CANTOR’S CORNER

Cantor Eyal Bitton shares a few thoughts on prayer and the parasha of the week.

2024-06-15 Parashat Naso

This past Monday, pro-Palestinian thugs on a NY subway threatened Jews as the train was stopped at Union Station. In a call and response chant, the keffiyeh-clad leader and his crew bellowed, “Raise your hands if you’re a Zionist. This is your chance to get out!” 

That night, hateful protesters showed up to protest an exhibit in Manhattan memorializing the murder and rape victims of the October 7 Nova Music Festival. They chanted “Long live the Intifada” and celebrated Hamas and Hezbollah, with the flag of the latter being displayed proudly. 

The next night, various homes of Board members of the Brooklyn Museum, as well as its director, Anne Pasternak, were vandalized. The graffiti is hateful. And keep in mind, this was not a protest at the institution, this was a menacing message on people’s private homes. NY Mayor Eric Adams said, “This is not a peaceful protest or free speech. This is a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul denounced the recent antisemitic graffiti as an “abhorrent act of antisemitism,” affirming that New York stands “with the Jewish community in the face of hate and will continue to fight antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head.” 

These threatening acts of vandalism follow a frightening display of antisemitism outside the Jewish Museum, which was the site of a Nova Festival exhibit. Inside, an exhibit remembering the young victims of the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Outside, a rabid crowd condemning the exhibit, condemning the victims of the massacre, and calling for more violence against Jews (calling for more intifada). 

This week, pro-Palestinians gathered in a residential Jewish area in Toronto and called local Jews “baby-killers” and “dirty Zionist rats”. 

Locally, the Oregon Food Bank is contributing to this hostile atmosphere with its recent statement against Israel. Also, many in the Jewish community are extremely disturbed by the recent publication and adoption of Palestinian anti-Israel, ahistorical, curriculum material by PAT (Portland Association of Teachers). 

Whatever we have been doing to combat antisemitism before and since October 7 does not seem to be working. The hate towards us is growing. The antisemites are feeling emboldened. In these pro-Palestinian/pro-Hamas mobs, I recognize the same hate that drove my father’s family and all Jews out of the Arab world in the mid-to-late 20th century.

I am reminded of the Sabbath Prayer, a song found in my Moroccan grandmother’s favorite musical, Fiddler on the Roof.  It is based on the Biblical priestly blessing, which is part of daily and Shabbat morning service. 

May the Lord protect and defend you.

May the Lord preserve you from pain.

Favor them, Oh Lord, with happiness and peace.

Oh, hear our Sabbath prayer. Amen.

The original text states:

May the Lord bless you and keep you;

May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

May we find the strength to withstand and combat the rising hate around us. May the Lord bless us – and Israel – with peace.

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RECOMMENDED VIEWING

My video of the week recommendation is a lecture by Douglas Murray entitled “The rise of anti-Semitism is a sign of a society in decline”.