Shabbat Gathering: The worst thing ever.
Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:
Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799
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Here we go.
This week was our annual observance of the Shoah, Yom HaShoah. About six million Jews and five million other children of G!d were slaughtered by Nazi Germany and its willing partners and we morn them every day and especially on Y0m HaShoah. It isn’t really my style to write about something as serious as Yom HaShoah. I’m the guy you should turn to for something sweet and frothy, not the guy who is writing about something more terrible than anything else ever.
The other reason I shouldn’t be writing about Yom HaShoah is that what I tend to do here is explain things: things that go on a Seder plate, how to count the Omer, and the countless recipes I’ve appended to the newsletter in the PS section. (Hi, Reid!) I can’t explain the Shoah. Furthermore, it’s impossible for me to explain a G!d that would allow the Shoah to happen to His children. I’ve read and I’ve studied and I’ve talked about it with people far smarter than myself and I’m no closer to getting anything like an answer I can live with.
So, I alternate between being infinitely perplexed, infinitely angry, and infinitely depressed. Honestly, this is one of those times I have to turn away from religion all together and turn to the Arts instead. And this week, I recalled a song l loved from a long time ago, “God’s Song” by Randy Newman.
Just to review: Randy Newman will probably be remembered as the guy who wrote the score for Toy Story and A Bug’s Life and many other Pixar movies, but, in 1972, he was writing for LA club bands and he put together a solo album, “Sail Away,” and the twelfth and final cut on the album is “God’s Song.” The song is a pitch black explanation of G!d’s so-called love for mankind. “Ya’ll must be crazy to put your faith in Me.”
It’s complicated.
Oh G!d it is complicated.
That’s all I’ve got to say about the day when we remember the Shoah. I can’t find the words ... yet. I’m working on it.
Hugs.
(For the record, the first two posts in PS is all you would ever want to know about that Randy Newman song.)
And may it be for all of us a blessing.
See you tonight!
Mit vareme grusn,
(With warm regards,)
All my love,
brian.
PS
[Verse 1]
Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were supposed to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord, and the Lord said:
[Verse 2]
"Man means nothing, he means less to Me
Than the lowliest cactus flower or humblest yucca tree
Chases round this desert 'cause he thinks that's where I'll be
That's why I love mankind
[Verse 3]
"I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
From the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer Me
That's why I love mankind"
[Verse 4]
Christians and the Jew were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindu joined on satellite TV
Picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
[Verse 5]
Said, "Lord, a plague is on the world, Lord, no man is free
The temples that we built to you tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won't take care of us, won't you please, please let us be?"
And the Lord said, and the Lord said:
[Verse 6]
"I burn down your cities, how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say, 'How blessed are we?'
You all must be crazy to put your faith in Me
That's why I love mankind
You really need Me
That's why I love mankind"
Jon Kalish
-30-