Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: sempre a proposito di America...

La mia derasha per questo Shabbat
http://rehovnahum.blogspot.com/2010/07/ekev.html
Two weeks ago, remember? The Knesset was about to discuss, and maybe
approve, a proposed law. That law could have empowered the most
chauvinistic faction of the Israeli Rabbinate. It could have granted
them the right, in the name of the State of Israel, to delegitimize
those Jews who, like us, do not subscribe to their fundamentalist
beliefs. We were concerned and worried, and we felt that it was time to act.
We signed petitions, we sent E mails to the Israeli Prime Minister. Some
of us even made telephone calls to the Israeli Parliamentary members. I
did my own at 2.30 AM on a Sunday morning, to be sure that that my
opinion was heard, just when the workday begins, there. I left a clear
message on the answering machine of a Parliamentary member that
certainly, I know, cares about the feelings of the Diaspora.
It is fair to say that we succeeded. The controversial bill has been
frozen, and the discussion has been deferred to February – but the
author of the proposed law says now that he is not much interested in
the whole matter. In Israeli politics nothing can be taken for granted,
but at the moment we have reasons to celebrate. We have made it.
I believe there was something Deuteronomic, in that moment. The peak of
the whole campaign happened to be on Shabbat Devarim, when we begin to
read the Book of Deuteronomy. The Book of Deuteronomy takes place, so to
say, when the Children of Israel, the Jewish people, have not crossed
the Jordan River yet. Instead, they are facing the Promised Land and
they are listening to a speech of Moses. The whole Book of Deuteronomy
is, indeed, that speech.
This is our position, geographically speaking, because obviously we are
not there; and it is also our spiritual position, because we look at
what is happening there, and we care. As members of the Jewish people we
have a voice in the Israeli affairs, especially when it comes to religion.
In this weeks’ parasha, the Israelites are told that God will clear the
way. That the Lord will dispossess the people who reside there. They
will lose the land because of their wickedness. And the land will be
given to the Jewish people not because the Jews are by definition more
virtuous; but because they will to establish there a society based on
the values of justice and compassion. Idolatry will cease, exclusion in
the name of religion will be banished, and the stranger, the poor, the
widow’s children will not be marginalized anymore.
In telling to the Israelites about their covenant with God, Moses plays
with the words. “It is not for any virtue of yours that God is giving
you this good land to possess” he recalls “for you are a stiff-necked
people, עַם-קְשֵׁה-עֹרֶף . am keshi oref [Dt 9:6].
Then Moses remembers the episode of the Golden Calf, when the whole
people was about to be destroyed. He himself, Moses, climbed the
mountain once again, interceded on behalf of everybody, prayed to the
Lord to pay no heed to the stubbornness of the people קְשִׁי הָעָם and
reminded God of the promise to the Patriarchs.
The wordplay is very subtle. עַם-קְשֵׁה-עֹרֶף, stiff-necked people, is
actually a direct quote from God’s outburst of anger, from Exodus 32:9,
the first account of the events. Instead, the statement about the
people’s stubbornness, קְשִׁי הָעָם , is a part of Moses’ discussion with
God. The first is a metaphor, furiously uttered by God, who is
exasperated. The second is affirmation about the people itself, a
permanent trait of their nature. But while Moses concedes that God has
every reason to be upset, he evokes zekhut Avot, the merits of the
Patriarchs. He invites the Lord to look elsewhere, to the eternal
covenant established with the Jewish people. In other words, Moses
acknowledges God’s reasons to be furious, he himself says something even
stronger – but points also to the larger picture.
Commentators have noticed this ambiguity of the word קְשִׁי. Abarbenel for
example writes that being stiff-necked, קְשֵׁה-עֹרֶף, keshi-oref means being
stubborn. It is the feature of the individual unable to turn his head,
and to look down the road, to see the consequences of his own actions.
Other commentators points out that a stiff-necked animal is rebellious,
obstinate, impossible to drive – an image easy to understand for the
farmers in the Ancient Middle East.
On the other hand, being קְשִׁי keshi, being obstinate, has not only a
negative trait. In the Midrash we read that this is not a criticism, but
a compliment. Indeed the obstinacy to remain Jewish, the perseverance in
loyalty to Judaism is one of the merits that made the Israelites worthy
to enter the Land.
In Song of the Songs קְשִׁי 8:6 is indeed even one of the features of love,
nonetheless: an attachment that is strong, obstinate, passionate, intense.
I believe that our campaign has been driven by an intense passion, by
obstinacy and loyalty, and it has had an even rebellious trait. It was a
matter of dignity of the human being, a deeply Jewish value. We cannot
allow a minority of fanatics to speak in our name, in the name of
Judaism. We cannot allow them to rule over the majority of Israel.
It was, and still is, is a matter of loyalty. This week’s parasha
teaches to us that being Jewish is not a matter of birth, of being by
birth part of this stiff necked people. It is rather a matter of doing
Jewishly – to counter idolatry, the incestuous marriage between coercion
and religion, and to build a more just society.
With our action, with our intense campaign, we have affirmed that our
commitment to build a more just, equal and free society is not a modern
innovation, or a recent fashionable trend. It stems from the very Jewish
value of the dignity of the human being. It has been affirmed countless
times in our holy Book. It has been recalled to those obstinate
descendants of liberated slaves, facing the Promised Land, many years ago.
And it is, I believe, equally compelling now.

 La mia derasha per questo Shabbat
non avevo mai notato ch tu scrivi su usenet di sabato.
finiti i shalosh finiti i shloshim, eh?
<:3)-