Maybe the Kaplans will donate what they were spending on the conference to ANY Jewish food bank?
This is a tough Pesach for many American Jews with food inflation as high as 20% and so many unemployed. Israeli charities are also suffering due to the downturn in the US economy and the fall of the dollar.
I can only hope that the Kaplans will consider helping the neediest among our brethren in the most basic way, by feeding them.
How Aish Hatorah is complicit in NOT clarifying and in covering up and glorifying non-Halachic Jews as "Jews":
No doubt trying to shrewdly cash in on "Obama-mania" who is now cynically and maniputively famously fudging his "Black-White" and "White-Black" parentage and ancestry to reel in voters and supporters and money, much of it from Jewish ultra-liberals that are also targeted by Aish HaTorah as supporters by the wa, and in the process either short-circuiting or revolutionizing how race is viewed and discussed in the US body politic leave it to Aish HaTorah to come up with a way to "nush" off "Obama-fever":
The latest Aish HaTorah weekly Enewsletter that is sent out to tens of thousands of people, many with little or no understanding of Halachah, has a lead story in it's Jewish World-Jewish Society section about a black police chief and his balck wife who class themselves as "Jewish" without any further Halachic clarificatiion.
At no point in the story, or in an explnatory note that Aish HaTorah should have the good graces to provide, as in any type of "consumers beware" situation, it is neither mentioned nor clarified if Mr. Greenberg underwent a Halachic conversion, but a few times in the article it is stressed that Mr Greenebrg, and his wife, were called and are regarded as "Jewish" because "his father was a Russian immigrant" (but it is also not clarified if that father was Jewish either since many "Russian immigrants" do not have Halachic Jewish mothers either) and Mr Greeberg's wife is to be taken for granted as "Jewish" even though it's VERY vaguely conveyed "...his father was a Russian immigrant who married a black woman in Texas, where Reuben grew up -- and a similarly black woman were Jewish;" and there is no mention or proof that she underwent a Halachic conversion either.
Greenberg and his wife are called Jewish and Judaism at least SIX times in this brief article:
(1) "All Hail The Chief: How a black Jewish Texan cleaned up an old confederate city."
(2) "The Los Angeles Times headlined its profile, "A Black, Jewish, Roller-Skating Cop Brings a New Way to Fight Crime to the Old South."
(3) When he tried to go to a synagogue in South Africa on a Friday night he tells the guard "That's us, we're Jewish," and that
(4) "a black man with a Texas accent -- his father was a Russian immigrant who married a black woman in Texas, where Reuben grew up -- and a similarly black woman were Jewish," and
(5) "my wife and I went inside and got the rabbi to come out and give Reuben a brief quiz on Judaism, after which we all went inside and prayed together."
(6) "...it reminded me of the unique nature of Americans (something the multiculturalists often forget, preferring to see us as separate communities living inside a common boundary) and Jews, who have assimilated so well because, like our countrymen, we come in all different colors from all over the world."
So what would one of hundreds of thousands of Jews with only a Jewish father think after they read this story? Just what Aish HaTorah and other "outreach groups" like EJF, and the Reform and Conservatives for sure who now bill themselves as also doing "keruv" -- they spell it with an "e" to make it sound "correct but different from Orthodox "kiruv" with an "i", would like them them to think and do: Just hop aboard and we will either accpet you as "Jewish" or make you into and regard you as a "Jew" since just as police chief Greenberg and his wife, whose status is even cloudier (was her father a "Russian Jew" too?) can be "Jewish" so can anyone.
Do Aish HaTorah and EJF not realize that intelligent people see through their shenanigans?
They probably feel that because they have the backing of a few ultra-liberal Jewish billionares who do not owe any allegiance to Halacha, that they can get away with wahtever they want.
"All Hail the Chief: How a black Jewish Texan cleaned up an old confederate city.
by Michael Ledeen
Reuben Greenberg, the longtime (23-plus years) chief of the Charleston, South Carolina, police department, retired in 2005. In the words of Charleston Post and Courier reporter David Slade, he "turned the ... Police Department into a national model. In the process, he became a celebrity and a source of pride for the city."
Reuben Greenberg was undoubtedly the ultimate "man bites dog" story, for what could be more unlikely than a black, observant Jew from Texas transforming a city in the heart of the Confederacy from a crime-ridden center of corruption to a uniquely well-managed place that cracked down on crime at the same time it virtually eliminated police brutality -- and even rudeness? Greenberg told his cops that their job was not to punish (that was up to the courts), but to make arrests, and in order to do that they had to be on good terms with the citizens. Thus, he said early on in his memorable tenure, he would defend a policeman for using "excessive force" to make an arrest, but he would fire anyone who used abusive language with a citizen.
So he put his cops out on the streets, not in cars. They walked, they rode bicycles and horses, and were accessible to "normal people," who might not have wanted to call or visit headquarters.
It worked, and Reuben soon became a media celebrity. The Los Angeles Times headlined its profile, "A Black, Jewish, Roller-Skating Cop Brings a New Way to Fight Crime to the Old South," and even 60 Minutes gave him his 20 minutes of fame. He was in great demand by urban police forces looking for solutions to their crime problems, and it may well be that he contributed broadly to the nationwide drop in crime that we now see across the country. Although he was offered numerous high-profile and high-paying jobs, he was happy and remained in Charleston.
I met him on a trip to South Africa while apartheid still existed; during the trip there were two unforgettable events. The first came in a public meeting. Reuben was on stage with the South African interior minister, who asked Reuben what he thought about the regime's handling of anti-racist demonstrations. Greenberg at first declined to speak, saying it was not proper for him to come to a foreign country and speak publicly about their methods, but the minister insisted, and so Greenberg laid him out. "Your men beat up demonstrators, they deliberately hurt the people for demanding their civil rights. That is not the job of police, and it guarantees that the police will not be able to do their real job, which is protecting the people from criminals. You are doing it entirely wrong, and it turns my stomach." He was never one to mince words, once his opinions were solicited.
The other event came on a Friday night. Reuben and his wife, Sarah, needed to go to the synagogue in Johannesburg, and we went with them. As he approached the entrance, a towering Zulu guard stepped in front of him. "Sorry, sir, you can't go in there." "And why is that?" Greenberg asked mildly. "This place is just for Jewish people, sir." "That's us, we're Jewish."
There was no way to bridge that cultural chasm. Nothing could convince him that a black man with a Texas accent -- his father was a Russian immigrant who married a black woman in Texas, where Reuben grew up -- and a similarly black woman were Jewish; he had never seen such a thing, he did not believe what Reuben was saying, and he was going to do his job. But Reuben Greenberg was equally determined to pray on Shabbat. So my wife and I went inside and got the rabbi to come out and give Reuben a brief quiz on Judaism, after which we all went inside and prayed together.
I have long cherished that moment, because it reminded me of the unique nature of Americans (something the multiculturalists often forget, preferring to see us as separate communities living inside a common boundary) and Jews, who have assimilated so well because, like our countrymen, we come in all different colors from all over the world.
Reuben Greenberg is going to rest for a while, but I do not think he will ease into retirement. It isn't his way. He's got advanced degrees, he's been a college professor, and he's one of the most eloquent and charismatic speakers in America. No doubt some institution of higher learning will recognize that Greenberg's a natural for a great university or think-tank. The next generation has as much to learn from him as we have."
I got the same emailing this morning too. It is upsetting because nearly every week in Aish's newsletter there is a story about a non halachic Jew that is meant to be inspiring. When I read the comments sections below the articles, it is clear from the comments that the message received is that a person with a Jewish father or who is married to a Jew should seek to consider themselves Jewish.
Reuben Greenberg and his wife are members of a Conservative synagogue in Charleston S.C. It would be unusal for someone who went through the rigors of an Orthodox conversion k'halacha to then go and join a Conservative synagogue.
While it is not news that Reform and Conservative consider a person Jewish if he has a Jewish father,no one ever confused either movement with Torah Judaism.
Reform was invented to ease Jewish assimilation into Gentile society (and thus end anti semitism) while Conservative was founded for those who wanted to "conserve" Judaism minus halacha (Oral Law).
Intermarriage is not considered a problem among the Reform because via intermarriage, Reform congregations can potentially grow two member families from one Jewish couple instead of only one as long as they count those who marry Jews as fully Jewish. The Reform movement's outreach project hopes to attract interfaith families and also proselytizes to non Jews to convert.
What is new and should be VERY alarming to Torah Jews everywhere is that EJF/Horizons and Aish, self described ORTHODOX Kiruv organizations now ALSO consider a person Jewish if their biological father is Jewish.
It is fair to ask, at least in America, are kiruv organizations such as Aish and Horizons doing the makeroving or are their Rabbinical leaders BEING makareved (by the Reform) instead??
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Kaplans will donate what they were spending on the conference to ANY Jewish food bank?
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough Pesach for many American Jews with food inflation as high as 20% and so many unemployed. Israeli charities are also suffering due to the downturn in the US economy and the fall of the dollar.
I can only hope that the Kaplans will consider helping the neediest among our brethren in the most basic way, by feeding them.
How Aish Hatorah is complicit in NOT clarifying and in covering up and glorifying non-Halachic Jews as "Jews":
ReplyDeleteNo doubt trying to shrewdly cash in on "Obama-mania" who is now cynically and maniputively famously fudging his "Black-White" and "White-Black" parentage and ancestry to reel in voters and supporters and money, much of it from Jewish ultra-liberals that are also targeted by Aish HaTorah as supporters by the wa, and in the process either short-circuiting or revolutionizing how race is viewed and discussed in the US body politic leave it to Aish HaTorah to come up with a way to "nush" off "Obama-fever":
The latest Aish HaTorah weekly Enewsletter that is sent out to tens of thousands of people, many with little or no understanding of Halachah, has a lead story in it's Jewish World-Jewish Society section about a black police chief and his balck wife who class themselves as "Jewish" without any further Halachic clarificatiion.
At no point in the story, or in an explnatory note that Aish HaTorah should have the good graces to provide, as in any type of "consumers beware" situation, it is neither mentioned nor clarified if Mr. Greenberg underwent a Halachic conversion, but a few times in the article it is stressed that Mr Greenebrg, and his wife, were called and are regarded as "Jewish" because "his father was a Russian immigrant" (but it is also not clarified if that father was Jewish either since many "Russian immigrants" do not have Halachic Jewish mothers either) and Mr Greeberg's wife is to be taken for granted as "Jewish" even though it's VERY vaguely conveyed "...his father was a Russian immigrant who married a black woman in Texas, where Reuben grew up -- and a similarly black woman were Jewish;" and there is no mention or proof that she underwent a Halachic conversion either.
Greenberg and his wife are called Jewish and Judaism at least SIX times in this brief article:
(1) "All Hail The Chief: How a black Jewish Texan cleaned up an old confederate city."
(2) "The Los Angeles Times headlined its profile, "A Black, Jewish, Roller-Skating Cop Brings a New Way to Fight Crime to the Old South."
(3) When he tried to go to a synagogue in South Africa on a Friday night he tells the guard "That's us, we're Jewish," and that
(4) "a black man with a Texas accent -- his father was a Russian immigrant who married a black woman in Texas, where Reuben grew up -- and a similarly black woman were Jewish," and
(5) "my wife and I went inside and got the rabbi to come out and give Reuben a brief quiz on Judaism, after which we all went inside and prayed together."
(6) "...it reminded me of the unique nature of Americans (something the multiculturalists often forget, preferring to see us as separate communities living inside a common boundary) and Jews, who have assimilated so well because, like our countrymen, we come in all different colors from all over the world."
So what would one of hundreds of thousands of Jews with only a Jewish father think after they read this story? Just what Aish HaTorah and other "outreach groups" like EJF, and the Reform and Conservatives for sure who now bill themselves as also doing "keruv" -- they spell it with an "e" to make it sound "correct but different from Orthodox "kiruv" with an "i", would like them them to think and do: Just hop aboard and we will either accpet you as "Jewish" or make you into and regard you as a "Jew" since just as police chief Greenberg and his wife, whose status is even cloudier (was her father a "Russian Jew" too?) can be "Jewish" so can anyone.
Do Aish HaTorah and EJF not realize that intelligent people see through their shenanigans?
They probably feel that because they have the backing of a few ultra-liberal Jewish billionares who do not owe any allegiance to Halacha, that they can get away with wahtever they want.
But not for long.
Here is the full article:
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/All_Hail_the_Chief.asp
"All Hail the Chief: How a black Jewish Texan cleaned up an old confederate city.
by Michael Ledeen
Reuben Greenberg, the longtime (23-plus years) chief of the Charleston, South Carolina, police department, retired in 2005. In the words of Charleston Post and Courier reporter David Slade, he "turned the ... Police Department into a national model. In the process, he became a celebrity and a source of pride for the city."
Reuben Greenberg was undoubtedly the ultimate "man bites dog" story, for what could be more unlikely than a black, observant Jew from Texas transforming a city in the heart of the Confederacy from a crime-ridden center of corruption to a uniquely well-managed place that cracked down on crime at the same time it virtually eliminated police brutality -- and even rudeness? Greenberg told his cops that their job was not to punish (that was up to the courts), but to make arrests, and in order to do that they had to be on good terms with the citizens. Thus, he said early on in his memorable tenure, he would defend a policeman for using "excessive force" to make an arrest, but he would fire anyone who used abusive language with a citizen.
So he put his cops out on the streets, not in cars. They walked, they rode bicycles and horses, and were accessible to "normal people," who might not have wanted to call or visit headquarters.
It worked, and Reuben soon became a media celebrity. The Los Angeles Times headlined its profile, "A Black, Jewish, Roller-Skating Cop Brings a New Way to Fight Crime to the Old South," and even 60 Minutes gave him his 20 minutes of fame. He was in great demand by urban police forces looking for solutions to their crime problems, and it may well be that he contributed broadly to the nationwide drop in crime that we now see across the country. Although he was offered numerous high-profile and high-paying jobs, he was happy and remained in Charleston.
I met him on a trip to South Africa while apartheid still existed; during the trip there were two unforgettable events. The first came in a public meeting. Reuben was on stage with the South African interior minister, who asked Reuben what he thought about the regime's handling of anti-racist demonstrations. Greenberg at first declined to speak, saying it was not proper for him to come to a foreign country and speak publicly about their methods, but the minister insisted, and so Greenberg laid him out. "Your men beat up demonstrators, they deliberately hurt the people for demanding their civil rights. That is not the job of police, and it guarantees that the police will not be able to do their real job, which is protecting the people from criminals. You are doing it entirely wrong, and it turns my stomach." He was never one to mince words, once his opinions were solicited.
The other event came on a Friday night. Reuben and his wife, Sarah, needed to go to the synagogue in Johannesburg, and we went with them. As he approached the entrance, a towering Zulu guard stepped in front of him. "Sorry, sir, you can't go in there." "And why is that?" Greenberg asked mildly. "This place is just for Jewish people, sir." "That's us, we're Jewish."
There was no way to bridge that cultural chasm. Nothing could convince him that a black man with a Texas accent -- his father was a Russian immigrant who married a black woman in Texas, where Reuben grew up -- and a similarly black woman were Jewish; he had never seen such a thing, he did not believe what Reuben was saying, and he was going to do his job. But Reuben Greenberg was equally determined to pray on Shabbat. So my wife and I went inside and got the rabbi to come out and give Reuben a brief quiz on Judaism, after which we all went inside and prayed together.
I have long cherished that moment, because it reminded me of the unique nature of Americans (something the multiculturalists often forget, preferring to see us as separate communities living inside a common boundary) and Jews, who have assimilated so well because, like our countrymen, we come in all different colors from all over the world.
Reuben Greenberg is going to rest for a while, but I do not think he will ease into retirement. It isn't his way. He's got advanced degrees, he's been a college professor, and he's one of the most eloquent and charismatic speakers in America. No doubt some institution of higher learning will recognize that Greenberg's a natural for a great university or think-tank. The next generation has as much to learn from him as we have."
RaP:
ReplyDeleteI got the same emailing this morning too. It is upsetting because nearly every week in Aish's newsletter there is a story about a non halachic Jew that is meant to be inspiring. When I read the comments sections below the articles, it is clear from the comments that the message received is that a person with a Jewish father or who is married to a Jew should seek to consider themselves Jewish.
Reuben Greenberg and his wife are members of a Conservative synagogue in Charleston S.C. It would be unusal for someone who went through the rigors of an Orthodox conversion k'halacha to then go and join a Conservative synagogue.
While it is not news that Reform and Conservative consider a person Jewish if he has a Jewish father,no one ever confused either movement with Torah Judaism.
Reform was invented to ease Jewish assimilation into Gentile society (and thus end anti semitism) while Conservative was founded for those who wanted to "conserve" Judaism minus halacha (Oral Law).
Intermarriage is not considered a problem among the Reform because via intermarriage, Reform congregations can potentially grow two member families from one Jewish couple instead of only one as long as they count those who marry Jews as fully Jewish. The Reform movement's outreach project hopes to attract interfaith families and also proselytizes to non Jews to convert.
What is new and should be VERY alarming to Torah Jews everywhere is that EJF/Horizons and Aish, self described ORTHODOX Kiruv organizations now ALSO consider a person Jewish if their biological father is Jewish.
It is fair to ask, at least in America, are kiruv organizations such as Aish and Horizons doing the makeroving or are their Rabbinical leaders BEING makareved (by the Reform) instead??