Lee Diamond: Jewish Self-Destruction, Mezzuah Land & A Mench
Jewish Self-Destruction
The second Temple was destroyed due to baseless
Hatred
Not because of Roman hatred
Not because of anti semitism
Not because of a powerful enemy
Rather our own nation consuming itself !
And the 3rd Temple ?
Contemporary Israel?
The right vilifies
The left vilifies
Yet the contemporary
Temple is on fire
Our external enemies delight
We are our own worst enemies
—In fighting
Haredim and liberals
at the Kotel
The wall is wailing again
Israel and the diaspora
No longer
One people
Accusations and separation
Israel and Babylon
And never the twain shall meet
Israel and Palestine
No partner!
No partner!
Another wall!
Fortresses
And our kids must
defend and
Attack
These buttressed towers
That we build
To defend our
Own stubborn
Uncompromising
Egotism
Remember
Our Enemies didn’t destroy
—Jerusalem—
The first and second monarchy!
Nor did the HOLY ONE
We Did!
Mezzuah Land
Everywhere!
On apartment doors
On high rise buildings
On schools and classrooms
And restaurants and
On hotel rooms
On movie theaters
My guess is that there
Are more mezuzot in israel
Than anywhere else
and Anytime else in Jewish history.
It’s a reminder
To remember
Who we are
What we stand for
Where we come from
Where we are going
It suggests how to remember
How to walk the walk
Talk the talk
So that these words
Are before us at all times
It’s so easy to forget
It’s so easy to seek
another identity
In fact it’s a burden
To bear the weight
Of Jewish uniqueness
When surrounded by a world
more enticing
And less demanding
Than the Mezuzah world
Yet the Mezuzah world
Reminds us of the results
Of forgetting our essence
Especially in the non Mezuzah
World
Wrap yourself in its strings
Tie your mind and body
To its message
Israelis Of all ages
Young and old
Secular and religious
With comfort
Kiss this reminder
Not as a charm
But to remember
Who and what we are
And why we are.
A Mench
Some consider this to be
the least of characteristics
A minimum for a person to be!
This school of thought
would say
“At least be a mensch”
i.e. —it’s the basis of all
Personality characteristics
A mensch : a decent person
A mensch: a good guy or good gal
A mensch: honest, decent and basic.
But others see a Mensch
As The top of the ladder
The maximum tHat one can achieve
A person achieves “menschlchkeit”
Only after a life of struggle
We are never born as Menshen
We achieve it!
A mensch is a person
With an open heart
A mensch is a person who listens
To another
A mensch feels another’s
Joy or pain
A mensch laughs at your jokes
And isn’t thinking of his own
A mensch is whole
And secure in His/Herself
And builds another
Never seeking power
But always seeking
Soul sharing
Jacob Ben Isaac
was not a mensch
He was perverse as a youth
He failed ; he was clumsy;
He fought to get ahead of all
He failed
He ran
He even ran far away
Only when he climbed the ladder
Only when he saw angels
Climbing and falling
But climbing again and again
Did he learn to become
A mensch
When he learned to become
A Mensch
Jacob became
Israel
