Powered by WebAds

Friday, September 23, 2005

Speculation

Steven I. Weiss over at Canonist has been doing a very thorough job of covering a very interesting story. A quick recap:
An essay was published in this issue of the Jewish Voice and Opinion journal, titled "Leaving Israel Because I'm Disengaged". The piece, which was written under the pseudonym of S.A. Halevy, detailed the author's disillusionment with the State of Israel, and explained that he is no longer supporting its existence. From the essay:
Israel has betrayed Jewish history, joining the ranks of all those nations that construed their Jews as chattel without basic human rights. No longer can we look with contempt, or condescension, on England, France, Spain, Russia, Germany, Poland, et al; Israel is no better. Its government reinforced the notion that Jews have no right to live and prosper in a certain part of the world simply because they are Jews. No longer can we mourn the Germans’ destruction of shuls on Kristallnacht or the Jordanians’ destruction of every shul in the Old City of Jerusalem after 1948, without including Israel’s own destruction of every shul in Gaza—those it took down piecemeal and those it left for destruction at the hands of the Palestinians. The sad fact is that we are no better than our enemies, and often we are worse, because we are doing this to ourselves and our own people.
...The disengagement has therefore ushered in my personal divorce from the State of Israel. It is painful to say but the State Israel no longer reflects my values or aspirations, and no longer is worthy of my political or financial support.
Controversial stuff, of course. This has led to mad speculation as to the identity of the author, who is described as "a powerful, important rabbi in the tri-state area who was a force in the National Religious movement". Steven I. has been covering the speculation here, here, and here.
Basically, suspicion has been cast on Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Teaneck's Bnei Yeshurun Synagogue. But he denies it, though he has apparently been fingered by other bloggers, as detailed at Canonist.

Check the whole mess out.

3 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

"Controversial stuff, of course."

I would say unhinged and horrifying stuff, but that's just me.

10:57 AM  
Blogger orthomom said...

Yeah. That's a fair asessment.

10:59 AM  
Anonymous Lots in Costa Rica said...

Great site,this information really helped me , I really appreciate it.Thanks a lot for a bunch of good tips. I look forward to reading more on the topic in the future. Keep up the good work! This blog is going to be great resource. Love reading it.

1:58 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home