Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander SeinfeldDecember 1-2, 2023 • 19 Kislev 5784 • VaYishlach (Gen 32-36). The purpose of this blog is to foster a unblur distinctions at the Friday night dinner table ... please forward/print/share.
Check out our Hannukah page at BestJewishKidsBooks.com
The late British author Christopher Hitchens had a take on antisemitism that you rarely hear.
Hitchens was beloved by many because he was very smart.
But smart obviously doesn't mean right, and some may dislike my quoting him. His strength of distilling a nuanced and complex into its essence often blurred or outright ignored important distinctions and often asserted controversial opinions as established fact.
(For instance, he apparently never read his contemporary compatriot rhyming namesake Kenneth Kitchen's essential book.)
But in the spirit of the Talmudic value of learning from everyone - here is a quotation that in itself is great material for a Shabbat table discussion.
In 2007 Hitchens said,
If the Nazarine preacher from Galilee really existed, there's no question whom he met first: the Jewish People; he came from their tradition. If the prophet Mohammed really ever existed, the first encounter he had was with Jewish people. The Jews took a look at both of these guys and said, "No, this is not the Messiah, this is not the Redeemer, we reject him."
Do you suppose they're ever going to be forgiving for it? Of course not, of course not. There isn't a Christian or a Muslim in the world (the serious kind) who wouldn't give everything they owned for some face-time with either Jesus or Mohammed. It would have to be the thing they most wanted to do. They must want it the same as I would like to meet Shakespeare or George Elliot. It must be the most important thing to them. And only one people - the same in both cases - met their false prophet. And in both cases they turned away and said, "This isn't genuine." You think that's going to be forgiven? No. Do you think this has led to a huge go-round of violence and heresy-hunting and fascism and genocide? Yes. Do you think it's over yet? Better not believe that. The worst is yet to come. They're never going to forgive it.
(Here is a 23-minute clip of his speech at UCLA where he speaks about antisemitism and related topics. Here is a 2011 article he wrote for the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.)
There you have it. For your table: Was Hitchens right?
Second question: Does his take on antisemitism have anything to say about Chanukah?
Shabbat Shalom,
and Happy Chanukah!
Alexander Seinfeld
PS - Check out our Hannukah page at BestJewishKidsBooks.com
Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
December 1-2, 2023 • 19 Kislev 5784 • VaYishlach (Gen 32-36).
The purpose of this blog is to foster a unblur distinctions at the Friday night dinner table ... please forward/print/share.
Check out our Hannukah page at BestJewishKidsBooks.com
The late British author Christopher Hitchens had a take on antisemitism that you rarely hear.
Hitchens was beloved by many because he was very smart.
But smart obviously doesn't mean right, and some may dislike my quoting him. His strength of distilling a nuanced and complex into its essence often blurred or outright ignored important distinctions and often asserted controversial opinions as established fact.
(For instance, he apparently never read his contemporary compatriot rhyming namesake Kenneth Kitchen's essential book.)
But in the spirit of the Talmudic value of learning from everyone - here is a quotation that in itself is great material for a Shabbat table discussion.
In 2007 Hitchens said,
If the Nazarine preacher from Galilee really existed, there's no question whom he met first: the Jewish People; he came from their tradition. If the prophet Mohammed really ever existed, the first encounter he had was with Jewish people. The Jews took a look at both of these guys and said, "No, this is not the Messiah, this is not the Redeemer, we reject him."
Do you suppose they're ever going to be forgiving for it? Of course not, of course not. There isn't a Christian or a Muslim in the world (the serious kind) who wouldn't give everything they owned for some face-time with either Jesus or Mohammed. It would have to be the thing they most wanted to do. They must want it the same as I would like to meet Shakespeare or George Elliot. It must be the most important thing to them. And only one people - the same in both cases - met their false prophet. And in both cases they turned away and said, "This isn't genuine." You think that's going to be forgiven? No. Do you think this has led to a huge go-round of violence and heresy-hunting and fascism and genocide? Yes. Do you think it's over yet? Better not believe that. The worst is yet to come. They're never going to forgive it.
(Here is a 23-minute clip of his speech at UCLA where he speaks about antisemitism and related topics. Here is a 2011 article he wrote for the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.)
There you have it. For your table: Was Hitchens right?
Second question: Does his take on antisemitism have anything to say about Chanukah?
Shabbat Shalom,
and Happy Chanukah!
Alexander Seinfeld
PS - Check out our Hannukah page at BestJewishKidsBooks.com
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