Martin, I see that you are a very sensitive person and rightfully so, in light of all the anti-semitic feeling that exists in the world today. Whether it be Hutton Gibson, (Mel's pop), who claimed that the Holocaust never happened, or the pro Palestinian sympathizers who have attacked my posts on other threads of this forum, we have to face the fact that we as Jews are not very well liked today in 2004.
That being said, let us analyze this song which was written in 1984, 20 years ago in a different political climate. In drawing the delicate line between parody and mockery, the analytical tool used is "intent". In other words, who are the authors and what was their purpose in writing this song. Although they were college students at the time this song was written, Yossi Toiv & Heshy Walfish are today very respected members of the Orthodox Jewish community. They are what you will call insiders and in no way intended to mock the very religion that they so fervently practice. They were trying to answer the question: "What would people who had never seen our rituals before, think of them, upon seeing them for the first time ? They must think that we are very strange people indeed." And the song goes on to answer the question "Because the Torah tell us to, we do that too". When the song was first recorded, it was extremely popular in the Jewish community, but was never given much exposure in the Gentile world. Perhaps it was the fear of mockery and mis-understanding. The internet did not exist in l984. However, today it does and with it comes exposure to many different cultures, which in my opinion can only serve to promote better understanding among people and break down the barriers of ignorance that causes biased opinions. That is why I chose to go public with the song at this time, and on this forum. I hope that answers your question Martin, and if anybody has any questions pertaining to words or ideas expressed in the song that they do not understand, I am here to answer them. SOL ZELLER