John Kasich as a proud Christian? Good for him.
John Kasich as a proud Christian trying to ingratiate himself to orthodox Jews?
Oy vey.
From Uriel Heilman’s article for the Jewish Telegraph Agency:
If Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s visit to Hasidic Brooklyn this week had yielded only one amusing moment, Dayenu – it would have been enough.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful holiday for our friends in the Jewish community – the Passover,” Kasich told reporters after emerging from the matzah bakery, a box of the fresh-baked stuff in hand.
Flanked by Hasidic publicist Ezra Friedlander, Kasich then launched into a brief appraisal of the links between Passover and, um, the blood of Jesus Christ.
“The great link between the blood that was put above the lampposts” – er, you mean doorposts, governor — “the blood of the lamb, because Jesus Christ is known as the lamb of God. It’s his blood, we believe …”
Kasich’s only saving grace was that his remarks kept getting interrupted by the subway rumbling on the elevated tracks overhead.
Kasich also made the cardinal error of shaking his box of shmura matzah as he spoke to punctuate his remarks – a cringe-worthy move for Jewish shmura matzah consumers. If the high-priced, delicate matzahs inside are broken, they become unsuitable for ritual use.
Did I say oy vey (oh, woe) before?
Make that Oy gevalt (oh man)…maybe even nishtu gedacht (can you effin’ believe that?).
Notes to John:
-It is Passover – an 8 day commemorative observance of the exodus of Jews from Egyptian slavery to freedom. It is not “the Passover”, which sounds like a quarterback throwing the football way beyond his receiver.
-It is doorposts. There weren’t many lamp posts in Egypt at the time.
-Since Jews believe the actual Passover events took place in the Jewish calendar year of 2,448 – that would be 1,311 BC – it is doubtul that Jews thought of the blood on those door posts as having much to do with Jesus (if you asked one of them he’d probably get exasperated and say something like “Jesus Christ, who are you talking about?”).
-Stop with the shaking. Those are matzahs, not maracas.
There’s more, but, as the beginning of Mr. Heilman’s article says, “dayenu” (not just the Hebrew word for “enough”, but a song sung at traditional Passover seders).
And, no, though the first line mentions Egypt, “Seder” isn’t the beginning of that popular song of the ’40’s and ’50’s which starts, “Seder pyramids along the nile, watch the sunrise from a tropic isle”
In short, John, you’re a proud Anglican Christian. Do yourself a mitzvah (good deed) and stick to it.
Best of wishes to you. Or, as they say where matzahs are never shaken, “A bie gezunt”.
I am an Episcopalian and I dont think we can deal with him either!
Hilarious, just hilarious!