Disaster Strikes At IfNotNow Simchat Torah Chametz Burning

INN selected the time and day to maximize the metaphorical impact of that’s when they could get everyone to commit to coming.

New York, September 30 – A progressive organization seeking to harness its Jewish bona fides by tying its political activities to elements of Jewish tradition ended up injuring three and causing property damage when the temporary wooden structure in which they sought to conduct a symbolic disposal of leavened grain products by fire, in honor of the just-concluded festival of Sukkot, ignited along with the bread and crackers they aimed to destroy.

If Not Now, which takes its name from an admonishment by the ancient Jewish sage Hillel the Elder, held its first annual chametz-burning Wednesday afternoon. The first three attempts to ignite the package of bread using only matches failed, prompting the participants to run to the Sunoco station, where one of them purchased gasoline to facilitate the fire. However, careless disposition of that substance resulted in some getting splashed on the Sukkah wall and bursting into flames when the next match succeeded in setting alight the chametz – along with half the Sukkah. FDNY personnel arrived within minutes to douse the flames, but one passerby required treatment for minor burns and three attendees suffered smoke inhalation. The fire also caused damage to a nearby utility pole and the façade of an adjacent building.

Organizers of the event told reporters that while most Jews who adhere to Jewish practice conduct their chametz-burning the morning before the springtime festival of Passover, and not in the afternoon at the end of the autumn-harvest festival of Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, INN selected the time and day to maximize the metaphorical impact of that’s when they could get everyone to commit to coming.

“We’re always thrilled to be able to bring together our tradition and our activism,” explained Rabbi Andru Kahn, an unofficial leader of the activist cadre. “Whether it’s reciting Kaddish, the mourner’s affirmation, over the deaths of terrorists who killed Jews, or holding a Saturday-night Havdalah ceremony to mark the end of the Sabbath, in the middle of the afternoon, this was an opportunity to once again demonstrate how richly our heritage promotes Tikkun Olam, in this case symbolizing how we rid ourselves of the unhealthy ‘leavening’ of Zionism and instead embrace the simple humility of the Jew who defers to wider society and allows himself or herself to be trampled by everyone else’s assertion of rights. We dare not assert our own! that would be counter to the entire spirit of the cherry-picked bits of Jewish lore that we have bothered to discover.”

“Next year we’ll come prepared,” resolved Rabbi Kahn. “You, actually, maybe we don’t need to wait that long – ‘If not now, when?,’ right? I think Hanukkah would be a great time to try this again.”

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