Itongadol.- Legendary rock star John Lennon is not often associated with the Jewish religion, but author and professor Ze\’ev Maghen has written an entire book on the matter. Growing up on a diet of Beatles and Judaism, Professor Maghen — of Bar Ilan University and the Shalem College — credits, or blames as he puts it, his mother for his fascination in, and subsequent connection between the two.
But contrary to what the title to his recently-published book John Lennon and the Jews might insinuate — alongside his praise of the singer as "the world\’s most consummate musician" — he actually has a lot of criticism for Lennon\’s ideas. "John produced his signal song, Imagine, that gives all of us goosebumps and makes us feel like we\’re in the presence of the ultimate utopia, but the lyrics, when you think about them, are anything but a utopia, were they ever achieved," Maghen says, fearfully opining that the world is indeed on it\’s way to achieving them. He tells The Jerusalem Post that in the modern-day globalized world, walls are being broken down and cultures are being erased. "If Lennon\’s dream were to be realized, it would be a nightmare not only for the Jewish people but for humanity."
Maghen says he used Lennon\’s ideas as a launchpad for a plea for diversity in the world and for each culture to maintain and cultivate it\’s collective individuality. "We\’re going in the opposite direction," he says, citing the Eurovision Song Contest as an example. "Over the last decade and a half, the songs that are brought by each country are no longer sung in that country\’s language, no longer represent any element of that country\’s unique culture, it\’s all songs in English," he continues. "We are losing our national individualism," he laments.
He acknowledges the counter-argument to this, saying that he has received responses to his book "from people who believe we should forfeit our nationhood in favor of a more cosmopolitan outlook," believing that "all of us are brothers."
Maghen, however, opines that if you want to love "others" you first have to learn to love "your own" first. Preferential love, that prefers your closer concentric circle over the further one, is the only real love that exists, he asserts. "If you don\’t have that, you won\’t have anything to extrapolate onto others who are further away."
"Preferring is good, not just for our own group, but for humanity as a whole," the professor concludes.