Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Waiting For Godot, Sadat, Mandela And Others


To some people, Samuel Beckett's stage play “Waiting for Godot” has come to represent the Jewish longing for the coming of the Messiah. Even though the author has denied that such representation was his intention when writing the play, some people refuse to change their view – and there could be a good reason for that.

It is that the Jewish opinion makers keep reinforcing the view with everything they write these days. More than that, every prominent Jew who speaks on any subject tends to also reinforce the view by addressing the subject directly or addressing it obliquely. We shall see in a moment how Eric Cantor, who is the Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives, has done just that in a speech he gave on February 5, 2013 at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Jewish opinion makers do not speak of a God or a Messiah in what they write but speak of a leader they wish to see pop up in some country other than Israel. It would be a leader who – they fantasize – will do Israel's bidding in those countries. Thus, what these people express is the wish to see a Sadat-like figure pop up say, in Syria or Lebanon; one who will travel to Israel and address its parliament in occupied Jerusalem as did Sadat.

And they wish to see a Mandela-like figure pop up say, in Palestine; one who will call on the people living in Palestine and in the Diaspora to think of the Israeli occupation as a positive happening they should get used to, even like instead of resent. This may not be exactly what Mandela did in South Africa, but there is nothing that says these people cannot stretch their fantasy to an absurd extreme.

And because that trait is rife in Jewish culture, the view of a “larger than life” figure appearing in a region of hot spots and fixing its problems goes beyond the affairs of the Middle East. It spills over to every region of the world about which those opinion makers express the wish to see someone pop up and repeat a miracle done previously by someone who may now be dead or may be alive and retired.

But what's this about in reality? It's about a people whose culture is so restricted, they are not allowed to wander off beyond the limits of a box inside of which they must find what they need to make a case for any cause they decide to take up and articulate. And the reason why they are restricted is that they see their Jewish history as being the main plot in the human drama that is unfolding. Everything else in their view is but a subplot that exists only to support the development of the main plot which is the Jewish plot.

This view inevitably leads them to believe that a leader will at one time or another pop up in every corner of the globe, and will set the stage there for the Messiah to appear in Israel. It will be a Messiah who will give the Jews the key to the world, and give them the means as well as the wisdom to govern it. When this will be done, the promise that God has made to the Jews long ago will have been fulfilled.

Eric Cantor's participation in the unfolding of the Jewish plot has come in the form of playing his part in the American subplot. He spoke often of the fictitious obligations that America has towards Israel, and he did all he could to make America support the Jewish state financially, militarily and diplomatically.

But his latest foray in this field has been a more traditional one as he seems to be developing a new and more traditional desire. Speaking of himself, this is what he said in the speech at the American Enterprise Institute: “In America, the grandson of poor immigrants who fled religious persecution in Russia can become the Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives.”

And this is what he said toward the end of the speech: “...living in Eastern Europe at the turn of the last century, my grandparents fled the vicious anti-Semitic programs of ... Russia to come to America … my grandma worked seven days a week to ... realize the promise of this great country. And today, my children and I stand as proof of the possibility...“ What Eric Cantor is doing here is sing the traditional Jewish song of pity.

He is whining: Pity me, pity me because my grandparents were hated in Russia. I ask you to elect me to the post of Speaker of the House because the waiting is coming to an end, and my Godot will soon come to me. I shall be third in line to be President of the United States, and that's one step away from being King of the World where – if I get there – I shall do all of Israel's bidding.