Sukkah Alert…writes Michael Kuttner
As soon as Yom Kippur is finished and then right up until the eve of Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles) the sound of hammering and construction can be heard the length and breadth of Israel. As I climbed down from the ladder for the last time after securing the roof covering and hanging the decorations in our temporary dwelling the thought suddenly struck me that I, together with
Michael Kuttner
hundreds of thousands of other Jews, were committing a heinous crime. We were constructing habitations (albeit of a temporary nature) in places where our ancestors stretching back to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish People had lived and settled so many thousands of years ago. According to the warped and hypocritical reasoning of the United Nations those of us who dare to live in areas which have seen Jewish sovereignty over millennia and moreover which according to international decisions taken as far back as the 1920’s (San Remo) are in fact an inseparable part of the Jewish homeland, are illegal and illegitimate.
Every time a Jew encloses a balcony, extends a house or apartment and adds an extra toilet in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, the international community led by a US Administration whose obsession on the subject verges on paranoia, erupts into a frothing frenzy of denunciations and threats. The chorus of hypocritical nations which include the worst abusers of human rights and serial Jew haters, whose own history of expelling, ghettoizing and murdering Jews is unparalleled, unite to denounce this major threat to world peace and stability.
No matter that Islamic State and its allies march on relentlessly towards an Islamic Caliphate worldwide leaving a swath of death and barbarism in their wake. The only subject on which almost every country, including I am sorry to say, Australia and New Zealand, can find a common cause is that of Jews building and living.
The Kuttner Sukkah
Therefore I am hereby giving notice in case it has been overlooked and before leftist NGO’s can blow the whistle that once again as we have since the Exodus from slavery, erected Sukkot (Tabernacles or booths), in every place that Jews inhabit in the Land of Israel. Please note that no planning applications were made, no committees issued permission and no Government representatives applied for international approval. Our official sanction derives from the Torah obligation which mandates us to undertake this in every generation, wherever we may be living.
Personally, I can think of no better place to construct Sukkot than on the very places we inhabited since the very dawn of Jewish history. This Festival attracts pilgrims, Jewish and non Jewish, from all over the world. Witnessing them walking and parading through the streets of Jerusalem, our internationally unrecognized Capital, and eating in tabernacles throughout all parts of the city, is a sight which inspires. As the multitudes gather at the Western Wall with their palm branches and etrogim and as the Cohanim (the direct descendants of the Priests of Temple times) bless those gathered there, one cannot but feel moved and indeed awed.
All those gathered at the Wall are of course according to current political correctness, committing war crimes.
Well, I have a message straight from the heart of Judea for these confused, bigoted and double standard nations.
We will treat your hypocrisy with the contempt it deserves. Despite thousands of years of persecution and hate we continued to observe our religion and in the end triumphed over every empire and despot. In a similar way we will continue to build, construct and live in those places whose Jewish connection is indisputable, legally, historically and morally.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
Standing ovation for Michael Kuttner.