Murky Waters

Like many teenagers growing up in 1970s America, my definition of “hero” was someone who could attack a power chord on an electric guitar and make it wail. My bedroom walls were plastered with posters of such “heroes” as Led Zeppelin, the Who and the Beatles. But it was singer-songwriter-bassist Roger Waters of Pink Floyd who had a special place in my teenaged heart.
 
And now Roger Waters hates me.
 
Before his hatred of me became obsession-driven and public, I was a big fan. In fact, I’m hard pressed to recall a significant high-school memory that’s not attached to a Pink Floyd song. Roger Waters’s gloomy lyrics and atmospheric arrangements appealed to my adolescent angst. And I was especially grateful to Waters for creating Pink Floyd’s 1979 mega-hit album, “The Wall,” which helped put a nail or two on the coffin of disco.

Roger Waters – image by Ben Cook, Shutterstock.com

 
But we grow up and realize that sometimes our heroes are actually villains.
 
Though it’s been decades since I was a teenager (at least physically), a part of my adolescence ended when Roger Waters appeared before the United Nations last November, demonizing Israel and lying about Hamas’s real intentions toward the Jewish state.
 
In his testimony before the UN, Waters portrayed Israel as an international criminal guilty of “ethnic cleansing and apartheid.” At the same time, he lauded the terrorist group Hamas as a lover of peace. He said, “Hamas is open to permanent peace with Israel if there is total withdrawal to the 1967 borders.” He added, “I know you all know this, but where I live they don’t know this, they don’t know that that is the position of Hamas. So I’m telling them.”
 
What they also don’t know, which Roger Waters conveniently omitted, is that Article Seven of the Hamas Covenant calls for the killing of all Jews.
 
In his closing statement, Waters pleaded for the UN to, “seize this historic moment” and “declare Israel’s continued membership of the UN to be dependent on reform of its illegal apartheid regime.”
 
Yet it’s not just the UN Roger Waters wants to go after Israel. He wants other musicians to join in the fun, too.
 
As recently as last month, Waters told Electric Intifada, a pro-Palestinian website, that he asked fellow musicians to join him in boycotting Israel — though he wouldn’t say who these musicians are. But he did say he helped persuade Stevie Wonder to cancel a scheduled concert in Israel to benefit the Israeli army.
 
Since the Hamas-loving Roger Waters hates Israel so much, he automatically hates Jews. After all, anti-Zionism is really anti-Semitism.
 
And that means my adolescent hero also hates me.
 
For those of us Jews who grew up with Pink Floyd songs as our teen-years soundtrack, the revelation of Roger Waters as a virulent Jew hater comes as a bit of a blow. But not as a complete surprise.
 
The curious case of Roger Waters as a “hero” to classic rock fans who turned into the hero of terrorists is an extreme one. But it’s not unexpected to see that our Western cultural “heroes” are far from hero-like upon a closer look.
 
And I’ve seen my fair share of “heroes” close up.
 
I was at a party with one of the world’s best-selling rock groups of all time (having sold over 80 million albums) and watched them feed their alcohol addiction by frantically gulping whiskey in tall glasses as though it was lemonade. Another time, I saw one of the world’s biggest comedic movie stars too strung out on narcotics too move or speak. And then there was the time I was at a Hollywood producer’s home and a famous TV actress brazenly revealed to me she was committing adultery with that producer.
 
Hardly the stuff of heroes.
 
Yet the celebrity-worshiping Western culture we live in prizes its “heroes” and places a high price tag for a souvenir (an angry note John Lennon wrote to Paul McCartney after the Beatles broke up is expected to fetch up to $50,000 at an upcoming auction).
 
And since pop culture values all things physical (beauty, wealth, athletic ability, musical talent), the real heroes remain out of the spotlight. The real heroes are those who build their spiritual strength, who work on elevating their souls and help others do the same.
 
Since I became observant, Roger Waters has long been replaced as a “hero” of mine by real heroes. The list of real heroes are too long to list, but at the top of my hero list are such spiritual greats as Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, who worked tirelessly to become a true tzadik (righteous person) and taught us how to get close to Hashem  through personal prayer (and many other methods). And Reb Natan of Breslev, who overcame unimaginable obstacles to keep Rebbe Nachman’s fire alive. And the Chafetz Chaim, who spoke to Hashem daily, rid himself of any trace of anger and taught us how to guard our tongues.
 
Also on the list are all those today who struggle to attain emuna and spread it throughout the world.
 
These are heroes. Defenders of terrorists like Roger Waters who can create best-selling albums are not.