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Posted in: Massad gets tenure at Columbia
I have only one thing to add, and it's a must-see:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Massad
That should give you all a very broad sample of what kind of a guy Joseph Massad is.
Posted in: The view from a West Bank hilltop
Um, wow. Full-on uber-right-wing Jewish wacko-ism, in concentrated form! Maybe JTA really ought to consider just scrapping these comment boards. They’ve become just another place for radicals and their apologists to rant and scream and gripe. Poll after poll shows that the vast, vast majority of us Jews in both American and Israel support evacuating the outposts and forcing the settlers into line with Israeli law. Majorities in both communities support an eventual two-state solution. So, other then getting an obviously (and highly) non-representative sample of Jewish opinion on important matters, a sample riddled with bile, with xenophobia, with homophobia, with Reform-hatred and sinat hinam, with illiberal, fanatical, fundamentalist, Arab-hating screeds that sing grand and brainwashed and apologistic songs about the glory of the radical violent youth in Israel, a sample of poisoned filth incarnate at the bottom of most JTA pages that chews with venomous teeth at the end of every article, what the heck good are these comment pages? If you want to broadcast to the world your love for people who would spit in the face of the actual hard-won Jewish state in favor of a cowboy fantasy in your “God-granted” Judea and Samaria, Jews who would for the first time in Zionism scream “Nazi” at the first suggestion that they move back into that Jewish state, then the Internet is a wide-open space for you to do so. Start a blog somewhere. There are soapboxes out there for everyone. But JTA, seriously, get rid of these cesspools, these breeding grounds for hate. It’s time to eliminate the comment boards, or at least start a policy of disabling them entirely in advance for any article that touches on these dog-whistles for lunatic extremists. (A lot of blogs are doing this now, for obvious reasons.)
Posted in: Israel wrestles with settler challenge
Um, wow. Maybe JTA ought to consider just scrapping these comment boards. They've become just another place for radicals and their apologists to rant and scream and gripe. Poll after poll shows that the vast, vast majority of Jews in both American and Israel support evacuating the outposts and forcing the settlers into line with Israeli law. Majorities in both communities support an eventual two-state solution. So, other then getting an obviously (and highly) non-representative sample of Jewish opinion on important matters, a sample riddled with bile, with xenophobia, with homophobia, with Reform-hatred and sinat hinam, with illiberal, fanatical, fundamentalist, Arab-hating screeds that sing grand and brainwashed and apologistic songs about the glory of the radical violent youth in Israel, a sample of poisoned filth incarnate at the bottom of most JTA pages that chews with venomous teeth at the end of every article, what the heck good are these comment pages? If you want to broadcast to the world your love for people who would spit in the face of the actual hard-won Jewish state in favor of a cowboy fantasy in your "God-granted" Judea and Samaria, Jews who would for the first time in Zionism scream "Nazi" at the first suggestion that they move back into that Jewish state, then the Internet is a wide-open space for you to do so. Start a blog somewhere. There are soapboxes out there for everyone. But JTA, seriously, get rid of these cesspools, these breeding grounds for hate. It's time to eliminate the comment boards.
Posted in: The Kaddish debate continues
Well, Yaakov certainly typifies the sinat hinam I've been talking about. Nice of him to put Rabbi Julie Schonfeld's title, Rabbi, in quotation marks, wasn't it? How respectful to someone who knows vastly more about Judaism than he does. What love he demonstrates. And telling her to work on the street, rather than as a rabbi? Yaakov is really showing that warm sense of equality, isn't he? He sure makes Orthodoxy look attractive to other Jews, doesn't he? You all know why people like Yaakov behave this way, don't you? It's because they're taught to have nothing but contempt for the non-Orthodox, their fellow Jews. That's what they learn in school, from their teachers, from their parents. They hear it again and again. They never question any of it. Eventually it becomes just "obvious" that they should speak to the non-Orthodox with arrogant and immodest condescension, with that familiar patronizing and superior-sounding tone. Some of them are even taught that those horrid "reformim" brought about the Holocaust. And these impressionable youngsters just swallow it all up, this contempt for other Jews. Why do they teach their children this tripe? Are they so insecure that they feel the need to attack other Jews in order to feel stronger, to feel better, and to help resist temptation? Say what you will about the Chabadniks, but they are eminently secure in their faith, and they never feel this overwhelming desire to put those "other" Jews in their place. What a direct violation of the law to love their fellow Jews Yaakov demonstrates. I'm sure Yaakov follows all the small laws to the letter. Why he and those like him ignore the bigger laws of Judaism, like the repeated commandment to love their fellow Jews, indicates either ignorance or hypocrisy. I'm sure, like the rest, he has twisted the law to love Jews to mean that only "his" kind of Jews deserve to be loved. That may be fine for him, but not for G-d. And it's not good for the Jews.
Posted in: The Kaddish debate continues
Sinat hinam has never been good for the Jewish people. Indeed, throughout history, it has always brought about our downfall. So why do we keep falling into its trap? Diversity breeds strength, resilience, and adaptability. Why is that so difficult for some people to accept? Diversity should be celebrated and cherished. I hope all the movements of Judaism grow and prosper in the years to come. I cannot understand why some Jews would feel so insecure in their identity that they would feel the compulsion to set themselves up against other Jews.
Posted in: Time to say Kaddish for the non-Orthodox?
Somehow I knew you had to try to have the last word. By all means, I'll let you, but only after one last comment, which I'm sure you'll avoid dealing with again. I'm not "bashing" "the Other." I'm saying that "the Other" isn't really "the Other" at all, at least in any fundamental sense, despite their wanting to pretend to be "the Other." I'm saying that we Jews are really all in the same mess, and that the divisions many of the Orthodox foster between themselves and the non-Orthodox are absurd and insupportable, aside from their being ultimately self-destructive. My point was that everybody---Orthodox and non-Orthodox---play games with "the law." "The law" is an ambiguous and self-inconsistent mish-mash, much of which is furthermore too inconvenient to be practiced today. So Jews of all stripes deal with this in their own way. The Orthodox are no different, with their endless hair-splitting, deferring to the rabbinical establishment, and rationalizations for why the laws don't apply here or why they can't be followed there. It's all the same, and this holier-than-thou attitude among some of the Orthodox that they alone are the only "real" Jews because they alone follow the laws as written is a sham and a farce. They're not fooling anyone, and they do not have a monopoly on what it means to be Jewish. My point is not that the Orthodox shouldn't practice Judaism as they wish. That's their right, and it brings diversity to Judaism. My only point, again and again, which you and they seem to be unable to see, is that the games they play with "the law" are just as fundamentally arbitrary as anything done by the Conservative movement, for example. For instance, the Conservative movement believes that kashrut means more than just a static list of food classifications, that it requires adherence to ethics in how food is made and how the food-makers are treated. Heksher tzedek is their attempt to fight back after the Orthodox brought the heinous Iowa Agriprocessors debacle on our heads. Meanwhile it was the Orthodox establishment, following their arbitrary understanding of "the law," who were standing up for the Agriprocessors. Hypocrites. Who says the Orthodox were truer to "the law" than the Conservatives? The Orthodox just have found ways of convincing themselves that the games they play with "the law" and the rationalizations they use are superior to those used by other Jews. Well, they can believe whatever they want. That's their right, too. But it ain't the truth, however you want to slice it. And they're still hypocrites for accusing other Jews of playing around with "the law." That's the argument, take it or leave it. But this is done. By all means, have the last word, though. I won't stop you.
Posted in: Time to say Kaddish for the non-Orthodox?
Look, don't get me wrong here. My point is not that the Orthodox are somehow not true Jews. They are. And I'm proud that they exist as part of the rich diversity of the Jewish people today. I hope their numbers stay strong, and that they continue to prosper and flourish. What I am saying is that the sinat hinam must stop. The Orthodox must stop using the "reformim" as bogeyman to frighten their children to stay in line. They must learn to be secure enough in their own identity that they don't feel the need to attack and cast judgments upon the non-Orthodox. They must stop treating others Jews as being inferior. They need to demonstrate the kind of love and respect for their fellow Jews that is central to Jewish teaching. They must learn that diversity breeds strength, resilience, and adaptability, and that rooting for the demise of other branches of Judaism is foolhardy in the extreme. And, above all, they must learn some humility. Full stop. That's enough of that. This conversation has run its course. Back to work.
Posted in: Time to say Kaddish for the non-Orthodox?
You need not act as though I'm ignorant of Maimonides and his works. From the Thirteen Principles of Faith to the Mishneh Torah to the Guide for the Perplexed, I'm far from a Rambam scholar, but I've been through the gamut before. The funny thing is that the most important things I've taken from the Rambam often seem completely opposed to what has been taken by most of the Orthodox I've personally encountered or whose words I've read. You know how many Orthodox I've met who insist that the world is actually, literally 6,000 years old? Or even those who accept it's 13.78 billion years old, but insist that evolution is false? Here's what the Rambam said about science: "All this is part of the science and astonomy and mathematics about which many books have been composed by Greek sages… But since all these rules have been established by sound and clear proofs, free from any flaw and irrefutable, we need not be concerned about the identity of these authors, whether they were Hebrew prophets or Gentile sages… we rely upon the author who has discovered them only because of his demonstrated proofs and verified reasoning." The Rambam also wrote that Nature was G-d's second book, and thus to deny the lessons of Nature was to commit blasphemy. And yet you have travesties committed by the leaders of Orthodox movements like what befell Natan Slifkin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natan_Slifkin#Controversy Maimonides emphasize the importance of work and contributing to society, having spent his years working as a doctor, and yet the haredim of Israel don't hold jobs and don't serve in the armed forces. Maimonides, like others before him and the Tanakh itself, demands that Jews love other Jews (with all the sinat hinam brewing both in Israel and America, especially between the branches, let's not even go there), but also to love the convert. Yet the converts I have known or heard have spoken of deep distrust and suspicion for many years from their supposedly fellow Jews. There is no love without trust. Maimonides broke ground with the controversial idea that G-d was not like a human being, that G-d was formless and intangible and, indeed, could only be comprehended through those features that he did not possess. He also propagated the view that upholding the principles of Judaism was an end to itself, that it carried people into a state of sacred holiness, and that none of it was about avoiding punishment from G-d. But the Orthodox individuals I have known acknowledge this only in passing, while deep down treating G-d like a humanoid imaginary friend who gets "angry" and casts "judgment" on people when they misbehave or violate the laws. The fact that Shlomo Carlebach is still spoken of with great honor in many Orthodox communities is perhaps all that one needs to recognize the rank hypocrisy going on, the placing of religion ahead of morality and ethics. Tzedek tzedek tirdof is perhaps the most important principle in all of Deuteronomy. The most important lesson I learned from Judaism was that some principles are simply more important and holy than others, and that one must view the lesser laws through the light of the greater ones. And the highest laws that I've learned from Judaism make me believe that many Orthodox are often living in a state of hypocrisy, of focussing on the smallest laws and avoiding the bigger morals. So when any member of the Orthodox branches insists on casting judgments on the Jewishness of the non-Orthodox, I am justifiably angered and disappointed. We are, all of us, imperfect Jews. And there are among all the branches and movements of Judaism plenty of individuals who are trying to be the best Jews they can be, according to their understanding of what it means to be a good Jew, and understanding that ultimately rests not with any rabbi or the Shulkhan Arukh but with G-d, whose mind, according to Maimonides, was unknowable to mortal human beings. I have known even Reform rabbis who know the holy texts backwards and forwards, inside and out, better than most of the Orthodox; their beliefs come not out of ignorance, but out the struggle that is written into the very name Yisra-El. At least the other, non-Orthodox movements are honest and humble about this struggle, about reconciling Judaism with the real world and rationalizing when they have to, and don't act like they're superior to other Jews because they haven't "watered anything down." Yeah right. Call it splitting hairs, or parsing words, or interpreting in context, but at the end of the day, it's all rationalization. It's all about finding excuses not to obey the laws that would be too inconvenient today. We all do it, so let's just be honest.
Posted in: Time to say Kaddish for the non-Orthodox?
Wait, Jonathan, but you've dodged my question. I live in a society with Hindus, Shinto, or Native Americans who believe in their traditional faiths, and so on. I live in a society with polytheists, pagans, and, yes, people who construct idols and pray before them, whatever they choose to say about what they're doing. Look at that list of mitzvot I presented. Am I to burn these peoples' towns and reservations, to hate them, and so forth? And am I not to fear murdering "false prophets"? And for heaven's sake, what do you do if you happen to meet a guy who happens to be able to prove thay his ancestors were one of the Canaanite tribes, or, gasp, the Amelekites? You show me one guy who literally obeys these laws. Say that you are interpreting these rules "in context", or "figuratively", or whatever rationalization you choose. But don't try to pretend that you're not rationalizing. Please. You're not fooling anybody.
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Updated 02/09/12 @ 05:54PM EST
- A poll showed that nearly half of likely voters believed the United States should use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
- Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
- The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
- A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
- U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
- Berman moves to grant investor visas to Israelis
- Holy cow! Calves hijacked into Palestinian territory
- Report: Israeli journalist also works for prime minister
- Larry Greenfield tapped to lead JINSA
Posted in: Massad gets tenure at Columbia
06/30/09 03:46 PM
As you can see, this is somebody whose intellectual mentors on subjects like the Middle East and the Holocaust include "academic giants" like Paul Findley, Lenni Brenner, and Norman Finkelstein. That Massad would even cite such non-accredited fringe individuals as his _key_ sources in academic journal articles boggles the mind. That he would opine about subjects about which he has no understanding (like the Talmud, or world Jewish culture) is stunning. That his book on gays in the Middle East would find a proud place on Ahmadinejad's shelf is shocking. And his use of inflammatory but fraudulent quotations of certain prime ministers (and his refusal even to correct the record explicitly) belies his claims of academic professionalism---isn't that academic misconduct? The fact that anyone is seriously even considering granting Massad a tenure position at an Ivy League university is almost too absurd to imagine, and is clearly a function of ideological politics. And yet people are suggesting with a straight face that he is being _denied_ tenure because of politics? Absurd. Has anyone considered the possibility that Massad is just a second-rate, ideological, academic wannabe who is only where he is right now because of academic back-scratching and because his views happen to be in vogue these days? And this is how he behaves _before_ getting tenure. Anyone wish to imagine what a headache he’d be for the university _after_ getting tenure? And yet the inexorable process toward tenure continues to roll on, unstoppably. Aren't there any human beings involved in this process who can stand up and say "Not on my watch"?