Hasidic WhatsApp rewrites ‘Dayenu’ as an elegy for Trump
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By David Ian Klein November 11, 2020
“Had he only reduced funding to the Palestinians and not cut off funding to UNRWA, it would have sufficed us,” reads a rewrite of the traditional passover song, Dayenu, that has been going around Hasidic WhatsApp groups.
A version of Dayenu rewritten to be about Trump is going around Hasidic WhatsApp.
It names the commutation of Sholom Rubashkin’s sentence, the pulling out of the Iran deal, and the cutting off of funding to UNRWA among other things. pic.twitter.com/IxhFsTCabW
— Shira Hanau (@shirahanau) November 10, 2020
The election was too recent to yield any conclusive data, but by one estimate, Trump got only 21% of the Jewish vote. He has, however, been embraced by the Orthodox community, which is about 10% of American Jewry.
The song explains why the Orthodox support him so passionately, listing such moves as his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, establishment of the American embassy in Jerusalem, rejection of the Obama-era Iran deal and the commutation of Hasidic kosher meat monger and philanthropist Sholom Rubashkin’s prison sentence.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
