Lee Diamond – Jewish Skin & Hopeless Detractors of Israel
Jewish Skin
I passed him on the street
I recognized a familiar face
But I wasn’t sure
I nodded my head
And said shalom
He stared at me unknowingly
I asked his name:
A.B. Yehoshua
I knew I knew his face
A.B. Yehoshua
Wow
Poet laureate of Israel
The Faulkner of Israel
The Ultimate “secular” Israeli Jew
The fulfillment of the dream
of the Zionist founders.
When he speaks to diaspora Jews
He unsettles them
More—
He angers them!
“I’m a complete Jew!
My entire life is Jewish
Evening , morning and day!!
All my decisions are Jewish
Jewish is all around me
The very air that I breath
My daily life is Jewish
24/7”
“My skin is Jewish
I live in Jewish skin
My name is Jewish
I can’t hide my Jewishness
Nor do I need to
Or want to.
I can’t remove my Jewish skin
Nor my Jewish innards”
–My kishkes —
It’s not my weekend activity
It’s not a prayer
A song
Or a sermon
Or a kiddush
It’s my essence
You can change your skin
According to the day,
The situation
The company
I can’t remove this skin
I’m completely a Jew
And I’m completed
As a Jew
How can I be called secular?
I’m Jewish through and through!
You’re part-time Jews
Put in on; take it off!
Nothing wrong with being
‘Some time Jews” or part-time
As long as you understand
That I’m a full timer and that
There’s a better way
To be Jewish.
You may pray and eat and
And fast and celebrate days
As a Jew
But I breathe
And know that
my heart beats
As a Jew always
And I speak as a Jew
No release
From my essence
You’re welcome to come for
A fitting
So that your skin
Fits properly
And so that you too
Can be complete
I know a good
Tailor
His name is Schneider
And he lives on Rash’I St.
The Hopeless Detractors Of Israel
They came, they saw, they took
They contributed little
They lived on the outskirts
Of our society
They viewed themselves as better
Than the natives
They criticized the עמך
The commoners /Primitives—– the not worthy
“No counts”
But they forgot that the “have nots”
built this society
Of Israel
The high-minded became critics
Of a society that they could
Not understand or would not.
They never learned Hebrew
And. Considered it beneath
Their dignity and high self-regard.
They are the “lofty” Jews
Who live in Israel despite its
Culture and values
Rather than because of it
And take its benefits
To themselves
Without contributing at all
To the society
Not to the army and not
To our developing culture
They critique us
They denigrate us
They use us
And they detract from us
They attempt to lead others in their slander
Of Us.
These are the מלשינים
Who stand apart
Slander and do nothing to
Change or improve us
Absolutely Nothing
They say that we were better once
But now we’re a failure
They drop out
And encourage others to do the same
They glory in our losses and /or failures
To gratify their self disdain of
This miraculous dream State
They are the real enemies of Israel
They’re the Hellenists of old
In new garb
Who gave up or refused to speak
Hebrew
Who reversed circumcision
And sacrificed on the alters
Of Greek and Roman gods
And those alters of today.
They authenticate secular foreign
Holidays and denigrate our own.
They demean the wondrous
Miracles of their people
And announce this from the
Highest hills of idolatry for
As they missionize for
Their separation from
Israel.
They are in our midst today
They continue to see us as “tribal”
And call upon others to drop out
To join them in their apostasy
Not a drop of passion
For a people who have self-respect
Who feel the pride of a Jewish soul
The Longing to return and rebuild their home
A Jewish heart with hope
To be free again
After 2,000 years of Hope!
May the prayer for the “slanderers” fail
and cause them to lose all hope”
May it apply to our current “Jewish detractors!”
Here in Israel and abroad.
