Friday, September 21, 2007

Shabbat Shalom 9 Tishrei 5768

Democrats blast one of their own...finally!
Rep. Jim Moran loves to blame those Jews

In February of 2006 I wrote multiple articles warning the American Jewish community to wake up and realize that support for Israel was dwindling within the Democratic Party and blatant anti-Semitism was prevalent amongst the Progressive wing of the Party.

A year and half later the term Progressive is now synonymous with anti-Semite, but the Democratic Party leadership may have woken up to the fact that they need to begin condemning the "blame the Jews" rhetoric stemming amongst some of their members.

This past Wednesday sixteen Democratic Representative sent a letter to Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) expressing their "disappointment," in his recent comments stating that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), “pushed [the Iraq] war from the beginning.”

This comment got the attention of House Democratic leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer (MD), who demanded an immediate retraction from Moran, who made his remarks in the Progressive Jewish publication Tikkun. That's right, Progressive Jewish, which is an oxymoron. Note: Tikkun is the brain child of self-hating Jew, Rabbi Michael Lerner.

Moran has blamed U.S involvement in Iraq on the Jews since the war began in 2003. Back then he said the United States would not be at war in Iraq “if it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community.” Sadly, Jewish representatives were silent about the remark. A year later he appeared at a mock impeachment hearing of President Bush where he continued his blame the Jews rhetoric. Making matters worse, my Jewish Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, sat behind him during the proceedings and didn't raise an eyebrow during the bash the Jews segment of the show.

The Virginia congressman has not apologized or backed away from his comments. His claim is that he was targeting a lobbying group (AIPAC) not a particular group of people. The letter sent to Moran, which was circulated by Rep. Henry Waxman (CA), does not pull any punches. Moran is condemned for promoting stereotypes, making false accusations and for his previous comments in 2003. Better late then never.

Paulies Point applauds Steny Hoyer for acting like a leader and publicly reprimanding Moran. To the 16 Jewish Democratic representatives who signed the letter...it's about time. I can only hope that you don't put your heads back in the sand the next time anti-Semitism rears it's ugly face within your Party or amongst your Progressive influences.

Paulie

3 Comments:

At 9/25/2007 10:45 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know that I dislike what Rabbi Lerner says as much as anyone, but calling him "self-hating" isn't fair. All the moreso because he's a rabbi and the principle of kavod ha'rav demands that he (not his views) be accorded respect.

R. Lerner is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary where he was a prized student of R. Abraham Joshua Heschel, z''l. Other than his crazy political diatribes, his love for Judaism is evident on every page he has ever written. Judaism is not just about one's politics on Israel, Paul.

The conclusions he has come to as an adult, the things he writes and says, and what he advocates are wrong. His beliefs are dangerous and divisive. His overall impact on the Jewish people is a hurtful one. I would applaud you for saying so and have said the same myself.

But he's not a self-hating Jew.

And if he were a self-hating Jew, Paul, with all due respect, it would take a more knowledgable, more faithful, frankly better Jew than you or I to cast such an epithet at a rabbi with his credentials.

 
At 9/25/2007 10:46 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oops...obviously, this post is from Jaron's dad, Jonathan :)

Jaron, though exceptionally advanced, is only 4-months old.

 
At 9/26/2007 12:15 AM , Blogger Paul Miller said...

It's very hard to read his political opinions and hear his radio interviews and come to any other conclusion. Your right, it's not just his views on Israel, but his comments on Jewish groups and activists (people) that don't agree with him also leads me to my opinion.

However, I will take back the self-hating label because I trust your deeper understand of him on a religious basis since you are both Rabbi's and I trust your opinion on this matter more than my own.

Keep in mind he may be a Rabbi and is accorded repect based on kavod ha'rav and may have been some prized student, but he is still a man and as you say, "his beliefs are dangerous and divisive. His overall impact on the Jewish people is a hurtful one." I agree, so to respect him is hypocritical.

 

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