I listened tonight to a tape I bought about 15 years ago in Hungary, of authentic Jewish music.
It is sobering to realize that some of these songs were probably sung when Julius Caesar was still a boy in the Alban hills, before there was a Europe as we know it.
That they were sung again when Jerusalem's zealots battled against the might of the entire Roman Empire.
That they were sung in Jewish ghettos through the long medieval night, from Spain to Moscow; and then as the Shoah unfolded in all its horror in our supposedly modern age.
I walked through the burned-out shell of a synagogue in one little Hungarian city, left that way still 50 years after the Nazis had rampaged through it. I have never forgotten that experience.
What will the future hold for this ancient people? Disappearance by assimilation? A judenrein Middle East via nuclear missiles from Iran? Or once again, survival against all odds?
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Reflections on Judaism
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Just flew in to say hi and thanks for visiting - hope your cockatiel didn't take fright at it's rowdy cousins *!*
Thanks for your well-wishes, Bimbimbie, but unfortunately, Nina (my cockatiel) got scared to death by the bird video.
A long time ago, I played a tape of wild cockatiels for her and she didn't even pay it any attention.
I can't understand it.
I vote for survival.
I hope that is indeed their future.
I am reading a very good book right now, The Sword of Constantine, one man's look at the long and sorrowful relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
Hmmm. I live and work in NYC. I can tell you that there is no way the devout will ever be assimilated. Even if they cannot live in peace in a land of their own (and don't get me started here, it won't be pretty), they will survive as a closely knit group, bound by a common history, even if scattered the world over. For that they should be admired.
Admire them I do. The Jewish faith seems to examine every aspect of being human and to provide a proper place for it -- whether the sanctioned joyful excess of Purim or the structured mourning of Tisha Ba'av.
I also admire how they handle death and grief. Buried, untouched, within a day, sit Shiva for a week, get on with life. Seems very healthy to me.
Post a Comment