Posted on 09/01/2009 9:40:50 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie
Sixty-two rabbis from the liberal streams of American Judaism are participating in a monthly "Jewish Fast for Gaza" which, according to their manifesto (crafted by one of the project's coordinators, Rabbi Brant Rosen) "seeks to end the Jewish community's silence over Israel's collective punishment in Gaza that has resulted in a humanitarian crisis of overwhelming proportions.
A WOMAN being helped away from the scene of a Kassam rocket attack in Sderot suffers no less than a Palestinian child sitting on the rubble of his home near the Jebalya refugee camp during Operation Cast Lead.
Why the fast? In Leviticus we read: "Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's blood is being spilled" (19:16).
The other project coordinator, Rabbi Brian Walt, is pleased by the response in support of the Fast for Gaza, pretentiously named Ta'anit Tzedek. He writes: "It has been incredibly heartening to find so many rabbis willing to participate in this initiative. It takes a lot of courage. I hope that this is one small step in breaking the Jewish community's silence over what is happening in Gaza."
With all of Walt's pride, only a few of the 62 participants would be considered rabbis of national prominence, although Rosen has gained notoriety because of his visit to Iran (like his Neturei Karta compatriots), from where he wrote: "While I prefer not to weigh in on the rhetorical hairsplitting debate on [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad's notorious 2005 threat to wipe Israel off the map, I'll only suggest that our attitudes and foreign policy must be based on real intelligence and understanding, and not fear-based, knee-jerk assumptions."
THAT ONLY 62 of approximately 3,000 liberal rabbis in the US joined Walt's and Rosen's cause does not warrant bragging rights. Quite the opposite; it indicates a colossal failure for what is clearly an anti-Israel act. Indeed, there are sound reasons for such an embarrassingly low participation, one of which is that in the explanation for the fast, there is barely a hint of support for Israel, although there is a token line condemning Hamas's rockets.
Because of a total lack of balance, the tenor of Rosen's and Walt's comments strikes one as anti-Zionist, bordering on anti-Semitism. It is bad enough that these rabbis are being led by someone like Rosen, who refuses to "weigh in" on Iranian threats of genocide against Israel, but, given the views of some Christian and Muslim signatories to the fast, they are aligning themselves with Israel's hostile detractors.
Have any of these self-appointed spiritual guardians of the Jewish people ever initiated a similar act of identification with innocent Israelis in the South, whose lives and livelihoods were threatened daily by incessant bombings from Gaza, even though, to their credit, some of the rabbis did visit Sderot.
What about during the height of the second intifada when civilians, both Jewish and Arab, were murdered on buses, at malls, in restaurants, in their homes, or when 500,000 Israelis, again both Jewish and Arab, were displaced from the North as missiles rained down on them during the Second Lebanon War? Did these rabbis carry out an act of self-denial to empathize with them and do something equally dramatic to protest the economic hardships the country underwent?
The literature of the fast group states that Israel has employed the blockade since January 2006, right after Hamas won the elections. However, rockets were landing on Israel years before those elections and before any blockade, just as there was terrorism before 1967. And what of the violent takeover of Gaza by Hamas, which was a surefire indication that Hamas would heat up the southern border and begin a concentrated effort to smuggle arms?
After Israel evacuated the settlements and pulled the army out of Gaza, what did the world see? Hamas destroyed public buildings and infrastructure for greenhouses left behind which could have served the social, medical, economic and agricultural needs of Gazan society. With hatred overwhelming self-interest, is it any wonder that Israel was concerned about a Hamas-controlled ministate next door - one that also terrorizes its own residents and witnesses hundreds of Palestinians killed by Palestinians?
Israel had no choice but to react.
Has its response resulted in collective punishment? Yes - however, let's examine the notion of collectivity. There is a direct link between collective punishment and collective responsibility. In Israel there are dozens of human rights groups that protest its actions in the territories, claiming that the many are forced to suffer for the behavior of a few. It would be morally irresponsible not to speak out. By not protesting, we become complicit partners in those actions.
BUT WHERE were the Palestinians demonstrating against Hamas's rocket fire on schools, factories and homes - a deliberate act of collective punishment? (They might find themselves incarcerated, kidnapped or murdered.) Do Gazans really expect not to suffer regardless of the behavior of their leaders? Should fair-minded people absolve Hamas for the collective punishment it brought upon itself as a result of the collective punishment its indiscriminate bombings imposed upon Israel?
How well have these rabbis examined the blockade? Is it as total as they claim? Do they think that concern about arms smuggling is completely bogus, or do they consider that the blockade justifies shooting at Israelis, while Israel's response deserves wholesale condemnation? Have they no regard for the history and present reality - and the complexities - of what goes on in the South? Their one-sidedness speaks for its prejudicial self.
I consider myself a human rights activist. I oppose any policy that deprives humanitarian aid as well as the basic means for Gazans to live a normal life - electricity, water, gas. A country's moral steadfastness is tested during conflict. I have frequently criticized the blockade in my column. But one would expect that Jewish criticism of Israel would be predicated on a love for the country - an emotion that is not faintly expressed in the rabbis' Fast for Gaza movement.
Perhaps, unlike my Diaspora colleagues, having served in Gaza I can appreciate the context of what is happening. I sympathize with my fellow citizens, not only in the South but throughout the country, who have suffered the atrocities perpetrated against them by Palestinians. The Fast for Gaza rabbis fail to recognize that Palestinians do not hold a monopoly on pain. There are victims on both sides of the conflict.
Because of this failure to acknowledge that there are two narratives to the Middle East imbroglio, this minuscule group of rabbis has left sensitivity toward Jewish suffering out of the equation, and sadly stand idly by when their fellow Jews' blood is being spilled. That is what their fast represents.
Their Web site (www.fastforgaza.net), along with Walt's and Rosen's declarations, implies that they care not at all about an objective critique of an Israel that should be "a light unto the nations," but rather care only about painting Israel as an "evil empire," thereby justifying their and others' blatant assault on the very legitimacy of a Jewish state
But even from the Reform side, only a minority has joined this looney movement.
I agree with this 100%!!!!!!!!!! They should fast ,,like not eat a THING for 6 months! I’m excited about this plan! Even more, they should refuse water too!!
It is questionable whether a lot of those so-called “rabbis” are even Jewish according to Jewish law. The Reform Jews have rewritten the Torah to suit themselves, so that whatever it is that they follow is as man-made as Naugahyde vs. the genuine leather of the original G-d -given Torah. According to Jewish law, Jewishness is determined by the mother, not the father. If your mother is Jewish, you are a Jew. If only your father is Jewish, you are NOT a Jew. NOW these Reform folks have decided that if EITHER parent of yours is a Jew, then so are you. They, you see, know better than G-d.
Therefore, this “fasting for Gaza” is only yet another of their gross stretches and misinterpretations of Jewish law, as are female “rabbis”, 3-day miracle converts, etc. Not only have they strayed far from the original and authentic Torah, but their sympathies are as equally misplaced, giving comfort to those who would, G-d forbid, destroy Israel. Let them starve themselves for Bozo the Clown if they want. It is a meaningless gesture only worthy of contempt by truly observant Jews and righteous Gentiles who love Israel.
May they never cease fasting.
Devotees of the Alinsky Torah.
So why don't they go bandage the wounded instead of skipping lunch? is there anything more "standing-idly-by" than fasting while your neighbor suffers?.....get off your thinning tucchas and go treat the wounded.....
...oh that's right, then they would have to actually personally engage the problems. A little too Jesus-like. A little too much reality-check.
True, my original reaction was why don’t they DONATE something and just keep on eating.
May the Lord bless and keep them . . . far away from food.
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