Submitted Comments RSS Feed Comments by Gary Walk
Posted in: Jewish passivity (take that Tarantino)
Can there be any question whether one is required to take advantage of an opportunity to save 1,500 Jewish (or non-Jewish) lives, coming from a tradition where it is taught that to save one life is as if to save the whole world? The so-called Jewish heros of Inglourious Basterds were not authentically Jewish. Golda Meier said that she had anger toward the Arabs not so much for killing Jews, as for making Jews kill Arabs. She was authentically Jewish!
Posted in: Rounding up opinions on Obama in Cairo (UPDATE #2)
The problem with pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions is that history shows that they will not be reciprocated; that the Palestinian leadership will once again not miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace, as Abba Eban observed. Obama doesn't care because his political and physical security are not at stake, and because he has the audacity of grandiosity. Win or lose, he burnishes his image as a rock star to his acolytes.
Posted in: Reform backs same-sex marriage ban challenge
Their tax exempt status should not be an issue. 501(c)(3) organizations are permitted to take non-partisan positions on political issues, and as an affiliate of a religious organization, the RAC may not even be a (c)(3) anyway. What I am saying is that a Jewish religious organization (as opposed to a Jewish political organization) should have some regard for the Torah in its public positions.
Posted in: Reform backs same-sex marriage ban challenge
This raises an issue that I discussed with Rabbi Saperstein at a reception in Palm Beach Gardens on Sunday: is it appropriate for a Jewish organization to take a position based on consensus Jewish political beliefs, which is not grounded in Halacha? The Torah contains passages which are inconsistent with same sex marriages, yet most Reform Jews, including me, believe that principles of individual liberty should trump the Torah's proscriptions in matters of civil law. Yet it still seems to me that a Jewish religious movement is on shaky ground taking a position that is clearly at odds with passages in the Torah. I feel perfectly comfortable taking such position as an individual, but I am not comfortable with my movement taking the same position. Gary Walk Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 02/10/12 @ 02:44PM EST
- Cat Power canceled an Israeli show that was to have taken place Sunday, citing fans' concerns about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- Three Jewish groups that favor insurance coverage of contraceptives praised President Obama's comrpromise allowing religious institutions to direct staff to alternative health care plans funding such services.
- An Obama administration official said the United States urged Israel not to free Palestinian terrorists in the Gilad Shalit exchange deal who killed Americans.
- Turkey will never endorse a military strike on Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a Washington audience.
- Israel's test of a missile defense system was declared a "major milestone" in its efforts to establish viable barriers to a missile strike.
- Citing Palestinian conflict, rocker Cat Power cancels Tel Aviv show
- Reform, Hadassah, JWI praise Obama contraceptives compromise
- Holder: U.S. urged Israel not to release killers of Americans
- Turkish FM: We will never endorse striking Iran
- Israeli missile defense test a ‘milestone’
- Sarkozy: Iran solution should be non-military
- Marines’ SS photo condemned by Jewish groups
- Grandson of Auschwitz survivor takes the ice for Germany
Posted in: Chanukah II: Obama's Revenge
12/17/09 08:15 PM
Carl, the Israelis disagree with you about which President was anti-Israel. Bush's poll numbers in Israel were high when he was President, and Obama's are low. Bush never pressured Israel to make unilateral concessions like Obama has. The Israelis noticed that, even if some reflexively liberal American Jews didn't.