Comments on: Rabbis who forsake Israel – the liberalism of fools

By: Daniel Winter

Daniel Winter — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 05:02:29 +0000

Oh, yeah, btw, Shaul, calling Ari "some folk" is a more brain dead smear than anything you attempted to hurl at Boteach. Either you've never been to BJ and have no clue how the musicality is central to the experience or you're just another (right) brain dead American intellectual in love with language and your ability to enthrall naive Midwesterners with your pathetic appeals to sentimentality to appreciate what Ari brings. The crowds haven't been showing up to hear the Rabbis sermonize and demonize Israel. They've been showing up for the musicality and the spirituality that you dismiss as "stupid."

By: Ravi Singh

Ravi Singh — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:41:34 +0000

Boteach does immense damage to the Israeli cause.

By: John Hill

John Hill — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 18:13:36 +0000

Is it really a shock that the same newspaper which relentlessly buried news of the Holocaust, as author Laurel Leff documented, would now take any and all sides against Israel? It is seven decades since Arthur Hays Sulzberger's betrayal set the mold for that despicable family. Why any Jew would trust their lies is beyond me.

By: John Hill

John Hill — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 17:43:56 +0000

Shaul – Well since you identify with the self-hating traitors, it doesn't surprise us that you would feel this way.

By: Bill Bilek

Bill Bilek — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 14:49:22 +0000

The Palestinians, indeed, the Arabs, see this as a zero-sum game. Palestine – yes. Israel (as another majority Arab state) – yes. A nation state for the Jewish People – never.

Supporting any advance of the efforts to realize that goal (and that is their only, singular, unchanging, intransigent goal), and supporting an anti-Semitic world (no – not an exaggeration) using the Arabs to achieve that goal is shameful, even traitorous and treasonous.

By: Andrew M. Sacks

Andrew M. Sacks — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 14:44:01 +0000

Boteach is guilty of a presumption that so many who lean right (e.g. Gordis) seem to presume. If you openly disagree with Israeli government policies then you must not be standing with Israel or you can not be a serious Zionist.
He writes: "But, it turns out that when rabbis criticize Israel or are seen to join the other side, guess what. It’s news. Big news." I' for one, hope that rabbis will continue to criticize policies when they may appear to be immoral or unethical.
Boteach adds,"Surely rabbis should be firmly on the side of Israel." Yes they should. And here the rabbis of BJ have called for exactly what most in Israel from the Likud, Center, and Left have advocated – Two states for Two people.
How pathetic that Boteach is only able to see things in Black and white.

By the way, I am a Zionist rabbi, living in Israel since 1987, who would have liked to have seen Israel vote for a Palestinian state.

By: Daniel Winter

Daniel Winter — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 12:05:17 +0000

Ah, Shaul, the substance of your sophistry is far too sophisticated for a simpleton like me to contend with. Clearly, your substantive narrative is sufficiently interesting to you and your fellows. I dare not intrude in such self satisfactory sophistication. Especially given the hysterical revisionism of your perpetual emotion machine. Though it may not have risen to the level of a "mea maxima culpa" it certainly qualifies as a "mea culpa" as I originally charged and to attempt to belabor the point serves only to elucidate how desperately the American Left clings to obfuscation. BJ is crumbling. Marshall is spinning in his grave. Rollie is probably repenting. Marcello is screaming, "Buber!" "Heschel!" "Rosenzweig!" And I am thanking God for the guidance provided that steered me very far from that self-congratulatory non-sense community long ago.

By: Hershy Orenstein

Hershy Orenstein — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 04:42:25 +0000

Why not? Indeed!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 04:08:02 +0000

Michael Gruber Of course they realize it! They have to realize it because this is not the first time that comments by Jewish leaders have been used against Jews and Judaism. Recall when Alan Dershowitz defended the legality of torture; that was big news because he's a Jew and for no other reason.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 03:47:48 +0000

That's "bear witness" not "bare". But your spelling is the least of your errors, as you well know. Your "New Testament" is inherently anti-Semitic It is vicious anti-Jewish propaganda that has served as justification for the massacre and torture of Jews for millennia. You are not much better than Islam, merely at the moment the lesser of two evils.

By: Russell Gaddin

Russell Gaddin — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 20:22:06 +0000

It doesn't need clarification – it speaks for itself. A wise man once sais: FORGIVE THEM FATHER FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. He was probably referring to the Liberal Left, who will feature in the History books as the greatest Plague of this era – irrespective of whether it's their Palestinian tears, same sex marriages or the shape of the earth. They will always find a cause.

By: Russell Gaddin

Russell Gaddin — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 20:22:06 +0000

By: Larry Snider

Larry Snider — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:16:16 +0000

It is unfortunate that the three Rabbis of B’nei Jeshurun cannot speak of peace between Israelis and Paletinians without gettng caught in the politics of denial. As long as we all reinforce the narrow confines of the path to peace by reviewing every word of a Palestinian President or an Israeli Foreign Minister we can all effectively triagulate safely beyond both the talk and the actions that will collectively inspire, move and ultimately require all parties to seek and find a means to two secure and independent states.

By: Larry Snider

Larry Snider — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:16:16 +0000

By: Michael Gruber

Michael Gruber — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 15:35:48 +0000

The NY Times is using them for anti-Israel propaganda. They don't even realize it.