Rabbi's Sermon 8th Feb 2025 / 10th Sh'vat 5785

See you on Wednesday

I was - of course! - horrified by Donald Trump's press conference.

He almost did not mention the hostages and instead went into a horrific tirade, which, in the end, was tantamount to ordering deportation and ethnic cleansing.

It's horrible when political leaders use people, human beings, as disposable items; when they assert that entire families can be moved from place to place as if they were animals.

Trump's defenders maintain that he did not mean what we understood he meant. They try to present Donald Trump's statements in a lighter form, like "he does not want to deport anyone; he was just trolling the Liberal elites".

If so, it is even worse. Using the pain and anguish of thousands of refugees as a tool to provoke adversaries as bully children do on the playground is horrific and must be condemned. You expect something different from the leader of a nation whose constitution includes the right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It has been suggested that Donald Trump envisions a future when the Palestinians will be free to choose whether to remain in Gaza or to move abroad.

However, many Palestinians already live abroad, they are treated as second-class citizens because the rulers of Arab Countries are not interested in including them in the nations they lead.

I believe that the Palestinians have the right, if they decide to, to move away, to emigrate and to resettle elsewhere, in a new Country not devastated by war. But Trump was not demanding anything like this; he did not even mention Palestinians living without civil rights, say in Qatar or Iraq. He actually praised the Qatar regime.

And what he suggests is very similar to ethnic cleansing - so let me say it clearly, I am horrified by any project of ethnic cleansing.

For example, in 1963, Algeria became independent. Nationality was restricted to people with two paternal ancestral lines with Muslim status in Algeria, meaning that the father and one of his grandfathers were born in Algeria. You have no Muslim ancestry? You are not a citizen. How does it sound? (well, they called it liberation) That was the end of the Jewish community in Algeria.

I don't like to talk about indigeneity. Still, it must be said that Jews were living in Algeria already in Roman times, well before the birth of Islam.

And in 1962, they had to leave. I am talking about 130,000 people who went where they could: France, Israel, someone here in Hove, as we know.

So, that's ethnic cleansing. And the victims were Jews. But, how strange. Those who protest against Trump’s delusional plan (he already backtracked, it seems, at least partially) very rarely, and not to my knowledge, ever protest against the ethnic cleansing of Jews in Northern Africa, of which Algeria is one of many examples.

They have nothing to object to, the ethnic cleansing of Jews and other minorities, when perpetrated by regimes that support the Palestinian resistance. What a strange coincidence. So, ethnic cleansing is OK as long as the victims are Jews.

By the way, all the centuries-old synagogues in Algeria have been turned into mosques - that's freedom of religion for you, in "decolonised" settings...

Algeria is a particularly remarkable case. In the "decolonisation studies" field, when they have to debate about the future of Palestine, Algeria is a sort of a model, as opposed to South Africa.

The anti-Israel people envision the transformation of the Jewish State into a "rainbow nation" like South Africa after apartheid. They assume that Jews will live as equal citizens in a Muslim majority State, something of which there are historical precedents (but, hey, keep on dreaming of the comfort of your safe life in Europe...).

The other model is Algeria, and it is violent decolonisation. After the independence, all the "European settlers" had to leave. Jews were labelled "European settlers", deprived of citizenship, assaulted by mobs and not protected by anyone,

This is the model that inspire the pro-Palestine folks with their marches, their watermelons, and their propaganda. To them, Israeli Jews are "European settlers", and in a liberated Palestine, they will have to leave, like the Jews left Algeria.

The South African model is a utopia. The Algeria model is a recipe for ethnic cleansing, and it is

increasingly popular in pro-Palestinian circles. This is, by the way, what motivates their attitude to

terrorism; of course, they pay lip service to the condemnation of Hamas atrocities, which they downplay with comparisons to Israel's legitimate defence.

They salivate with pleasure, taking note of how many Israelis move out of the Country during any terror campaign. Intimidating, terrorising and forcing the Israeli Jews to leave is part of a "decolonisation strategy" patterned along the Algerian model.

I want to know why when I protest Trump’s plan, I have a lot of allies, while when I call attention to the fate of North African Jewry, very few join their voice with mine. On the contrary, because I dared to call attention to this tragedy, I receive ethnic slurs. Why? I will leave it to you to find the answer.

I want to conclude with a word about Tu Bi’shvat. On Tu Bi’shvat, we plant trees, sing songs about trees, and eat fruits (yes, we are Jewish). Nowadays, the theme of Tu Bi’shvat is environmental awareness, and it is praiseworthy that we continue to do so. Make an effort to come to our Shul on Wednesday evening at 6:45. Please register your interest with the Rabbi (which is me).

But let us not forget that the ritual of Tu Bi’shvat—the Seder—was created by Rabbis and mystics in the 16th century in the Land of Israel. It celebrates nature and the trees based on the agricultural calendar of the land of Israel.

This is the season when, if you travel around the northern region of Israel in time of peace, you notice the first signs of Spring: saplings blossom, buds on the trees, and the temperature slowly rising.

Tu Bi’shvat is about the environment and the anticipation of Spring, with all the beautiful and poetic

themes connected to Spring.

Imagine, this year, how the hostages feel, coming out from the cold, walking towards their family, and finally being able to breathe the air of freedom.

Spring and freedom are related, and we can discuss Spring's many beautiful spiritual meanings at length.

See you for Torah on High" on Zoom this coming Tuesday: we will explore precisely that.

But, especially, see you on Wednesday evening for the Tu Bi’shvat Seder at our Shul together with our friends of the Masorti Chavurah We will celebrate the Spring, we will sing, we will eat, and we will dream together a future of peace when, according to the Prophetic vision, all the inhabitants of the Land of Israel

וְיָשְׁבוּ, אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ--וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד:

shall sit under their vine and under their fig tree, and none shall make them afraid

Amen, Selah! and see you on Wednesday.

Rabbi Dr. Andrea Zanardo, PhD