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You've Got Hate Mail
Rabbi Avi Shafran

You've Got Hate Mail

by Rabbi Avi Shafran


"Dear Friend," the letter begins.

You read what follows, about the threats Jews pose, about the "acts of violence" those "powerful forces" commit, about the "repugnant face" they present to the world.

You read further, and behold outlandish misrepresentations of Jewish goals and activities, sublime beliefs portrayed as nefarious plans. And you shudder as you realize that countless others are reading the very same letter, many nodding ignorantly in agreement, in sneering recognition of the misfortune that is the Jewish people.

The writer takes pains, of course, to be "perfectly clear." His is "not opposed" to Jews themselves, only to their determination to "use [their] political power to have a deleterious effect on society."

But "they", you read on, have an agenda. "They" have shown their resolve. "They" are growing in influence. Accompanying the sinister personal pronoun are phrases underlined for emphasis, and others in upper-case letters.

You are asked to "GIVE AS GENEROUSLY AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN TO THE CAMPAIGN" against the "forces of reaction."

The letter is real, and has been received by tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of homes. It is not, however, about Jews, at least not about all Jews. It is, rather, about some Jews, namely those in Israel who observe the laws of the Torah in the tradition of all Jews' forbears - those Jews the letter prefers to call "the ultra-Orthodox minority."

It is signed by Norman S. Rosenberg, the executive director of one of the most successful Jewish groups in recent memory -- if success is to be measured in dollars raised and ill will generated: the New Israel Fund.

Like all good propaganda, it contains both outright falsehood and insidious half-truths.

By implying that observant Jews - the group some have called the new targets for anti-Semitism, the "Jews' Jews" - seek a "theocratic state" in Israel in which "the religious strictures of the ultra-Orthodox minority reign supreme," Mr. Rosenberg grievously misleads. Israel's democratically elected Orthodox political parties indeed wish to maintain the standards of Jewish tradition in the Jewish State for things affecting the essential integrity and unity of the Jewish people, like personal status issues; only a "common denominator" in such realms can ensure a single Jewish people in the future. They also seek to continue Israel's longstanding policy of refraining from conducting non-essential official government activities on the Jewish Sabbath, and of providing only kosher food at government functions. But even David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister and far from an Orthodox Jew, endorsed those Jewish State accommodations of Jewish tradition.

Israel's religious parties feel, too, that the deep feelings of observant residents should be respected when possible by routing Sabbath traffic away from their neighborhoods, and that Jews with large families should be eligible for State assistance. So too, though, do many less observant but traditional Israelis. One may agree or disagree with any or all of those goals. But such demonstrations of Israel's Jewish character and accommodation of its observant population hardly constitute a theocracy. The model promoted by Israel's religious parties is not Iran, but the Israel of the past 52 years so familiar to us all.

Recurrent throughout the New Israel Fund's appeal is the phrase "religious freedom," as in "the assault on religious freedom" and attempts "to turn back the clock on religious freedom" in Israel.

An uninformed reader would justifiably think that Israelis are somehow not free to practice whatever form of religion they like. One would never know that there are Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Messianic places of worship (all bustling with activity, according to each movement's publicity directors), and that Jews are entirely unhindered from frequenting them.

Most sad of all, though, beyond the letter's lies lurks a not-so-subtle threat. "American Jews," Mr. Rosenberg warns, faced with the Jewish State maintaining its official respect for halacha regarding personal status issues in Israel, "will respond by distancing themselves from Israel..."

If you are an affiliated American Jew, chances are you are on the NIF's huge mailing list. If you are someone who finds the Jewish religious heritage embarrassing or ugly, if you like the idea of demonizing Jews who feel otherwise and if you would like to threaten Israel with the loss of your support unless it reflects your point of view, then you might well wish to write the NIF a check. Though it takes in many millions of dollars each year in donations, it can likely find a use for your money too.

But if you think you know Jew-baiting when you see it (even when, tragically, it is Jews who are doing the baiting), if you have regard for your religious heritage, a desire for true Jewish unity and a commitment to truth, you might wish instead to consider writing a short note to that effect instead, and using the envelope Mr. Rosenberg has graciously provided to let him know.

AM ECHAD RESOURCES

[Rabbi Avi Shafran serves as director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America and as America director of Am Echad]


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