Posted on 03/20/2016 10:12:23 AM PDT by EinNYC
Today we will join 20,000 fellow Jews in Washington, D.C. for the annual AIPAC policy conference. And this year, as in prior election years, the leading presidential candidates — Donald Trump among them — will take the stage to address pro-Israel advocates from across the country.
So what makes this year different from all other years?
This year, we’ve seen politics turn ugly. Hateful rhetoric cascades through the airwaves, inciting violence and bigotry. The unprecedented tone of the election cycle should give us pause. The Jewish people knows all too well the horrors of individuals using hate as a political platform and deploying language, implicit and explicit, that tears society apart.
As students of Judaism, we often turn to religious texts and our people’s long historical experience for guidance. They provide four lessons that Jews and non-Jews alike ignore at our peril.
First, when political leaders speak in the language of demagogues, take their words seriously. That is all the more true when they shun eloquence and clarity in favor of calculated ambiguity used to send a message that breaks with accepted moral and societal codes.
We would not have believed until a couple of weeks ago that any legitimate candidate for the American presidency, on live television, would make blatant sexual references or characterize women and minorities with derogatory epithets that no moral society should tolerate. We expect the public to reject signals that, at this late date in modern history, we know are sent to give permission for bigotry and violence.
Second, a social compact binds leaders and their followers to shared ideals. We all recognize that it takes enormous ambition and self-confidence to run for or hold public office. That has always been true. We give leaders a lot of slack in this regard. Whether a Biblical king who suffers rebuke from prophets and populace alike, or an elected official who rises and falls on fickle public opinion, one has to be immensely sure of one’s own abilities to lead, and thick-skinned enough to bear the inevitable criticism.
But it also takes humility to lead. Every Israelite king recognized-or was forcibly reminded-that he was placed on the throne to serve the “King of Kings.” American presidents pledge allegiance to our republic, under God, with liberty and justice for all. And so we watch, dumbfounded, as supporters at a political rally in Florida pledge allegiance to a candidate and not a country.
Third — an iron rule of history — politicians who attack one minority will soon go after others. If you don’t stand up to them at the start, they will eventually turn their fire on you. It may start with Mexican immigrants or Muslims, but eventually all minorities will be imperiled. Some Jews, ignoring history, will no doubt take comfort in the fact that a candidate has Jews in his family or inner circle. We do not. It has never worked out that way.
Bigotry, like hot air, expands.
Fourth — a particular message to Jews at Purim, a holiday that celebrates the triumph over a plot to exterminate the Jews of ancient Persia. The story of Purim warns us against those who assume the worst can’t happen, just because they don’t want it to. Good people can be conned, and not everyone is good; the very tolerance and open-mindedness that is sometimes ridiculed by politicians should not blind us to the fact that our democracy may be in jeopardy.
History teaches that those who are outnumbered — whether because of their religion, race, or sexual orientation — need to unite to protect their interests. State power is easily abused. Survival often depends on a combination of hard political work and unbending fidelity to high ideals. It has always been thus and always shall be. Our hope is that the American people, of all backgrounds and political persuasions, will rally to the cause.
These 3 despicable jackals are afraid of offending illegals (Mexicans) and murderous Muzzies? They claim it will be Jews next. I'm not feelin' it. Rather than Trump playing on fears, it is THESE THREE timorous court Jews who attempt to do so, not only with their own poor analysis but with an attempt to inject Judaism into it. They deserve nothing but contempt. I adjure them to go back to their little doghouses and wait for their next cue in their libtard obedience show.
Its how they vote that matters. They have been libs for eons much to their own detriment.
Sound like Judenrat members praising Hitler. Trump is the man of the hour and he deserves the support of all Zionists and Orthodox Jews.
Just as I figured.
I haven’t heard Trump say anything “racist” or filled with “bigotry”, so I don’t think the Jews have anything to worry about. It’s nice that the writer is trying to scare American Jews that everything they don’t like is just like Hitler.
Not being a Jew, I thank you for explaining that these three do not speak for Judism.
Thank you.
How much credibility do they actally have?
Are the majority of Jewish attendees discerning like you and know them for what they are!?
Or will folks be heavily influenced by them?
It's hard to believe this man......
Jews are idiots since they vote for liberals who hate them. Their stupidity is stunning.
That was my take also.
Backing down from the liberal agenda of not facing the unpleasantness of reality, and not facing threats to our society has become the norm, and that article just wants to keep it that way. - Tom
I’ve found it remarkably easy to believe that man. Because every single thing he’s ever said was an untruth. Not necessarily an out n out lie, but everything a distortion of the truth.
It is just another manifestation of Odungo's joining up with the anti-semites of Europe to show how he really feels about Jews. The settlements are within the land of Israel, they most certainly are part of Israel.
Whatever other reservations I may hold about Donald Trump, based on everything I’ve heard about his history with Jews and the Jewish community he is the furthest thing from an anti-Semite. He has said a couple PC things about the Palestinians, but there aren’t many politicians who haven’t given similar lip service to their situation. The writers of this article are pitching the usual humanist self-hating leftist Jewish canard equating suspicion about Muslims and dislike of illegal immigration with anti-Semitism. They would have been excellent kapos in the ghettos, on the trains, and happily kept the line moving in an orderly manner to the showers.
Christians are a Discriminated against minority these days but she didn't mention us.
Must have been an oversight or they were word count restricted.
I'm sure it wasn't intensional
The nonsense these three spout is especially egregious in light of Trumps actions:
“When Donald opened his club in Palm Beach called Mar-a-Lago, he insisted on accepting Jews and blacks even though other clubs in Palm Beach to this day discriminate against blacks and Jews. The old guard in Palm Beach was outraged that Donald would accept blacks and Jews so that’s the real Donald Trump that I know.”
http://www.americanclarion.com/2016/03/03/trump-opened-palm-beach-golf-course-1990s-43676/
I guess this guy was asleep during Lord Foul's two campaigns.
Never again!
That’s a joke?
I too grew up with these people. A predominate number of the residents in my NY neighborhood were Jewish, many from Europe. I can recall two women who lived on the fifth floor, German Jews who were sisters. They showed me the number tatoos on their arms,survivors of Dachau. They explained that the pogroms would come again, there would be deniers of the holocaust, and that I was not to believe these lies they would tell. I was ten years old then and I never forgot. I never will.
My barber and his wife were French Jews, they survived the camps also. Many Americans don’t know, have never seen and do not believe this could have happened.
The treachery is here, now and ever present. Look no further than Washington to find it. It is there. Our opportunity is now; if we fail we may never get another chance.
Vote. As if your life depended on it; because in reality, it does.
These scumbags would have made great capos. They are traitors to their faith. I believe more and more of the Jewish faith are starting to see through these quisling liars.
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