More on the rabbi that the Washington Post dares to dignify as an "American" Jewish "leader" who is helping McCain. From the Magnes Zionist's takeout on Shlomo Riskin, colonialist rabbi:
seduced by the dark side of religious Zionism, and driven by the dream
of empire-building on cheap land, he emigrated to Israel [from the U.S.] and founded
(with Moshe Moshkowitz) the town of Efrat, a sprawling settlement built
entirely on Palestinian private and public land that never ceases to
expand into, and pollute, the surrounding region. Through this his
life-project, Riskin has caused more tragedy and pain to more
Palestinians than any other rabbi of modern times, certainly more than
Meir Kahane and his ilk.
of empire-building on cheap land, he emigrated to Israel [from the U.S.] and founded
(with Moshe Moshkowitz) the town of Efrat, a sprawling settlement built
entirely on Palestinian private and public land that never ceases to
expand into, and pollute, the surrounding region. Through this his
life-project, Riskin has caused more tragedy and pain to more
Palestinians than any other rabbi of modern times, certainly more than
Meir Kahane and his ilk.
The piece goes on to describe Riskin's support for further ethnic cleansing. And this man has standing in American public life? Our politics are broken because our journalism is broken… (Tip thanks to Sky Redoubt…)
For those unfamiliar with Manhattan Jewish life, Riskin is the founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue, which is the original fashionable synagogue on the Upper West Side.
Not only has his press has been much too flattering of Riskin mostly because of all the Jewish journalists that have passed through his synagogue, but he brought social acceptance among the Manhattan Modern Orthodox sheyne yidn to Gush Emunim (nowadays neemanei eretz Yisrael).
Unfortunately, I was pro-Zionist when I attended a service at the Lincoln Square Synagogue, but in retrospect I believe that he created the quintessential Jewish form of German Nazi Gemütlichkeit and that the combination of coziness and positive ethnic consciousness explains the hold that German Nazism had over so many Germans and that Zionism has over so many Jews today.
The JPost article mentions that Riskin was a favorite of Yosef Solveitchik.
Soloveichik was responsible for a lot of the extremism and nastiness of the Boston Jewish community.
I mentioned him in Feldman and the anguish of the disinherited, in Gary Rosenblatt: Noah Feldman and the Confrontation of American with Jewish or Zionist Values, and in Jewish, Zionist War Against Salvation.
Slomo Riskin is well connected with branches in the US, UK and Germany. And well established to feed from the charity pool.
Brilliant new (?) site design.
Nobody knows what an "American" is.
You can fill the term with anything you want.
Palin uses the term "real American."
She's trying to get at something.
So are those who ridicule her for using that phrase.
Since a significant number of Americans have dual citizenship,
the term has even less meaning. Especially where they are in positions of influence and/or power.
Homeland Security is a joke, just as the term "illegal alien" is…
I heard someone on a cable news program referred to as a U.S./Brazil dual national. Why limit it to dual nationality. Why not a baker's dozen?