Lee Diamond – Lamentations 2018 & Ode to the Ethnic American Jew By an expat!
Lamentations 2018
What has become of us?
Where is the glory of Israel?
Why have we abandoned our own
To seek the approval of
Our very enemy?
Rabbis worship liberalism
As their followers worship
Their rabbis.
Rabbis reject their own nation
Their own people in the empty
Search for liberalism
And their flock follow suit.
What has become of us?
Reality is abandoned
Truth distorted
The slanderer rewarded
With words of praise
The slandered accused
Of violence
What has become of us?
Our defenders accused of
Treason
Defamation encouraged
Anti Defamation league
Attacked
IDF, the blossom of Jewish renewal
And Jewish self pride
Torn asunder
By the shallow voices of
Ignorant self seeking
Leadership hounds
Preaching forth from their golden temples.
What has become of us?
Linda Sarsour purified
Of hate for us
And befriended
As a “ lover” of Jews
ADL accused of defamation
Of minorities
What has become of us?
Palestinians idealized
In their search to eliminate
Our home, our people
Our culture
And yes, our religion
And Yes to push all of this Into the sea.
Justifying rockets aimed at Jews
And accusing us of self defense
Where have we come to?
A Holocaust visit to Poland
A Palestinian visit to Hebron
And Ramallah
Israel, the airport
Needed only to visit their
“Liberal Palestinian friends”
Who declare Israel,
All of Israel
Occupied Palestine
And these false prophets
Lead their “Tikun Olamers”
Liberal followers from
Self respect
To “ love thine Enemy”
Worshipers.
Like Abraham
They are prepared
To sacrifice the future
Of the Jewish People
On the alter of their god
Of liberalism
What has become of us?
Where is the glory of Israel?
Why do we hold the knife
To slaughter our own?
Only an angel of the Holy One
Can intercede
To prevent these self deluded
Jews
From the idols of liberalism
For the sin of idolatry;
For the sin unwarranted hated
Of our own;
For the sin of “loving our enemies”
More than “loving Zion”
For the sin of forgetting Zion
For the sin of egotism:
For the sin of distortion of truth and justice;
I mourn
As I beat my breast
In shame
For the lost daughter of Zion
ובא לציון גואל
Ode to the Ethnic American Jew By an expat!
*Cardiac Judaism — in my heart I am a Jew.
*Gastronomic Judaism — we eat Jewish foods.
*Pocketbook Judaism — I give to Jewish causes.
*Drop-off Judaism — drop the kids off at Sunday or Hebrew school and go out to breakfast.
*Two-Times a Year Judaism — we attend services 2 Days Rosh Hashanah and 1 day Yom Kippur.
As young Americans Jews
We laughed and even
Ridiculed ourselves at our
Shallow commitment to
Judaism.
Laughed at our part time Judaism
Laughed at our own illiteracy
Laughed at those who stood
Outside the Synagogue
At the fashion show
Of our High Holidays
But we were Jews laughing
At ourselves.
We called ourselves MOTs
(Members of the tribe)
And hung out with each other
We knew Jewish jokes
We could spot a Jewish name
And could sing hava Nagala
We couldn’t pronounce
The Je*s*s word
Even in the familiar
Christmas Carols we knew
We all had a non Jewish friend
Whose name was Tim or Billy or Mary
Rarely a Christmas tree
And always a thanksgiving
Turkey.
Never pork chops
But a BLT sandwich
Was almost acceptable
But Not with milk
We knew who the
Anti Semites were
And we knew of
The country clubs
That would’t accept us
We had our own hospitals
And our own fraternities
And our own summer camps
We were proud of our successes
And feared the senator ‘McKarthys”
And we were comfortable
Being Ethnic Jews
As I look back
It occurs to me
That gastronomic and cardiac
Judaism and the like
Were the glue that kept
Us together
Even the self critical
Humor kept us
Laughing
Laughing together
But I fear that this
Glue is fading now
Ethnicity is considered
“Tribal”
We’re no longer allowed
To be MOTs
Perhaps we are more serious
More spiritual
More in touch with the time
More “Tikun Olam” sensitive
But the glue
Holding us as an Ethnic group
Is drying up
before
Our very eyes.
American Jews:
We need
Get more Ethnic again
Eat a pastrami sandwich
On rye
Choose your kneideach
Soft or hard
And allow your heart
And kishkes
To feel Jewish without Shane
We will Live Longer
