Posted on 02/24/2011 10:42:35 AM PST by Winged Hussar
We put "Reform Judaism" in quotes because we do not recognize left-wing politics as part of the Jewish religion by Bill Levinson
Eric Yoffie of the Union for "Reform Judaism," formerly the Union of "American" "Hebrew" Congregations first brought himself to our attention in 2000 where he used Reform Judaism support the agenda of the disgraced Million Mom March: a dishonest organization we had the personal pleasure of destroying by exposing its misuse of 501(c)(3) tax exempt money to support Democratic candidates. (We supplied the indicated information to J.R. Labbe.)
Eric Yoffie, who seems to confuse the Jewish religion with the Democratic Party's left wing and vice versa, now has the temerity to accuse Glenn Beck of insulting 1.5 million Reform Jews (of which we happen to be one). We are offended not by Glenn Beck's observation of an unpleasant truth but rather by Mr. Yoffie's very creative interpretation of Reform Judaism; an interpretation that made Beck's observation necessary.
(Excerpt) Read more at israpundit.com ...
I don't regard what Eric Yoffie calls Judaism as any more Jewish than the Westboro Baptist Church is Christian. Yoffie (and not Glenn Beck) offends and insults me every time he presumes to speak for me on, for example, subjects like gun control.
Good points.
I feel the same way about the church of joseph smith and Christianity, to be honest it (lds) is as insulting to Jewish faith as it is to mine in many ways.
I do believe that people should have the right to worship as they see fit, as long as they do not violate the Constitution or those laws are supported by the Constitution.
Good points.
I feel the same way about the church of joseph smith and Christianity, to be honest it (lds) is as insulting to Jewish faith as it is to mine in many ways.
I do believe that people should have the right to worship as they see fit, as long as they do not violate the Constitution or those laws are supported by the Constitution.
BookMark
Make no mistake. Yoffe is a real schmuck.
ML/NJ
BLMI
As a person of Jewish identity, I am highly offended not by Glenn Beck's statement of unpleasant facts but by the actions of individuals (like Eric Yoffie) who, by purveying left-wing politics under color of Judaism
I think you are missing the point on Beck.
BOTH Eric Yoffie and Glenn Beck equated ALL of Reform Judaism as just a vehicle to purvey left-wing politics.
Try this Catholic thread. Glenn Beck isn't doing too well on it.
Two wrongs do not make a right but, as Yoffie did what he did under color of Reform Judaism, I can see where Beck is coming from. You are correct, however, that Beck should have separated the action of Reform “leaders” like Yoffie from Reform Jews as a whole, which is what I do emphatically every time I write on this subject.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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While I'm no fan of Yoffie's, Becks's melding of Reform Judaism with radical Islam is absurd. At least he apologized.
Gun control is far from the only area where Yoffie foolishly conflates leftist politics with Judaism. Promoting the homosexual agenda is another.
Yoffie, and other Reform rabbis who openly engage in similar political activities, take undue advantage of their positions, knowing that in the Jewish tradition, the rabbi is a leader of his flock, and thereby can be an important influence on the way rank and file Jews may think on these issues.
As for the National Jewish Democratic Council, which also takes leftist stances under the color of "Jewishness," they are infamous for their smearing of Republican politicians with charges or innuendos of antisemitism for no logical reason whatsoever. One such instance was their blasting of Mitt Romney for kicking off his presidential campaign at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, noting that the late Henry Ford was unquestionably an antisemite. (Apparently the NJDC dodged the inconvenient truth that Henry Ford was also a Democrat.) Another was an attack on Sarah Palin at an NJDC sponsored event, at which Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) stated that Palin was likely antisemitic because she carries guns and hunts moose. The NJDC never rebuffed Hastings for his inane comment at their event.
Barrf. It makes my life so hard attempting to deal with the idiocy that comes out of Yoffie's mouth, but I don't even try to deal with what comes out of Sapperstein. Yoffie is a decent Rabbi when it comes to religious issues but completely clueless about politics and the world.
URJ's Rabbi Sapperstein is just clueless, and perhaps worse. I met him once and that was plenty too much.
Regardless of what these two do, Reform Jews do not have any say in who gets these positions. These folks are chosen by the CCAR, and for a number of reasons of which political leadership is actually and reasonably low on the list. Nevertheless, I will not live with folks bashing Reform Jews just because Yoffie or some other Reform Rabbi makes a fool of him or herself. Be warned.
My unofficial Chabad Gun Club is not joining these JINOs.
NJDC bashed Romney for appearing at the museum of a dead EX-antisemite (noting that Ford repudiated The International Jew). NJDC had nothing to say about Obama, Edwards, and Clinton posing arm in arm with a live and unrepentant one named Al Sharpton.
It is certainly unreasonable to bash all Reform Jews because of the statements of rabbis like like Yoffie or Sapperstein. But unfortunately, given the way they are covered in the media, they give Reform Judaism in general and even Reform Jews in general a bad name in both the Jewish community and beyond.
Reform Jews who dislike the likes of Yoffie (and Sapperstein, of whom I confess I know nothing) are morally obliged to use their influence to either (1) modify the power structure within the Reform rabbinate so as to produce more circumspect rabbinical leaders or (2) break away from the current Reform movement altogether and establish an alternative group within Judaism that presents an agenda more consistent with their principles, both politically and theologically.
Whether or not the late Henry Ford repudiated his antisemitism soon before he died is not the issue here. The museum as it is today - and at the time Mitt Romney appeared there - has absolutely no connection to antisemitism whatsoever, neither regarding the content of the material presented to visitors there nor the organization that administers it. The NJDC was merely trying to appeal to ignorance and emotion stemming from the name "Henry Ford" at the time it bashed Romney, carefully obscuring the inconvenient historical fact that Henry Ford was a Democrat who ran under the Democratic banner for the US Senate in 1918.
NJDC had nothing to say about Obama, Edwards, and Clinton posing arm in arm with a live and unrepentant one named Al Sharpton.
I don't recall any NJDC criticism of any living and active Democrat suggesting any hint of antisemitism, let alone criticism of a black Democrat. When you hear of any such criticism, kindly let us know.
Eric Yoffie, who seems to confuse the Jewish religion with the Democratic Party's left wing and vice versa, now has the temerity to accuse Glenn Beck of insulting 1.5 million Reform Jews (of which we happen to be one). We are offended not by Glenn Beck's observation of an unpleasant truth but rather by Mr. Yoffie's very creative interpretation of Reform Judaism; an interpretation that made Beck's observation necessary.
I’ve never met a rabbi not committed to religious education, and practice. Unfortunately, I have come across some Reform Rabbis who are shameless hypocrites using the pulpit for politics, while using the mantra of of “separation of Church a...nd state” to try to silence conservative Christians in the US, and in one occasion, Orthodox Jews in Israel.
I’ve had Yom Kippurs interrupted by a one rabbi trying to tell us to support Obamacare. Not Kosher.
First, Saperstein is the head of the Reform movement - Religious Action Center. And unfortunately, he is a complete tool.
At the moment, it is not in the realm of reality to modify the Reform Rabbinate power structure any more than the Catholics may modify the Catholic Church's power structure. It don't work that way.
On the plus side, Yoffie has provided leadership that has moved the whole movement toward faith, and the consequence of faith is the reduction of cluelessness.
For the moment, the Reform movement is deeply lost in terms of adopting Socialism instead of Judiasm, as well as taking Gay issues and the right to Abortions as core values. All of these are inconsistent with the teachings of Torah, and it draws harsh judgment from man and God, yet I see the Reform movement as a beacon of hope rather than a path to an ignominious end.
It took 60 years to get into the current state we are in and it will take years to work our way out. But, reality is cutting through the stupidity for Reform Jews just the same as everyone else and in my congregation my views are become more and more acceptable and normative, which is shocking to say the least, and at the same time the process is far to slow for our own good.
This is not Jeremiah Wright territory where this is but a funny congregation outside of the framework of the vast majority. But, instead, it is the largest sect of the faith in America, and in many aspects it reflects the thinking of the intellectual elites of America across the board. Which is wrong too. Ultimately, this gets down to a deep error in philosophy that accepts the positions of Spinoza, Nietzsche, and the modern Atheists. In the philosophical circles of Western academia, atheism is seen as the "ONLY" rational position and use this as a position to divide people of "substance" from those who are merely weak minded fools. Yet, Reform Judaism, when truly faced with this brink, recoiled. The Humanist movement in Judaism wanted to associate with the Reform movement primarily for practical purposes, such as sharing the cost of Religious Education and such, but when this was considered by the Reform Rabbinate, it was rejected and a boundary was set.
The Humanist sect recognizes only the ethics of the Torah but rejects the existence of God. This was inconsistent with the teachings of Faith that are core to the Reform mission, and thus, no curriculum could be fashioned that respected the Humanist community position. This created a roof top that has been a watershed of greater and greater importance as each year passes from that moment, because this is when Reform Judaism committed itself irrevocably to God and this is why even though, they are lost and wondering around, they are at the same time a significant and improving force in the hope for the future.
But, for now, we have to deal with the fact that every level of Reform Judaism is permeated with folks who see socialism as the path to human salvation. This is hugely in error, but it is a self-reinforcing error, that is largely supported by misinterpreting the lessons of Torah that value community integrity as much as they also value individual integrity. Ultimately, many Jews are still recoiling about the Holocaust, and this has lead to some bad choices that encourage the same thing to happen again. Nevertheless, I see in the Reform movement great hope but a hope that will take many years to realize.
Socialized medicine, with its inevitable government-controlled rationing of health care, is at odds with a most fundamental Jewish value: do whatever is in the power of man to maintain human life and support human health.
The word "hypocrisy" is too weak and inappropriate to describe this rabbi's pathetic support of Obamacare.
I walked out and later suggested that he reread Isaiah 5.
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