Israel-bashing Jews: not in my name!
Gerald M. Steinberg, Canadian Jewish News
Israel’s response to thousands of rocket attacks from Gaza brought another wave of vituperous attacks, with more false claims of “war crimes,” human rights violations and other spurious allegations of immorality.
The Durban strategy of demonization is moving at top speed, with trade union boycotts, university “apartheid weeks,” and legal campaigns to bring Israeli officials to trial in kangaroo courts. In parallel, demonstrators chant slogans in support of Hamas and Hezbollah, which openly proclaim their genocidal goals.
In this rejectionist war that has continued for more than 60 years, a tiny group of anti-Zionist Jews and Israelis play central roles. They are given prominence as columnists and on television, claiming to present an “enlightened” and “independent” Jewish voice that’s opposed to the evil “occupation” (erasing a history of genocidal goals and terrorism that began long before 1967) and other terrible Israeli actions. The group includes university professors, journalists and officials of human rights superpowers. Many have giant psychological chips on their shoulders and gain notoriety by being vocally anti-Israel.
These “independent voices” do not speak in my name. With the restoration of Jewish sovereignty, Israelis choose their own leaders, for better or worse, and engage in active policy debates. The age of Diaspora interlocutors and apologists selected by foreign powers is over.
The small number of “independent Jewish voices” speak for themselves and constitute a tiny fraction of the Jewish people. But in an atmosphere of anti-Semitism, they provide imagined shields that justify the singling out of Israel. In many cases, this is their only “Jewish” activity – most are not active members in synagogues, play no role in other Jewish institutions and do not contribute to Jewish life or continuity.
A prominent example of this activity is provided by Antony Lerman, who served as director of London’s Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and now has a column in the influential Guardian newspaper – one of the leading platforms for the anti-Israel invective pervasive among leftist intellectuals in Britain. On Feb. 13, in “An open letter on anti-Semitism,” addressed to an official addressing a major conference on the topic taking place in the British Parliament.
Assuming the ostrich position, Lerman wrote that the way to stop numerous anti-Semitic attacks in Britain was to be louder in criticizing Israel. Lerman also alleges that the anti-Israel obsession in which he participates is not a form of modern anti-Semitism – replacing all of the evidence with sentiment from his fantasy world. He also refers to concerns about this anti-Semitism as “exaggeration” and “hyperbole.”
The main reason that Lerman’s opinions receive any attention is that he is a prominent Jew and therefore, useful in the demonization campaign. Lerman has been embraced by J-Street – a U.S. organization funded and founded by George Soros – another anti-Israel Diaspora-based “independent” Jewish voice.
Canada’s “independent Jewish voices” are less articulate or influential than Lerman or Soros, and no more credible. In a letter to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenny, who is a world leader in the battle against anti-Semitism, this group sought to justify the activities of the Canadian Arab Federation, claiming that this controversial organization “has been a consistent and valued supporter of Canadian Jewish individuals and groups, including Independent Jewish Voices (Canada).” This is transparently self-serving propaganda, and nothing more.
Free speech gives all voices – including the most marginal – the right to state their opinions, but in the free marketplace of ideas, the unjustified attention and vacuous claims can be exposed and countered. Jews can always be found for those seeking to justify “wiping Israel off the map,” but they do not speak in my name.
k-a-p.p-o
k-a-p.p.-o
k-a-p.p.-o
and kappo was his name-o.
Face it. World Jewry is on the verge of a civil war. They hate each other more than they hate their non-Jewish enemies. That’s been the heart of the problem all along. Love your neighbor as yourself, or go to hell together. Blessed are the peacemakers; cursed are those who divide brethren. Peace Now and the Left, and the religious Zionists, are equally at fault in this.
You are doing it again extrapolating a disturbing anomaly among Jews but common to everybody who is non Jewish. Then you lump everyone together, except what you consider political and religious centrists. Then you quote and paraphrase both Jewish and Christian verses. problem with that one is you have no understanding of the Jewish verse and I mention that because if you did understand either you would not have used the quote or in understanding the real meaning and the correct understanding of it, you might(I doubt it) also gain some understanding of Jews in general.
“Love your neighbor as yourself” Should we Love your neighbor and throw out the other 612 commandments and the heap of halacha. Don’t forget to baptize, too. Exodus 23:9: And ger, [him] you shall not oppress – you, too, know the soul of ger, for you were gerim in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:31: And I will set your limits from Reed (“Red”) Sea to Philistine (“Mediterranean”) Sea, and from steppe (“Sinai Desert”) to the river (Euphrates), for I will give in your hand the yeshvei [of] the land, and you shall displace them (gerashtamo) from yourself.
The Torah, particularly the section of Laws (Exodus 23 is a part of it) is not laid down in chronological order. Exodus 23:9 applies to the situation later than 23:31. How do we know that? Exodus 23:10 speaks of Shmita, seventh-year rest for agricultural land. Settled agriculture was the last stage in Jewish conquest of Canaan, after the land was taken from its original inhabitants. So gerim appear after yeshvei are displaced.
Who are gerim? They are not natives, as the natives are exterminated or evicted already (yes, Jews are not nice). In the Biblical Hebrew, the cognate gur has an unquestionable sense of, to huddle together, to reside timidly. That sense is very far from the toneless Modern Hebrew, to live. Even in the most aggressive sense, Psalm 56:6-7: “… all their thoughts are against me for evil. They iaguru secretly (or, from north – the left side in ancient coordinates)…” Likewise Psalm 140:3-4: “Who think evil things in their heart, every day iaguru conflicts. They sharpened their tongue like a serpent.” The main theme about gerim is timidity, submissiveness.
Rabbis traditionally understood gerim even stricter, as converts to Judaism. Such reading is semantically (though not etymologically) correct, as foreign religions were banned in Judea, and resident aliens had to practice Judaism. In particular, not even slaves or gerim were allowed to work on Sabbath, erect altars, worship idols, sacrifice to foreign deities, or eat blood; they adhered to the restrictions of Pesach and Yom Kippur. They submitted to the laws given to Jews on the Sinai, and acted like Jews in all practical matters except marriage.
The terms ger and i-sh-v converge in some situations, as when Abraham pleads with the tribe of Heth to allow him burying his wife who died in Kiryat Arba (in our days, the place of notorious Jewish settlement which “took the Arab land”). Genesis 23:4: “I am a ger and toshav with you.” Abraham, a great legal mind, is precise here: he is a submissive resident (ger) now, but will settle (toshav) this land. So Abraham insists on buying a cave for the burial instead of accepting the offer of receiving it free. Israel abandoned that cave, Mearat a-Mahpela, to Arab jurisdiction.
Even toshav, a status higher than ger, relates inferiority. He is not allowed to partake of Pesach sacrifices (Exodus 12:45) unless he converts to Judaism and circumcises (12:48). He is just a bit higher than a slave (Leviticus 25:35, 40). His right to live in the Land of Israel is unquestioned, but his status is far below Jewish freeman.
There is not a single instance in the Bible where ger lacks the clear sense of submissiveness.
What, then, is the meaning of “oppress”? We can only marvel at our lawgiver who preceded every political theorist. The Torah differentiates between natural law and special rights. Oppression means depriving a person from what is inherently his: life and ownership. Political rights, the rights to change or influence Jewish character of the state – he doesn’t have them.
Jews were oppressed in Egypt where we were slaves (Exodus 3:9). Syrians oppressed us so that we needed a deliverer (2 Kings 13:4-5). To our lawgiver, oppression was tremendously more severe than mere absence of voting rights.
The parallel prohibition in Exodus 22:20 clarifies, “And ger, you shall not squeeze (toneh) or oppress him.” The word toneh (i-n-h) has a root cell cognate i-n-k (to suck), testifying to the reading, to squeeze out. What can be squeezed out of a person? Surely not his political rights, but life and property.
The important sense of l-h-tz root for oppression is its communal character: in the word’s common usage, one polity oppresses another. When the oppression is between individuals, it is referred to as a-sh-k, such as, “You shall not trample upon (taashok) your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:13).
Long before Christians adopted this commandment as their major tenet, Jews were told, “You shall love your fellow [man] just as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Not to the extent that you love yourself, but the way you do. Your love to fellow man should be in the likeness (cmo) of your love to yourself. An alternative reading is that you should love a man who is like you, your fellow man.
What is the love enjoined to our fellows? The context clarifies: “You shall not oppress your fellow” (19:13), “You shall not hate your brother” (19:17), and the 19:18: “You shall neither take revenge, nor restrain [yourself to take revenge later] at the children of your nation.” This, by the way, refutes the claims that human vengeance is prohibited in Judaism, but is the power of God only. Revenge is prohibited only against fellow Jews, on the double presumption of their general goodwill and efficient law enforcement. In such a society, revenge on the personal level was superfluous. But taking revenge on the enemies of Jews (even their distant offspring) is not merely a right, but an often-reiterated obligation: “a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8).
The commandment of love concludes a list which parallels the Decalogue, and is therefore comparable to the prohibition of jealousy (Exodus 20:13).
The prescribed love to one’s fellow is the absence of hatred, vengeance, oppression, and jealousy. While gerim must not be oppressed, fellows must also not be hated. The Torah distinguishes between several circles of people: the closer is the circle, the more rights are accorded to it. Extended family, a closer circle, enjoys still more rights: one must respect his parents. One’s own family, the closest circle, awards generous rights to wives. Later on, when Hebrew society became strong and gerim were fully integrated, the commandment of love was expanded onto them (Deuteronomy 10:19); converts became treated strictly on par with native Jews.
The Torah prescribes, “The ger who resides among you in your land shall be for you like a native, and you shall love him just as you love yourself” (Leviticus 19:34). You cannot be more compassionate than that. But why the Torah, so short on words, reiterates, “in your land”? So that the ger absolutely recognizes the land as ours. And indeed the parallel Exodus 12:48: “And if a ger will reside with you, and will keep the Pesach to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised… he shall be like the native…” In order to be like a Jew, ger must be like a Jew: he must circumcise, keep Jewish customs, and to all purposes become a Jew. Then, sure enough, we must love him just as we love any Jew, including ourselves.
“Blessed are the peacemakers”, Too abstract and has no real meaning or relevance.
Why did I know Yamit posted this, long before getting to the end where his signature was?
Yambam, I don’t read your posts — they give me eyestrain; and the few times I’ve bothered to decipher your sophistry, I’ve come away disappointed. You appear to be one rich, fat, bored political junkie with serious psychological problems. Peskin is far too kind in his comments to you.
Yambam,
If you don’t read my posts then any conclusion you apply to them and me must be placed where they belong: In the mind of A FAT, BORED, JEWISH WANNABE ANTISEMITIC ASSHOLE. Never criticize, that which you have little knowledge of especially written items you have not read. I care less of attacks on myself but at least attack me based on what I have written. Maybe you are more competent with Chemistry?