Lee Diamond – Mow ‘Em Down & My Two Questions
Mow ‘Em Down
They’re burning our fields
They’re killing our crops
Our wonderful Promised land,
our Nature, our Animals.
Why not “mow ‘em down”?
“Fight their fire with our fire.”
Kites of hate
Kites of fire
Kites of destruction
Yet hardly a reaction
Where are the proud
And Zealous Jews?
Would Pinchas have
Allowed this?
Would Akiba have
Allowed this?
And Judah the Maccabi?
Would Bar Kochba have
Tolerated this?
Ben Gurion, Dayan,
Sharon and Barak?
The knee jerk reaction
Is called for ! NOW!
Pinchas is rewarded
For his knee jerk reaction
He Killed Zimri for acts
Against God !
Yet, He is granted the covenant
Of Peace by the Master
Of All.
But Zealotry Is fanaticism
Zealotry for God
And Uncontrolled passion
Is the antithesis
Of Peace.
Fanaticism destroys!
Masada failed us.
Bar Kochba failed us.
Akiba failed us.
Pinchas failed us.
All knee jerks fail.
Reason must prevail
Compromise must prevail
Wisdom must prevail
Dialogue must prevail.
Cunning must prevail.
Israel must prevail now
“Not by might
Not by Power
But with the spirit
Of SHALOM ———“
—The Name of Our God.
Perhaps wisdom and
Cunning are at hand?
Perhaps? If Only?
My Two Questions
All of us know the 4 questions
We ask them every year
And answer them again and again.
But I am always asked
Two more questions.
- Why did you choose
to become A Rabbi?
- Why did you chose
To make Aliyah.
(You May sing this to the tune
Of “Mah Nishtanah”)
One answer at a time.
One morning, as a freshman
In college I woke up and discovered who I am.
I thought until then
That I was an American only.
But as I searched deeper
Within
I realized that my primary
Identity was
the Jew in me.
Jewish family
Jewish friends
Jewish foods
Jewish holidays
Jewish expressions
If presented with an open book
I could point to the word Jew
Without reading the page,
Instantly!
I would search the credits after
A movie for Jewish names.
Yes! absurd!
But all true and all me.
I was a Jewish mind and
Soul wrapped In 98 %
American skin. המבין ימין
Jewish through and through
Yet an “am Ha-Aretz” through and through.
The Journey of “enlightenment”
Began.
Hebrew! Torah, Tanach,
Mishna, Gemara, Rashi, commentaries
Theology
And Jewish history.
It was in Jewish history
That I met myself.
That I belonged.
That I was charged.
That I gained the power
Of being. Part of and
Electrified by.
My past suddenly overwhelmed
Me and conquered me.
And my future was determined.
“Be True to your essence”
Learn your essence
Wear it
Live it
Speak it
And most of all
Teach your passion
To other Jews .
From Alef to Taf
From Avraham Avinu
Till today
I have been present
—Waiting for Moshe
And the Torah
For 40 Days
And much more.
As I was absorbed
Into Jewish self essence
I taught my narrative
Daily for all to hear.
And I still do!
“Lilmod u Lilamed” ללמוד וללמד.
Incapable of ceasing.
Learn and teach
All my inner passion.
As A.B. Yehoshua said
“I now live in Jewish skin”
That Is my life
And this Is my answer
To question # 1!
That’s Why A Am A Rabbi
End of answer to-question # 1
Question 2 to follow
Question Two!
Why Aliyah?
Why Israel? Why Aliyah
Why reject my father/
mother and fatherland?.
Why leave family. Friends and
Fellow American Jews?
Very hard question.
At the last lecture that I gave
In my first congregation in 1971
In Iowa city, at congregation
Agudat Achim
In the passion of youth
In the “age of the sixties”
I declared
״The ship here
Is sinking!
American Judaism
Is doomed!
I warn all of us
To enter a life Boat
With me and my family”
“As captain of this ship
I urge you to leave the
Sinking ship.
Follow Me!”
Almost 50 years later
I regret my youthful
Passion and insensitive
Words.
I left for myself and family Only.
Captains remain aboard
And attempt to keep the ship
Afloat.
At that moment I abandoned ship.
At that moment I chose my own
Inner Jew
To the needs of the Jewish people.
From that day
I have lived the life
Of the people of Israel
From that day of Aliyah
I’ve shared In building the
Jewish State.
From that day my children
Became fully Jewish.
From that day, I ceased to
Be a Rabbi serving the diaspora
And became a teacher of
Judaism and Israel for the diaspora.
From that day I have been awarded
The privilege of being
A free Jew in my own land
Of sharing this glorious moment
In our history.
ברוך… שהחיינו וקיימנו והיגענו
לזמן הזה
