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Jewish liturgy includes a curse against our enemies. We can be OK with that.
(JTA) — I often take solace in prayer: It gives me the opportunity to express my deepest longings to God, even if immediate results are never the goal. As the Israel-Hamas war has worn on, I have unexpectedly connected to a prayer I have long found difficult, one that deals with external political threats to the Jewish people — in terms that can feel uncomfortable.
The 12th blessing of the Amidah, the central prayer of every Jewish worship service, is actually a curse against enemies of the Jewish people. One line focuses on external enemies; it has expanded over the years, but the original curse (preserved in the siddur of Rav Saadia Gaon, a prayer book dating back more than 1,000 years ago) reads:
And the kingdom of insolence: speedily uproot it in our days.
This blessing is simple and straightforward. It identifies a political entity — signified by the word “malkhut,” or kingdom — that must be uprooted — “te’aker,” in Hebrew. Israel does not — and has never — existed in a world without enemies. The core DNA of our daily prayer includes a moment to recognize this threat and pray for our enemies to be neutralized.
And yet I have not always connected with this prayer. I grew up in an era in which I believed we were hurtling towards peace — with Communist countries, and with Arab nations. When I was younger, I often felt this line to be obsolete, even a little embarrassing. It seemed to represent an old view of reality, irrelevant in a world in which peace had broken out. At best, I could reinterpret this line (following Rabbeinu Behaye, the medieval Spanish commentator) as a reference to our own evil inclination, that we hoped to subdue.
In this challenging time, I have found that taking a closer look at the line and its journey throughout Jewish history has helped me achieve one of the central goals of prayer: to clarify our values through the words we say to God.
I am not the only one to have distanced myself from this line. As the Jewish studies scholar Ruth Langer has shown, while external authorities introduced censored versions of this blessing starting in the Middle Ages, already in the 19th century many Jews themselves were sheepish about reciting it and self-censored. In America, this blessing was removed from Reform liturgy for more than 100 years, and it never appeared in Reconstructionist liturgy. Following censored texts from the Middle Ages, Conservative and most Orthodox prayer books altered the “kingdom of insolence” to simply read “the insolent.” Over the years, I have heard prayer leaders recite this blessing in a subdued tone, saying it only out of obligation to tradition, while attempting to literally mute its message.
But we have learned time and again that a world of peace without political enemies is far from our reality. Indeed, the Reform movement restored this blessing in the 1990s, including the line asking for the “malkhut zadon,” the kingdom of insolence, to be smashed. After Oct. 7, I am reminded of the relevance of these words yet again. It is time we return to these words and say them with conviction and focus.
Our prayers are not meant to exist in a world divorced from reality; rather, they are meant to address the real lives we are living. Political entities always have attempted — and continue to attempt — to harm the Jewish people. Indeed, the reference text for the original “kingdom of insolence” in the Bible is the kingdom of Babylon that destroyed the First Temple. Later this “kingdom of insolence” was associated with Rome, which also destroyed our sovereign nation. The Amidah — our most central prayer —recognizes these real enemies, and offers us the opportunity to actively pray for their defeat.
Even as I connect to these words anew, I want to note what we are — and are not — praying for. The request is to uproot our enemies, based on Zephaniah 2:4 (understood in the Talmud to also refer to Rome). It is not a call for revenge for its own sake, or even outright death (although some later versions include harsher words). The 14th-century prayer book commentator Rabbi David Abudraham asks, “How can we offer curses in our Amidah?” In answering his own question, he notes that our blessing differs from a curse uttered to kill evildoers (forbidden by the Talmud), because, among other differences, our blessing does not call for explicit destruction.
We are not cursing our enemies with a call for their death; we are offering a prayer that they be stopped. To be sure, some Jews might view this prayer as a call for bloody and indiscriminate revenge, as some Israeli government ministers have recently called for in Gaza. I think that is a perversion of the spirit of the prayer. In fact, one 19th-century authority claimed that we cannot be praying for the death of evil people, because one is not allowed to do so:
The issue is not the destruction and wiping out entirely [of enemies] for one cannot pray for the destruction of sinners, only sins. (Iyun Tefilah of Tzvi Meckelberg)
So I pray that our enemies be thwarted. This includes waging war and other physical acts to stop this political entity. It may indeed lead to the death of our enemies; it may also include negotiated solutions. The specifics are not legislated in the prayer, but the essential message is that the kingdom be uprooted — rendered ineffective in its attacks on Israel. In these times, I invite us to reconnect to those words, and bring intention to our daily prayer: May our enemies be uprooted, speedily.
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The post Jewish liturgy includes a curse against our enemies. We can be OK with that. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Trump Vows to Hold Iran Responsible for Houthi Attacks, Warns of ‘Dire Consequences’
A Houthi fighter mans a machine gun mounted on a truck during a parade for people who attended Houthi military training as part of a mobilization campaign, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
US President Donald Trump has declared that Iran will be held directly responsible for any future attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have targeted US and Israeli ships in the Red Sea in retaliation for Jerusalem’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip.
“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account on Monday.
Over the weekend, the US military launched strikes against the Houthis in Yemen after the Iran-backed terrorist group declared they had resumed attacks on ships “linked to Israel” in the Red Sea.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, the Houthis — whose slogan is “death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam” — have targeted over 100 merchant vessels in the Red Sea with missiles and drones. They asserted that these attacks, which caused a massive disruption of global trade, were a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza following Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The attacks have forced vessels to avoid the Red Sea and Suez Canal in favor of longer routes around Africa, driving up travel and insurance costs.
“The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN,” Trump wrote in his post on Truth Social.
“Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there,” he continued.
According to US officials, several senior Houthi commanders have been killed during the attacks. Meanwhile, local media reports said the Houthis claimed at least 53 people have been killed and 98 wounded as a result of the strikes.
CENTCOM Forces Launch Large Scale Operation Against Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen
On March 15, U.S. Central Command initiated a series of operations consisting of precision strikes against Iran-backed Houthi targets across Yemen to defend American interests, deter enemies, and… pic.twitter.com/u5yx8WneoG
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 15, 2025
On Sunday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Washington would conduct “unrelenting” strikes against the Houthis until the terrorist group ceases their military actions targeting US assets and international shipping.
“Iran has played ‘the innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control,” Trump wrote in his post on Truth Social. “They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.’”
Over the weekend, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi called for mass protests, urging Yemenis to take to the streets in response to US airstrikes. Demonstrations were held in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and other Houthi-controlled areas, with crowds chanting “Death to America! Death to Israel!” during a rally broadcast on the Houthis’ Al-Masirah television network.
The Yemeni terrorist group warned that its attacks on shipping in the Red Sea will continue until US military strikes on Yemen stop. The Houthis also claimed two attacks in the past 24 hours against the USS Harry S. Truman in the northern Red Sea.
In January, the group signaled it would limit its attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip but warned that broader assaults could resume if necessary. Reports have indicated that the Houthis used Iranian-supplied ballistic and cruise missiles to carry out its attacks.
Earlier this month, Washington imposed sanctions on seven senior members of the Houthis, shortly after the Trump administration officially redesignated the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
Several countries — including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel — currently designate the Houthis as terrorists.
Last month, the United Nations announced it suspended its humanitarian operations in areas controlled by Houthi rebels, after they detained dozens of UN staffers, who remain unreleased.
The Houthis have been waging an insurgency in Yemen for two decades in a bid to overthrow the Yemeni government. They have controlled a significant portion of the country’s land in the north and along the Red Sea since 2014, when they captured it in the midst of a civil war.
The post Trump Vows to Hold Iran Responsible for Houthi Attacks, Warns of ‘Dire Consequences’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australian Jewish Leader Urges Continued Vigilance on Antisemitic Hate Crimes After Police Label Bomb Threat ‘Fake’
Car in New South Wales, Australia graffitied with antisemitic message. Photo: Screenshot
A top Australian Jewish leader has expressed disappointment with a recent announcement by police that an incident involving an abandoned caravan filled with explosives and antisemitic writings was “fake,” arguing law enforcement downplayed the severity of a recent spree of crimes targeting the Jewish community.
Alex Ryvchin — co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), an organization which advocates upholding the civil rights of the country’s some 120,000 Jewish citizens — on Monday urged Australian authorities to remain vigilant against antisemitism.
“We learned that in addition to everything we faced over the past 17 months, the doxxing, the vilification, the harassment, everything happening at schools and universities,” Ryvchin said during an appearance on Sky News. “On top of all that, you now have hardened criminals paying off lowly hoodlums to set fire to our buildings and cars and set our streets ablaze with reckless disregard for what happens.”
He continued, “But for some reason, the police in announcing this chose to completely downplay it, refer to it as a con job, and a fake.”
Ryvchin explained the framing had now “allowed negative actors who have tried to downplay it [the rise in antisemitism] this whole time to now galvanize and to try to dampen all the momentum and the enthusiasm for actually solving this problem. So, it’s really incredibly disappointing.”
Earlier this month, Australian police announced that an organized crime group had created a fake bomb threat intended to draw law enforcement resources, rather than a genuine targeting of Jews.
“It was about causing chaos within the community, causing threat, causing angst, diverting police resources away from their day jobs, to have them focus on matters that would allow them to get up to or engage in other criminal activity,” Dave Hudson, New South Wales (NSW) Deputy Police Commissioner, said in statement.
Krissy Barrett, the Australian Federal Police’s Deputy Commissioner for National Security, described the incident as “fake,” a “fabricated terrorism plot,” and a “criminal con job,” adding, “The plan was the following: organize for someone to buy a caravan, place it with explosives and written material of antisemitic nature, leave it in a specific location and then, once that happened, inform law enforcement about an impending terror attack against Jewish Australians. We believe the person pulling the strings wanted changes to their criminal status but maintained a distance from their scheme and hired alleged local criminals to carry out parts of their plan.”
Then last week, NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) released a statement that they had arrested and charged 14 members of an organized crime group, allegedly involved in a series of antisemitic hate crimes.
“None of the individuals we have arrested … have displayed any form of antisemitic ideology,” Hudson said. “I think these organized crime figures have taken an opportunity to play off the vulnerability of the Jewish community.”
However, Ryvchin told ABC Radio that law enforcement should not be so quick to dismiss the role fo antisemitism, noting the historic surge in antisemitic attacks across Australia in recent months.
“I don’t feel we can definitively draw that conclusion,” he said. “Ultimately, the things that we’ve seen took place. They weren’t hoaxes. This is part of something transpiring in broader society. The fact that a criminal network with no apparent ideological links to antisemitism thought fit to latch on to what’s happening shows how deep-seated the problem already was.”
The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) has challenged the claim that the crimes were hoaxes, sharing a news article last week reporting that the man charged with allegedly orchestrating the series of crimes had posted antisemitic comments online.
Surprised?
So the Islamic alleged mastermind of the ‘not antisemitic’ bomb targeting Jewish institutions has a history of making Nazi and anti-Israel posts.
We know the Albanese Govt pressured the police to declare the explosives targeting the Jewish community were not… pic.twitter.com/8Ed6hndFpM
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) March 14, 2025
Also last week, NSW Premier Chris Minns pushed back against calls for repeals of news laws passed in response to the recent wave of hate crimes. Among other measures, the laws imprison those who make terror threats or perform Nazi salutes.
“While these laws were drafted in response to horrifying antisemitism, we have always made clear they would apply to anyone, preying on any person, at any time. In response to calls for the laws to be scrapped, doing so would be a toxic message to our community that this kind of hate speech is acceptable when it’s not,” Minns said. “These laws are very important to maintaining social cohesion.”
On Monday, the Palestine Action Group reportedly filed suit in the NSW Supreme court, charging that the laws were unconstitutional, infringing on “constitutional freedom of communication on government or political matters.”
Southeastern Australia saw a string of hate crimes targeting Jews from November through January. These included cars set on fire and antisemitic graffiti targeting synagogues as well as other Jewish buildings.
That followed the ECAJ releasing a report last year showing that antisemitism in Australia quadrupled to record levels over the past year, with Australian Jews experiencing more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents between October 2023 and September 2024.
The post Australian Jewish Leader Urges Continued Vigilance on Antisemitic Hate Crimes After Police Label Bomb Threat ‘Fake’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Chuck Schumer Postpones Book Tour on Antisemitism Amid Planned Protests, Outrage Over Funding Bill
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a press conference in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, April 23, 2024. Photo: Annabelle Gordon / CNP/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s upcoming tour to promote his new book on antisemitism has been postponed for “security reasons” amid outrage over his decision to prevent a government shutdown last week
“Due to security concerns, Senator Schumer’s book events are being rescheduled,” a spokesperson for the New York Democrat said in a statement.
Schumer, who is Jewish, was slated to hold multiple events this week promoting his book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, which is set to be released on Tuesday.
One of the events was supposed to take place at Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in New York City. Information regarding the event, which was set to be moderated by US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), was removed from the venue’s website.
Schumer’s other promotional events in Washington, DC and Baltimore were also shelved on short notice. The venues did not provide a reason for nixing the senator’s scheduled appearance.
Jewish activists planned a protest of Schumer’s now-cancelled New York City book event, lambasting the Democratic leader for failing to advance the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the Senate floor for a vote. In addition, the left-wing anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace organized a protest of his Baltimore book event, accusing the senator of helping facilitate Israel’s so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
The Democratic leader has also faced tremendous blowback over Senate Democrats’ decision to help pass a continuing resolution and thwart a government shutdown. The Senate voted 54 to 46 to pass the funding bill. Schumer argued that a government shutdown would provide US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk a greater amount of unchecked power.
“I know a lot of members didn’t like the CR [continuing resolution — the government shutdown would be far worse. A government shutdown gives Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE [the US Departmet of Government Efficiency] almost complete power … to close down because they can decide what is an essential service,” Schumer said in a statement.
In the 17 months following the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, Schumer has struggled to coalesce strident support for the Jewish state among Democratic senators. Although Democrats have repeatedly issued nominal support for Israel’s right to “self-defense,” liberal lawmakers have steadily adopted a more adversarial posture against the Jewish state. In November 2024, 17 Democratic senators voted to impose a partial arms embargo on Israel, citing frustration over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.
Furthermore, critics allege that Schumer has not done enough to fight antisemitism in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities. According to a report by the US Committee on the Workforce and Education, Schumer advised embattled administrators at Columbia University to “keep heads down” amid outrage over surging antisemitism within the student body.
Nonetheless, Schumer has continued using his platform to voice support for Israel’s right to defend itself. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Chuck Schumer defended Israel from false accusations of “genocide” in Gaza and lambasted the United Nations as “antisemitically against Israel.”
“Genocide is described as a country or some group tries to wipe out a whole race of people, a whole nationality of people. So, if Israel was not provoked and just invaded Gaza and shot at random Palestinians, Gazans, that would be genocide. That’s not what happened,” Schumer told the Times. “In fact, the opposite happened. And Hamas is much closer to genocidal than Israel.”
Schumer lamented the rising tide of anti-Jewish hatred across the country, claiming that antisemites often use the word “Zionist” as a placeholder for “Jew.”
“I’ve criticized the Israeli government, and I’ve criticized [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, as you know. Criticism of Israel and how it conducted the war is not antisemitic. But it begins to shade over, and it shades over in a bunch of different ways. When you use the word ‘Zionist’ for Jew — you Zionist pig — you mean you Jewish pig,” Schumer said.
The post Chuck Schumer Postpones Book Tour on Antisemitism Amid Planned Protests, Outrage Over Funding Bill first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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