Most Jews have nothing against Glenn Beck
Alana Goodman reports that most of the groups cited in the infamous '
400 rabbis' letter criticizing Glenn Beck have felt the need to
disavow the letter.
In fact, three out of four groups that Jewish Funds for Justice quoted in its letter have felt the need to point out their objections to the anti-Beck drive. But despite this fact, the Jewish Funds for Justice’s website is continuing to accept signatures for the letter, which still includes the quotes from the ADL, the American Gathering, and COMMENTARY.
I guess they think they know better than the rest of us. I'm sure they could also explain to us why it was worth spending $100,000 of Jewish communal money to publish a letter defending George Soros.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Anti-Defamation League, Commentary, Glenn Beck, Rabbis' letter
400 rabbis urge Fox to sanction Glenn Beck
400 rabbis spent at least $100,000 for ads in the Wall Street Journal and the Forward on Thursday urging Fox News chairman
Rupert Murdoch to sanction Glenn Beck for 'attacks' on George Soros and to demand that news director Roger Ailes apologize "for his dismissive remarks about rabbis' sensitivity to how the Holocaust is used on the air."
The letter states, “In the charged political climate in the current civic debate, much is tolerated, and much is ignored or dismissed. But you diminish the memory and meaning of the Holocaust when you use it to discredit any individual or organization you disagree with. That is what Fox News has done in recent weeks, and it is not only ‘left-wing rabbis’ who think so.”
Mr. Beck’s three-day series defaming Holocaust survivor George Soros sparked the letter from rabbis. At that time, Mr. Beck claimed Mr. Soros survived the Holocaust as 14-year-old boy by collaborating with the Nazis to send other Jews to the death camps. Mr. Beck said, that Mr. Soros “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send Jews to the death camps.”
Mr. Beck’s three-day attack on Mr. Soros was hardly the first time he has misused the Holocaust to incite viewers. The rabbis’ note Mr. Beck has made “literally hundreds of on-air references to the Holocaust and Nazis when characterizing people with whom [Beck] disagree[s].” Beck routinely compares American leaders to Nazis, has likened his crusade against progressives to that of “Israeli Nazi Hunters,” and has said that putting the “common good” first leads to “death camps.”
In the face of mounting criticism by Jewish groups, Fox News chief Roger Ailes dismissed criticism of Mr. Beck in an interview with the Daily Beast as nothing more than “left-wing rabbis who basically don’t think that anybody can ever use the word ‘Holocaust’ on the air.”
Apparently, these rabbis didn't bother to read what
Soros himself said about his wartime experiences. If they had, they would have discovered that Soros is a lot less genteel about his experiences than the rabbis are. Soros
dishes it out as well as he takes it - which is much better than the rabbis.
As to Ailes, I don't have the entire list of who signed the letter, but a look at what they say about it shows he's not far off.
The letter signed by rabbis from across the United States -- including the heads of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements as well as prominent Orthodox rabbis – accuses Mr. Beck and Fox News Network head Roger Ailes of diminishing the memory and meaning of the Holocaust.
...
Lead supporters (organizational affiliation listed for purposes of identification only):
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Vice President, American Jewish University, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Rabbi Daniel Nevins, Dean, Jewish Theological Seminary Rabbinical School
Rabbi Yael Ridberg, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, President, Central Conference of American Rabbis
Rabbi Steven Wernick, Executive Vice President, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President, Union for Reform Judaism
Notice - NO Orthodox leaders. So who are the 'prominent Orthodox rabbis'? Hint: Their names aren't Feinstein or Kotler or Solomon or Schachter or Tendler. (I'm not even naming Israeli rabbis). But their names might be
Schneier. So why is Ailes wrong?
Labels: Fox News, George Soros, Glenn Beck, Rabbis' letter, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch
Rabbis' letter has stopped home sales to Arabs
You will recall that I reported last week about a letter signed by numerous city rabbis not to
sell or rent homes to Arabs. On Thursday, two rabbis - Rabbis Simcha HaCohen Kook and Yaakov Edelstein -
removed their names from the letter after their teacher - Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv - denounced the letter.
"I've said for some time that there are rabbis who must have their pens taken away from them," Elyashiv remarked.
"It's interesting that these same Zionist rabbis support symbolically selling their land to gentiles during the shmita year," he added referring to the seven-year cycle when agricultural fields in Israel must lie fallow.
But the remaining rabbis have continued to support the letter, and the letter has
all but put a stop to home sales to Arabs by Jews.
"We know for sure that the rabbis' ruling has already been effective in stopping some sales," says an involved source.
The ruling banning the sale or renting of apartments to Arabs was originally issued two months ago in the Galilee city of Tzfat, of which several neighborhoods can be said to be mixed Arab-Jewish. Arabs comprise the majority of students in the local college, as well as of service providers in many fields.
In light of this demographic trend, the city's Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu issued the ban. It cites not only classic Jewish sources, but also the fact that bringing nationalist Arabs into Jewish neighborhoods leads to violence and danger to life, intermarriage, and a drop in property values as Jews leave the area and it becomes Arab.
Since the ruling was first issued, nearly 50 city rabbis around the country have signed it – and of late, another 250 have expressed support. This, apparently, in light of the demographic dangers presented by Arabs moving into neighborhoods of Jerusalem, as well as cities such as Nazareth Illit, Ramle, Lod, and more.
Some rabbis and many politicians have come out against the ruling, including Rabbi Yuval Cherlow and Prime Minister Netanyahu. The mayor of Herzliya, Yael German of the Meretz party, has said that she will seek to bring about the firing of the city's Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakobovitz because of his signature on the letter. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has said he will look into charges that the signatories are guilty of incitement.
Let's fire all the rabbis - that'll solve all the problems, won't it? /sarc
The picture is Rav Ovadiah Yosef, who was involved in the original letter.
Labels: Deuteronomy 7:2, Rabbis' letter, renting or selling land to non-Jews in Israel
Rabbis: Jews shouldn't rent land in Israel to gentiles
40-50 rabbis from the National Religious and Charedi (ultra-Orthodox) streams have signed a letter calling upon Jews
not to rent land in Israel to gentiles.
If a Jew sells or rents property to a gentile, his neighbors must warn him, and if he does not change his ways, the neighbors must avoid the person, and may not conduct business with him, according to the petition. A person who rents or sells to non-Jews also may not get aliyahs in synagogue.
Note: No death penalty.
In addition, one of the best-known National-Religious rabbis, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, signed the letter, as did Yosef's son, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef. Haredi leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rabbi Avigdor Neventzal of Jerusalem's Old City also signed the letter.
Another ten rabbis reportedly plan to sign the letter.
Across the spectrum. These rabbis certainly don't need my approval to express their opinion, but let me point out that there is a specific prohibition in the Torah against selling or renting land
in Israel to non-Jews (Deuteronomy 7:2 and see Rashi's commentary there). Of course, that's not going to bother Israel's Leftists:
MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) called on Tuesday for these to be fired.
"This is the worst kind of racism, which comes from rabbis who are paid by the state" Horowitz said on Tuesday. "All they do is encourage hatred and destroy Israeli democracy."
Many of them are actually not paid by the State and cannot be fired. But that's beside the point. In most places in Israel, Jews and Arabs do not live together. This is not America or even Europe, and neither side wants to live together. That doesn't mean that they're fomenting violence or hatred against each other. No rabbi is calling for murdering Arabs who buy in Jewish neighborhoods, and certainly not for murdering Jews who sell to Arabs. Unlike the 'Palestinian Authority,' Hamas or Jordan, all of whom have a death penalty for anyone who sells land to Jews.
Labels: Deuteronomy 7:2, Rabbis' letter, renting or selling land to non-Jews in Israel
Alana Goodman reports that most of the groups cited in the infamous '400 rabbis' letter criticizing Glenn Beck have felt the need to disavow the letter.
