Shabbat Shalom Regina

Last night we were treated to a tremendous show at the Bowery Ballroom to benefit Planned Parenthood. Regina Spektor headlined a strong lineup with The Bloodsugers & Ra Ra Riot.

Regina's voice was in fine form, her piano sounded amazing, and her ability to make mistakes into highlights was on full display.
There was an energy in the room. People are excited about Barack Obama's Presidency. The Planned Parenthood benefit stood for an embrace of the possible, as we supported the law of the land, Roe V. Wade.

This morning I happened to find Regina's MySpace blog post from last Friday, Jan. 16th. How different a time already. Israel was in Gaza, and Bush was President. Regina's blog post detailed her feelings about how Israel gets treated in the media. Here's an excerpt.

"But this is the world we live in. We should not deny that we are all scared. We are scared of planes, of crowds, of everything. We are so scared. Sometimes it feels that if there were no more Jews, or Israel (for the two are synonymous- Israel is the geographic embodiment of the nation) all of this would stop. Even some Jews feel that way. Many of us try to un-Jew ourselves all the time. It comes from a mixture of fear, guilt of surviving while others didn't, and embarrassment. We are the root of our and the World's problems, it seems. It is the Jews themselves that you will hear speak out most strongly against Israel. The instinct that drives them is the same instinct that drove them to blend in, and then be very surprised when they were put in the ghetto, too. The were surprised when they were put on the train, too. They were surprised when they were put in the gas chamber, too. They were surprised all the way till Death. Because "they weren't like those OTHER Jews"... Well. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew is a Jew." Full blog post.

My parents are both Holocaust Survivors. My Israeli wife's Father was also a Holocaust Survivor. Our kids will be eligible for the Israeli army draft if they want to stay in Israel for longer than a few weeks when they are 18 years old. I applaud Regina using the pulpit of her celebrity to take a stand. It's easy to preach to the choir. When she bashed Bush and supported Obama, I didn't share her political views as much as many of her "BrumStix" forum members. But that's OK. When she stands up for Israel, the debate on BrumStix becomes charged. There was a call for moderators and an abundance of foul language thrown around.

We are all victims of our age. Some of us read about history, getting some angle of events. The debate raging on Regina's website shows how little we know, or care to acknowledge, about the world in general and the history of the Middle East in particular. Why talk about '67, or '48? How about 1048? Visit the ancient sea port at Cesaria and read the plaque at the entrance. It basically reads... "In 970 the Romans conquered the Jews here. In 1048 the Arabs repulsed the Romans. In 1130 the Christians retook the area. In 1210 the Arabs took the area. etc..." I shouldn't use quotes because I'm surely getting most of those dates wrong, but my point is that people who have trouble remembering the previous election cycle have trouble understanding the Historic nature of the conflict. It takes two sides to resolve an issue. The area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea has been under many rulers at many times. Some people look at Jews as Unicorns. Not just for the horns, but because if there are Jews here today, than maybe there really was a David & Goliath. Maybe there really was a parting of the Red Sea. Maybe there really is a connection between these people and this land. Furthermore, the clear majority of Israelis today embrace the concept of a two-state solution with land exchanges. The prevailing thought is that there is no partner ripe for this. Hamas was indeed elected to the PA parliament in a majority.

A week passes and Israel leaves Gaza, again, and surely not for the last time it would seem. A week passes and our faith in the Office of The President seems renewed, for now.

G-d bless Regina Spektor for speaking her mind, as she always does. If we can't get fired up about something so relevant to our existence as a Humanity, we are doomed to repeat these cycles of violence needlessly. "G-d grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

This is why Pioneers For A Cure wants Regina Spektor to sing "Eli, Eli" for the cancer charity of her choice. The song is also called "Halikha LeKesariya," transliterated from Hebrew it means " A Walk to Casaria." Written by Hanna Szenes, who was in Pre-1948, Nazi era Palestine, and went back to her native Hungary to help Jews escape the death camps, only to be captured and killed at a very young age of 23.



Shabbat Shalom Regina!