Thursday, July 18, 2019

Why American Jews Mostly Shrugged Off the Ultimate Insult

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-17/why-u-s-jews-mostly-shrugged-off-israeli-s-holocaust-insult

When news broke last week that a right-wing member of Israel’s government, Rafi Peretz, had remarked that assimilation of American Jews is a “second Holocaust,” a column in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper braced for the worst reaction, proclaiming, “Israel’s Education Minister Just Said Most American Jews Are Dead to Him.”
The response from American Jews, though, has been mostly muted. Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, chastised Peretz in a tweet, saying: “It’s inconceivable to use the term ‘Holocaust’ to describe Jews choosing to marry non-Jews. It trivializes the Shoah.” But as for the impact on relations between American Jews and Israel, Greenblatt was almost gentle, saying Peretz’s comment “does little other than inflame and offend.” The American Jewish Committee also tweeted a slap at Peretz, calling his comment “offensive and unhelpful.” More telling, however, was its acknowledging that “assimilation challenges Jewish continuity and Diaspora identification with Israel and must be grappled with.”


8 comments :

  1. Unfortunately, Rafi Peretz is correct. Assimilation in the USA (and worldwide) is indeed a massive problem.
    It has been said, that in the USA alone, more people have been lost to assimilation, than were destroyed in the Holocaust.
    That's a spiritual holocaust!

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  2. But Giluy Arayos parades in the holy land are a walk in the park. Let's face it. Sin is sin. Genocide is genocide. And while there is a connection, someone has to be pretty savvy to make it, and offhand comments are not savvy.

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  3. “Why American Jews Mostly Shrugged Off the Ultimate Insult”
    Interesting divorce case in daf hayomi yesterday
    Arachin 31b
    “Mishnah. Beforetime he [the buyer] used to hide himself on the last day of the twelve months, so that [the house] might become his permanent [possession]. but Hillel ordained that he [that sold it] could deposit his money in a chamber [What chamber? Not, as most commentators have it, in the Sanctuary. No house in Jerusalem could fall to the purchaser, and for an inhabitant of the province the procedure of bringing that money to Jerusalem on the particular day might be very burdensome. R. Gershom suggests it was a chamber constructed ad hoc, in any court of justice, in the city wherein the case arose.] and break down the door and enter, and that the other, whenever he wanted, might come and take his money. Gemara. Raba said: [One may deduce] from the ordinance of Hillel that [if a husband said to his wife]: Here is thy bill of divorce on condition that you give me two hundred zuz, and she gave it to him, then she is divorced if she did so with his consent; but if against his will, she is not divorced.”
    Gittin 74b
    “ R. Assi inquired of R. Johanan: [If a man said,] This is your Get on condition that you give me two hundred zuz, and he then changed his mind and said, You can keep the money [lit., they are forgiven thee], what is the law? This is equally a problem whether we adopt the view of the Rabbis or whether we adopt that of Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel. From the standpoint of the Rabbis it is a problem, because [we may hold that] the Rabbis only ruled as they did in the other case [of the robe] because he did not forgo his claim, but here we see that he tells her that she can keep the money. Or we may also hold that Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel ruled as he did only because she made it good for him with a money payment, but where she pays him nothing at all he would not say [that she is divorced]? He replied: She is not divorced”
    Wow, she is not divorced if she doesn’t give him the 200 zuz in the stipulation even if he waves it! She is not divorced if he refuses to accept the 200 zuz. Wow the man can make big trouble by giving a divorce and stipulating: This is your Get on condition that you give me two hundred zuz. The ruling of Hillel only applies to trying to cancel a sale of a house in a walled city and not to divorce. The K-G garbage heter may be bringing sin upon America:
    “A man takes a wife and possesses her. She fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house; she leaves his household and becomes the wife of another man; then this latter man rejects her, writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house; or the man who married her last dies. Then the first husband who divorced her shall not take her to wife again, since she has been defiled [i.e., disqualified for him]—for that would be abhorrent to the Lord. You must not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a heritage.” (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

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  4. “Why American Jews Mostly Shrugged Off the Ultimate Insult”
    Why? 1) Americans think money is the most important thing in life. False.
    See https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266202
    “In America people think that money makes the world go around”
    2) American media is so bad. See

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-navy-flotilla-encounters-iran-in-strait-of-hormuz-11563491109?tesla=y&mod=article_inline
    “Our transit is 100% meant to reassure our allies of our continued commitment to the region,” Brig. Gen. Matthew Trollinger, who was overseeing the convoy, told The Wall Street Journal, the only media organization on the Boxer during the transit.
    “We’re ready and able to respond appropriately to threats to ensure a secure and safe maritime environment,” the Marine general added, without addressing questions about the Iranian military.
    Bravo! What a scoop for the Wall Street Journal! No lousy anti-Semite CNN, NBC etc
    Trump is smart allowing only the Wall Street Journal to see first-hand and to report.

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  5. “Why American Jews Mostly Shrugged Off the Ultimate Insult”
    See Tzvi Fishman (I read and love his books)
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24181
    “In contrast, the Jews of the Diaspora today are very different. The main difference is that, by and large, they simply don’t know that they should come on aliyah. No one teaches them. Not their rabbis, not their high-school yeshiva teachers, not their shul presidents, not the sisterhood, not their parents, no one. So, they simply don’t know that the true goal of Judaism is to establish the Kingdom of G-d in the world via the Jewish People leading a Torah life in Israel, as it says, “For from ZION shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the L-rd from JERUSALEM.” Even in the books they read about Judaism, Eretz Yisrael has been deleted. Take a look at a few indexes of the most popular books in English on Jewish Philosophy. You won’t find a word about Eretz Yisrael.”
    Rabbi Irwin Haut of blessed memory and all those against me in my SCOTUS 18-9390 and NYS COA 649 feel not the least that Jews should make aliya.

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  6. Hope all is well with you and your family. I had to delete my account a few months ago...not sure if you got my message in advance. Jêwish Mother in Law

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  7. Just like the Evangelical Missionaries who disguise as Judaism or Torah. More souls and families destroyed

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  8. Hope all is well with you and your family. I had to delete my account a few months ago...not sure if you got my message in advance. J.M.I.L.

    ReplyDelete

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