JEWS NOT A MONOLITH: ISRAEL'S CHIEF RABBI DENIES THAT MASSACRE SCENE IS A SYNAGOGUE
It seems that the recent massacre of eleven Jews in Pittsburgh is not bringing Jews together. In fact it is having the opposite effect and revealing deep divisions between Jews that most non-Jews didn't know existed.
This became apparent after Israel's Chief Rabbi David Lau denied that the Tree of Life "synagogue" -- the scene of the mass shooting -- is an actual synagogue. He instead referred to it as "a place of profound Jewish flavor" in an interview with a Jewish Orthodox newspaper.
As reported by Haaretz:
In the interview with Makor Rishon, a newspaper popular in the Israeli Modern Orthodox community, Rabbi David Lau said that “any murder of any Jew in any part of the world for being Jewish is unforgivable.” But rather than acknowledge that the crime had been carried out in a synagogue, he referred to the location as “a place with a profound Jewish flavor.”
This led to a storm of protest from members of the Jewish Conservative congregation, of which the Tree of Life synagogue is a part.
Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi came under fire on Sunday for refusing to acknowledge in a newspaper interview that the massacre in Pittsburgh was carried out in a synagogue.
The country’s ultra-Orthodox newspapers, in reporting on the event, have also refused to acknowledge that it took place in a Jewish house of prayer because Tree of Life is a Conservative congregation, and they do not recognize the non-Orthodox movements.
Responding on Twitter, Yizhar Hess, executive director of the Conservative movement in Israel asked rhetorically: “Really, chief rabbi of Israel? A place with a profound Jewish flavor? Perhaps a synagogue?”
Immediately attempts were made by some Jews to guilt trip other Jews, with emotional references to the victims of the massacre.
Tomer Persico, a prominent Israeli scholar of religion, tweeted in response: “Chief Rabbi Lau refuses to say it was a synagogue. And that’s while Jews were murdered when praying.”
“Even halakhically, it is a synagogue,” added Persico, referring to the fact that Conservative Judaism follows halakha, or Jewish religious law. “This is the face of the Orthodox establishment: petty, detached, archaic and hateful.”
These divisions are very ironic, because one of the reasons that Robert Bowers attacked the Tree of Life was because he saw the Jews as a monolithic entity, working in unison to "destroy the White race." This is the kind of stupid meme routinely pushed by the idiots in the Alt-Right.
The reality is that Jews are just as divided and argumentative as any other group of people, in fact more so.
The reality is that Jews are just as divided and argumentative as any other group of people, in fact more so.
3 comments
While it is true that the jews are not a monolith, and that there are those who are as nationalistic as the next right winger, you canot deny that many of them have had a lage rol to play in combating nationalism.
Its the same argument that many share on islam. While there are good muslims out there, many of them share completely diffrent values than us. Many "normal" right wingers have not problem making that distinction when it comes to islam.
But for some reason they do when it comes to jews. Thats what I find so hypocritical.
Yes it's true that a lot of Jews have pushed left-wing ideas over the years partly as a legacy of their history but a lot of people in the Alt-Right literally believe that Jews are not only a monolith and a hive mind but also are all powerful, control everything and can only be opposed by Nazi memes and references to the Holocaust which we are also told is a total lie as opposed to an exaggerated narrative.
Don't see how having these kinds of delusions help White nationalists to support their interests. European nationalists owe all their successes to moving away from the typical Alt-Right mindset which tells you all you need to know about the Alt-Right.
What is necessary to remember is that our Jewish fellow Earth-walkers are Homines sapientes just as we are. Major corollary thereof is that they, too, are fallible, capable of error. If they claim to be a superior People, then from them we should expect superior errors.
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