c. 2005 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) The kitchen of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1898-1978) was where many governmental and political problems were settled _ far from the public eye. Her guests were treated to Golda’s traditional Jewish cooking. It was the Israeli equivalent of being invited to President Bush’s Crawford ranch. Of course, unlike a Texas barbeque, Golda’s cuisine was kosher.
The most important Jewish meals of the year, the Pesach (Passover) Seder, take place this year on the nights of April 23 and 24. The eight-day holiday commemorates the biblical exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egyptian slavery and the Seder is a festive meal where that story is recounted with matzo (unleavened bread), wine, special foods, songs and prayers.
It’s a Passover custom to invite family members and guests to a Seder. It is also customary for the Seder participants to engage in animated discussions about the meaning of freedom, liberation and religious identity.
Some years ago, my daughter Jennifer wrote about a Seder set in the world to come involving well-known historical personalities. With that in mind, my dream Seder is hosted by Golda and her three guests are Karl Marx (1818-1883), Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
Although both of Marx’s grandfathers were rabbis, his father, fearful he would lose his position as a lawyer in Trier, Germany, converted to Lutheranism when Karl was 6 years old. Sadly, Karl absorbed the anti-Semitism of his time, and he wrote scathing attacks on Jews and Judaism.
At my Seder in the sky, Golda rebuked the author of “Das Kapital” for his hostile publications and with withering anger, she said: “Karl, you should be ashamed for writing such terrible things. And, worst of all, in 2005 a group called `Radio Islam’ has posted your anti-Jewish writings on its Web site. Besides, Karl, your communist movement has failed in Europe, and even in China and Cuba, its days are numbered.”
Golda went on: “You had a terrific line in your book `workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains.’ Well, isn’t that the theme of Passover, slaves becoming free? It’s right there in the Haggadah (the Seder narrative booklet).”
A chagrined Marx could only answer: “Well, I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
Golda turned next to Freud: “Siggy, why did you write your worst book, `Moses and Monotheism’ in 1939 when Hitler’s anti-Semitism was running high? In your book, you claimed that Moses was not a Hebrew, but an Egyptian and the slaves actually killed him in the Sinai desert. Well, you were honest enough to admit you had no historical evidence to back up your wild claim. I think you were working out your unresolved personal conflicts about being Jewish. You, of all people, should have gone to a psychoanalyst instead of writing such drivel.”
“But I do remember that in 1935 you supported the idea of a reborn Jewish state. I well know how great and blessed is the endeavor to establish a new home in the ancient land of our fathers. It is a sign of our invincible will to survive thousands of years of severe oppression! Our youth will continue this struggle.”
A smiling Freud said: “Nice you remember those words. Maybe I was a little extreme in depriving Jews of Moses. It was only a theory, just like psychoanalysis.”
Einstein’s mustache quivered in fear when Golda turned to him: “Albert, you and Siggy both know what an exodus is. You left Germany in 1933 and lived in the United States, and Siggy had to flee the Nazis in 1938 and move from Vienna to London. Well, our people fled Egypt after more than four centuries of enslavement.”
“But Albert, you were an early strong supporter of the Jewish national movement and you lived to see Israel gain its independence in 1948. When Chaim Weizmann, our first president died in 1952, you were invited to succeed him as Israel’s head of state. Why did you refuse?”
Einstein answered: “I was deeply honored, but I was not suited to be Israel’s president. Besides, I was working at the institute in Princeton then and I wanted to devote the rest of my life _ it was only three years _ to developing new scientific theories. But I always loved our Jewish people and the State of Israel.”
The former Israeli prime minister then uttered the words her three guests most wanted to hear: “Boys, it’s time to eat. I hope you like my matzo ball soup.”
DH/JL END RNS
(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s Senior Interreligious Adviser, is Distinguished Visiting Professor at Saint Leo University.)
