The Internet is buzzing about "official" music video of the rally. (e.g. Rationalist Judaism, Cross-Currents),
I watched it. Yuck.
Some thoughts, though:
1) While it is branded with Kikar Shabbat, that doesn't mean they produced it. I think they mark any video they put up with that watermark. Did they put it up because they agreed with it, or because they found it newsworthy? I don't know.
2) Poe's Law states:
3) It could also be that the author had a tin ear, and didn't realize how this was going to be taken. There is a slightly less obnoxious point he might have been advancing.
Namely, that everybody in the video is Ameilim, putting in effort, for the security of the country. The yeshiva students by learning and the soldiers and politicians by physical and political means. But since everything is in the hands of heaven, and so it is ultimately the merit of the Jewish people that counts, those other well-meaning and courageous actions and personal sacrifices amount to devarim beteilim klapei shmaya.
Still obnoxious, and I still disagree with it, but not necessarily the same obnoxious meaning that everyone was attributing to it.
4) There are jerks and idiots in the world. So of course even on Kikar Shabbat, if some people were attacking it, there will be others who will defend it.
But that doesn't mean it necessarily captures the intent of the organizers, or participants, in the rally at large. Or that the rally held in the US is also designed to advance the same message as the video.
I watched it. Yuck.
Some thoughts, though:
1) While it is branded with Kikar Shabbat, that doesn't mean they produced it. I think they mark any video they put up with that watermark. Did they put it up because they agreed with it, or because they found it newsworthy? I don't know.
2) Poe's Law states:
Without a blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of extremism or fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.I wonder whether this might be the case here. Consider that the chareidim aren't learning Torah (OK, because it is a rally) but are instead shown littering and dancing around, which might be better called devarim beteilim. While meanwhile soldiers are pictured, who aren't doing devarim beteilim (though this might be my own bias creeping in, causing me to misread the author's intent). They would show Bibi at the UN with the red line regarding Iranian nukes as their choice of devarim beteilim?! This shouts out to me that it might just be parody.
3) It could also be that the author had a tin ear, and didn't realize how this was going to be taken. There is a slightly less obnoxious point he might have been advancing.
Namely, that everybody in the video is Ameilim, putting in effort, for the security of the country. The yeshiva students by learning and the soldiers and politicians by physical and political means. But since everything is in the hands of heaven, and so it is ultimately the merit of the Jewish people that counts, those other well-meaning and courageous actions and personal sacrifices amount to devarim beteilim klapei shmaya.
Still obnoxious, and I still disagree with it, but not necessarily the same obnoxious meaning that everyone was attributing to it.
4) There are jerks and idiots in the world. So of course even on Kikar Shabbat, if some people were attacking it, there will be others who will defend it.
But that doesn't mean it necessarily captures the intent of the organizers, or participants, in the rally at large. Or that the rally held in the US is also designed to advance the same message as the video.
