Rabbi Yoffie Excommunicates Pastor Hagee

The American Thinker ^ | April 04, 2008 | Richard Baehr

[Salem]

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, seems to think Israel has too many allies in America.  In particular, he believes that Israel can do without the support of evangelical Christians, and especially Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel.

At a convention of reform rabbis in Cincinnati this week, Yoffie lowered the boom on Hagee and urged Jews to no longer attend Hagee's series of "Nights for Israel",  which have helped raise tens of millions of dollars for the Jewish state,  and strengthened the connection between Jews and Evangelicals around the country.

Yoffie must think that the pro-Israel community has a lot of other places to turn for support in America.   Maybe he is foolish enough to think the mainline Protestant churches  will take up the slack. The problem is that while Evangelicals come to Washington to lobby Congress on behalf of  a strong US Israel relationship, the mainline churches are  busy passing resolutions calling for boycotts and divestment from Israel . 

Of course the very liberal Reform Judaism movement shares many  political belief systems with the mainline churches and their very liberal members.   So if Israel is thrown overboard by the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Episcopal Church in the USA, the Quakers, and the United Church of Christ, that is not enough to break any of those bonds of liberal fellowship they share with the Reform movement.

It is not hard to see in this relationship a similarity to the fraternity initiation of new pledges in the movie Animal House, with the Reform movement playing the role of pledges at the Omega House fraternity, and the mainline Churches as the upperclassmen. In one  scene in the film, a pledge named Chip, played by Kevin Bacon, is paddled by a sadistic fraternity member named Neidermeyer on initiation night, ,and after each pounding, shouts out: "Thank you, sir, may I have another!" Such are the bonds among liberals, and how easily Israel can be minimized as an issue.  Rabbi Yoffie,who has tossed aside the Evangelicals who support Israel,  perhaps believes more dialogue is needed between the Reform movement  and the Presbyterians and Methodists, and can help heal the wounds:  "Thank you for divestment, can we meet again?"

Of course there are plenty of members of Reform synagogues who care little for Israel and have the same blame-Israel mindset as the mainline Protestant Church leaders.  Ron Kampeas, who has made a career out of excusing and defending those who are unenthusiastic about Israel, mentions in an article on Yoffie that the Reform leader is in fact more pro-Israel than many of his members, most of whom probably can find dozens of political issues that move them more than the safety and survival of Israel. Some of Yoffie's members are embarrassed to have to defend Israel in polite company, and others are openly pro-Palestinian, and see no reason for an anachronism like a Jewish state to exist.

But the question arises: why did Yoffie choose to go after Hagee now?  After all, Yoffie, a man of not inconsiderable hubris, sought an invitation and then spoke at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University two years ago, signifying an opening to the evangelical movement.  The answer is not too hard to figure out. The Reform  movement is in some ways, a political movement  masquerading as a 501 C 3 tax exempt religious charity. This is a Presidential election year, and the likely Democrat nominee is Senator Barack Obama.  Members of the Reform movement vote, and Jews in general, tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democratic  nominees for President.  But this year, Obama has run into trouble among the pro-Israel community for his flirtation with Palestinian hardliners in Chicago in his years in Hyde Park, for his 20 year long  tie to Pastor Jeremiah Wright, who has given awards to Minister Louis Farrkahan, and blasted Israel regularly at sermons  and for a collection of foreign policy advisors, including Zbigniew Brzezinski, Samantha Power, Robert Malley and General Tony McPeak  who sound like members of a Jimmy Carter fan club or a Walt/Mearsheimer book club. 

Most American Jews do not support the candidate they believe is the most pro-Israel, but the one they think is the most liberal, which for all practical purposes is the Democrat. But for most American Jews, support for Israel is at least a threshold test, low as the bar may be set. And this year., Senator Obama is having trouble clearing that bar, even at the low level at which it is set. It explains why Obama, who has won big majorities among higher income, well-educated professionals in the primaries this year,  has lagged badly  among Jews with similar education/income characteristics. A poll of Israelis showed Hillary Clinton with 5 times the support of Obama. 

A few weeks back, Pastor Hagee endorsed Republican Senator John McCain for President. For years, evangelical Christian supporters of Israel operated outside the framework of mainstream Jewish organizations. But last year,  AIPAC, the most important group lobbying for a strong US-Israel relationship, invited Hagee to speak to 6,000 attendees at its annual Policy Conference in DC. Hagee repeatedly brought the crowd its feet with his speech, and the event signified that Hagee and his group, CUFI were now part and parcel of the pro-Israel community.  

With Obama as the likely Democratic nominee, and the Reverend Wright controversy still simmering, the Democratic Party and its subsidiaries (which is how the Reform movement behaves) need to change the subject. They have chosen to smear Pastor Hagee as part of that process. The charges are both familiar -- that Hagee is anti-Catholic and anti-gay, but also new -- that Hagee is damaging the "peace process" by being so hard line.  Surprisingly, the New York Times gave Hagee an opportunity to respond to some of the charges that have been hurled at him in this attempt at Democratic Party damage control ("we have one bad pastor, and so do you)".  

The new charge related to the peace process is interesting, in that it ties in with a comment that was made by Senator Obama in Cleveland   that being pro-Israel does not have to mean adopting the Likud Party agenda.  And that is what Yoffie accuses Hagee of doing -- of being uncompromising (like Likud), and hence opposed to peace. 

The sad history of the Israeli -Palestinian conflict is that it does not matter whether Israel is  compromising or  uncompromising; the Palestinian rejection is the same in either case. But Yoffie has now written out of the pro-Israel community anyone who is more skeptical than he of Palestinian intentions, or the wisdom of the current American "engagement" in the peace process.

When one acts as if he thinks of himself as the King of the Jews, as Yoffie appears to do at times,  such a stunningly ignorant and arrogant dismissal of the leader of a movement of tens of millions of pro-Israel evangelical Christians, is not hard to do.  Hagee has shown the humility to understand his place in all this: he is a pro-Israel Christian American. He understands that Israelis will decide Israeli politics, not his movement, and not Reform Jews. He does not have to like  the course Israelis may choose, and he can hope that Israeli politics shift in the direction he prefers in the future. But he is not the one who has written anyone in or out of the pro-Israel community. Rabbi Yoffie is the one who has done that.

Fortunately, his movement, and Yoffie himself, count for less and less each year. Demographic trends favor Orthodox Jews and evangelical Christians, while Reform Jews do not produce children at anything close to replacement levels. There is much for Yoffie to envy.

And maybe this year, If Barack Obama is the nominee, the Democratic Party's long stranglehold on Jewish voters will end.

Richard Baehr is political director of American Thinker.

[Alouette]

I tolerate Orthodox bigots like you.

You sound like Yoffie, calling everyone who disagrees with you a "bigot."

[Convert from ECUSA]

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz.......

[Convert from ECUSA]

Ping!

[Louis Foxwell]

I have heard the wrap that he has made offensive anti-Catholic remarks

Hagee followed the lead of the Pope who apologized to the Jews for the antisemitism of the Catholic Church in Germany leading up to WWII. If Hagee is anti-Catholic so is the Pope.

[Froufrou]

“Fortunately, his movement, and Yoffie himself, count for less and less each year. Demographic trends favor Orthodox Jews and evangelical Christians, while Reform Jews do not produce children at anything close to replacement levels...
If Barack Obama is the nominee, the Democratic Party’s long stranglehold on Jewish voters will end.”

WTF? Who put the koolaid in his water? Are his glasses too tight? Is there an invisible vice constricting him in a nether-region? Did someone accuse him of having a brain and not using it?

Have I run out of stoopid questions yet?

[Ancesthntr]

I have proudly attended the last 2 “Night to Honor Israel” events at Pastor Hagee’s church, and I will continue to do so as long as I’m invited (and I’m on their list, so I expect that’ll continue until long after I’m dead and gone).

I’m also proud to be a Jew who votes for conservatives consistently (though I must admit a vote for Mrs. Beast last month in the TX primary, cast only to return the favor and screw up the Dems). I cannot understand my idiot brethren who consistently vote for uber-lib candidates. Yes, Judaism encourages kindness to the less fortunate and the giving of charity - but not when such is enforced at the point of a gun, as it is with taxes. Such acts are supposed to be from one’s heart, and the compassion of these people is sorely, sorely misplaced. Their stances on foreign and defense policy are, by and large, insanely suicidal for both this country and Israel. Same goes for their approach to personal defense and the 2nd Amendment (I carry every time I go to synogogue). What kind of mass delusion causes this I cannot fathom, but fortunately I do not suffer from it.

As far as I’m concerned, “Rabbi” Yoffie can go suck an egg.

[Ancesthntr]

An Orthodox Jewish friend of mine comfirms that the community likes Hillary and has severe reservations about Obama.

Your friend must be from a very liberal area. I attend an Orthodox synogogue, and there's precious little support for any Dem (under 30%), and only a few meshugginas among them supporting Obama. Most of us are for McCain (even if only because he's not as bad as the other two, not from any genuine liking of his stances on the issues).

[JewishRighter]

“Rabbi” Yoffie is not qualified to excommunicate a flea from a dog.

[JewishRighter]

Hope you check my comment at #88

[Convert from ECUSA]

ROFL! Excellent!

[Cindy]

ADDING to post no. 78

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207486215731&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Apr 7, 2008 22:27 | Updated Apr 7, 2008 23:09
“Hagee: We don’t tell Israelis what to do”
By MICHAL LANDO, NEW YORK

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “”In making this allegation, Yoffie ignores CUFI’s record of activism,” said Hagee. “Instead he relies on a few quotes from me and others pulled out of context.”

“When it comes to issue of land for peace, it is true that I and other Christian Zionists have grown skeptical after watching the results of the withdrawal from South Lebanon and Gaza, but CUFI’s philosophy has been that Israelis - and they alone - have the right to make existential decisions about land and peace,” Hagee continued.

To the extent that CUFI has taken “concrete action,” Hagee said it has been “limited to asking the White House not to pressure Israel into making territorial concessions that she does not wish to make.””

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “”I must say that Rabbi Yoffie’s speech demonstrates not only a lack of respect for me, but a troubling lack of respect for the truth,” said Hagee. “I am deeply disappointed that Rabbi Yoffie would repeat this false charge without even bothering to check his facts. Had he done so, he would have found that I have never called the Catholic Church by these names.”

Asked to define Christian Zionism, Hagee said it is “the belief that every Jewish person has the right of return to Israel, and the right to live in peace and security within the recognized borders.””

[Cindy]

A bit off topic, but relevant.

http://www.hallindsey.org

http://hallindsey.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=264
Video - Focus: “Should We Support Israel?”
(Posted April 4, 2008)

[dalight]

You sound like Yoffie, calling everyone who disagrees with you a "bigot."

Lets review the bidding.. your statement

This is a righteous beatdown on Yoffie, who deserves all of it. If that offends you, find another forum that is not swarming with Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews like FreeRepublic. Maybe DailyKos has your temple's stamp of approval.

Which was in reply to..my statment

Nevertheless, its one thing to decry the ignorance of one person or even the the whole URJ Religious Action Committee, but I won't accept your crap which is just bait for anti-Semites everywhere.

Which was in reply to your posting..

Posting on FreeRepublic can get you thrown out of your Temple.

Which is all about your continuing disrespect for not just individuals in the Reform movement but all Reform Jews. And, my point is that by running down all Reform Jews and slandering us with a broad brush you are engaging in Lashon Ha-Ra.

[dalight]

Asked to define Christian Zionism, Hagee said it is “the belief that every Jewish person has the right of return to Israel, and the right to live in peace and security within the recognized borders

I just don't know what point of this that Rabbi Yoffie doesn't get, but I am sure Hagee is right on the money, in his characterization of Rabbi Yoffie's thought process on this matter.

The URJ leadership have a long way to go before I am pleased with where they are coming from when dabbling in politics. They, thankfully, are making better moves on the basics. The new Reform Siddur is a step forward, though still very flawed. But, progress is often measured in baby steps.

[Cindy]

“I just don’t know what point of this that Rabbi Yoffie doesn’t get...”

OPINION:

He willfully is not getting the point and in all cases, whether willfully or unknowingly; ignorance is not bliss.

Thanks for your feedback dalight.

[Salem]

"...If that offends you, find another forum that is not swarming with Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews like FreeRepublic."

WHoooooP!! Haaaaaaa,haa,haaa!! And it's a wonderful, wonderful thing!

     
Alouette! Alouette! Alouette!

[sageb1]

Ouch!

Great article!

[kimmie7]

OUCH!!!!!!

That’s gonna leave a mark!

Signed,

One of those wacky evangelicals who loves Israel

[Alouette]

you are engaging in Lashon Ha-Ra.

I doubt that you, or Yoffie, have ever studied the laws of Lashon Ha-ra. Which aspect of Lashon Ha-ra am I engaging in here? Rechilus, malshinus, motzee shem ra?

I did not say that all Reform Jews support Yoffie, anymore than all Israelis support Olmert, but he is your authorized leader and he speaks in your name. That should boil your blood, but instead you are whimpering here that I'm hurting your little feeeeeelllings.

[SevenofNine]

There is old saying on old sport site I used go on Alouette

RACK THAT TAKE LOL!