Organizers to restore ‘Hatikva’ to Shoa event
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February 25, 2013
The singing of Israel’s national anthem will return to an interfaith Holocaust commemoration in Edison following a two-year absence.
The decision to include “Hatikva” was made by committee members representing the program organizers, the Metuchen-Edison Area Interfaith Clergy Association, and the Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County.
The song will be sung at the end of the April 8 program, which will allow Muslim imams, who had remained seated during the singing in previous programs, to leave the stage beforehand and join the group in the reception.
“We thought it was appropriate to put ‘Hatikva’ back in,” said Jennine Shpigel, JCC director of Jewish and family programming. She sat on the committee along with the Rev. James Thomas of the First Presbyterian Church of Iselin and Cantor Jacqueline Shuchat-Marx of Temple Emanu-El in Edison.
Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg of Congregation Beth-El in Edison had urged organizers to restore the anthem, after initially insisting two years ago that it be removed. The rabbi told NJJN that seeing the imams remain seated during the singing of the anthem had upset some Jewish attendees.
In a persistent e-mail and Internet campaign, Rosenberg charged that omitting the anthem would be “giving in to the current atmosphere of anti-Semitism” in Europe and the Middle East.
Rosenberg, who attended a Feb. 19 meeting of the clergy association, said everyone was “extremely cordial” and there was no dissent about the inclusion of “Hatikva.”
“I think this is an important issue for Holocaust survivors, and if nothing else that needed to be made known,” said Rosenberg. “The discussion at the meeting was very positive and the fact that the imam was sensitive to the issue and made an accommodation was also important. But, the most important thing is the result.”
Imam Moustafa Zayed of the Muslim Center of New Jersey in Parlin said he was unaware, until contacted by NJJN, that there was an issue with his decision to remain seated during the singing of “Hatikva.”
“I was not aware that my sitting during ‘Hatikva’ made anyone uncomfortable,” said Zayed, who added that his absence last year was due to a scheduling conflict and that he was astonished to learn this year that some people believed it was because of the “Hatikva” issue.
He plans to attend this year’s program.
“I come to support my community,” he said. “I want to take politics out of my relationship with my neighbors.”
Comments
Joel Friedman
February 27, 2013
I am a lover and supporter of Zion but I think that singing Hatikva and an interfaith Shoa service is highly inappropriate. It is day that requires not only all Jews but all human kind to reflect upon the capacity of humans to do unspeakable evil as well as extraordinary acts of holiness. Singing Oseh shalom or something along those lines but be much more appropriate. Israel is not the focus of this event although for Jews it clearly does have direct linkage and implications it does not for many others.
ROSENBERG
February 28, 2013
PERHAPS WE SHOULD CEASE HAVING INTERFAITH HOLOCAUST PROGRAMS IF HATIKVAH IS INAPPROPRIATE.
I am satisfied for the sake of the survivors that the HATIKVAH WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE SERVICE. I personally still have a problem with the Imam leaving before Hatikvah, therefore I will not attend or participate in the Yom Hashoah event. The Imam’s reason for not coming last year was not a scheduling problem but because he would not attend if the gay choir performed/ I OFFERED TO HELP IN THIS YEARS PROGRAMMING BUT AS USUAL EXCEPT FOR THE PRESIDENT NO ONE RETURNS MY E MAILS. I paid my dues in full to demonstrate good faith with the interfaith group. HAD MY E MAILS BEEN TAKEN SERIOUSLY IN October and NOVEMBER PERHAPS NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. I PERSONALLY FEEL THAT THE Imam should not attend the event if he is going to walk out period. IF THERE WAS ANY EVENT IN WHICH part of the program was politically problematic for me I WOULD NOT ATTEND. TO ME THE HONOR DUE ISRAEL IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. THE COMPROMISE I suggested was for the sake of others. I thought I could live with it, but I CAN NOT. I am friends with the Imam and can not force him not to attend. The hour is late and I can not sleep thinking about this.MANY PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT ME HAVE CALLED EXPRESSING THEIR SENTIMENTS ABOUT THE IMAN OR ANYONE LEAVING BEFORE HATIKVAH. THEY FEEL THE HONOR OF ISRAEL IS BEING TRAMPLED ON. I have sent out e mails offering to speak free of charge AS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER at a holocaust event out of the area where I WILL FEEL COMFORTABLE IN ATTENDING. Best regards, Rabbi Dr. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
ROSENBERG
February 28, 2013
HATIKVAH has been included in every service since I created interfaith holocaust services in 1974 with no objection. N0 ONE HAS EVER WALKED out, sat down OR OBJECTED until recently. With Israel and Jews being attacked throughout the world, I PERSONALLY will and have fought to keep it in. We are living in a world where anti-SEMITISM is rampant especially in Europe where JEWS ARE FLEEING IN MASS to Israel and other countries. Everyone is entitled to their OWN opinion , I stand by mine. Another Holocaust is on the horizon. A nuclear extremist muslim regime would like nothing better than the complete destruction of Israel and if you listen to Morsi all Jews should perish. RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
Arthur Schwartz
February 28, 2013
You are 100% correct on this one. Those against Hatikvah are in actuality saying we will help the poor, defenseless Jews
mourn their dead but the gall of them to defend themselves. This Rabbi has guts .
Ross C.
February 28, 2013
With whom are you arguing, rabbi? The organizers seemed to have taken your suggestion (actually, your change of heart) without much pushback, and the Muslim leaders seem fairly indifferent about the issue (and pleased with the compromise that allows them to leave without hearing Hatikvah.) You make this sound like a brave stand against someone or something.
And really, you’re not attending—and thus turning your back onthe survivors who will attend—because one or two religious leaders will leave before it’s over? Or is it because you’re not getting the kavod you expect from the organizers? Remember Pirke Avot: Rabbi Levitas of Yavneh says: Be extremely humble of spirit, for the hope of man is worms. (4:4)
Hillel the Elder
February 28, 2013
I seem to remember that President Obama got into trouble because, in his June 2009 Cairo speech, he said that “the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.” Like a host of Jewish leaders at the time, David Harris of the American Jewish Committee chided the president saying “in his Cairo speech, the President implied that the Holocaust was the primary reason for Israel’s creation. That is unfortunate - and factually incorrect.”
So if the Jewish community doesn’t like the Israel-Holocaust equation, why do we treat Shoa commemorations as Zionist events? Why sing Hatikvah? Either we admit that Obama was right – the Holocaust and Israel are inextricably linked – or we we stop making the link ourselves.
SAMUEL FELDER
February 28, 2013
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/26/us-imam-calls-on-muslims-in-us-to-wage-jihad/ I do understand why the Imam will not attend when the gay choir performs. Why would he attend when Hatikvah is part of the program? He should not attend at all. Regarding Rabbi Rosenberg’s Kavod I doubt he needs your sarcastic remarks and I am certain he would not do anything to hurt Holocaust survivors. Your statement is nothing more than a personal attack.
Samuel Felder
ROSENBERG
March 01, 2013
Ross C, I prefer Mishle 21:15 To do justly is joy to the righteous, but ruin to the workers of iniquity. This has nothing to do with my humility but an important principle. I did not have a change of heart, there has been a change of circumstances. In the past several years Muslim hostility toward Jews around the world has increased exponentially. By walking out during Hatikvah individuals are denying the existence of the State of Israel. This is a silent way to channel President Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call to drive the “Jew into the sea.” As to the effect it has on the Holocaust survivors, they all know in their hearts where I stand on remembering what happened to my family, them individually and to our people collectively. Many Jews now realize that if people had taken a stand against the haters before 1939 then perhaps the Shoa might have been avoided or blunted. My quote to describe you is one by Neville Chamberlain, “We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will.”
rosenberg
March 01, 2013
I prefer Mishle 21:15 To do justly is joy to the righteous, but ruin to the workers of iniquity. This has nothing to do with my humility but an important principle. I did not have a change of heart, there has been a change of circumstances. In the past several years Muslim hostility toward Jews around the world has increased exponentially. By walking out during Hatikvah individuals are denying the existence of the State of Israel. This is a silent way to channel President Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call to drive the “Jew into the sea.” As to the effect it has on the Holocaust survivors, they all know in their hearts where I stand on remembering what happened to them individually and to our people collectively. Many Jews now realize that if people had taken a stand against the haters before 1939 then perhaps the Shoa might have been avoided or blunted. My quote to describe you is one by Neville Chamberlain, “We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analysing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will.”
Ross C.
March 01, 2013
“By walking out during Hatikvah individuals are denying the existence of the State of Israel.”
A persuasive point, Rabbi. But in urging that they reinstate Hatikvah, you had to suspect that the imams might walk out. Why then reverse course and still boycott (and essentially, by not taking part, you are by example urging other Jews not to, lest they be labeled a “Chamberlain”)?
It appears that you keep asking people to change the rules, and each time they do, you find another objection.
My quote for is, “My way or the highway,” except you take the highway even when you get your way.
ROSENBERG
March 02, 2013
The Holocaust can no longer be about the brutality, the murder of 6 million, the murder of 1.5 million children, all the horrors that go along with it,”It needs to be about what these brave souls went through, what we can learn from it. We need to charter that into education about love, about caring. If we take from it only the horrors and the murders, that will destroy the relevance of the Holocaust.
RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
Date: Mar 2, 2013 12:24 PM
News Analysis
The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking
TRUTH
March 03, 2013
I admire you for your patience and for your courage to finally pull the plug on the “interfaith” charade, which is not, and never will be, more than da’awa, so that the unbelievers who are ‘ignorant, dumb and deaf’ may hear the word of allah and ‘revert’ to the true religion, Islam.
“Love of the Prophet requires hatred of the Jews.”
“The good Jews become Muslims, the others burn in hell”….
I would urge you to stand with us in exposing the genocidal ideology of Islam for what it is, even though our detractors would denounce it as a profane wish for self-preservation.
rosenberg
March 05, 2013
I will be the keynote speaker at another Holocaust event that evening. I refuse to compromise my beliefs or allow the Hatikvah to be disgraced. I am taking my highway to what I believe in. Rabbi DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
rosenberg
March 07, 2013
I have resigned from the metuchen edison clegy association. I AM A PAST PRESIDENT. Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
HATIKVAH has been included in every service since I created interfaith holocaust services in 1974 with no objection. N0 ONE HAS EVER WALKED out, sat down OR OBJECTED until recently. With Israel and Jews being attacked throughout the world, I PERSONALLY will and have fought to keep it in. We are living in a world where anti-SEMITISM is rampant especially in Europe where JEWS ARE FLEEING IN MASS to Israel and other countries. Everyone is entitled to their OWN opinion , I stand by mine. Another Holocaust is on the horizon. A nuclear extremist muslim regime would like nothing better than the complete destruction of Israel and if you listen to Morsi all Jews should perish.
I will be the keynote speaker at another Holocaust event that evening. I refuse to compromise my beliefs or allow the Hatikvah to be disgraced. I am taking my highway to what I believe in. Rabbi DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
rosenberg
March 07, 2013
THERE MAY BE A PROTEST AGAINST THE IMAM BEING ORGANIZED BY THOSE WHO ARE EXTREMELY ANGRY AT WHAT IS HAPPENING. GREAT PUBLICITY for THE TOWNSHIP. AND THE J.C.C. I am neither organizing it or will participate as I will be speaking at another synagogue. RABBI ROSENBERG
rosenberg
March 08, 2013
If you believe a Imam should not be invited to a holocaust program where he will walk out before Hatikvah speak out.
http://www.aish.com/j/as/The_History_of_Hatikvah.html
As it states,
• The British Mandate government briefly banned its performance in 1919 due to Arab anti-Zionist political activity.
• In 1944, Czech Jews spontaneously sang it at the entry to the Auschwitz-Birkenau gas chamber and, as reported by a member of the Sonderkommando, were beaten by SS guards.
The link is clear, the Arabs were against Hatikvah before there was Israel or even before the myth of Palestinian people. Furthermore, Jews sang it while being led to their death. How dare anyone allow individuals to leave in protest during Hatikvah with the canard they are commemorating the Holocaust but against the State of Israel. Just keep quoting Dr Martin Luther King, Jr “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism.” RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG