In his comments directed at bnei yeshivos about watching soccer matches in cafes and kiosks, Chief Rabbi David Lau added jokingly “What’s the difference if the kushim paid by Tel Aviv beat the kushim paid by Greece”.
This remark, using the word “kushi” to refer to the sport’s black players resulted in angry responses and cries of “racism” against the newly-elected chief Rabbi. Yesh Atid MK Penina Tamanu-Shata, of Ethiopian heritage, is leading the assault against Rav Lau. She laments the fact that this is what the Rabbinate may be like in the coming years, calling his racist comments “outrageous”. She added that Naftali Bennett was correct when he said the Chief Rabbinate must change. The MK questioned if the rabbi will refer to Ethiopians wishing to get married as kushim too.
Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett on Tuesday, 23 Menachem Av 5773 came to the chief rabbi’s defense. He wrote on his Facebook page it is clear that Rabbi Lau’s remark was made in jest and “it’s enough already and it’s time to stop.”
The minister suggests that we stop judging people for every little comment that comes out of their mouth, expressing his confidence that the rabbi will be doing great things for Am Yisrael.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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15 Responses
well said
Oh, the chilonim and Lapid’s party are still seething about the Charedi Chief Rabbis. This is the greatest thing that could’ve happened to the Lava”n Government. Let them platz!
By the way, Kushim is not racism (the Torah describes the wife of Moshe Rabbenu as a Kushi), but calling Charedim Black-Hatters is racism and they should be put on trial for this.
“The minister suggests that we stop judging people for every little comment that comes out of their mouth, expressing his confidence that the rabbi will be doing great things for Am Yisrael.”
Yes indeed. Bennett is right on this one.
I believe the fact that chilonim object to the word “Kushi” suggests the issue in the matter is the chiloni’s bigotry against the frum Jews. “Kushi” is the traditional word for anyone from south of Egypt, even if in its origins it referred only the country of Kush. Given the Kush was an advanced civilization, compatible to Egypt and Greece and Mesopotamia, it is hardly an insult to call someone “Kushi”. That the hilonim are unaware of Kush, suggests that in addition to be bigots, they are also not very bright (and probably refuse to acknowledge the existence of advanced civilization other than the Hellenic one they, as modern day Mityavanim, have adopted).
We also refer to Jews from north, west and eastern Europe as “Ashkenazi” even though they never came from a place called “Ashkenaz” (though we referred to German as “Ashkenaz” but that was a misnomer and after WWII we preferred a more insulting name: Germania, which implies being a barbarian).
I agree with Bennett, but just as an FYI – Kushi in modern day Hebrew is a nicer form of the “N word” used here in America.
He was not invoking biblical references to Moshe Rabbenu’s wife or referring to Bablylonian times. Please cut the nonsense out. It would be like someone saying that the “N word” is simply referring to those from Nigeria.
BH there are no phsycos like Al Sharpton running amok in Israel calling for his firing based on one mistake.
Everyone is just too sensitive.
Kush is an archaic name for Africa. We like archaic names in Hebrew. We refer to China as Sin. We refer to India as Hodu (not Baharat). We refer to Greece as Yavan (though in our circles, that work has negative connotations).
Those who complain about “Kush” are simple bigots, and there is no reason arguing with them. Bigots can be fought or ignore, but it doesn’t help to take them seriously.
Referring to people as “Lavan” or “Shachor” is not only incorrect, all humans are brown other than albinos, which is a birth defect — but is insulting bu suggesting you are a color not a member of an ethnic group. Identifying modern day Africans with one of the great classical civilizations is not an insult.
Number One, Rabbi Lau should have realized that that term is a NO, NO! for Worldwide Torah dialogue. Number two, a lesson he has learned and let’s move forward.
The word ‘Kushi’ has been used as a low term for Sefardim in Israel by the elitist groups also… (BTW no one is connecting the word Kushi to eshet Moshe).
akuperma stop being childish. Different words often have different connotations for different people. According to some the original meaning of the word “Kike” didn’t have anti-semetic meanings when it first came into use, however even if that may be true you probably wouldn’t feel too happy if somebody called you that today would you?
If you think that kushi is such an acceptable word than I invite you to surround yourself with a large group of Ethiopians, call them all Kushi, and see how they appreciate it… good luck getting your historical linguistic thesis accepted in that crowd. Whether what Rav Lau said is a big deal or not is up for debate but it certainly wasn’t appropriate given the context. He didn’t just accept his new position to be a rav only to Charedim, but rather to “All Israelis” as he himself proudly stated. Therefore he needs to consider how all Israelis would take such statements.
I personally don’t find it the most offensive statement, but then again I’m not black so maybe I don’t have where to speak on the issue.
What’s the problem? It’s the Kushim who score all the goals, they run faster than everyone else. As it says in Navi, “And Achimaatz passed the Kushi”. If not for the fact that the Kushim are the fastest runners, it would not be special that Achimaatz passed him.
That same Ethiopian MK voted to cut the child allowances of her own native brothers & sisters. The less she says the more intelligent she will look. (This is not a racist comment, rather she values her own salary as a MK over the good of the people she was elected to assist).
Ivrit is evolving into two languages. The hiloni dialect has different slang, and “Kushi” (to refer negatively to a person as such) is part of their culture. In the frum dialect, “Kush” remains a proper word for Africa. The the hiloni fail to understand this shows they are intolerant bigots. (also note the grammar is beginning to vary, since it appears the more secular you are, the more likely one is to use English-style word order instead of the more flexible Hebrew syntax – this list of differences is great).
English has had similar issues. “Jew” is a perjorative in some dialects. The meaning of “gay” also varies widely.
Bennet is right: Keep perspective
So let’s all remember that you’re only allowed to use racist bigoted terms when talking about Chareidim as all members on the left and the media constantly do.
Akuperma – out of curiosity, when was the last time you heard a frum Jew use the word Kushi?
#9 – thank you for the laughs!! 🙂