Recent comments

Soros funds a network of Anti-Isreali organizations...the most vile & viscious being the broadcast of Democracy Now...Soros is neither naive or simple..he knows what he's gettting for his $$$...even if you don't

I was writing not about the morality of J Street's lie but about the political impact. In a similar vein, I have written about AIPAC many times over the years, but focused on the political aspects, not the ethical. As they say, that's not my department.

It is not a perfect world we live in, especially in the middleast, however, Avigdo Lieberman's comments if reported accurately in this article speak very eloquantly regarding the middleast and Arab to Arab history therein. No nation is without blemish in this world, i.e. the US, Europeans, Asians, etc., however, a review of history can shed some light on motives and what motivates......Israel is certainly not without blame.....but, world opinion certainly seems strangely to fall squarely on the side of Arabs and Palestinians when history clearly displays that most of their conflicts are started among themselves and do not involve Israel (save the current situation).

What other nation in the world would respond like Israel if rockets were continually lobbed at it. For that matter, what person in any neighborhood of the world would passively sit by while his/her next door neighbor kills your dogs, attempts to hurt your family and children not to mention property. I know I would take some kind of action......wouldn't you? Besides, I don't see any of the Arab borthers in Syria, Eygpt, Jordan just to name a few offering any kind of a home for the displaced Palestenian people. I find that just amazing! Yet they champion the cause of the Palestenians.......very interesting?? And they actively support military action.....how would you treat your next door neighbor if they harbored violent feelings against you, your family, property, etc?? Gee Wiz......I do think that question is a no brainer.......

Mr. Besser:

I don't detect any hint of resentment on your part at having been the victim of J Street's "lie," as you chose to word it.

But the focus of your discontent seems to be the fact that an organization for which you are sympathetic pulled a boneheaded move. You seem to be saying that lying in this case was wrong because they were bound to get caught.

If circumstances were different — if they could somehow guarantee that they'd never be caught — would that make the lie okay? Does it all come down to strategy, or is there a moral element to their behavior?

I do admit that there are times when morality requires a lie. When my mother-in-law was found outside the Lodz ghetto after curfew, she falsely told a German soldier that she wasn't Jewish. I don't know anyone who would find fault with that lie. Do you think the goals of J Street make this a moral lie? (Put another way, do the ends justify the means?)

Would you have been so understanding if AIPAC had been lying to you? Might you have framed an AIPAC lie in moral terms, suggesting that such immoral behavior was to be expected of right-wingers like AIPAC? (The question is neither rhetorical nor accusatory; I don't presume to know what you think, and maybe you'd treat AIPAC no differently under the same circumstances.)

One last thought: Allow me to suggest that if your friends are lying to you, then perhaps they're not really your friends?

(I don't see any way to contact you directly, Mr. Besser. But I hope you'll find this comment thoughtful, and I do hope you'll post a reply.)

Steve asks, "who released these confidential financial documents and why ?" and blames "enemies on the right."

Unfortunately, Steve, J Street blames the IRS. The J Street website clearly states:

We are also committed to protecting the privacy of our donors, which is guaranteed by law in the case of contributions to our 501(c)(4) and was egregiously violated by the Internal Revenue Service in erroneously and illegally making our donor schedule available to the public.

Of course the IRS is part of the executive branch of government. So if you want to blame someone, Steve, blame the Obama administration. It was their IRS, and it happened on their watch. I don't know that it was deliberate, but I won't argue with you if you want to blame Obama.

As for the timing of thse story, which you find so suspicious: As you yourself noted, "J-Street was wrong about not being more forthcoming." If a partisan organization is foolish enough to supply ammunition to their enemies, they should expect the enemies to use that ammunition where and when it will do the most harm. Wouldn't you expect J Street to do the same if the scandal involved AIPAC?

There are people here interested. IF you want to help send me an email with your name and phone number and we will contact you.

Moshe Shulman

outreach@judaismsanswer.com

Your comments are very interesting. Mohammed looks like Jew because he complied with 3, may be more of the 613 of the commands. Muslim believe that killing themselves save their life through their own blood (has some logic). Jews should be still killing animals today because the blood of the animals clean their impurities (not really too much logic). If the Jews do not have temple that is not an excuse, Israel has more than 60 years of existence, so not having blood sacrifices because there is no temple is an oximorum. Crhistians do not kill animals like Jews or themselves like Muslims, your cousins. I serve the God of Israel (the complete 12 tribes), the creator, not merely the God of the Jews that they think only cared for them. If you do not believe in the existence of a Being called Masiach (Yashua in Hebrew, not j*** in Greek, that came from the Catholics) you are late to stay killing your cattles and more blood sacrifices. Yashua came from David, born as Jew, lived as Jew, He was Jew and Rabi (like it or not) died in a ritual as the god's lamb and is His blood, blood of the same God, is the one who finished with the blood sacrifices and clean for a new reborn. Hurry up you are late to keep the traditions of you ancestors in sacrifices and keeping their dogmas without a bit of thinking. The God of Israel open your eyes.
Suggestion. Read Issaiah 53 and Daniel, even if your Rabi desencourage you to do it Dr. Bert.

Redemption - he's kidding, right?

He's been out of jail less than a year and he wants redemption NOW.

He destroyed careers/lives.

What has he done in the past few months since leaving prison to warrant redemption now - nothing.

Bershad nor Lerach have made such demands at this juncture.

Maybe because they appreciate its premature at this juncture.

Prosectuors repeatedly stated to Judge Walter in the criminal proceeding that Weiss exhibited "criminal arrogance" - well, here's more of the same criminal arrogance.

Wake up Mel!

Spend time making amends first before seeking redemption.

Its something you have to earn one person at a time over a period of years.

Its not something you buy or solicit through a media campaign.

Start making amends with your former partners and others you hurt - then you'll be traveling down the path to redemption.

A few thoughts...

1 - Though this will always be a sore spot, there is the issue of freedom of religion in our country. If part of the way the Hebrew Christians express their religion is evangelism, then they are entitled to it. It is our choice whether or not we enter into the discussion.

2 - If we attack them too hard, we may end up drawing too much attention and curiosity to their cause.

3 - I am not entirely opposed to this idea of "live and let live" - as I am personally sick of fighting. Though I do understand protecting the vulnerable. But in all honesty, it seems that this article paints any Jewish person who became a Messianic as either marginalized, disenfranchised, or just plain dumb... is this really the case? I personally know several Ph.d Messianics... they are not as stupid as we paint them to be, nor are all of their converts. Some of their converts were actually Rabbis.. I even know one former Chasid who was the Torah reader in the synagogue for 15 years.

4 - I suggest we start having more dialogues with their leaders and try and understand each other, come to terms, and maybe agree on some ethical parameters for their "evangelism". If they are going to do it anyway, and it's a free country, then at least we can try and talk to them about some guidelines... any suggestions?

If we don't start dialoguing with them... then it just becomes multiple counter-campaigns back and forth to keep disagreeing and having ideological fights through papers and publications...

J Street is the voice of many Jews who support peace for Israelis and Palestinians. Why should anyone of them be embarrassed by George Soros' support? Soros is a great guy in my book. If he was good enough to be Tom Lantos' friend, how come he isn't good enough to be Jeremy Ben Ami's friend?

All the attacks on these side issues are a symptom of J Street's success at shifting the conversation in Congress and at countless Jewish family dinner tables. If Soros funding helped that process along, them I'm grateful for it.

“I began to acknowledge that my legal scruple about officiating or co-officiating at such a wedding was not consistent with my willingness to discount many other traditional norms,” he wrote.

This is all one needs to know about these 'rabbis' who could not pass a Torah test equivalent to the yeshiva education of 10 year old.

These people are trading in the exalted 4,000 year journey of the jewish People for a bargain-basement Yiddishkeit that turns Torah into a chinese menue of choosing one from column a and one from column b. The 'Jewish-Jeiwhs' home is a lie as there will be no real Shabat observance, no real kashrut, no real taharat hamishpacha. Indeed no real association with any of the 613 Mitzvot.

Marriage is a halachic catagory. There is no such category in Judaism for a Jew to marry someone who is not. When you re-make Yiddishkeit into your image of what things should/can be, this is Avodat Zara - serving HaShem, but as a stranger and is not essentially different from a 'messianic Jew' who accepts "j" as his/her savior.

A you all wonder why there is a continual, ongoing and unending crisis in Jewish identification and participation in jewish life in America. Simple as it is.