I listened to this episode after I heard Pastor Dumisani's dissertation on the current Israeli-Palestinian war, in episode 16. In a way I wish I had listened to this first, but it was only after hearing episodes 16 and Clifton Duncan in episode 17 that I decided that I just had to hear em' all! There is simply too much here to ignore or dismiss. Too much knowledge to gain, too many connections to forge within this marvelous series.
So I guess I needed to hear episode 16 first, because that led me here.
Dumisani, what an intoxicating, fascinating story of your journey into appreciating the Jewish faith and all its aspects. I mean Hebrew scripture among these aspects; I mean the Seder, and the realization of how you underestimated and offended your Israeli friend in your youth, and so much more. I feel that I now understand you to some extent, and that I can now respond to you rather than simply your arguments, as I did for episode 16. These experiences and these convictions make you the man you are. It is beautiful to behold.
I want to tell you a little story. I lived in Poland for almost five years in the early aughts. This experience - or series of experiences - shaped me a great deal. One of the most indelible impressions is of Polish Jewry. For instance, I attended a showing of "Fiddler on the Roof" presented in Hebrew and Yiddish. I've seen Fiddler often throughout my years, as it is one of my two favorite musicals (the other being "Jesus Christ Superstar;" and so I ask you, Dumisani, do you sense a theme?). Though I speak neither language, I can attest that this was by far the best presentation of Fiddler I've ever witnessed.
But that was a story within a story. What I actually wish to make clear to you was the great divide between Polish Jews and Polish gentiles. Polish Jews referred to themselves as Jews and Polish gentiles as Polish. While Polish gentiles referred to themselves as Polish and the Polish Jews as Jews. And both to all appearances were locked in an eternal struggle as to which of them suffered the most throughout history. I do not exaggerate in the least. I entertained hundreds of monologues of how MY people had it bad and THOSE people didn't realize the blessings that enveloped them.
And there I was, engaging with families of both gentile and Jew, all of whom had been established in Poland for generations, even centuries, and none of them daring to acknowledge the very simple truth that they were, and are, Polish - all of them. There was this driving need to separate and segregate and reduce the other.
It remains one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed.
I have come to have profound respect for the lion-hearted endeavors of both Polish people (which includes many Jews, moreso than any other historic European nation) and Jewish people as a whole. Both of worthy of song. Both are worthy to be counted among the faithful children of the Most High. Many nations of the world can legitimately make this claim. And it is tragic when one people deny this birthright to another.
Dumisani, may our efforts to bring Light to every corner of this world bear abundant fruit.
Hi.
I listened to this episode after I heard Pastor Dumisani's dissertation on the current Israeli-Palestinian war, in episode 16. In a way I wish I had listened to this first, but it was only after hearing episodes 16 and Clifton Duncan in episode 17 that I decided that I just had to hear em' all! There is simply too much here to ignore or dismiss. Too much knowledge to gain, too many connections to forge within this marvelous series.
So I guess I needed to hear episode 16 first, because that led me here.
Dumisani, what an intoxicating, fascinating story of your journey into appreciating the Jewish faith and all its aspects. I mean Hebrew scripture among these aspects; I mean the Seder, and the realization of how you underestimated and offended your Israeli friend in your youth, and so much more. I feel that I now understand you to some extent, and that I can now respond to you rather than simply your arguments, as I did for episode 16. These experiences and these convictions make you the man you are. It is beautiful to behold.
I want to tell you a little story. I lived in Poland for almost five years in the early aughts. This experience - or series of experiences - shaped me a great deal. One of the most indelible impressions is of Polish Jewry. For instance, I attended a showing of "Fiddler on the Roof" presented in Hebrew and Yiddish. I've seen Fiddler often throughout my years, as it is one of my two favorite musicals (the other being "Jesus Christ Superstar;" and so I ask you, Dumisani, do you sense a theme?). Though I speak neither language, I can attest that this was by far the best presentation of Fiddler I've ever witnessed.
But that was a story within a story. What I actually wish to make clear to you was the great divide between Polish Jews and Polish gentiles. Polish Jews referred to themselves as Jews and Polish gentiles as Polish. While Polish gentiles referred to themselves as Polish and the Polish Jews as Jews. And both to all appearances were locked in an eternal struggle as to which of them suffered the most throughout history. I do not exaggerate in the least. I entertained hundreds of monologues of how MY people had it bad and THOSE people didn't realize the blessings that enveloped them.
And there I was, engaging with families of both gentile and Jew, all of whom had been established in Poland for generations, even centuries, and none of them daring to acknowledge the very simple truth that they were, and are, Polish - all of them. There was this driving need to separate and segregate and reduce the other.
It remains one of the saddest things I have ever witnessed.
I have come to have profound respect for the lion-hearted endeavors of both Polish people (which includes many Jews, moreso than any other historic European nation) and Jewish people as a whole. Both of worthy of song. Both are worthy to be counted among the faithful children of the Most High. Many nations of the world can legitimately make this claim. And it is tragic when one people deny this birthright to another.
Dumisani, may our efforts to bring Light to every corner of this world bear abundant fruit.