President Obama, I Beg You, No Passover Seder This Year!

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The Jewish holiday of Passover, a festival of freedom from slavery, is just around the corner, and President Obama has made it a White House custom to conduct a White House "Seder," i.e. ceremonial Passover dinner, since 2008.

During a Seder, the participants traditionally ask, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Well, this time around, things are indeed different.

In 2015, Obama entered into an unsigned nuclear deal with Iran, which purportedly increased Iran's "breakout time" for nuclear weapons from three months to all of one year. In exchange for these additional nine months, Obama lifted economic sanctions against Iran and freed up more than $100 billion of Iranian funds, which, according to none other than Secretary of State Kerry, will be used to support terrorism.

But wait, there's more . . .

In order to enter the unsigned nuclear deal, Obama bargained away the language prohibiting Iran from conducting ballistic missile tests. As a consequence, Iran has conducted ballistic missile tests in October, November and March, and one of the two missiles fired last month had "Israel should be wiped off the Earth" written on it. What did Obama do about this? Effectively nothing.

Meanwhile, as reported by Iran's Fars News Agency, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan announced last week at a ceremony to inaugurate a plant which will produce Octogen:

"Concurrently with its efforts to increase the precision-striking power of its weapons systems, the defense ministry has also paid attention to boosting the destructive and penetration power of different weapons' warheads and has put on its agenda the acquisition of the technical know-how to produce Octogen explosive materials and Octogen-based weapons."

Dehqan failed to mention that Octogen is used for nuclear detonators. Obama's response? Nada.

And then we had John Kerry telling us last week that Iran "absolutely" deserved access to US dollars, notwithstanding all of the above.

Among other things, what are these dollars going to be used for? The answer from Iran: top-of-the-line Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and T-90 tanks.

Knowingly or not, President Obama, you have done more than any other US president to jeopardize the existence of Israel, and I respectfully ask that this year you do not conduct a White House Seder, which would be offensive and amount to rank hypocrisy.

David Brooks, "A Long Obedience": My Son Announces His Engagement

Yesterday, my oldest son visited on the eve of Passover to inform us that he was getting married. (He would celebrate the seder with his future  in-laws.) Happy? Absolutely. We adore his fiancée. But is he ready for the responsibilities? If my wife and I did anything right over the years, he will grow into the responsibilities, as he did in the army, his subsequent places of employment, and his studies.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "A Long Obedience" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/opinion/a-long-obedience.html?ref=opinion&_r=0), which focuses on the meaning of Passover but ignores the shootings in Kansas (please see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/frank-bruni-oldest-hatred-forever-young.html), David Brooks concludes:

"The 20th-century philosopher Eliyahu Dessler wrote, 'the ultimate aim of all our service is to graduate from freedom to compulsion.' Exodus provides a vision of movement that is different from mere escape and liberation. The Israelites are simultaneously moving away and being bound upward. Exodus provides a vision of a life marked by travel and change but simultaneously by sweet compulsions, whether it’s the compulsions of love, friendship, family, citizenship, faith, a profession or a people."

Sweet compulsions? An interesting thought in an era increasingly characterized by narcissism and self-indulgence.

My son's decision? Especially gratifying given his willingness to sacrifice self in favor of a lasting bond and a belief that there is sufficient goodness around him to bring children into the world.

Quite a change, even for me, as I adapt to the roles of being a father-in-law and ultimately a grandfather. In this instance, I am hoping for more "sweetness" and less "compulsion," but welcome whatever may come.