been avoided (with both sides winning), and (2) what should happen after it, no matter who wins, is at PJ Media today: “The President, Congress, and Menachem Zivotofsky’s Passport.” 

In an article at the Sun in September on the White House scrubbing of “Israel” from the references to “Jerusalem, Israel” on its website, I noted that the administration’s brief in Zivotofsky asserted that U.S. policy was to be neutral on all questions of sovereignty over Jerusalem and the West Bank, pending negotiations. But I noted that the White House website, at the same location, referred to “the Palestinian Territories,” when the proper designation – given the asserted U.S. policy – should be “disputed territories.” 

As of today, the references to “the Palestinian Territories” remain on the White House website. Even the administration’s policy of neutrality is one-sided.