Comments on: As if we needed any new sins to commit…

By: josh

josh — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 22:06:18 +0000

knee jerk defending of Rabbis? Well, this one I’ve met personally.

Believe it or not, he actually sets aside time in his schedule to be godfather (hold the boy) at brisses of total ’strangers’. My neighbour just called up his office (home) and luckily Rabbi Eliyahu had some time free on last Friday morning. So one of the most highly respected rabbis in Israel comes and simply does ‘favours’ for regular Jews, on ‘busy’ Friday before shabbat, and right before these ‘important’ elections too. It was quite incredible, like a rock star coming to your simcha.

Laya, I’m sure you’d think he was the sweetest zeide. And trust me, this zeide does more for the orphan and the widow than you would ever know. Don’t try to be the jewlicious JohnBrown.

By: Ariel Beery

Ariel Beery — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:54:08 +0000

Sorry about the lack of clarity–I meant to say that both the Labor Zionists and the Revisionists mixed the ideologies of the Western world with other, new Hebraic varieties to create the many colors of Zionism.

By: themiddle

themiddle — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 21:06:35 +0000

Hey, that piece by Subliminal was great!

By: ck

ck — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 16:35:03 +0000

Well… the man knows his Meir Kahane back in the day. That WAS radical back then, especially with all the important Soviet Jewry work they did. I don’t find him particularly radical now though. And I must be totally missing your point. I wasn’t critiquing Halevi per se, merely stating the obvious. And who is this “they” that mixed ideologies? Forgive me but you are just a tad unclear.

By: Ariel Beery

Ariel Beery — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 13:36:21 +0000

While I love your quote of TACT, ck, I'm not sure I agree with your criticism of Yossi. Yes, he certainly is speaking in hindsight--I mean, his first book was "Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist," so the man knows his radicalism. But I would argue that Zionism is just the type of stereophonic radicalism that is needed at the present. Yes the Labor Zionists believed in a workers' state, but no, they did not believe in a binational state when push came to shove. Yes, Jabotinsky believed in a strong military for the Jews, but no, he did not believe in treating the Muslims or Christians in the land as subjects to be ruled. As such, they mixed the individually empowering ideology of the Left with the popularly empowering ideology of the Right--and thus the State of Israel was born, and thus it can be empowered to seal its borders today.

By: ck

ck — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 12:51:49 +0000

Oy. I mean Rabbi Eliyahu is certainly entitled to his opinion. I remember a time when even Shas supported territorial compromise stating that pikuach nefesh (saving lives) was more important than keeping Jewish land in jewish hands. Of course they've since changed their minds, but the fact that they once held such a position is instructive. As for Yossi Klein Halevi's position - hindsight is 20/20! He seems to be advocating a centrist position in a political context that is, in and of itself, pretty darn radical. Compare Israel today to what was here 100 years ago and try telling me how any party that supports the right of the state of Israel to exist isn't radical. That whole Zionist dream thing is insane! That we were ever here is completely crazy; that we continue to stay and thrive and struggle is crazier still. I think it would have been more germaine to quote from the latest video by Tel Aviv rapper Subliminal and his crew TACT. The song is called Hoshet Lo Yad (and you can see it here) and the lyrics in question state: כי בסופו של דבר הרי כןלנו אנשים וכולם רוצים את אותם דברים בשמאל ובימין For those of you who are hebraically challenged: Because in the end, aren't we all just people And everyone wants the same thing, on the right and on the left. Heh. Words of wisdom from Tel Aviv rap hooligans. In stereo for real!