Local Jewish rabbi Reb Irwin responds to Trump
On Tuesday this week, the President said, “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” A day later he refined the statement to say that Jews who vote for Democrats are disloyal to the State of Israel. But what was clearly bothering him was that Jews were not substantially lining up in support of him.
The charge of disloyalty is an age-old Anti-Semitic trope. Even in Torah we read of Pharaoh's fear that the Hebrew slaves might join with an enemy nation against him. And for hundreds of years, Jews of Europe were treated as strangers and accused of disloyalty. The disloyalty of Jews was a significant trope in the rise of Nazi Germany (see this New York Times article for this background.)
Besides being an insult to the right of Jews and all Americans to choose where they stand on issues without being charged with disloyalty, the comment was a dog whistle to white nationalists. This is all very troubling. Rabbinic bodies, Jewish organizations, and anti-hate groups quickly condemned the President's words.
On Wednesday morning, I woke up thinking about this, and words were coming before I opened my eyes. I scribbled down and posted a poem, mostly to clear my head and articulate my own principles of loyalty. It seemed to hit a nerve in the Jewish community. In these two days it has been reposted thousands of times, and is now living on sites such as Tikkun Magazine, the Jewish Journal and the Shalom Center. I have heard from many rabbis intending to use it in their services this Shabbat.
So I share it below, with all of its anger and indignation. I am happy to hear your responses and to have conversations about how we respond to Anti-Semitism in our time and what you feel loyal to right now.
Wishing us all a Shabbat Shalom, Reb Irwin
Listen to the Poem Chanted
Oath of Disloyalty
I am a disloyal Jew.
I am not loyal to a political party.
Nor will I be loyal to dictators and mad kings.
I am not loyal to walls or cages.
I am not loyal to taunts or tweets.
I am not loyal to hatred, to Jew-baiting, to the gloating connivings of white supremacy.
I am a disloyal Jew.
I am not loyal to any foreign power.
Nor to abuse of power at home.
I am not loyal to a legacy of conquest, erasure and exploitation.
I am not loyal to stories that tell me who I should hate.
I am a loyal Jew.
I am loyal to the inconveniences of kindness.
I am loyal to the dream of justice.
I am loyal to this suffering Earth
And to all life.
I am not loyal to any founding fathers.
But I am loyal to the children who will come
And to the quality of world we leave them.
I am not loyal to what America has become.
But I am loyal to what America could be.
I am loyal to Emma Lazarus. To huddled masses.
To freedom and welcome,
Holiness, hope and love.
Irwin Keller, August 21, 2019
Re: Local Jewish rabbi Reb Irwin responds to Trump
Thank you for this response to another ignorant, insensitive, inflammatory, double edged upchuck from the Russian backed slime bag occupying our White House.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
...So I share it below, with all of its anger and indignation. I am happy to hear your responses and to have conversations about how we respond to Anti-Semitism in our time and what you feel loyal to right now....
Re: Local Jewish rabbi Reb Irwin responds to Trump
Shepherd,
Thank you for sharing this. It's both sad and beautifully heartfelt even in it's anger and indignation. I don't resonate with being Jewish, even though my mother's maiden name was Jacobs. She left early in my life, so I was never blessed with her historical information. I've never been interested in pursuing that information through any of the several genealogy sites. I don't believe that it would change my life much at this stage.
But I do resonate with everything that Reb Irwin has stated here, and I think many of us do, whether Jewish or not.
May we all stand up for DISLOYALTY!
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
...Oath of Disloyalty...
Re: Local Jewish rabbi Reb Irwin responds to Trump
One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. ~ Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:
...May we all stand up for DISLOYALTY!
