Here is a great speech from Rabbi Richard Agler of B’nai Israel Congregation in Boca Raton Florida……… It is posted on his site http://www.rabbiagler.net/.
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Rabbi Richard Agler February 29, 2008
Congregation B’nai Israel 24 Adar I, 5768
Boca Raton, FL Shabbat Vayakhel
“IS BARACK OBAMA AN ANTI-SEMITE?”
The answer, as we’ve said since we announced the topic, is “No.”
But the fact that we even have to pose the question,
the fact that it has become an issue,
is as alarming and as disturbing as if the answer had been “yes.”
To break the ice, let’s take a quick quiz.
1) Who is the Presidential candidate whose church is a major proponent
of divestment from Israel?
The answer is Hillary Clinton. Nationally, the United Methodist Church is at
the forefront of the anti-Israel divestment movement.
(Btw, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are also Methodists.)
2) Which Presidential candidate is on record as recently saying that
“America is a Christian nation” and despite a pointed protest from the
Anti-Defamation League, did not withdraw the statement?
That would be John McCain.
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/RelChStSep_90/5142_90.htm
http://www.adl.org/religious_freedom/letter_mccain1.asp
3) Which candidate has an advisor or prominent supporter
who could be seen as hostile to Israel?
A) Clinton B) McCain C) Obama. The answer is D) all of the above.
4) Finally, which Presidential candidate attends a church where the minister
gave a community-service recognition award to Louis Farrakhan?
The answer to that, as everyone knows, is Barack Obama.
Our little quiz begets a few questions of its own.
How come #4 is the only one most of us knew the answer to?
Is it the most important question of the bunch?
It might be the least important—but I leave that judgment to you.
Either way, there is no question that the Obama question and issue
have gone absolutely viral in the Jewish community,
creating anxiety the likes of which we haven’t seen
since I can’t remember when.
What I’d like to do this evening, in a non-partisan way, is
examine the issue of Barack Obama and the Jewish community.
I say non-partisan because that is what the synagogue is
and that is certainly what the pulpit is.
As an institution we do not endorse candidates.
Even if it weren’t a tax exempt matter we wouldn’t do it.
(Too often they disappoint us.)
But at the same time, we can, should and do
speak out on issues of consequence to the Jewish community.
And when a leading contender for the Presidency is accused of
being anti-Semitic, anti-Israel or somehow otherwise hostile
to Jewish interests, is very much of consequence.
So that’s our task for this evening.
Frankly, it’s an easy charge to dismiss. We can put ourselves at ease right away.
If Barack Obama were an anti-Semite, do we think for a moment
that he would be where he is today?
The answer to this question is a resounding “no.”
Anti-Semitism is reviled by decent Americans today of every political,
religious and cultural stripe.
Thankfully and blessedly, the time when America could elect
an avowed racial or religious bigot to national office is long past.
(Whether or not we are ready to elect an African-American,
or for that matter a woman, remains to be seen.)
In the Democratic Party in particular
where Jews have given 75-80% of their votes
in recent Presidential elections,
and an inordinate percentage of contributions,
it is inconceivable for that party to nominate anyone who is
hostile to Jews, Judaism or the State of Israel.
And the same can be said for the Republican Party
for some of the same but different reasons as well.
Not everyone is comfortable with it but it is true that
Jewish neo-conservatives hold inordinate influence there.
There is also the Republican party’s evangelical Christian “base”
which as we know is avowedly pro-Israel.
Likewise Jewish contributors to Republicans,
while not comprising the same percentage as they do for Democrats,
remain quite significant.
Once again friends, the good news is that at this point in our history
it is all but impossible for a national candidate of either major party to be
anti-Semitic or anti-Israel and stand a chance of being nominated.
(So sorry Pat Buchanan.)
We need to acknowledge this, be grateful for it and say shehecheyanu.
So why all the ruckus over Obama in particular?
Despite, as we saw earlier, the equally if not more serious questions
that could be asked of his rivals?
Why don’t Jews seem to be complaining about McCain’s un-retracted statement about America being a Christian nation?
Or about Hillary Clinton’s affiliation with a church that is hostile to Israel?
Or for that matter, George Bush and Dick Cheney’s affiliation
with that same church?
Or about each of them having advisors that may not
sing Hatikvah clearly enough to suit us?
If you wanted to pick out an issue, wouldn’t one of those do?
And why, despite Obama’s refutations and protestations
morning, noon and night
and the testimonials on his behalf by numerous prominent Jews
and supporters of Israel do the suspicions about him remain?
Something is going on and we need to understand what it is.
Again, let’s be clear. This is not a partisan talk or an endorsement of Barack
Obama or anybody else. We are here to examine how a Presidential candidate,
generally perceived as a friend of the Jewish community in Chicago where he
comes from, can be painted as being somehow threatening to the interests of the
American Jewish community.
Let’s begin with a general statement about electoral politics in America.
Sadly, it has become a very low art.
We need not elaborate. We are all more than familiar.
Instead of aspirations, campaigns–national campaigns in particular–
are often marked more by denigrations.
And we know why. Voters, the years have shown,
are often more easily turned by fear than by hope.
As a result, campaigns love to exploit fears.
And in national elections, where there is more at stake,
there is more to fear.
Both parties have resorted to this over the years. It is nothing new,
going back to the 19th century if not the 18th in American politics.
And it has not served our democracy well. But it is a reality.
So by this time we should know it when we see it and be able to
separate truth from fear and smear.
I think it is fair to say that the insinuations against Barack Obama
fall into this category.
The anti-Jewish related “charges,” if we can use the word,
seem to boil down to the following:
He is insufficiently pro-Israel and may be even be pro-Palestinian.
He has advisors who are not pro-Israel.
His minister is insufficiently pro-Israel and
once gave an award to the anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan.
He is, or was, a Muslim.
I’m going to illustrate with the last, which has been exposed as patently false.
Yes his father, who left the family when he was two, was Muslim and
gave him the middle name “Hussein.”
He also went to school in Indonesia, a Muslim country,
but to a public, secular school, from ages 6-10.
That’s it. So how do we get from there to “he’s a Muslim”?
We know the answer. It’s a scare tactic.
Muslims are viewed with fear and suspicion in America–
and much of the Western world–today.
So why not exploit it?
The people who do it know that it is not true.
They don’t care. They know it will plant seeds of doubt.
And why worry about facts when you can use fear?
Btw, to his credit, the other day John McCain chastised a talk-radio host
for repeatedly referring to “Barack Hussein Obama” at a McCain rally
in Ohio. Let’s see if that behavior holds through the campaign.
It would be most refreshing if it did. (Don’t count on it—you heard it here first.)
In any event, we have an easily disproved and baseless accusation,
hanging by a sliver of a thread of a connection to reality–
that is nevertheless widely believed.
And the rest of the so-called anti-Jewish or anti-Israel positions
imputed to Barack Obama are of a piece–equally baseless.
In the interests of time, I will not refute them one by one this evening.
But I will link on www.rabbiagler.net and you can see them there.
So much of this has gone around that the leaders of nine national Jewish
organizations, none of which endorse or oppose any candidate for President,
including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the ADL, the American Jewish Committee
and Rabbi David Saperstein of our own Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism took it upon themselves to pen an open letter criticizing the “falsehood
and innuendo…[that] mischaracterize Senator Obama…” It describes the smear
campaign tactics as “despicable and false…[and]…rejects these efforts to
manipulate members of our community into supporting or opposing candidates.”
I’ll link the full text of that letter as well.
http://rac.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=2631&pge_prg_id=10214
Similarly, seven Jewish U.S. senators, none of whom have endorsed a candidate
for the Democratic nomination, signed an open letter to the Jewish community
“expressing outrage at these tactics, which are being used to demonize a good
and decent man…attempting to manipulate voters into supporting or opposing
one candidate or another based on despicable and fictitious attacks…” They also
advised making decisions on whom to support based on the factual records of
the candidates, not false charges circulated by anonymous mass emails. I’ll link
this letter as well. http://www.pjvoice.com/v32/32101obama.aspx
We should also know–our own local Congressman Robert Wexler
who we know to be a fierce defender of Israel, an observant Jew
and nobody’s fool, is campaigning actively for Obama.
He wrote an article for the Jerusalem Post this week
debunking the “Obama is anti-Israel” accusations.
<Sorry, no link. Text of letter appended at end of these speaking notes.>
Would he be doing that if there were the slightest doubt about his support
for Israel? Of course the answer is no.
And just one more—my cousin Peter Levitas, who you won’t know unless you’re
related to me or had business before the Senate Judiciary committee recently
where he served. Peter made friends with Barack Obama on their first day
together at Harvard Law School. Take my word on this–there is no way my
cousin Peter would be friends with anyone who is even a trace anti-Semitic.
So where does all this nonsense come from?
Much of it seems to be coming from partisan anti-Democratic (capital D)
Jewish sources, who apparently believe that Obama would be a stronger
opponent than Clinton (the polls indicate this) and want to weaken him. They also
apparently don’t believe that the laws of lashon ha-ra—gossip and slander,
baseless accusation and character assassination, apply to the political realm. On
that count they are mistaken. But that is between them and their G-d. What they
are doing does make political sense however. Jewish voters may very well
determine the outcome in a number of large electoral-vote states. (Yes, think
Florida.)
So what’s a well-meaning citizen to do?
I think we can follow a few guidelines.
First, when the next anonymous mass email comes in,
on any subject, hit delete.
When the next partisan email comes in, on any candidate,
whether you support or oppose that candidate, hit delete.
What do we need propaganda for—from anyone?
And if we expect to know what’s going on in the world,
if we want to be informed voters, let’s avoid
tabloid websites, tabloid television and tabloid newspapers.
My own definition btw, is that if it has more than one mention per month,
in a prominent position, of the details of the personal life of any
young singer or actress, it is a tabloid.
Let’s get our important news and information from
reliable, professional and objective journalistic sources.
Which is not so easy to do.
There aren’t that many of them and none of them are perfect.
But if we at least try, at the end of the day, we will have separated
a lot of wheat from chaff.
I’ll link to a few that I respect and use:
New York Times www.nytimes.com
Ha’aretz www.haaretz.com
JTA http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home/index.html
Israel MFA http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/
Slate www.slate.com
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism http://rac.org/
Also helpful in debunking rumors and “urban legends,”
including political ones, is www.snopes.com
Friends, we should vote for whomever we believe
will make the best President of the United States.
Both major party nominees will say the right things about Israel.
They will do this because
It is in America’s strategic interest to support Israel.
Israel is the only democracy in Middle East.
Israel is supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans.
Israel on right side of war on terror.
Yes, the candidates have advisors and supporters with varying views
on the subject–
Bush has Kissinger, McCain has James Baker, Obama has Brzezinski, and
at least one Hamas leader believes that Hillary Clinton would be good for
Hamas. I’ll link that for you too.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58699 (In the same article
you can read that Monica Lewinsky was “a trap planted by Zionists.”) It’s
delusional of course. But if Hillary gets the nomination, you can bet there will be
a message that she’s a Hamas supporter on its way to an inbox near you—the
fact that she has an unimpeachable record of support for Israel notwithstanding.
Let us not be duped—by any of this.
To conclude–
Despite the sordid and smeary nature of all too much in politics,
we need to participate.
As citizens and as Jews it is a mitzvah to stand up and be counted–to vote.
And Jewish votes matter. Politicians know that we vote in high percentages
and attend to us accordingly. If we stop voting, we’ll lose our voice.
In all of history, there has never been a Jewish community
that could afford that.
Second, lest we forget, there is more of Jewish interest in this election
than Israel and anti-Semitism.
And we serve neither ourselves nor our country
by being single-issue oriented–or by being perceived as such.
There are many Jewish concerns this year, including
Our consumption of foreign oil, which makes America weaker and poorer
and America’s and Israel’s enemies richer and stronger.
Relations between the Western world and the Islamic world–
Israel is right in the middle of this–and so are we all.
Health Care—According to Maimonides, it is first on the list
of ten essential services that a community must provide to its people.
Genocide in Darfur—need we say more?
The Environment—in Genesis (2:15) the Torah teaches
that we are Creation’s caretakers. We need to do a better job.
The Right to Privacy–from our history we are all too familiar with
the consequences of unchecked governmental power.
And many more.
As Jews and as Americans we are blessed to be active and respected partners
in the greatest democracy and country the world has ever seen.
No, the Messiah is not yet here. But we have the opportunity, and the power,
to bring that age closer.
With wisdom and discernment, qualities we posses and embrace as a people,
let us do it, together.
Shabbat Shalom.
Below: Congressman Robert Wexler’s op-ed in THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 27, 2008:
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If you’re Jewish and spend any time on the Internet, you’ve read some
outlandish things about the Democratic presidential candidate Barack
Obama. But the facts are clear: Senator Obama is a strong friend of the
American Jewish Community and Israel, and will make ensuring Israel’s
security a high priority of his presidency.
Barack Obama’s record speaks for itself. He has longstanding support
among the Jewish community in Illinois, who know first hand his
unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. In the US Senate, he has
established himself as a strong friend of Israel.
As a candidate, he has made clear his commitment to deepen the US-Israel
relationship and to defend Israel’s security as a Jewish state.
Yet Senator Obama is still the target of poorly sourced smears and
innuendo, often anonymously circulated in mass e-mails. Sadly, these
baseless attacks have been transformed into official Republican talking
points. In his February 21, 2008 JPost.com op-ed (“Obama and the Jews”)
Marc Zell, the Co-Chairman of Republicans Abroad in Israel, compiled a
greatest hits of fiction and distortion about Barack Obama culled from
one false email after another. To begin with, Zell abandons the
tradition of bipartisan support for Israel, and completely ignores
Senator Obama’s strong record of support for Israel:
Iran divestment: Senator Obama introduced priority legislation strongly
supported by the pro-Israel community to make it easier for states to
divest their pension funds from Iran, as a means of increasing economic
pressure to dissuade Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons. The divestment
idea grew out of a meeting between Senator Obama and former Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.
Hamas: Senator Obama has been steadfast in taking a hard line against
Hamas until it recognizes Israel, renounces violence, and abides by past
agreements. He has been clear that the Palestinians’ suffering is a
result of their own failed leadership. He was a cosponsor of the
Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act.
Travel to Israel: Barack Obama traveled to Israel in
2006 and visited the home of an Israeli family that had been destroyed
by a Katyusha rocket. Months later, when Hizbullah attacked Israel, he
spoke out strongly for Israel’s right to defend itself.
Israel’s defense: Senator Obama has called for deepening US-Israel
defense cooperation, especially in the area of missile defense, to
ensure that Israel has the qualitative military edge it needs to defend
itself.
Ignoring Senator Obama’s record, Zell travels a low road filled with
lies and distortions. In a sense, he has done us a service by
demonstrating the total disregard for facts that Republicans will use to
try to win this election. But these falsehoods cannot stand, so I will
rebut each of them in turn.
Zbigniew Brzezinski: Zell says Brzezinski heads the Obama foreign policy
team. This is false. Brzezinski endorsed Barack Obama because he agrees
with Senator Obama’s views on Iraq. He is not an adviser to the
campaign, and has done no work for the campaign.
Robert Malley. Zell says Malley is on Senator Obama’s team. Malley is
one of hundreds of people who have sent advice to the campaign. He is
not one of Barack Obama’s Middle East advisers.
Susan Rice: Zell repeats a lie that Susan Rice, while advising John
Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, advised him to propose former
President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker as
Middle East envoys. There is only one problem: Senator Kerry made that
statement in December 2003, and Susan Rice did not join his campaign
until July 2004.
Pastor Jeremiah Wright: Zell cites controversial statements about Israel
made by the Pastor at Barack Obama’s Chicago church. It is unfair to
attribute Pastor Wright’s views to Barack Obama, particularly because
Senator Obama has stated explicitly and repeatedly that he disagrees
with Pastor Wright’s views on Israel, has told him so directly, and does
not turn to his pastor for political advice.
Furthermore, the Anti-Defamation league concluded “it has no evidence of
any anti-Semitism by Mr. Wright.”
Louis Farrakhan: There is no easier way to upset the American Jewish
Community than by mentioning Farrakhan. But Zell omits the most crucial
information: Barack Obama has repeatedly, and explicitly, condemned the
anti-Semitic views of Louis Farrakhan for over 20 years, calling his
statements “abhorrent.” Obama has spoken out forcefully against
anti-Semitism in the African-American community, most recently in a
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in
Atlanta.
Zell could have easily established the truth about any of these matters,
with very limited research.
Responsible journalists have had no trouble uncovering and reporting the
truth. The conservative New York Sun editorialized on January 9, 2008
that “Mr. Obama’s commitment to Israel, as he has articulated it so far
in his campaign, is quite moving and a tribute to the broad, bipartisan
support that the Jewish state has in America…. He has chosen to put
himself on the record in terms that Israel’s friends in America, at
least those not motivated by pure political partisanship, can warmly
welcome.”
And on February 21, 2008, Eli Lake of the New York Sun reported that
“the national security team that emerges around Mr. Obama is one that is
in the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The Senator’s advisers favor
a withdrawal from Iraq and see it as a distraction from the wider war on
Al-Qaeda; they have developed a detailed policy on how to exit the
country. The campaign favors high-level diplomatic engagement with Syria
and Iran, but in the context of changing the behavior of these regimes.
And the foreign policy team, like the candidate, does not support
pressuring Israel into negotiations with Hamas.”
Unfortunately, Zell is more interested in using falsehoods to win an
election than standing up for Israel and American-Israeli relations. But
across America, Jewish voters have had no trouble sorting out fact from
fiction, and have found no cause to shy away from supporting Barack
Obama. Indeed, they are rallying to his campaign in ever-growing
numbers, inspired by his leadership, judgment, and the possibility he
represents for truly transformational leadership. Nothing that Marc Zell
says can change that.
The writer is a Congressman representing Florida
Additionally, in my judgment, no one giving this speech at the Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Atlanta on Martin Luther King Day can conceivably be called an anti-
Semite. Full text at
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/20/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_40.php
“For most of this country’s history, we in the African-American community have been at
the receiving end of man’s inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the
insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care
system, and in our criminal justice system.
“And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are
entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community
has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community.
“We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of
anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have
seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
“So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing
our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which
we blame our plight on others – all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face
– war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up
by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It
is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before
the hour grows too late.
“Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat
where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can
look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy
deficit that exists in our hearts.”
January 20, 2008
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You might also be interested in a New York Times story on the subject of Obama and Jewish
10
voters from March 1, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/us/politics/01obama.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
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