August 26, 2004
Olympic Hatikvah
Thanks to my friend Sara who just sent me this link to a video clip of the medal ceremony in which Gal Friedman won Israel's first Olympic gold metal.
I have two feelings about this. First of all, how can you not get emotional while watching all those people draped in Israeli flags singing Hatikvah out of sync with the Olympic orchestra? I had tears in my eyes.
My second thought is a bit more cynical. I find it a bit ironic that roughly a little more than 2000 years ago, the Jewish People fought against a set of values and social norms that the Syrians/Greeks(during the time of the miracle of Chanukah) were oppressing them with and now we are marvelling at an Israeli wearing the Olympic crown. I have always laughed at the irony of the Jewish sport games and teams called the Maccabia and Maccabies. The historical maccabees were the ones to stand up and fight to defend the Jewish People against the nation who put such emphasis on sports and the idolotrous nature of it. Just a thought.
In the meantime, watch the video- it is still pretty darn cool.
Posted by peninah at August 26, 2004 05:17 PMI disagree with the premise of your analysis. Here's an analogy of roughly equivalent merit: "I find it a bit ironic that adherents of Chasidic movements - whose practices frequently involve some measure of separation from surrounding gentiles - insist on forms of dress copied from Polish gentry in the seventeenth century."
Neither criticism makes sense. The Olympics are an attempt to foster universal brotherhood through sports. Iranian intransigence notwithstanding, the Games are in fact largely successful at accomplishing this worthy goal. The fact that certain practices or nomenclatures were originally used for disparate purposes is completely irrelevant. At worst, it is, as you say, ironic, but to my way of thinking, it is certainly not a big deal.
Posted by: Moishe Potemkin at August 27, 2004 10:45 AMNo, not a big deal- but ironic. As is the chassidic analogy you brought. By the way, who knew you were such a liberal?
Posted by: peninah at August 27, 2004 10:48 AMHuge liberal - I just disagree with repeated implementation of ineffective policies. Like affirmative action, or the war on drugs, or minimum wages, or restrictions on abortions, or school funding, or sexual harassment laws, or...
Naturally, I prefer the term libertarian, because it has more syllables, and makes me sound smarter.
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