Posted on 09/21/2008 9:50:27 AM PDT by dalight
J Street has just won its first political skirmish. Only a day or so ago it began a campaign to petition Malcolm Hoenlein and the Conference of Presidents against its decision to invite Sarah Palin to address a UN rally against Iran on the day the latter's president addresses the world body.
Paradoxically, you'll also find a disproportionately large percentage of Jews in the libertarian movement.
It seems ironic that a people that have gotten the short end of the stick from authoritarian states of all stripes throughout history should like government control to such an extent.
I do understand there may be one small glitch in Palin’s acceptance of the invitation to speak. She’s requested that she be introduced by David Brickner, the director of Jews for Jesus, who spoke before her at her Alaska church less than a month ago. I don’t think this will cause Abe Foxman any trouble though, since he claims he has no problem with Palin lapping up a Jews for Jesus exhortation to convert us.
Can anyone establish whether this is true?
This bothered me as well.
I hope it's not true. Things were messy enough without Sarah (and you'd think she'd know better) getting Brickner to introduce her. And while I'm a big critic of treating Jews for J differently from Jews for b*ddha or Jews for "gay marriage," the fact is that for whatever reason rejection of J*sus is perceived as the very basis of all Jewish identity (which is stupid considering that Jews were around over a thousand years before chr*stianity existed), and for her to ask to be introduced by such a person would be playing into the hands of all those who stereotype conservatives and Republicans as enemies of the Jewish people and would be the worst possible move.
Do you know anything about this, Alouette?
I have not heard this. Is there a link somewhere? It just seems bogus.
If it is a lie (and I hope it is) it is a peculiarly blatant one.
Of course, Ms. Palin simply may not understand that Jews for J are not considered a Jewish group at all (possible when you consider the fact that pro-Israel evangelical stations have a show called "Jewish Voice" which presents Hebrew chr*stianity as genuine Judaism.
But that's the whole point! Fundamentalist Protestants are people who reject all historical chr*stianity (Catholics, Orthodox, etc.) and absolutely idealize the original Jewish chr*stians as both the perfect chr*stians and the perfect Jews. They're use of Hebrew, and of Jewish ceremonial and ritual objects is not only to lure Jewish converts (though of course they wouldn't mind if they did). They are literally trying to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. For a brief shining moment two thousand years ago the Perfect Religion existed, and this Perfect Religion was just as accurately described as Jewish (since they believe it was prescribed by the Jewish G-d and Bible) as chr*stian.
Pro-Jewish Fundamentalist Protestants are the wrong people to be blaming for chr*stian anti-Semitism, since pro-Jewish Fundamentalism did not exist and was not responsible for the atrocities of chr*stendom (and it's certainly hypocritical for Jews to shun pro-Israel Fundamentalists in the name of anti-chr*stianity if they're going to issue joint statements with the Pope or with liberal Protestants who are every bit as chr*stian as any pro-Israel Fundamentalist is).
I have tried for a very long time to explain the peculiar worldview of Bible-only philo-Semitic Fundamentalist Protestants (I even have a web site somewhere with articles posted on the subject, assuming the Nazis haven't vandalized it). But for some reason no one wants to listen. Treating Bible Protestants like medieval Polish peasants is simply insane. And of course Bible-only philo-Semitic Protestants need to understand that Torah, not they (and not any liberal or even secular Jewish organization or group) defines the Jewish religion. Religious Jews really need to explain to these well-meaning and wonderful people why they can't accept J*sus. Instead the refusal to address the issue simply sweeps legitimate differences under the rug and keeps allowing misunderstandings to crop up to be exploited.
I'm not talking about arguing, yelling, or insulting. And no, chr*stianity is not (contrary to popular belief) the only thing disallowed by Torah. But Bible-only Protestants need to understand that Judaism isn't just "chr*stianity without the new testament." It's not a salvational religion. It's a statutory legal system. It's not about the messiah. It's about the Torah. Torah observance was never a temporary reaction to "the fall of man," or a "preparation for the messiah." The Torah is the reason the universe exists. G-d created the world so the Jewish People could observe Torah. And no one's explained that to them. For that reason they continue to think that "yeah, well you'll see one day that we've been right all along." They haven't been taught the true differences between the two religions or where (from the Jewish perspective) chr*stianity has gone off track.
Ironically, there are plenty of Jews who will tell chr*stians that "we Jews reject creationism," or "we Jews reject Biblical literalism," or "we Jews reject outdated laws against homosexuality." But there have been, so far as I know, no Jews who simply told their chr*stian friends "we Jews are doing exactly what G-d wants us to do, the Torah was never a temporary 'typology' of the messiah, and while we appreciate your support you simply have to understand that we believe that you are wrong."
Clumsy attempts to convert Jews by these people could be turned into a sincere teaching situation. Unfortunately, most Jews react to chr*stian missionaries like a vampire to sunlight, which of course plays directly into the hands of anti-Semites (of course, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox react the exact same way to Protestant missionaries).
I realize some of the things I have said here might be hurtful to some people on both sides of the issue, but that was not my intention. I'm simply trying to say that so much misunderstanding could be cleared up if philo-Semitic chr*stians could learn what Orthodox Jews believe Judaism is and is supposed to be, even if they never come to agree with them.
I've tried my best to pour my heart out in this post and describe the problem and the solution as I see them. By all past experience I will now be deluged with "hate pings" accusing me of both anti-chr*stianity and anti-Semitism. Oh well.
"Tikkun olam" is a very nebulous Hebrew language phrase that is subject to as many different interpretations as people trying to translate/interpret it. Roughly, "tikkun" means "repair" (even auto shops in Israel use the word) and "olam" means "the world." It is not a fundamental principle of Judaism at all, as it is merely mentioned once in the Talmud (so I'm told by a rabbi) in a context totally different from what the Jewish left thinks it means.
Clearly, the Jewish left has co-opted that phrase as a rallying cry and put its own spin on it, and would have one believe that Judaism equates with their leftist ideology. Their interpretation is just one of many.
So is the Republican Jewish Coalition, which put out a press release stating exactly that, which I posted on FR Friday.
It's not the Jewish people that cancelled Palin's appearance, it's a small group of leftist nutjobs. Please do not paint with too broad of a brush.
McCain will win a larger percentage of the Jewish vote this year than any GOP presidential candidate since the very early twentieth century, 40% at a minimum.
I agree.
In the presidential election this year, that majority will certainly not be "vast" and may not be a majority at all!
As a Jewish Republican, I'm just as frustrated as you are, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this could be a watershed year.
I suppose that the late nineteenth century political cartoonists knew what they were doing when they chose the jackass as the symbol for the Democratic Party!
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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The link is from Israelenews.com which started this thread. The assertion is made in the article.
No, of course that's complete nonsense. It's just a Jewish leftist writer's misplaced attempt at sarcasm.
I agree. This would be an absolutely preposterous request and indeed not at all something I could see her doing. The writer has inserted a false/sarcastic piece of commentary.
What you are describing is standard operating procedure for most Democrats in power since the New Deal.
I do understand there may be one small glitch in Palin's acceptance of the invitation to speak...
No, of course that's complete nonsense. It's just a Jewish leftist writer's misplaced attempt at sarcasm.
First of all, I'm elated to learn this (though I still maintain that Jews and philo-Semitic Bible-only chr*stians still need to talk in order to prevent future attempts at manipulation from various sides).
Secondly--sarcasm??? I took it to be a claim of fact. That isn't sarcasm--it's a lie!!!!!
Sorry. Meant to ping you two to my last post.
It’s just misplaced sacrcasm on the part of the “progressive” writer.
OK, it is completely bogus.
Well, it's both. Lefty Silverstein is trying to play up the relatively meaningless fact that Palin attended a church service at which this "Jews for Jesus" guy spoke. It's his idea of "justifying" why Palin was disinvited.
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