On the same day that Palestinian Arabs in the Shomron threw pipe-bombs at the Tomb of Rachel while Arabs in Gaza continued to launch incendiary devices into Israel all while Mahmoud Abbas not only continues to pass hundreds of thousands of dollars to terrorists and their families each month declaring that this is the most important expenditure of the Palestinian Authority, we find people claiming that Israel should not be permitted to prevent people from entering the country whose designs for entering Israel is disruption and attacks on the government and people. Needless to add, the Europeans expressed shock and intense despair at Israel, not for actually turning away several American Jews who advocate boycotting Israel, but that they were questioned for twenty to thirty minutes as they entered Israel recently. That we are quite used to as many in Europe, politicians included, act in such a manner as to seemingly work towards the destruction of the Jewish State. What was disparaging was when Ron Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, wrote in the New York Times that he was critical of the recently passed Nationality Law, calling out the country’s “Orthodox monopoly” and accusing the Netanyahu administration of damaging “the sense of equality and belonging of Israel’s Druze, Christian, and Muslim citizens.” Mr. Lauder continued with a litany of complaints which largely circled the idea that Israel just does not get it and really needs to stop acting in its own self-interest and instead begin to comply with all the demands of the American Jewish community and their leftist ideologies. Mr. Lauder had in the past and also in the New York Times insisted that Israel be reasonable and pull back behind the pre-Six Day War Green Line and surrender the remainder to the Palestinians enacting the two state solution even without any peace agreement. Apparently Mr. Lauder suffers from a pathology with which we are quite familiar, and love of Israel is not as paramount in his list of priorities as he has indicated, complying and pursuit of his leftist ideologies and forcing them on any and all who have the audacity of disagreeing with that ideology is his foremost driving force.
President of the World Jewish Congress, Ron Lauder
Now we will delve into this pathology which had taken hold of the majority, if not the vast majority, of the non-Orthodox Jews in the United States. Their unwavering support of the Democrat Party is just one of the signs of this pathology. Their driving force has been given a name from the very Bible they never read, Tikkun Olam. They translate this as “Repair the World” and claim that their leftist, socialist single party desires are the path to such an enlightened state. They insist that spreading this belief far and wide is the true path for completing the task of Tikkun Olam. One of the first concepts I came to grips with after moving to Israel and rediscovering a remarkable religion, Judaism, something I had almost lost when living in the United States, was Tikkun Olam as practiced by Traditional Orthodox Jews. Oddly, it has absolutely nothing to do with leftist ideology, socialism or spreading anything to the less enlightened. Tikkun Olam in the sense it is interpreted in Israel is to work on yourself, your habits, your interactions with others, your dedication to prayer and largely your love of Hashem and everything which he gave us here on Earth such that we could thrive and live with such splendor. Of course I understand that the leftist Jews who are out to change the world to fit their new world order of socialism with free everything for everybody have already perfected themselves. I know this as I had gathered such in countless conversations with numerous of these Jews and a selected few who were totally honest admitted their near perfection. Also, it almost goes without saying, almost to the last one, they believed that I was a monstrous person who was ignorant, rude, ill mannered, uneducated, virtually illiterate and completely clueless about the virtues of their political views and the complete absence of merit in my political views. Thankfully, they did act kindly when we were all in Synagogue and some would even deign to socialize while most simply nodded and continued to avoid us. So, I am not foreign to these crusading true believers who have the inside track on perfection in all areas of life, theirs, yours and mine, if only we would awaken and realize the errors of our ways and then do the proper penance which would include voting for whichever candidate the Democrats run against the demon in the White House, President Trump.
The problem is these Jews and all their coreligionists are actually practicing Secular Humanist Socialism and not so much Judaism. Their Synagogues have been converted into centers for group-think and often are used to promote Democrat Party candidates and even have run campaign assistance as a committee within the Synagogue. Their prayerbooks are often devoid of any Zionism declaring for the longing to reestablish the Jews ancient home in Eretz Yisroel. Many of the traditional prayers have either been reworded or done away with completely. Had we attempted to use the prayerbook from some of the Synagogues we belonged to in the United States, we would not have been able to follow a service in a Traditional Orthodox service here in Israel. Their prayerbooks have been sanitized with a new theme centered on all that could be if only the world were remade in a more socialized manner. Sermons often carried messages straight from the leftist list of most important political battles to still be fought and won. In many such Synagogues, they will allow for mixed marriages where one of the couple is Jewish and the other is not. Some will go further and allow same sex marriages in the Synagogue. This is their choice and if that is their idea of Judaism, they are free to pursue exactly what they choose. On Yom Kippur once we were treated to a sermon about how gloriously wonderful the two recent people of a couple married by the Rabbi, but in a hall and not the Synagogue as this was a more religious Synagogue and community, and how they were so gentle and tender and the beautiful point where they were to kiss and how it was almost tearing in many of the attendees eyes as these two men kissed. We were told about the great wonder their love was and all the details. After the service, we heard many members of the congregation congratulating the Rabbi for the great sermon and his willingness to officiate such a wedding and some inquired why the marriage was not held in the Synagogue. Apparently, the Rabbi and the couple mutually decided to hold the ceremony outside the Synagogue was the answer. This was the sermon on the Day of Atonement and nothing deeply spiritual about self-improvement, forgiveness which Hashem bestows upon all of us and an entire history of sermons rich in Torah but instead we sat through a sermon which we found difficult. We were still in the United States when having this experience and there were an extensive list of similar such sermons from back in the 1960’s where my family had joined a Reform Temple, they did not have a Synagogue, but that was not a problem as here everyone was indoctrinated regularly at services in the liberal leftist ideology as if that was what was dictated in Torah. Back then, the name of Hashem was in some of the prayers just as today as it is impossible to say the Shema without naming Hashem.
We fully understand where Mr. Lauder was coming from in his articles, though we would have preferred his publishing them in one of the many Jewish publications so as to be less conspicuous as to have the President of World Jewish Congress being so publically critical of Israel is less than helpful. Maybe Mr. Lauder does not realize that Israel is being attacked on all fronts by virtually everyone with an obvious exception, President Donald Trump, the man who actually did move the United States embassy to Jerusalem. But we are pretty sure Mr. Lauder is fully aware that Israel is being attacked. He probably also believes he understands exactly why Israel is being attacked and is the man with the answer, become like the American leftist Jews and stand for the ideals and beliefs they hold dear. Should we complain that doing such would violate Torah, we believe he would refer to the Torah as an old scroll still being written on parchment and as such is obviously outdated and we need to get with the program. Mr. Lauder is far from alone and had a backup choir of very full-throated fellow leftist Jews demanding that Israel throw out the playbook which has kept Judaism alive for over three millennia, and instead pick up the Democrat playbook and adopt the views of the supporters of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as she is their new cheerleader and spokesperson campaigning everywhere as she is just so wonderful. We hope you did not miss the sarcasm. There is also Rabbi Jacobs who also desires that Israel fashion itself after the Democrat Party and Reform Judaism. Both of these men and their ilk are also very upset with Israel for actually having the unmitigated gall to have again elected right wing governments and allowing Bibi Netanyahu to once more be Prime Minister. They would prefer Yair Lapid, Avi Gabbay or Tzipi Livni to be the Prime Minister as their political thoughts and remarkable brilliance in their agreement that the Two State solution is best for Israel. That these political parties would support such a thing as the Two State solution is one of the main reasons they must continue to be in the opposition and not in power. We would love to have these very same Jews come home and we would welcome them, as they are family. As family, we would really prefer to keep our squabbles within the family and not on the editorial page of the New York Times.
Beyond the Cusp
Beyond the Cusp 