The Return of the Maccabees

“Liberalism: Disease of the Mind, Sickness of the Soul” by Donny Fuchs, was published in The Jewish Press of December 7, 2015. He commences, as follows:

“The modern Jew lusts after a new idolatry today, which tempts him in the same manner that an ancient Jew might have been attracted to Baal or Molach. With Chanukah upon us, we should remind ourselves that Matityahu and his zealous sons were certainly not liberal.”

Progressive thinking never got in the way of Matityahu’s sword. He would have been horrified to have witnessed what occurred in the aftermath of his great victories, and yet, he would have recognized the paganism of liberalism, as an extension of Hellenistic thought.

Liberalism is inherently un-Jewish given its acceptance of multiple truths. It rejects objective truth and the notion of an absolutely true Divine covenant.

Liberalism, in its current usage is an ideology of pseudo-moralist, where principles are altered at will to satisfy the most recent version of political correctness and social perception.

It reflects a detachment from the most basic elements of human morality. The innocent are guilty. Predators become victims. “The modern day liberal worships at the altar of women’s rights, and no horror on earth, documented or otherwise, will get in the way of his progressive thinking.”

Liberals profess to oppose violence, yet they consistently tolerate, perpetuate, and appease the worst perpetrators of violence in society. A excellent example this arose during the summer of 2020 riots in Democrat controlled cities. The prevailing law is such that only the municipal officials are authorized to request the services of the National Guard, whose services are controlled by the President. Trump did not delay, by offering to act. In only one case did a mayor accept. Consequently, only in this instance were citizens spared harm or death.

An equally alarming event concerns Biden’s effort to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies in which 13 US service members unnecessarily lost their lives while attempting to manage the chaotic situation which emerged. Without question, this was due to Biden’s inept actions.

In the hasty exit, apart from many lives destroyed, billions of dollars of the world’s most technologically advanced military weapons were left behind and now remain in the hands of the Taliban. Why was Biden not subjected to a similar inquisition to that of Trump?

As Donny Fuchs recognizes, “—-in the absence of morality, liberalism festers and worsens.” Even the documented acts of Islamic savages sawing heads off and crucifying thousands, fails to impress the liberal. ‘A minority, they declare.’ When Jews are killed in Hebron, there is silence in the streets of Tel Aviv.” In these days the idiotic and shameful remarks from the Mayor of that city are not worthy of reproduction.

The concluding remarks from Donny Fuchs, speaks volumes.

“I consider liberalism to be a mental disorder and a spiritual pathology. Naturally, the Jewish version is always worse, since the Jew brings his unrelenting passion, talents, and energy to the table, and he retains a stiff neck for eternity. And he begs a Jew-hating world to love him.”

Melanie Philips addresses the hysteria over the new Israeli government in planning as a phenomena which will harm the wider Jewish world in her “The Good Jew/Bad Jew demonization strategy “was published by JNS on Dec.9, 2022.

She observes, one of the favorite strategies deployed by the Jew baiters is to divide the community into Good Jews and Bad Jews. The difference? Good Jews have politically correct, progressive opinions. Jews who don’t hold with those opinions are Bad Jews. This distinction is helpful to Israel bashers, who can use it to claim that they can’t possibly hate the Jews because there are Jews who support their hostility to Israel.

And, in this she points to the White House hosting a round table on antisemitism to discuss the alarming escalation in attacks on American Jews. “Yet the Biden administration conspicuously failed to invite to this discussion the Zionist Organization of America, the Coalition for Jewish Values and the Jewish Leadership Project. These organizations defend Israel and the Jewish people against Left-wing ideologies. They are therefore Bad Jews.”

Thus, any Jew who fails to denounce Ben-Gvir, Smotrich or Maoz will be tarred and feathered as a Bad Jew. Why are these ‘Good Jews’ so frightened that their own identity is so vulnerable—-“It’s because they are terrified, at some subterranean level of their psyche, that these ‘Bad Jews’  may be right.”

“Israel’s Right-Wing Coalition Gets the Cold Shoulder From Biden” from WSJ, features an Op-Ed by Law Professor and Scholar at the Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem, Eugene Kontorovich. It is thoughtfully titled, “Many on the left warn that democracy is in peril, just because the government they back isn’t in power.”

As explained by Kontorovich, Israel is an assumed degraded democracy, as a consequence of the electoral success of Itamar Ben Gvir’s party. His critics cite his past in the far-right in the Kahanist movement. For all the consternation, one would think he was the future prime minister, as opposed to the head of a 2nd-tier party with 7 out of 120 seats in the Knesset.

Putting the fiasco in perspective, the departing government include Ra’am, a party affiliated with Israel’s Islamic Movement, which was founded by a convicted terrorist; or the far-left Meretz, with roots in an actual Stalinist party; or by “PM Yair Lapid’s apparent willingness to accept support from Hadash, a still-Communist party whose members of the Knesset recently justified terrorism against Israeli citizens” only suggests the irrationality of Leftists.

Professor Kontorovich’s lengthy essay’s conclusion is consistent in his understanding of Left-leaning governments ‘wisdom. “The alarm over Israel’s new government amounts to saying that Israel will be in America’s good graces only when it elects Left-leaning governments.”

Jonathan S. Tobin, editor-in-chief of JNS ‘”Don’t apologize for Ben-Gvir or anything else about Israel “adds to the essence of the subject at hand.

As in the past Left-wingers have been falsely claiming that Israel’s governments didn’t want peace and that the decisions of Israel’s voters should be either ignored or overridden by American governments that took up the cause of “saving Israel from itself.” Over 12 years, when there was no thought of Ben-Gvir being a minister, the same arguments about Israeli policies being oppressive, and alienating American Jews were heard over and over again.

In the past, without Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, American Jews were already embarrassed by Netanyahu and even some of his Left-leaning opponents in the Knesset. “This goes beyond the fact that the claims that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are fascists is without real substance.— What needs understanding is that the people who voted for Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir are just as deserving of respect and representation as they are.”

The Jewish Press published David Israel’s, “Ben-Gvir Calms Leftist’s Fears: You Didn’t Lose Your Country” on November 5,2002.

The subject journalist has an introductory paragraph as a lead to a detailed Op-Ed originally in Hebrew posted by Israel Hayom. “Itamar Ben Gvir may have started on a path from brilliant, provocative campaigner to a responsible politician, a path that could eventually lead him to become a bona fide statesman..”

Earlier in the week his Op-Ed appeared in Israel Hayom who chose to run it above the fold story, titled, “My brothers on the Left, you haven’t lost your country, “a truly worthy contribution.

“The Electrifying Musk: America’s Dark Wizard to the Rescue” by Peachy Keenan, provides an early exposure to a genius. “This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead, he tweeted.”

As observed by Keenan ,Elon Musk is indeed a man for our time and place. His accomplishments, speak for themselves. In time he will turn America on its head. He is not Jewish, but acts as if he was, unlike the non-Jewish Jews of J Street.

In the world today, we may identify with the Maccabeus fight to preserve Judaism in the face of assimilation and antisemitism, while at the same time working to mitigate religious zealotry that threatens to turn Jew against Jew.  And so, we look forward to Chanukah.

In the world today, we may identify with the Maccabeus fight to preserve Judaism in the face of assimilation and antisemitism, while at the same time working to mitigate religious zealotry that threatens to turn Jew against Jew.