229 Years Old
This is such an insanely good idea that I'm furious my teacher, Tony Pierce, though of it first. Now I don't get to write a letter to the Fourth of July because if I did I'd be totally guilty of plagiarism (maybe about the only thing that this administration is innocent of, but more on that later).
I'm going to have to come up with my own creative idea for celebrating the birth of my country. And it is my country, so Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly and James Watt and Sean Hannity and Karl Rove and Tom DeLay and all those other assorted brain-sprained human hemorrhoids can kiss my pimply Jewish ass.
Funny thing, though - as furious as I am at those people for trying to take my country away from me, I suddenly find myself remembering that it's their country, too.
There's a midrash, a commentary on Jewish law and history, regarding the Four Species that Jews make use of on the holiday of Sukkot, which takes place in late September or October. The four plants we use are a citron, a heart of palm, branches of myrtle and branches of willow. The citron, having both a nice smell and a good taste, is compared to the sort of Jew who has both Torah learning and good deeds. The palm (or its fruit, anyway) has a good taste but no scent, and is compared to a Jew who has Torah learning but no good deeds. The myrtle smells good but has no taste, and is compared to a Jew who has good deeds but no Torah learning. And the willow, having no taste and no scent, is compared to a Jew who has neither good deeds nor Torah learning. The point of this is that, just as we cannot follow the laws of Sukkot without all four plants, so too we can't have the Jewish people without all the different kinds of Jews, including the ones with nothing particular to recommend them.
When the United States was first formed and the Revolution was underway all those years ago, most of the people living here considered themselves Englishmen. A huge percentage of them did not support independence, and many of them actively worked to destroy the revolution outright.
I consider the current administration delusional and destructive, and I consider all those right-wing hatemongers to be vicious liars and maybe even traitors, but they are still Americans and today is their day as well as mine. If they were with me, I'd buy them a beer and watch the fireworks with them, assuming they'd accept a gift from me.
Tomorrow I'll go back to fighting against them with every word I write.
Benshlomo says, Happy Fourth of July, friends and foes.
I'm going to have to come up with my own creative idea for celebrating the birth of my country. And it is my country, so Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly and James Watt and Sean Hannity and Karl Rove and Tom DeLay and all those other assorted brain-sprained human hemorrhoids can kiss my pimply Jewish ass.
Funny thing, though - as furious as I am at those people for trying to take my country away from me, I suddenly find myself remembering that it's their country, too.
There's a midrash, a commentary on Jewish law and history, regarding the Four Species that Jews make use of on the holiday of Sukkot, which takes place in late September or October. The four plants we use are a citron, a heart of palm, branches of myrtle and branches of willow. The citron, having both a nice smell and a good taste, is compared to the sort of Jew who has both Torah learning and good deeds. The palm (or its fruit, anyway) has a good taste but no scent, and is compared to a Jew who has Torah learning but no good deeds. The myrtle smells good but has no taste, and is compared to a Jew who has good deeds but no Torah learning. And the willow, having no taste and no scent, is compared to a Jew who has neither good deeds nor Torah learning. The point of this is that, just as we cannot follow the laws of Sukkot without all four plants, so too we can't have the Jewish people without all the different kinds of Jews, including the ones with nothing particular to recommend them.
When the United States was first formed and the Revolution was underway all those years ago, most of the people living here considered themselves Englishmen. A huge percentage of them did not support independence, and many of them actively worked to destroy the revolution outright.
I consider the current administration delusional and destructive, and I consider all those right-wing hatemongers to be vicious liars and maybe even traitors, but they are still Americans and today is their day as well as mine. If they were with me, I'd buy them a beer and watch the fireworks with them, assuming they'd accept a gift from me.
Tomorrow I'll go back to fighting against them with every word I write.
Benshlomo says, Happy Fourth of July, friends and foes.
posted by benshlomo at 6:00 PM
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