JINO's protest David Friedman's nomination to be US Ambaassador to Israel
Several 'as a Jews' protested David Friedman's nomination as US Ambassador to Israel in a Senate hearing on Thursday.
Let's go to the videotape.
One of the things that upsets the JINO's is David's connection to the yeshiva in Beit El (a connection that is likely the result of one of his children studying there - that's usually how these connections are formed).
As the Senate holds a confirmation hearing Thursday on the nomination
of David Friedman, he could face grilling about his ties to Beit El, a
community north of Jerusalem located in the heart of the occupied
territory Palestinians demand for an independent state.
A bankruptcy attorney from the Five Towns area of Long Island,
Friedman is a major donor to Beit El and serves as the president of the
American Friends of Beit El Yeshiva, the U.S. fundraising arm of the
settlement’s Jewish seminary and affiliated institutions, including high
schools, an Israeli military prep academy, a newspaper for the
religious Jewish settler community and the right-wing news site Arutz
Sheva.
They make the entire town sound like shnorrers (beggars). In fact, the 'American Friends' setup is entirely legal - nearly every school in Israel that raises money in the US has one in order for donors to qualify for 501(c)(3) deductions. Each of the other institutions likely has its own 'American Friends' with the likely exception of Arutz Sheva, which the last time I checked was a commercial venture.
But even by Trump’s new standards, Friedman appears to be extreme.
Friedman is a fervent supporter of the settlements and an outspoken
opponent of Palestinian statehood.
“I have expressed my skepticism about two-state state solutions
because of what I perceive as the Palestinians inability to denounce
terrorism and recognize Israel as a legitimate state,” Friedman said.
If that's 'extreme,' I don't many Orthodox Jews in the United States or Israel who aren't extremists.
In Beit El, the Friedman Faculty House, which bears his and his wife’s
names on the facade, is built on private Palestinian land without
permission from its Palestinian landowners, according to the
anti-settlement watchdog Kerem Navot.
And now CBS is accepting claims by Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily as 'facts.' Prove it.
As many of you may have heard, someone dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed six people at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem on Thursday. The 'man,' Yishai Schlissel, did the same thing ten years ago, and was recently released from prison for that crime. Unfortunately, this time, he managed to murder someone. 16-year old Shira Banki (pictured above) passed away today.
The letter below was written by Rabbi Ron Yitzchak Eisenman of Passaic, New Jersey, who studied with me in yeshiva 35 years ago. I think it sums up pretty well how we ought to look at and feel about this incident (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
The Short VortGood Morning!Today is Sunday the 17th of Menachem-Av 5775 and August 2, 2015In Memory of Shira Banki...
Posted by Ron Yitzchock Eisenman on Sunday, August 2, 2015
American Orthodox Jews fearful of 'gay marriage' decision
Maybe this will be an impetus for American Orthodox Jews to make aliya. There's some real fear going around about the future implications of last week's US Supreme Court decision forcing the states to allow 'gay marriage' and how that might impact Orthodox Jewish institutions.
[T]he Orthodox Jewish community has a different view. This was voiced
by, among others, the Orthodox Union and the Agudath Israel of America.
The latter, in a statement Friday, warned
that its members faced “moral opprobrium” and were in danger of
“tangible negative consequences” if “they refuse to transgress their
beliefs.”
To judge by recent events, they are understating the
case. The whole campaign for same sex marriage, however high-minded its
ideals and however real — and all too often violent — the injustices
endured by same-sex couples, has been levied at the expense of religious
Jews and Christians. The U.S. Supreme Court majority knows that full
well. But it dodged the issue, with Justice Anthony Kennedy, author of
the majority opinion, giving the fears of religious Americans less than a
paragraph.
Kennedy emphasized
that “religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may
continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine
precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned.” He noted that the
First Amendment, part of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, “ensures
that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as
they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central
to their lives and faiths, and to their own deep aspirations to continue
the family structure they have long revered.”
That was a reference to the free speech part of the
First Amendment. But it was startling — shocking even — that the
majority gave no mention at all of the Constitution’s second principle
of religious protection, the right to the “free exercise” of religion.
That is where the battle lines are being drawn by liberal and left-wing
factions in America seeking to force religious individuals to embrace
same-sex marriage.
In recent months, Americans have been reading about a
Christian baker who has been the subject of an enforcement action in
Colorado for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding,
a husband-and-wife clerical team that reportedly may have to close
their for-profit wedding chapel because they won’t hold same-sex
nuptials in it, and a New York family that is tangled in a legal
proceeding for refusing to rent out their home for a same-sex wedding
reception. A Catholic adoption agency that would not work with same-sex
couples has been forced out of its charitable work.
“In all likelihood, many of these rear-guard actions
against marriage equality will soon fall of their own weight,” Jeffrey
Toobin, who covers the Constitution for the New Yorker, wrote
after the Supreme Court spoke. “Like so many of their fellow-Americans,
wedding photographers and the like will make their peace with the new
rules that guarantee their neighbors an equal chance at happiness.
(Besides, they need the business.)” Maybe, but I’m not so sure things
will go as smoothly as he imagines in the Orthodox Jewish world.
“The issue here is not whether all human beings are
created in the Divine Image, or whether they have inherent human
dignity. Of course they are, of course they do,” the Agudah said in a
statement after Obergefell vs. Hodges was handed down. But it went on to
assert that “the truths of Torah are eternal, and stand as our beacon
even in the face of shifting social mores.” At some point this is going
to come to a head in a way that will test George Washington’s promise to
the Jews to a degree that we haven’t yet seen.
I'll shut the comments on this post if I have to, but I can tell you that I would not want my children taught by someone who is openly gay. No way. I want my children to be able to look up at their teachers as religious role models. Then again, since I live in Israel, it's unlikely that any of my children's schools (except for the children in university, which is a different category) could be forced to hire gay teachers.
Michael Oren: 'Non-Orthodox' intermarried Jews in Obama administration don't understand Israeli character
Michael Oren continues to pound away at Barack Obama and his administration.
In an appearance at New York City's uber-Leftist 92nd Street Y on Sunday, Oren explained that his book was directed at American Jews (and here I thought it was directed at Israelis who still don't get that Obama is not our friend) and that he pushed to have it published now because of the critical juncture of the Iran negotiations.
Former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren
says he pressured Random House to publish his controversial new book
“Ally” now, rather than during book season in September or October,
because “Israel is at a fateful juncture” before the deadline of the
Iran talks and the vote on the French initiative on Palestine in the
Security Council. He said that one of his main objectives was to
“motivate, animate and inspire my readers” in advance of these
challenges “to do more than just stand there”.
“It’s about saying no” to an Iran deal that
“everybody in the Knesset agrees is emphatically bad,” Oren said. He
compared “this critical moment” to the Holocaust era, when American Jews
had an opportunity to “intercede and perhaps save millions of Jews”.
Oren received a surprisingly warm reception from the 92nd Street Y, where he made remarks that might be read by some as an indictment of American Jewry.
Oren discussed what he described as the unprecedented predominance of
American Jews in the Obama administration – “there were discussions in
the White House in which there were six Jews – 3 Americans and 3
Israelis, discussing a Palestinian state - and the only non-Jewish
person in the room was the President or the Vice President.” He said
that the non-Orthodox and the intermarried American Jews in the
administration – “have a hard time understanding the Israeli character.”
Well, yes, but that's not just the administration. That's true of American Jews in general. For years now, there's been a split between American Jewry and Israeli Jewry, but that split has been virtually non-existent among Orthodox Jews. Orthodox Jews also consistently vote Republican (or have since Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter in 1980), and the more Orthodox, the more consistent they are about that. And Orthodox Jews and most Israelis would disagree with Oren's statement that Obama is not anti-Israel. He most definitely is anti-Israel. As I said once before:
Oren doesn't go far enough. His claim that Obama was 'never anti-Israel' doesn't square with the facts that we knew long before Obama was elected President.
The fact that the one example Oren gives of 'significantly strengthened
security cooperation' under Obama relates to a natural disaster and not
to a military action is telling.
And Oren ties the Obama White House in with the anti-Israel bent of American academia.
Recounting his academic experience in America, Oren said that “1968
revolutionaries” had taken over the Middle East and international
relations departments of American universities and that unless one
published their “neo-Marxist ideas”, one would not get tenured or
published. When he came to Washington in 2009, he encountered the same
ideas in his talks with Obama administration officials in the White
House and the State Department: “I could tell what professors they had.”
Oren went on to claim that the term “Israel Lobby”,
which was condemned when it was used by Professor Stephen Walt and John
Mearsheimer, is now an accepted term in Washington discourse.
Triple Crown winner American Pharaoh owner is an Egyptian-Amercan MuslimOrthodox Jew
On Saturday a horse named American Pharaoh became the first triple crown winner since 1978.
Let's go to the videotape.
There are a lot of people out there who think that American Pharaoh owner Ahmad Zayat is a Muslim. He's not. He's an Orthodox Jew from Teaneck, New Jersey and a member of blogging rabbi Steven Pruzansky's synagogue (Hat Tip: Jack W).
Ahmed Zayat made his fortune selling beer, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, in Egypt. He is a gradate of Yeshiva University in New York City, lives in New Jersey now, keeps Kosher, and is a member of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Teaneck.
...
The Zayats were a prominent family in Egypt — his grandfather Ahmed Hassan al-Zayat was a leading intellectual who founded Al-Risala, a well-known literary magazine. His father, Alaa, was a physician who taught medicine in Cairo and had been the personal doctor to President Anwar el-Sadat.
Mr. Zayat’s horse trading was financed by his proceeds from the sale of Al Ahram Beverages Company, the formerly state-held beer company that he had privatized, to Heineken for $280 million, or four times what he paid for it in 1997.
...
Publicly, Mr. Zayat alternately identifies as Muslim and Jewish. In fact, Mr. Zayat, who graduated from Yeshiva University, has given amply to Jewish causes. He lives with his wife and four children in a largely modern Orthodox neighborhood of Tudor and Victorian houses known as West Englewood in Teaneck, N.J.
...
They keep kosher, arranging menus in advance at racetracks and, if they cannot locate a hotel close by, they stay in an R.V. and walk to the track, as they did at the Preakness Stakes, to avoid driving on the Sabbath.
“It’s a very wonderful, kind family — very active, very generous,” said Steven Pruzansky, his rabbi at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, one of more than a dozen Orthodox synagogues in Teaneck.
J Street Jan Schakowsky attacks former rival Joel Pollak for being 'Orthodox' Jew
Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Il) thanked J Street for backing her Congressional campaign in 2010, and took the opportunity to attack her long-gone rival Joel Pollak for being 'Orthodox.' Pollak has moved to California and become an editor at Breitbart.com (Hat Tip: Mike P).
Schakowsky begins by thanking J Street for its backing of her positions when it comes to Israel.
“I’d like to begin with just a great thank you for J Street. I have
to tell you that the courage to take positions that I’ve been able to
take are [sic] really because of the space that, in a very short time, J
Street had opened for members of Congress to expand political
discussion about the State of Israel and our relationship to it.”
In the video—which was provided by Paul Miller, who served as a
senior policy adviser for Pollak’s campaign and is now the executive
director of the Salomon Center—the Democratic Rep. from Illinois rips
into the Breitbart editor.
“In 2010, I had an election… an election within our community. That
is, I ran against a Jewish-Orthodox, Tea Party Republican who made it
very clear that actually Jan Schakowsky was anti-Israel because of the
positions that she took,” the Congresswoman said of Pollak.
“J Street came to my rescue,” she added. “Not just with money, but
with the kind of moral support that was able to assure a substantial
victory in that election.”
Schakowsky represents a heavily Jewish district in the Chicago area. I hope that any Orthodox Jewish constituents will respond to her. She's disgusting.
Poritz (in Yiddish )was the ruler back in old eastern Europe who could
make or break the lives of the Jews living in his shmate kingdom.
The Jews developed a behavior that was all about pleasing the Poritz.
They did not know it but they were dhimmis just like their brothers in the Arab countries.
Sadly , this behavior was not fool proof and when the need for money or property or blood came up - the Jews got their pogrom.
The
CZAR USED TO SEND THE KASAKS to burn houses and rape Jewish women so
that their terrible poverty and anger over it will not make them do this
to him.
Some Jews seem to suffer from the Poritz syndrome even though they really should not.
There have been some voices in Israel this week - like the Dry Bones cartoon above - that hint at ulterior motives of US Secretary of State John FN Kerry in pursuing a 'two-state solution' between Israel and the 'Palestinians.'
Even Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League - about as mainstream as you can get among the American secular Jewish leadership, but someone who sees anti-Semitism in every corner - blasted Kerry earlier this week.
Describing
the potential for expanded boycotts of Israel makes it more, not less,
likely that the talks will not succeed; makes it more, not less, likely
that Israel will be blamed if the talks fail; and more, not less, likely
that boycotts will ensue. Your comments, irrespective of your
intentions, will inevitably be seen by Palestinians and anti-Israel
activists as an incentive not to reach an agreement; as an indicator
that if things fall apart, Israel will be blamed; and as legitimizing
boycott activity.
...
But the core of the conflict was and
remains Palestinian unwillingness to accept Israel's legitimacy and
permanence as a Jewish state. That is why the Palestinians rejected the
1947 partition, that is why they rejected recognizing Israel after the
1967 war, and that is why Israeli offers at Camp David in 2000 and
Annapolis in 2008 were rejected or allowed to go unanswered. It is
Palestinians who must hear the message that not only has their
rejectionism been the major obstacle to peace, but it has also been the
main source of their suffering and misery over the years. It is time for
them to make the qualitative leap toward peace and acceptance of the
legitimacy of the Jewish state.
On Thursday, a group of Israeli rabbis calling themselves the Committee to Save the Land and People of Israel, published a letter that accused Kerry of declaring war against God.
“Your incessant efforts to expropriate integral parts of our Holy Land
and hand them over to Abbas’s terrorist gang, amount to a declaration of
war against the Creator and Ruler of the universe! For G-d awarded the
entire Land of Israel to our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in
order that they bequeath it, as an everlasting inheritance, to their
descendants, the Jewish people, until the end of all time,” the Rabbis
wrote.
“If you continue on this destructive path, you will ensure your
everlasting disgrace in Jewish history for bringing calamity upon the
Jewish people,” the letter continued, invoking the specter “heavenly
punishment for everyone involved.”
On Thursday afternoon, the Rabbinical Council of America and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the two most prominent voices of modern Orthodox Jewry in the United States, blasted the aforementioned committee.
In a joint release, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of
America, which together represent a large plurality of modern orthodox
Jews in the United States, repudiated the nationalist Rabbis’ words,
which they defined as “extreme and offensive rhetoric.”
The Committee to Save the Land and People of Israel seemed to “arrogate
to themselves unusual insight into the desires of the Almighty,” the
American Jewish groups noted mockingly.
While world Jewry and especially those living in Israel have “ serious
concerns” regarding Kerry’s proposals, “such concerns must only be
expressed with civility and on the substance of the issues, not
degenerating into personal venom and threats,” the organizations
asserted.
While OU and RCA have aired their own objections with the Obama
administration, they stated, “we have found no reason to question their
intentions in pursuing this effort.”
"The letter of the Committee to Save the Land and People of Israel may
represent the views of its signators; it does not represent ours."
I'm not a big fan of people deciding for themselves that they know God's desires. Still, I have to wonder: Why did the OU and the RCA get involved? Are they afraid of what the Obama administration might do to the American (Orthodox) Jewish community if they remain silent? Is this another manifestation of the poritz syndrome?
A reminder that I am in Chicago, where the Sabbath doesn't start for a long time....
An appearance by a New York City mayoral candidate at a Brooklyn synagogue has resulted in the New York Daily News taking a swipe at the mechitza that separates men from women during services at every Orthodox synagogue.
This morning's NY Daily News criticized the New York City
Republican mayoral candidate for being respectful of Jewish customs. In
the Orthodox Jewish tradition men and women are separated during prayer
services. When Republican candidate Joe Lhota visited the Shomer Shabbos
Synagogue on Wednesday, he stood in the back as a prayer service was
going on.
In the video above around the
46 second mark one can hear a member of the congregation ask Lhota to
have the women in his entourage wait outside because prayers were going
on.
In the summer of 1990, before we made aliya, Mrs. Carl and I and the then-three children spent half a day with an organization that was creating the priestly garments and the vessels for the Temple - may it be restored speedily and in our time. The highlight of the day (for us) was when they showed us a model of the wash-basin and asked who knew how the Kohain (priest) stood when washing from the wash basin. Son # 1, child # 2 - then just short of 5-years old - immediately reached down and grabbed his ankles with his hands. We snapped a picture, and it instantly became the talk of the pre-1A class at YKP, where he went to school at the time.
The place we visited that day is known as the Temple Institute. On Sunday morning, the Leftists at Army radio (yes, even IDF radio is dominated by the Left) reported with horror that the Temple Institute is receiving government funding. No, it's not a huge amount, but it's enough to set the chattering classes into a tizzy. Fortunately, the government agencies in question aren't saying 'we didn't know.' Instead, they are defending the funding. For now.
The Education Ministry responded to the Army Radio report, saying:
“The nonprofit meets criteria for receiving subsidies that go toward
instructing students who visit the institute, and this has been the case
for over 10 years now.”
“The Temple Institute deals with
research, and it is supported by the ministry in accordance with
professional criteria that has nothing to do with directly supporting
the individual who heads it,” a Culture and Sport Ministry spokesperson
said in response.
“Thus far we have found nothing that would
raise suspicions of incitement or anything unusual as it relates to the
temple. In light of the Army Radio report, it is the ministry’s
intention to bring this matter to the attention of our legal
department.”
The Temple Institute responded:
“For over 25 years the Temple Institute has stood at
the forefront of research, education and preparation towards the time of
the rebuilding of the Holy Temple,” a spokesperson for the Temple
Institute told The Jerusalem Post. “The Institute's efforts have been
recognized and awarded by Israel's Ministry of Education. Its
trailblazing educational materials and scholarly publications have
revolutionized these difficult areas of Torah knowledge for young and
old alike.”
“Over one million people from all over the world, of
every background and religion, have visited the Institute's exhibition
located in Jerusalem's Old City," the spokesperson said. "The Temple
Institute's website is the most popular and educational web site on the
subject of the Holy Temple in the world."
"The rebuilding of the
Holy Temple, called by the prophet Isaiah a 'house of prayer for all
nations,' is a positive commandment, and the vision of the Temple's
rebuilding, which will usher in an unparalleled era of world peace and
harmony, is the central theme of the entire Torah. The Temple Institute
is proud to represent the concept which has been heartfelt prayer of the
Jewish people for two millennia.”
Any Jew who goes to synagogue prays for the restoration of the Temple. Orthodox Jews pray for it at least three times a day. As far as I know, prayers for the restoration of the Temple continue to appear in prayer books of the Conservative movement as well. While the Reform movement originally removed all references to the Temple, that was part and parcel of their removing the land of Israel (pre-state) from their prayers. But the land of Israel was restored to the Reform prayer book many years ago and I believe that the Temple was restored then too (caveat - I have not seen conservative or reform prayer books in recent years).
Let's be honest with ourselves. When the Temple is rebuilt, it is going to be rebuilt on the very same mountaintop where the dome of the rock and the al-aqsa mosque sit today. By definition, the rebuilding of the Temple, which is something we pray for every day, means no more false religions on the Temple Mount. And while no one is suggesting that we send the IDF to clear the Temple Mount tomorrow morning (maybe we should), we should not fool ourselves that we are praying for something else when we say in our prayers, "And may our eyes see when You return to Zion with mercy."
If the Israeli government cannot support an organization that is educating people about Jewish belief in our future, I have to wonder by what right the Israeli government calls itself a Jewish government.
An Orthodox Jewish security patrol in North London has agreed to protect a mosque (Hat Tip: Will).
The Shomrim patrol group accepted a request for protection by the North
London Community Centre in Cazenove Road, an Islamic institution
situated in the heavily-Jewish Borough of Hackney in northern London.
The deal was brokered at a recent meeting
coordinated by Ian Sharer, a member of the local council, the Hackney
Gazette reported this week.
It came following a rise in anti-Muslim
attacks after the slaying of a British soldier on May 22 in London. The
suspect, a 22-year-old Muslim extremist, was filmed holding a large
knife over the soldier’s decapitated body. A second suspect was charged
with attempted murder and is believed to have acted as an accomplice.
Tell Mama, a watchdog on hate crime, recorded
212 incidents in the nine days that followed the murder, including 120
online. In 2012, the same group documented 12 anti-Muslim incidents per
week on average and 624 in total.
Sharer, who is Jewish, told the Gazette that
he was asked by “Muslim friends to chair the meeting. The meeting was a
great success. The Shomrim patrols have agreed to include the local
mosques and other buildings as part of their routine patrols.”
I am tempted to end this post with "what could go wrong?" but then I would not be clear where I stand on this. I'm ashamed. Ashamed that Jews feel the need to protect our enemies. From what? Islamophobia?
Here's Rabbi Yosef Geisinsky on why he agreed to host Pamela Geller on Sunday at the Chabad of Great Neck (Hat Tip: Zvi S).
Speaking to COLlive.com, Rabbi Geisinsky said Geller was not the radical "the media proposes" she is. "She speaks against Sharia, terror and anti-Semitism," he said, noting that he expects a crowd of over 1000 people.
He said that "99.9%" of the feedback he has received since scheduling Geller's talk has been positive. "We have been getting very positive input," he said.
"The one who was able to block (her coming to speak) was a Reform Rabbi who fought our public display of the menorah for many years and hates anything to do with Yiddishkeit," he said.
While Rabbi Geisinsky didn't mention the person by name, the Jewish Press reported that cancellation was due to "the intimidating and relentless tactics engaged in by certain leftist Jews, notably Rabbi Jerome Davidson and Rabbi Michael White."
"I knew right away, if this person is against it, I should be for it," said Rabbi Geisinsky who was in a coma recently after suffering a massive heart attack and miraculously recovered.
Rabbi Geisinsky gets what so many - even Orthodox - Jews don't get. The Jews who seek to destroy us from within are the same Jews who make themselves the protectors of radical Islam. Here in Israel, the same Jews who rail against the 'ultra-Orthodox' (and often include the 'settlers' in their rants) are often the same Jews who seek to create a 'Palestinian state.'
Unbelievable: Majority of Orthodox Jews vote for Obama
And I thought that at least we were smart. Maybe the majority of those who self-selected as 'Jewish' would vote for Obama (because so many of them are Jews in name only), but surely what's called Anshei Shlomeinu in my neighborhood - those who self-select as 'Orthodox' - would be smart enough to see what's coming down the pike. Sadly, even that's not the case.
The Republican Jewish coalition did a survey of 1,000 Jewish voters last week, and while admittedly there were only 119 who self-selected as 'Orthodox,' the results are deeply disturbing. If you go to page 29 at this link, you will see that 48% voted for Obama, while 44% voted for Romney (Hat Tip: Gary P). Sad, but true.
So what happened? I can tell you that maybe not all of those who self-selected as Orthodox are really true blue Orthodox, but that's irrelevant. I can tell you that the sample size may have been too small to be meaningful, and that may also be true.
But I can also tell you that there are an awful lot of Orthodox Jews out there who don't have their heads screwed on straight.
And that's what I aim to change.
Because if we don't stick up for ourselves, no one else will.
The poll, conducted by Siena College, finds that currently President Obama has the support of 51 percent of Jewish voters, while 43 percent are opposed to him. Five percent are undecided. That means, Obama's lead among Jewish voters is at 8 percentage points.
Previously, in Siena's May poll, Obama had the support 62 percent of Jewish New Yorkers, while 32 percent opposed him. That means, last month, Obama's lead among this group of voters was at a strong 30 percentage points.
Those polled were responding to this straight forward question: "If the election for President were held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were [Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, or Don't know]?
Additionally, Jewish voters in New York overwhelmingly believe that America is "headed in the wrong direction" as opposed to "the right track," by a margin of 62 percent to 31 percent.
Perhaps most troubling for President Obama's prospects with Jewish voters were these two questions. "Overall, would you say that you and your family are better off now than you were four years ago, about the same as you were four years ago, or worse off today than you were four years ago?," the poll asked. Only 13 percent of Jewish New Yorkers said that they are better off now, under Obama, while 41 percent said that they are doing worse. (Forty-five percent said they're doing the same.)
The surprise here isn't that Obama has only 51% support now, but that he had a 62-30 lead last month. You see, New York's results are meaningful for New York... and New Jersey and that's about it. New York has an unusually high percentage of Orthodox Jews, and Orthodox Jews tend to be more conservative, to vote more Republican, and to place a higher priority on Israel than Jews out in the hinterlands. The only other state that comes close to New York in this respect is New Jersey.
After decades of decline, the Jewish population of New York City is growing again, increasing to nearly 1.1 million, fueled by the “explosive” growth of the Hasidic and other Orthodox communities, a new study has found.
...
Members of these Orthodox groups also have been known to be far more likely to adopt more conservative positions on matters like abortion, same-sex marriage and the Israeli approach to the Palestinians.
At the same time, among non-Orthodox Jews, there has been a weakening in observance of quintessential Jewish practices. Participation in Passover Seders has declined: 14 percent of households never attend one, almost twice as many as a decade ago. Reform and Conservative movements each lost about 40,000 members between 2002 and 2011; nearly a third of the respondents who identified themselves as Jews said they did not ally themselves with a denomination or claimed no religion.
...
That shift appears quite likely to grow even more pronounced. Now, 40 percent of Jews in the city identify themselves as Orthodox, an increase from 33 percent in 2002; 74 percent of all Jewish children in the city are Orthodox.
The New York area’s Jewish population is the largest in the world outside of Israel. It composes about one-third of the American Jewish population, which has been estimated at around six million (the census does not ask about religion).
“He’s always been tough on the issues of importance,” a spokesman for Jewspickrick.com said.
The site has been organized by members of the orthodoxy in New York and New Jersey, based on social issues and foreign policy.
“He won’t have to come in and need advisement, like some others. He won 3 times in Pennsylvania, a democratic state, and on birth control and abortion we know where he stands.” he said
Members representing the group point to “family values” among other things, on it’s website, as part of the reason for their support of the former Senator.
“As a married father of seven, Santorum is uniquely qualified to understand family values in a manner aligned with the Orthodox Jewish community,” reads a statement from their website.
I wonder if anyone told him how much day school tuition in the US costs.... Hey guys - come on aliya. It costs a heck of a lot less here and you can still vote absentee for Rick Santorum.
Some of you may recall Bir Zeit on the Hudson Professor Joseph Massad, a 'Palestinian' born in Jordan, who was found to have harassed students who disagreed with him, and who was subsequently granted tenure at the university through the back door.
This all left the university with a little problem: How to keep students who disagreed with Massad out of his classes. How the university went about doing that is now going to be the subject of an investigation by the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.
The OCR is investigating allegations that university faculty "steered" a Jewish student away from taking a class.
In January, the student got some troubling guidance from Barnard’s Middle East studies department chair. The young woman told the chair that she was interested in taking a course on the Arab world with Prof. Massad, who is notorious for his animosity towards Zionism. Massad, whether fairly or not, has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism. The chair looked at the young woman, whose Orthodox background is apparent in her modest attire. Then, as the student tells the story, the chair told her that she would not be “comfortable” in Massad’s class and that she should instead consider a course on Ancient Israel.
According to Professor Kenneth Marcus ... Columbia violated the Jewish student's civil rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 by deterring the student from taking the class.
By suggesting that a Jewish student may feel uncomfortable in Professor Massad's class, Columbia faculty are implicitly acknowledging allegations that Massad creates a hostile environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students. But instead of creating classroom environments where all student feel welcome, Columbia seems to think segregation of Jews might be the solution.
I think every Orthodox Jewish kid on campus should sign up for Massad's class. But since actually taking it would destroy their grade point averages, I'd suggest dropping out at the deadline.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
