Israel Matzav: What will he say when he gets to 'Next Year in Jerusalem'?

What will he say when he gets to 'Next Year in Jerusalem'?

About ten days ago, I posted an open letter from David Wilder, the spokesman of the Hebron Jewish community, in which Wilder asked a number of pointed questions about the Pesach seder of Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, President Obama's court Jews. The questions included the following:

What I really want to know is not how you begin your family Seder, rather, how you end it. Normally, Jews finish the night’s ceremony declaring “Next year in Jerusalem” or Next year in the rebuilt Jerusalem.”

Rahm Emanual and David Axelrod:

DO YOU RECITE THESE WORDS AT YOUR FAMILY TABLE;

IF SO, DO YOU MEAN WHAT YOU SAY, OR JUST REPEAT THE WORDS FOR CUSTOM’S SAKE;

AND WOULD YOU DARE RECITE THESE WORDS IN PUBLIC, WORDS MOUTHED BY JEWS FOR CENTURIES, AS THEY WERE TORTURED AND BURNED AT THE STAKE, OR SENT TO SIBERIA TO DIE, FOR DARING TO REPEAT THE FUNDAMENTAL TENET OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE?

EXACTLY HOW DO YOU SAY IT? NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM,

OR

NEXT YEAR IN [OCCUPIED?], [DISPUTED?], [CONQUERED?], [ARAB?] JERUSALEM?

Isn’t it time you left the White House and came home to your real home, in Israel, in Jerusalem where you too can stand proudly at the Kotel and recite, as Jews have for eternity "Next year in [Jewish] Jerusalem"

Wilder's letter has been floating around the Internet ever since, mostly without attribution (including someone who posted it in the comments on this blog attributed to someone else). But perhaps, the same question needs to be asked of President Obama, who is establishing the 'tradition' of holding a seder in the White House (Hat Tip: NY Nana).

When Passover begins at sunset on Monday evening, Mr. Obama and about 20 others will gather for a ritual that neither the rabbinic sages nor the founding fathers would recognize.

In the Old Family Dining Room, under sparkling chandeliers and portraits of former first ladies, the mostly Jewish and African-American guests will recite prayers and retell the biblical story of slavery and liberation, ending with the traditional declaration “Next year in Jerusalem.” (Never mind the current chill in the administration’s relationship with Israel.)

Top aides like David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett will attend, but so will assistants like 24-year-old Herbie Ziskend. White House chefs will prepare Jewish participants’ family recipes, even rendering chicken fat — better known as schmaltz — for just the right matzo ball flavor.

If last year is any guide, Malia and Sasha Obama will take on the duties of Jewish children, asking four questions about the night’s purpose — along with a few of their own — and scrambling to find matzo hidden in the gleaming antique furniture.

Excuse me if I puke.

There's a museum in Tel Aviv called Beit HaTfutzot (the Diaspora Museum). When I was there many years ago, they had on display a scaled model of a synagogue that was billed "the only synagogue not destroyed by the Nazis (may their name be obliterated) in Europe." (That may not have been accurate. My recollection is that the synagogue in question was in Prague. Years later, I had occasion to visit Frankfurt where I prayed in the West End Synagogue, which survived the war because its underground rooms were used by the Nazis for record keeping). The reason the synagogue wasn't destroyed is that the Nazis wanted to leave one vestige of Jewish life - one beautiful synagogue - to be able to show the World what had once been and what they had destroyed.

Is that Obama's idea? To maintain the seder - one vestige of Jewish life - in the hope that he will (God forbid) destroy the rest?

Here's hoping the schmuck gets food poisoning from the schmaltz.

And yes, I want to know where this Nebuchadnezer wannabe gets the unmitigated gall to say "Next Year in Jerusalem."

Israel Matzav: What will he say when he gets to 'Next Year in Jerusalem'?