Kesher Talk

Pesach countdown - Day 0. On the busiest afternoon of the year, please pause in your Pesach preparations (or whatever else you are doing today) to read Joe Katzman's excellent essay on the overthrow of Iraq's Pharoah, their 10 plagues, and the challenges of freedom. (After all, the crossing of Yam Suf was only the beginning of our liberation - we still had to wander in the desert for 40 years, whine about our cucumbers and melons, build a golden idol, and make many more mistakes before we reached the Promised Land, and we continue to recall the exodus each year, and mark each day until the revelation at Sinai, because that journey from immaturity to responsible adulthood is iterative and never finished.)

It is fitting that the Iraq war began on Purim (although I am sure it's coincidence; with so many life-or-death logistical factors involved in deciding when to begin a war, I have a hard time believing a Jewish holiday date mattered to Bush & Team). It is even more fitting that Pesach draws near as the war concludes and the Iraqi people begin to taste their liberation.

Hag Sameach Pesach, everyone!

PS It's a bit late, but I just found this article about memories of Purim in the Iraqi Jewish community.

posted by Judith @ 4/16/2003 01:24:17 PM