Wake Up, Jews!
No doubt, it's hard for people to give up their lifelong
attachments and identity. But there are moments in history when a turning
point arrives, and those with eyes to see and ears to hear recognize it.
Many Jews have made political liberalism their religion and personal identity
and the Democrat Party their unexamined home and comfort zone. But
everything changed early September.
Rarely do modern-day political conventions startle. The
Democratic National Convention, however, was earthshaking and a warning to Jews
to wake up. Democrat delegates decided to stick it to Israel. We no
longer care, they roared, if Israel remains a Jewish state; flood her heartland
with millions of so-called Palestinians whose goal is to make the state
Islamic. We will not condemn Hamas for targeting Jewish population
centers with rockets. Jerusalem is not Israel's indivisible capital but
should be divided, like Berlin was. Such was the undeniable sentiment of
the delegates at the Convention.
After objections from outside the Convention, the chairman
reinstated support for Jerusalem. But he was resoundingly booed.
The world saw how those boos far outweighed the yeas. My fellow Jews, the
boos were for you; those boos were for Israel, a successful Israel that sticks
in the craw of a leftist, socialist mindset that sees Israel not as the beacon
of freedom and accomplishment she is, but as something outside the leftist
ideological orbit. Sure, they will take your contributions and your
votes, but they don't want your Israel, and they expect you to forgo distinctly
Jewish needs on the altar of leftism. We saw not liberalism, but hardcore
leftism, and we saw a home where the welcome mat is quite conditional and worn
out.
The prophet Daniel saw the writing on the wall. All too
often throughout our history, we Jews, and especially heads of major Jewish
organizations, have failed to see the writing on the wall. We are afraid
to see that which is a game-changer, and so we deny events we wish were not
happening. After all, who wants to change the comfort zone?
It was a convention, like the last four years of the Obama
administration, reveling in class warfare. Class warfare, like Occupy
Wall Street and other scapegoating calls, has never been good for the Jews.
We are often the scapegoat of those envious. Knowing this,
Ahmadinejad scheduled a meeting with Occupy, a movement endorsed last year by
many bigwigs in the Democratic Party and even President Obama himself.
Jihadists and much of Islam want to delegitimize the concept of a Jewish
state by tarnishing Jews as "those rich capitalists" unworthy of a
state among the community of nations.
Too often, we Jews have been beguiled into believing that Jews in
positions of power have our interests at heart. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
is but the latest who would have us think she is "doing what is good for
the Jews" when, in fact, she is doing and will continue to do what is good
for Debbie and her power base. Similarly, the heads of the major Jewish
organizations have been conspicuously silent -- a silence that would not
prevail if a Republican were doing the things to Israel Obama is doing.
Job openings are way down; 50% of college graduates, our children,
can't find jobs; and Mr. Obama will continue to weaken national security and
thus the safety of our families...and continue to make it more difficult for
Israel to survive. For many, all this is secondary and expendable for
their more important agenda of abortion on demand and gay marriage. How
frivolous; how irresponsible!
We can determine what truly is important to a person when he is
forced to choose between two values. Since when is it a Jewish value to
condemn Israel to misery just so one can be assured of abortion at any time,
under any circumstance? Most of your grandparents would have chosen
Israel over abortion and gay marriage. As our sages tell us: "The
wages of immorality are further immorality."
President Obama has time to meet with Muslim Brotherhood Morsi of
Egypt, who has declared his intention to get rid Israel, but Mr. Obama has no
time to meet with Israel's Netanyahu, whose country is under imminent nuclear
threat from Iran. Israel's concern about a possible nuclear Holocaust is,
for Mr. Obama, dismissed as mere noise, while his delegates at the U.N. on
Sept. 24 are ordered to sit and listen to the vile noise of the
Holocaust-denier and Iranian Jew-hater-in-chief. It is clear that Mr.
Obama's underlying sympathy is with the Muslim Brotherhood and its spread and
influence around the world. He is coaxing us to accept Islamic attitudes
and norms. This speaks volumes -- to those willing to see the facts as
they truly are.
My friends, get off the train, now. The track is pointing in
a very dangerous direction. You will not prevail over the trend; on the
contrary, you will become part of the trend. As an elder clergyman, I'm
horrified as I watch many Jews -- young and old -- slowly evolve into
proponents of positions unwholesome, dangerous, and destined toward spiritual
and physical suicide.
True, you will be forced to stop your demonizing of
Republicans. You may have to vote for Romney, a candidate singular in his
passion and love for Israel as a living concept, an indivisible Jerusalem, and
for Israelis and Jews as Jews. You will have to wipe away the gruesome
fantasies you have concocted about Republicans and conservative
Americans. That's OK. In fact, it is a nice thing to do and is good
for the soul.
Rabbi Aryeh Spero is author of Push Back: Reclaiming our American
Judeo-Christian Spirit. Contact: (212) 252-6861; www.caucusforamerica.com
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