Politicians, celebrities, and even the Pentagon took to social media to share their well-intentioned Pesach greetings, and the confusion between Pesach, Chanukah, Tu B’Shvat – and possibly Thanksgiving – was on full display.
Leading the parade was Jewish actor William Shatner who wished his followers a “Happy Passover” with a picture of what seemed to be either two slices of sponge cake or inch-thick matzos sitting in front of a 10-branched menorah. Not seven. Not eight. Ten. Shatner may have explored strange new worlds in his sci-fi acting role, but clearly not the one where Pesach and Chanukah aren’t interchangeable.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino followed up with his own Pesach confusion: a seven-branched menorah, a handful of matzahs so limp they started off gebrokts that are peeking out from under some mysterious herbs, half a dozen walnuts, and a cup of wine.
Down in Florida, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who is Jewish, kept the trend alive with yet another menorah-centric “Passover” display. Apparently, for many of our elected officials, menorahs are now the universal Jewish holiday symbol – sadly, even for Jews.
Meanwhile, Jewish actor Adam Sandler offered his own version of the ke’arah, which included matzah, flowers, and walnuts.
The growing walnut obsession was also seen in Passover posts from Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both of whom shared photos of seder plates that looked more like a nut tasting tray at Whole Foods.
Now, to be fair, many versions of charoses do contain walnuts—but when the entire seder plate is filled with nothing but walnuts, you have to wonder if anyone cracked open a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch before setting the table.
U.S. Central Command also shared a headscratching Pesach post, though it had a ke’arah that appeared to be tzum zach – if you didn’t look too closely. On it were: shelled walnuts, a whole walnut shell, chickpeas, an egg, a drumstick, and a suspicious leafy green that may or may not be collard greens. It’s unclear which haggadah they were using, but it wasn’t Artscroll.
Geert Wilders, the Dutch pro-Israel politician, chimed in with a seder plate featuring some rather peculiar items.
It’s worth noting that according to Pew Research, Pesach is the most widely observed Jewish holiday in America, with 62% of Jews saying they attend a seder. One would hope that with such numbers, it wouldn’t be too hard to Google what goes on a seder plate.
But alas, in the hands of pop culture and political PR teams, Pesach becomes an annual showcase of misplaced menorahs, matzah mishaps – and, for some reason, lots of walnuts.
In the end, we’ll give them credit for trying.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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20 Responses
this just proves what we already know, that many non-religious american jews know little or nothing about judaism. and that cheap ai-generated images are widespread. next.
AI generated
You could probably blame AI for it
כדי שישאלו התינוקות
Obviously not a defense of walnuts in a Seder plate but the gemoro in psachim brings the custom to give kids walnuts to keep them entertained and interested in the Seder.
תנו רבנן הכל חייבין בארבעה כוסות הללו, אחד אנשים, ואחד נשים, ואחד תינוקות, אמר ר’ יהודה: וכי מה תועלת יש לתינוקות ביין? אלא מחלקין להן קליות ואגוזין בערב פסח כדי שלא ישנו, וגם כדי שישאלו מה נשתנה הלילה הזה. אמרו עליו על ר’ עקיבא שהיה מחלק קליות ואגוזין לתינוקות בערב פסח כדי שלא ישנו וישאלו.
All thanks to AI
At least there’s no chametz on it
Nicely done, YWN.
Welcome to the world of AI…
Anything Jewish-related will feature (odd-shaped) menorahs and magen davids.
When I need to fool the system, I will often use the prompt “gentleman in a fedora and black blazer”, or “Bearded man with a white button-down shirt wearing a tiny black taqiyah.”
“Apparently, for many of our elected officials, menorahs are now the universal Jewish holiday symbol – sadly, even for Jews.”
The menorah is, of course, a prominent Zionist symbol for their “State” which they lie to the world in their claiming that it’s “Jewish”. So, to reuse your quote:
Apparently, for many of our elected officials, the Zionist State is a universal Jewish symbol – sadly, even for some Jews.
These are all – or at least most – clearly generated by AI.
I have long been amused by the fact that a menorah is what symbolizes Judaism to the goyim. They always have a menorah in a prominent position if they want to show the home of a Jewish family. It doesn’t matter that in most frum Jewish homes you don’t usually see a menorah except during Chanukah, and if you do, it doesn’t take such a prominent position as, say, Shabbos leichter, or seforim. Even a mezuzah would do the trick, but most goyim have never heard of that.
Its a confused generation.
how is it ok to make fun of people publicly for no purpose?
Also, the Leitzanus is overdone. Many of these are clearly not meant to be Ke’aros, and walnuts are definitely associated with Pesach.
hilarious, geert had the best one though
You’re taking this much too seriously. Some staffer went on a stock photo site and picked the first “Passover” picture that came up. That’s all.
For the record, I place my freshly polished silver Menorah (and Esrog box) on my Seder table.
Amongst many other things he’s done, Shatner is also a wife murderer. He needs a lot of help with MANY things.
No one even mentioned that Geert Wilders has six Matzos under his Matzah cover.
Or that AOC had the least problamatic one, by far.