After a plea from Rabbis not to date Palestinian men and to not date any non-Jews, Jewish girls wake up to the news that the former President of Israel, Moshe Katsav, has been convicted of rape.
I overheard a conversation in a kosher café in New York this morning between a Jewish girl named Adena and her father Abe.
Adena said to her father: “Father, I woke to the news yesterday that the Rabbis say that I am not allowed to date any man of Palestinian descent. In fact, they say that I should not date any non-Jew. Look!”
The Father read this article as Adena pointed out the following lines from the Rabbis: “For your sake, for the sake of future generations, and so you don’t undergo horrible suffering, we turn to you with a request, a plea, a prayer. Don’t date non-Jews, don’t work at places that non-Jews frequent, and don’t do national service with non-Jews.”
“Adena,” my love, “it is always best to date within your own race and religion. And for us, Judaism is both our race and religion.”
“But Father,” Adena protested, “this morning I woke up to this headline: Former President of Israel Is Convicted of Rape. Father, our home country elected this Israeli man president and he rapes women. You can’t honestly tell me that a Palestinian man, or any other non-Jew, is not better than this man.”
“Oy vey,” father Abe exclaimed, “Adena, you must realize that each man is an individual and that this man is not representative of our entire Jewish race.”
“Just as bad Palestinian men are not representative of all Palestinian men!” exclaimed Adena.
Abe stood up and sternly said: “Adena, finish your Lox right now! I am taking you to the synagogue for a lesson in purity!”
As they hastily exited the kosher café, Abe pulling the arm of Adena across the street to the synagogue, an oncoming car descended upon them rapidly without time to stop. Just as Adena saw the car about to strike her father, a man dove into her father knocking him backwards to avoid the collision that would have surely taken his life.
As the two men stood up, Adena could not take her eyes off this tall, handsome man with dark, pure skin.
Abe looked at the man and spoke, “You have just saved my life. I am forever in your debt. I am Abe.” With that, he extended his hand to this man.
The man smiled back at the father of Adena while Adena’s eyes were still affixed directly at this striking man.
“I am Jordan,” he said. “It is very nice to meet you both.”