Rabbi Meir Kahane Writings
Passover — the Holiday of Vengeance
It is the night of the Seder, the eve of Passover. The Jewish family having been told by the child who attends the temple “religious school” that Jews celebrate the Passover with a festive meal, or perhaps having heard the temple rabbi or the local American Jewish committee ignoramus declaim the theme of Passover as being the national liberation struggle of all people and the brotherhood of Man (the love of the Gentiles and Jews), is gathered about the table. The room is filled with people, including gentile guests gushing over the fascinating Jewish holiday. The family has equipped itself with Hagadas so as to do the “thing” properly. They have finished the meal and now the excited youngster (Scott, Brian, Kevin or some such Jewish name) excitedly says “It’s time to open the door to Elijah. He comes to every Jewish house.” The parents smile; the gentiles smile – how similar to Santa Claus. And, of course, they all rise as the child rushes to open the door. Jew and gentile alike, chant the words prescribed by the Hagada, the Biblical words of the Psalms, that proclaim:
“Pour forth Your wrath upon the nations that do not recognize You and upon the kingdoms that do not invoke Your name. For they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his habitation. Pour forth Your fury upon them and let Your burning wrath overtake them. Pursue them with anger and destroy them from beneath the heavens of the L-rd.”
My G-d! What to think! What do the gentiles in the room think?! What a litany of anger and, above all, vengeance! An open prayer and call for the Almighty to avenge Himself upon the nations, to destroy them for what they did to Israel! Is this Judaism? And did not the “rabbi”, the temple paragon of Jewish wisdom, the fount of Jewish knowledge admonish us that Jews oppose vengeance, that is not a “Jewish” concept? And that is why we are supposed to feel ashamed sometimes at the conduct of the Israeli army? And, above all, what will John and Kathy, the gentile neighbors think about the Jews? About us?
Ah, poor Jews; sad little Jews. Conceived in ignorance and born in Jewish know-nothingness. Raised in Jeffersonian and Kennedyian and Jacksonian (Jesse?) Democracy and all the westernized, gentilized culture that is America, and lied to and deceived, and defrauded by secular Jewish ignoramuses-leaders, and Reform-Conservative-Reconstructionist ones; people whose ignorance is so awesome that only their fraud surpasses it. The fraud that was created by the counterfeiters of Judaism is astonishingly awesome. They lied to the Jew because they could not bear to tell the truth to themselves. Vengeance, un-Jewish? If so, let us cast out the Bible and Talmud as “un-Jewish”. The L-rd is a G-d of vengeance; O G-d of vengeance, arise! (Psalms 94). And the rabbis say: Yes, when vengeance is needed, it is a great thing” (Brachot, 3a). Or let the high praises of G-d be in their throat and a two edged sword in their hand – to execute vengeance upon the nations…” (Psalms 58). Passover. A holiday that was created to commemorate the sanctity of vengeance; the punishment and the destruction of Pharaoh and Egypt that mocked and humiliated G-d by crying: “Who is the L-rd? I know not the L-rd…:”Vengeance sop that the world shall know the L-rd and cry, “Verily, there is a G-d that judgeth in the earth…” And: “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth vengeance, he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” (Psalms 58) And why? For it is only vengeance that proves that there is indeed a G-d in the world., that there is good and evil and punishment for that evil. When the wicked kill and injustice reigns, surely the wicked cry out: “There is no G-d, for if there was He would punish me.” And the victim in his agony, agrees. When there is no vengeance and punishment and the wicked reign, G-d is pushed from his throne; it is the greatest Hillul Hashem – desecration to G-d’s Name, it is“proof” that there is no G-d.
And again, “The L-rd hath made Himself known through the judgement He executes.”(Psalms 9) And, of course, the Psalm that is read before the weekday Grace after meals, a Psalm that sends the gentilized Jews rushing from the table in horror:
“O daughter of Babylon that art to be destroyed; Happy shall he be that repayeth thee as thou hast done to us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock”. (Psalm 137).
And the Jews of Ashkenaz who created a prayer of vengeance in memory of the Jews massacred during the Crusades, a prayer that we read each Sabbath and that says: “May He avenge the blood of His servants which has been shed, as it is written in the Torah of Moses, the man of G-d: “O nations, make His people joyful! He avenges the blood of His servants, renders retribution to His foes and atones for His land and His people…And in the holy writings it says: “Why should the nations say, Where is their G-d?
And for the hapless and ignorantly hopeless who raise the half-a-cup of a Talmudic saying that G-d refused to allow the angels to rejoice over the downfall of the Egyptians. Let us forever torment the fraudulent by insisting on honesty and the complete text of the Talmudic saying: ``It is true that He does not rejoice but He causes others to rejoice”.
Of course the Almighty, the totality of Compassion, the Father of all, grieves for his children – all of them. He does not sing. His angels, who are not of this world, do not sing.
BUT THE JEWS SING – AND ARE COMMANDED TO DO SO. For the very same reason that the very same Almighty who does not sing, does destroy the work of His hands because they are evil.
Yes, of course He grieves that those who were made in His image have so perverted and destroyed the greatness of that image. That those who were made in the image of good, were so evil. In His grief He does not have pity. He destroys them: He knows that evil and He cannot share the same world. And thus do the rabbis declare (Shmot Raba 23): “Then did Moses and the children of Israel sing,” this is what is meant by the verse (Psalms 9):“The L-rd is known by the judgment He executes. This speaks of Egypt who G-d smote at the Red Sea.” And Shmot Raba 23: “Then did Moses and the children of Israel sing. This is the meaning of the verse (Psalms 93): “Your throne was firm from then.” Even though You exist from time immemorial, Your throne was not made firm and You were not made known in the world until your children sang. When You stood at the sea and we sang before You with “az” (then), then were your kingdom and throne made firm.
The incredible perversion of Judaism by confused and guilt-ridden Hellenists! Our rabbis tell us (Midrash Avchir): “And Israel saw the great hand of G-d’ – When the Almighty wished to drown the Egyptians, the Archangel of Egypt (Uza) said: Sovereign of the Universe! You are called just and righteous…why do you wish to drown the Egyptians? At that moment Gabriel rose and took a brick and said: Sovereign of the Universe! These who enslaved Your children such a terrible slavery as this, shall you have mercy on them? Immediately, the Almighty drowned them.”
Passover – the holiday that decrees the death and destruction of wickedness and not coexistence with it. And that, dear Jew, is why the Torah records for posterity the song of Moses and Israel as the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea. Yes, collective punishment against the Egyptians, even the Egyptian maids and servants perished because they were happy with the oppression of the Jews. (What can be said of the Arab masses in Israel who danced on the roof tops as the Scuds from Saddam landed in Tel Aviv.)
There is no help for it, Passover is a holiday of sanctification of G-d’s name. Of vengeance against the wicked. If the temple rabbi is unhappy, let him stop templing. If the gentile neighbor will be embarrassed, do not invite him. If the Jew is troubled, let him tie himself to the House of Study, a genuine one, and learn real Judaism. Then he will celebrate Passover the proper way, the Jewish way. “Pour forth Your wrath…”
Shabbat Shalom and Pesach Kasher v'sameach
May this be the Pesach of Redemption!
Topic: Passover — the Holiday of Vengeance (Read 681 times)