I read the president’s message to me and my coreligionists, and I tried not to think that it was pompous, lecturing, and inappropriate—even after I watched the video, where Obama didn’t so much as crack a smile. So I decided to check on what President George W. Bush said last year on Rosh Hashanah, for comparison’s sake.
I send greetings to those around the world celebrating Rosh Hashanah.
The sound of the Shofar heralds the beginning of a new year and a time of remembrance and renewal for the Jewish people. During these holy days, men and women are called to reflect on their faith and to honor the blessings of creation.
The enduring traditions of Rosh Hashanah remind us of the deep values of faith and family that strengthen our Nation and help guide us each day. As Jewish people around the world come together to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, it is a chance to look to the new year with hope and faith.
Laura and I send our best wishes for a blessed Rosh Hashanah and shanah tovah.
That’s all of it. Now, to look at the professor-president’s take on the Jewish New Year, a time when we get together in celebration, ten days before we observe Yom Kippur, where we will repent for our sins, pray for the chance to do better (and be better) next year, and celebrate our faith and our G-d. But no holiday is too holy for the Commander-in-Chief not to put on his hat as the Lecturer-in-Chief.
As members of the Jewish faith here in America and around the world gather to celebrate the High Holidays, I want to extend my warmest wishes for this New Year. L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu – may you have a good year, and may you be inscribed for blessing in the Book of Life.
If he had stopped here, it would have been perfect. Instead, I’m pretty sure this is a stealth message to Israel about the Palestinians.
Rosh Hashanah marks the start of a new year – a time of humble prayer, joyful celebration, and hope for a new beginning. Ten days later, Yom Kippur stands as a day of reflection and repentance. And this sacred time provides not just an opportunity for individual renewal and reconciliation, but for families, communities and even nations to heal old divisions, seek new understandings, and come together to build a better world for our children and grandchildren.
At the dawn of this New Year, let us rededicate ourselves to that work. Let us reject the impulse to harden ourselves to others’ suffering, and instead make a habit of empathy – of recognizing ourselves in each other and extending our compassion to those in need.
It’s extremely insulting. He is telling Jews the world over, but I think specifically in Israel, to “reject the impulse to harden ourselves to others’ suffering”? It sounds like he’s listening to the Palestinian narrative here from his friends like Rashid Khalidi. That’s not a Jewish narrative at all, unless he’s still reading from the same damned book he read for the Cairo speech.
And is it just me, or is it that every single time Obama mentions the Jewish religion, he sounds like he’s stealing lines from the Cecil B. DeMille Exodus film? “Scourge”?
Let us resist prejudice, intolerance, and indifference in whatever forms they may take — let us stand up strongly to the scourge of anti-Semitism, which is still prevalent in far too many corners of our world.
This is an excellent suggestion. Except for one thing: Jews have absolutely no power over anti-Semitism. It is other peoples’ unhinged hatred of us. It isn’t we who should be standing up strongly against this scourge. It is the rest of the world that needs to stand up. Perhaps if the president stopped picking viciously anti-Israel advisers like Van Jones, or attending churches led by an anti-Israel pastor for twenty years, it would send the right example. Or perhaps he could have used his Cairo speech as a “teachable moment” and mentioned the scourge of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, instead of sticking to the Arab party line that the Holocaust is the reason that Israel was created.
Let us work to extend the rights and freedoms so many of us enjoy to all the world’s citizens – to speak and worship freely; to live free from violence and oppression; to make of our lives what we will.
More stealth “treat the Palestinians right” messaging, if you ask me—or perhaps just his usual boring, annoying, lecturing. And of course, it would not be an Obama speech if it wasn’t all about The One:
And let us work to achieve lasting peace and security for the state of Israel, so that the Jewish state is fully accepted by its neighbors, and its children can live their dreams free from fear. That is why my Administration is actively pursuing the lasting peace that has eluded Israel and its Arab neighbors for so long.
Note that there is another transposition of responsibility here: Israel must work to be accepted by its neighbors. It isn’t that Israel must be accepted by her neighbors by virtue of the UN resolution that established the modern state of Israel, or by the fact that Israel exists, and will not be leaving this planet anytime soon. It is Israel that must do the work, once Obama has managed to achieve lasting peace for her.
Here’s the rest of the message that would have worked for me, even with its tinge of pomposity, because tikkun olam (repairing the world) is a theme of Rosh Hashanah:
Throughout history, the Jewish people have been, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “a light unto the nations.” Through an abiding commitment to faith, family, and justice, Jews have overcome extraordinary adversity, holding fast to the hope of a better tomorrow.
In this season of renewal, we celebrate that spirit; we honor a great and ancient faith; and we rededicate ourselves to the work of repairing this world.
Michelle and I wish all who celebrate Rosh Hashanah a healthy, peaceful and sweet New Year.
He had a good first graph. And a good last three. The rest of this speech is arrogant, overreaching, preachy, wrongheaded, and, well, annoying. And there’s the problem he has with the transposition of responsibility.
But other than that, hey, the hectorer-in-chief did a great job.
