Sunday, March 28, 2010



Tonight, the first night of Pesach, the Community Organizer will be hosting a Pesach Seder at the White House again.

I wish he wouldn’t do that.

For someone who has set his sights on handing over Jerusalem, our eternal and holiest city, into the hands of terrorists, his patronizing decision to host a Seder is nothing short of disgusting.

It can’t even be described as a gesture of friendliness toward Israel – as Haaretz, Israel’s largest (and left-leaning) Hebrew language newspaper comments, “But although the Seder this year will be held in the context of one of the most fraught months in the history of U.S.-Israel relations, it is not a conciliatory gesture to Israel. As he proved over the past 18 months, President Obama knows how to separate between the Jewish community in the United States, along with the many Jews who are his personal friends, and the policies of the government of Israel.”

So the plan of the Community Organizer is not to celebrate the Jews’ freedom from Egyptian slavery – that, he’s working day and night to reinstitute, as a matter of fact. Instead, he’s using the Seder to divide us – to peel off those liberal Jews who might be questioning their support of him, trying to show them that he’s a really nice guy, after all. “He means well” – that’s what they’ll say, inadvertently damning him with faint praise.

This is actually the Community Organizer’s third Seder – the first was held during the campaign, back in the days when he was running hard against Missus Bubba. With two months to go in the campaign for the nomination, Obama was desperately working to overcome criticism of his pastor and mentor, the highly anti-Semitic Rev. Wright, Pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Chicago. So no doubt hosting a Seder seemed like a good political move. He invited a bunch of campaign staffers, among them Arun Chaudhary, the videographer who documented Obama's campaign, who’s half-Jewish and half-Indian (which half, I don’t know). Eric Lesser was another guest – Lesser was a former baggage handler on the campaign trail who became senior adviser David Axelrod's aide. Most of the people at that Seder weren’t Jewish – it famously ended with Obama paraphrasing the traditional, “Next year in Jerusalem!” by saying instead, “Next year in the White House”.

Indeed, the Community Organizer’s next Seder was in the White House, held on the second night of the holiday. (In the Diaspora, Jews celebrate Pesach with two Seders, on both the first and second nights. In Israel, we celebrate on the first night only.) Who knows which Haggadah they used – or if they used one at all – but during the evening, the Community Organizer referred to the Haggadah "among the most powerful stories of suffering and redemption in human history."

It wasn’t a private family night – it was an all-out political event, even though the guest list was not announced. We did learn that Rahm Emanuel, certainly the Community Organizer’s most prominent Jewish staffer, did not attend. We also know that Malia and Sasha engaged in the traditional search for the afikoman – but we don’t know who hid it.

This year’s Presidential Seder is the most offensive of all. With Dear Leader’s 18 month-long assault on Israel, it seems massively hypocritical to host such an event, but then this President has proven his Master of Hypocrisy credentials time and time again, so that’s hardly worth noting. No guest list has been released yet, but we have been told that once again, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will not attend. David Axelrod will be there, along with Valerie Jarrett and one of the younger aides, Herbie Ziskend. There’s been speculation that this year, the Community Organizer will end the Seder by saying, "Next year in divided Jerusalem."

Ira Sharkansky adds an additional thought: “It has become conventional in liberal Jewish circles to use texts for the ceremony (Haggadot) that do not include one passage in the traditional ritual,” he writes. “It comes toward the end of the Seder along with the fourth cup of wine. For multiculturists, it is not politically correct.

“Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not acknowledge You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let the wrath of Your anger overtake them. Pursue them with anger, and destroy them from beneath the heavens of the Lord.”

Let’s see now. Do you think the Community Organizer will include that particularly apt plea for Divine action against his own administration?

I do know this: many of us in Israel will repeat that paragraph with particular gusto this year.

Have a happy and kosher Pesach, everyone!

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