Are some cultures better than others? Or are all cultures and their values equal? Bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza, who was born in India and moved to America, explains.
Slavery
Passover 2017, The Problem of Freedom
Handwritten on parchment; dark brown ink and tempera; square Ashkenazic script. This 14th century Haggadah is fascinating because all the human characters are depicted with, y’know, bird’s heads, more specifically a Griffin. Some think this was a way of getting around the charge of idolatry. Another view is that the illustration was meant to be playful, unthreatening images as a counter to European blood libels which claimed that Jews used Christian blood to bake matzoh. I think Menachem was an artist who found a unique style.
Tonight begins the holiday of Passover in which Jews celebrate deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
In order to escape the shackles of slavery, the vast machinery of the mighty Egyptian state had to be crushed. Those who wielded absolute power were reduced to nothingness. G-d did this not only to diminish the physical power of a pitiless slave state, but to begin the process of making free the minds of the Israelites.
Slavery is an insidious institution, not only because it shackles the body, but it creates a mentality where the slave identifies with his master to such a degree that he becomes complicit in his own bondage. He loves his master and cannot imagine a world absent an overlord.
The Westworld Haggadah
by Jake Novak
There’s a key moment in the Seder when the Haggadah informs us that all Jews must think of themselves as if they personally came out of bondage in Egypt.
Talk about a tall order.
Thank goodness, most of us live decidedly comfortable middle or upper middle class lives. Getting our heads and hearts around the idea of experiencing what it’s like to flee slavery is really hard.
Passover 2016: The Slave Learns to Love His Shackles
Friday night begins the holiday of Passover in which Jews celebrate deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
In order to escape the shackles of slavery, the vast machinery of the mighty Egyptian state had to be crushed. Those who wielded absolute power were reduced to nothingness. G-d did this not only to diminish the physical power of a pitiless slave state, but to begin the process of making free the minds of the Israelites.
Slavery is an insidious institution, not only because it shackles the body, but creates a mentality where the slave identifies with his master to such a degree that he becomes complicit in his own bondage. He loves his master and cannot imagine a world absent an overlord.
As Daenerys Targaryn (Emilia Clarke) observes (via screenwriters) in Game of Thrones, “The slave learns to love his shackles.”
[Read more…] about Passover 2016: The Slave Learns to Love His Shackles
Passover 2013: Of Slaves, Slavery, Judenrat, Kapos and America
Tonight begins the holiday of Passover in which Jews celebrate deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
In order to escape the shackles of slavery, the vast machinery of the mighty Egyptian state had to be crushed. Those who wielded absolute power were reduced to nothingness. G-d did this not only to diminish the physical power of a pitiless slave state, but to begin the process of making free the minds of the Israelites.
Slavery is an insidious institution, not only because it shackles the body, but creates a mentality where the slave identifies with his master to such a degree that he becomes complicit in his own bondage. He loves his master and cannot imagine a world absent an overlord.
[Read more…] about Passover 2013: Of Slaves, Slavery, Judenrat, Kapos and America