In George Orwell's book 1984, the government enforces "Newspeak". Newspeak is language devoid of anything of which the government does not approve. Newspeak goes beyond simple public relations spin or politically correct language use. It actually outlaws the use of certain words or ideas in order to prevent expression. The idea behind Newspeak is that if one does not have the words to express something, then they can't think it. Control the language, the argument goes, and you control the mind.
Newspeak has become too real in the Israel of today. The government leaders of Israel assumes that if they outlaw the use of certain words, certain symbols and certain expressions, they will eliminate the outcry against them. They jail fathers for outlawed expressions on t-shirts, mothers for writing letters that make outlawed comparisons, children for outlawed words scrawled on a wall. They make international incidents out of orange scarves.
I have been asked to rewrite articles because the editors feared the government would accuse them of "incitement" and close the newspaper. Half of what we want to say can't be said and the other half is sanitized. Those who write and speak and interview can't write or say what they think without a keen awareness of the Israeli Newspeak Police.
We aren't "sacrificing" land, we are "disengaging". There is no "Greater Israel", there is "Israel and the Disputed Territories." There is no "border", there is a "Green Line." There are no "Israeli patriots", there are "ultra-nationalists" and "right wingers" and "settlers." We should not, under any circumstances, draw obvious comparisons between the ethnic cleansing of Jews today and the ethnic cleansing of Jews a generation ago - as that would be incitement, of course. And, G-d forbid, you are to call a terrorist a "terrorist". Don't you know what they are? They are "militants" or "insurgents" or "fighters". They even tried to rewrite the Israeli national anthem because it wasn't Newspeaky enough.
But one thing the Israeli government forgets on a daily basis is that "Israel is a nation unlike any other." Whether they want to admit it or not, and whether it is approved to say or not, this is a Jewish nation full of Jewish people. It is the only place in the world where we don't have to compromise our faith in order to be successful, where we can yell and argue and scream and hug each other all in the same five minutes, and where the world stops once a year to remember those we have lost.
Maybe every Jew can't tell you the Ten Commandments word for word; maybe every Jew doesn't know the laws of Kashrut, but we all know Shema. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Secular - every Jew of every stripe knows that prayer, and we teach it to our children. It cannot be translated to Newspeak, PC, or spin. It cannot be destroyed or forgotten or rewritten. We even said it when governments outlawed it in the past. Jews died with Shema on their lips at the destruction of the Temple, the Inquisition and the Holocaust. Those who died in suicide bombings screamed it with their last breath.
I heard a story - I can't tell you from where or if I am telling it right, but it rings so true that I will repeat it - that after World War II, when the Jewish survivors were trying to tell the Jewish orphans from the gentile orphans, the survivors sang the first words of Shema to the children, and each little Jew who was old enough to talk finished the prayer out of habit.
The words can't be erased, because they are as much a part of us as our flesh. They are part of our soul, and with these words come the understanding that there is an authority above the government, there is a Truth beyond human understanding, and right and wrong is not decided by an official Israeli government spokesperson.
"Hear All Israel! HaShem is our G-d, And HaShem Is One!" is engraved even upon the souls who have never heard or uttered the prayer. We all know the words. It's the national tune, whether the Knesset approves it or not. Newspeak be damned! this is a nation where the tune of freedom is sung with our eyes closed and our hearts open.
Newspeak has become too real in the Israel of today. The government leaders of Israel assumes that if they outlaw the use of certain words, certain symbols and certain expressions, they will eliminate the outcry against them. They jail fathers for outlawed expressions on t-shirts, mothers for writing letters that make outlawed comparisons, children for outlawed words scrawled on a wall. They make international incidents out of orange scarves.
I have been asked to rewrite articles because the editors feared the government would accuse them of "incitement" and close the newspaper. Half of what we want to say can't be said and the other half is sanitized. Those who write and speak and interview can't write or say what they think without a keen awareness of the Israeli Newspeak Police.
We aren't "sacrificing" land, we are "disengaging". There is no "Greater Israel", there is "Israel and the Disputed Territories." There is no "border", there is a "Green Line." There are no "Israeli patriots", there are "ultra-nationalists" and "right wingers" and "settlers." We should not, under any circumstances, draw obvious comparisons between the ethnic cleansing of Jews today and the ethnic cleansing of Jews a generation ago - as that would be incitement, of course. And, G-d forbid, you are to call a terrorist a "terrorist". Don't you know what they are? They are "militants" or "insurgents" or "fighters". They even tried to rewrite the Israeli national anthem because it wasn't Newspeaky enough.
But one thing the Israeli government forgets on a daily basis is that "Israel is a nation unlike any other." Whether they want to admit it or not, and whether it is approved to say or not, this is a Jewish nation full of Jewish people. It is the only place in the world where we don't have to compromise our faith in order to be successful, where we can yell and argue and scream and hug each other all in the same five minutes, and where the world stops once a year to remember those we have lost.
Maybe every Jew can't tell you the Ten Commandments word for word; maybe every Jew doesn't know the laws of Kashrut, but we all know Shema. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Secular - every Jew of every stripe knows that prayer, and we teach it to our children. It cannot be translated to Newspeak, PC, or spin. It cannot be destroyed or forgotten or rewritten. We even said it when governments outlawed it in the past. Jews died with Shema on their lips at the destruction of the Temple, the Inquisition and the Holocaust. Those who died in suicide bombings screamed it with their last breath.
I heard a story - I can't tell you from where or if I am telling it right, but it rings so true that I will repeat it - that after World War II, when the Jewish survivors were trying to tell the Jewish orphans from the gentile orphans, the survivors sang the first words of Shema to the children, and each little Jew who was old enough to talk finished the prayer out of habit.
The words can't be erased, because they are as much a part of us as our flesh. They are part of our soul, and with these words come the understanding that there is an authority above the government, there is a Truth beyond human understanding, and right and wrong is not decided by an official Israeli government spokesperson.
"Hear All Israel! HaShem is our G-d, And HaShem Is One!" is engraved even upon the souls who have never heard or uttered the prayer. We all know the words. It's the national tune, whether the Knesset approves it or not. Newspeak be damned! this is a nation where the tune of freedom is sung with our eyes closed and our hearts open.