tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675600882597316438.post4135288068095240884..comments2023-10-26T06:29:39.824-07:00Comments on The Magnes Zionist: On Celebrating Israeli Independence Day 2012Jerry Haberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15173892714754718716noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675600882597316438.post-25364600843402971182012-04-29T12:02:50.397-07:002012-04-29T12:02:50.397-07:00Some folks have contacted me and wondered what I m...Some folks have contacted me and wondered what I meant by "leave God out of it." After all, as a religious Jew, don't I believe that God acts in history?<br /><br />My answer is yes, I do believe that God acts in history -- but only indirectly. God was in the founding of the State of Israel, and in the Holocaust, in the same way as He is in the writing of this comment. No more -- but also no less.<br /><br />But it's too beautiful a day here in DC for theology....or theodicy.Jerry Haberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15173892714754718716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675600882597316438.post-89776645861507014122012-04-29T04:50:07.846-07:002012-04-29T04:50:07.846-07:00I don't know of the theological concerns aroun...I don't know of the theological concerns around reciting Hallel.<br /><br />If you believe that God is in the world, in everything in the world, then both the holocaust and the independence have God involved, and actively, and even as some prophetic significance.<br /><br />The real issue for me is this is the next day. We got enlightened and free yesterday, so what are we going to do with it today?<br /><br />Enjoy it certainly.<br />Protect it so that it is possible tomorrow (as if a repeated invocation of the real doesn't devolve to less than full appreciation).<br /><br />But, most importantly, apply it, in the form of helping others to be free, internally and externally.<br /><br />Independence AND the next day can both be of God, certainly rather than declaring that God is not here in some today.<br /><br />Adonai echod, doesn't mean "some" situations, it describes "all".Richard Wittyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00362023225216490855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675600882597316438.post-9785229022184837502012-04-29T04:43:45.791-07:002012-04-29T04:43:45.791-07:00Thank you for publishing widely these beautiful wo...Thank you for publishing widely these beautiful words, yours and his.<br /><br />In America we have somewhat the same problems. Today is an anniversary of the Rodney King events in LA, marking a history of police violence, government neglect, and business disinvestment in the neighborhoods of "people of color" (as Americans call our Palestinians).<br /><br />the successive governments of America have been engaging in wars without end -- in the service of imperialistic designs and the demands of the war industries (now including mercenary fighters such as Blackwater -- quasi parallel to Israeli settlers' gangs of armed toughs) -- which do not serve the needs of ordinary Americans and are opposed by many if not most.<br /><br />And, of course, the Jewish people in America need to win independence from the "leaders" such as the "presidents" and AIPAC who claim to represent us but do not, and from official Israel -- not from folks such as Yesh Gvul -- in Israel who teach that the Jewish way is the way of making war and doing oppression.<br /><br />Thanks again.pabelmonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02455552052993621134noreply@blogger.com