Abracadabrah

I create as I speak

Something Rather Marvelous

I've just noticed something rather marvelous.

There's an ad for Aish Ha Torah - an Orthodox Jewish Yeshivah, that seeks to familiarize unreligious Jews with the history of their tradition - at the very top of Iraq The Model, which is a blog written by two Iraqi men thankful that the Anglo alliance rid Iraq of the rule of Saddam.

The ads, apparently, are chosen blindly, so this was not planned. Still, it's a beautiful juxtaposition. And it works as advertising as well, because the War on Terror has swayed many Jews from left to right, or at least into being leftist hawks. And that has also made them more self-conscious of their Judaism and more conscious of the exposed position of Judaism in the world right now. And these are exactly the kind of people who might become curious about learning more about their own religious traditions.

This service is vital, because I believe we may be entering a time once again when Jews will have to wake up from their short nap following upon the Holocaust to defend their position in this world giving the rising anti-semitism, disguised as anti-Zionism once more emerging.

So even though I do not agree personally, theologically speaking, with the mainstream Lithuanian Orthodox position, I do think Aish is performing an invaluable task in the world simply by helping to educate and interest Jews in their own history.

posted by Alcibiades @ 2:53 PM