Rick Jacobs by Ben Fink Shapiro
Rick Jacobs, a rabbi in Brooklyn and Westchester for the last 30 years, has taken over as president of the Union for Reform Judaism. He was profiled by the Reform Jewish magazine as a “Catalyst for Change.” There was not a lot of hasbara in the interview, but there was this story, reminiscent of old-timey movies in which a young woman sees her future husband for the first time:
Q. A recent survey found that only 60% of Jews under 35 believe that caring about Israel is a key part of their Jewish identity. What can we do to reverse this trend?
Jacobs: It is up to all of us to foster a deep love for and engagement with Israel among Reform Jews of North America, young and old.
This past summer I had the privilege of welcoming a few busloads of our NFTY [North American Federation of Temple Youth] teens to Jerusalem. Blindfolded, they stepped off their buses holding hands, moving slowly toward the edge of the Haas Promenade that overlooks the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem. They were about to have their first glimpse of the City of Gold. You cannot imagine the look of amazement and wonder on their faces as they opened their eyes to the setting sun over Jerusalem. Watching these Reform teens fall in love with Israel, I remembered my own love affair with Israel that was sparked during my junior year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Ever since, I have spent much of my rabbinate working to strengthen Israel’s security and well-being. I hope that every Jew can come to see Israel the way those teenagers did, with the sparkle of its promise searing our souls.
Normally the young woman after the betrothal ritual goes ahead and moves in with that young man. Imagine if instead, she continued to live under her parents roof and genuflected ritually in the direction of her nominal husband and demanded that her parents send a generous allowance his way.
Ah, very good. I missed that angle!
Yes. Reminds me of the little green arrow I saw glued to the ceiling of my hotel room in Ankara, Turkey. Arrow shows the direction toward Mecca, so folks so inclined can pray in the right direction. Very useful.
This rabbi wants his teeny-boppers to fall in love with fascist mobsters by telling them that their fascist-mob-istan has a golden image in the sunset, and Jewish American teenies should love the view, the -ISTAN, and by implication the doings of the mobsters.
Sick. Echoes of white sexual slavery, where the mobster terlls the girls glowing (golden!) stories about mob-istan and promises the girls a job in mob-istan if they’ll sign on for his transportation and give him their passports.
Also echoes of (suppression of prosecution for) sex abuse in Brooklyn’s orthodox communities. The welfare of children is sacrificed for these *** ideologues.
“A recent survey found that only 60% of Jews under 35 believe that caring about Israel is a key part of their Jewish identity. What can we do to reverse this trend?”
It really is not that difficult if you can face some very pertinent facts, the more American Jews find out about Israel the less inclined they are to be full throated supporters of a country that, no. 1 is not their own and no.2 causes people to conflate being jewish with Israels misdeeds.
So if you can go back to the days of the special relationship that CAMERA was able to enforce on the msm then you might be able to keep them from escaping from the Shtetl.
either wise it’s katie bar the door.
the more American Jews find out about Israel the less inclined they are to be full throated supporters
it’s not just american jews atime, it’s americans. i call it the martin effect. the days of myth making are over for israel. that is so last century. they wish they could turn back the clock but the new media is driving the reality..truth is exposing israel’s nature, zionisms nature. check out this poll a pro israel poster just linked to for another purpose:
link to mondoweiss.net
that is 6 percent in one year. that represents 18 million more people having negative opinions of israel in one year. most people do not change there opinions but it does happen. more likely, that represents youth coming of age entering adulthood. 24% of americans are under 18 and a percentage spill into adulthood.
i could be wrong but i doubt it. i predict every year support for israel will be dropping at least a few percentage points unless the occupation and blockade of gaza ends. these new generations of americans belong to martin and that will remain the same for many many years.
Yes this stands also for many many americans, but i referred specifically to the wishes of these ancient dreamers from the past to put the genie of full jewish american support for Israel back in the bottle.
You cannot imagine the look of amazement and wonder on their faces as they opened their eyes to the setting sun over Jerusalem.
after that first look of amazement the young bride finds out her betrothed is a serial abuser, or worse. ouch.
Yeah, this particular lovers’ descent should be a Jerry Springer Show.
RE: “They were about to have their first glimpse of the City of Gold [Jerusalem]. You cannot imagine the look of amazement and wonder on their faces as they opened their eyes to the setting sun over Jerusalem.” ~ Rick Jacobs
MY COMMENT: First impressions can be very deceptive!
SEE: “The First Word: A day in Jerusalem”, By Yehudah Mirsky, Jerusalem Post, 05/07/09
ENTIRE COMMENTARY-http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710892040&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
P.S. ALSO SEE: Women noticeably absent from Jerusalem ads, By Nir Hasson, Haaretz, 10/21/11
Municipality officials deny change in policy, refer to several campaigns that featured images of women. Yet figures in city’s public relations industry say women have been entirely removed from public billboards and advertisements.
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to haaretz.com
P.P.S. I wonder what Barbara Streisand will have to say about this. That is, if Babs can tear herself away from raising money for the IDF long enough to read about what is actually going on in Israel.
Perhaps Rabbi Jacobs should read Mondoweiss so that he may be informed by some Mondoweissers of the difference between Judaism and Zionism. He seems to be conflating the two. Strange that the President of the Union for Reform Judaism would do that.
“They were about to have their first glimpse of the City of Gold.”
Note that the Gold is the gold-plated dome of the Dome of the Rock, one of islam’s holy places.
For the 1000th time…..these Rabbis and others who are so ‘in love’ with Israel….why don’t they live there, move there?
If I were in love with some place, if it was my identity and my religous and idealistic soul mate and made my heart go pitter padder I’d go live there.
So an American citizen is encouraging other American citizens to develop loyalty and commitment to a foreign country?
Isn’t there a word for that?
American June 17, 2012 at 6:23 pm
“these Rabbis and others who are so ‘in love’ with Israel….why don’t they live there, move there?
Herlz didn’t live in the region, although in his life time he could have lived anywhere in Palestine. The Zionist Federation wasn’t even from the region (moving to Palestine in 1936) and at the time of the Zionist Federation’s founding, its members could have all immigrated and lived anywhere in Palestine. They didn’t for the same reasons as today. Israel needs Jews in the diaspora for
A) Outside financial support B) lobbyistas & voters for protection against breaking the UN Charter/International Law/GCs. Especially maintaining the US veto vote (the only reason I can see for Israel being in the UN today)
“Israel needs Jews in the diaspora “…talknic
Yea it does. If there were no Jews in the US to support it Israel would probably be long gone.
This talk about having a “love affair” and “falling in love” with a country is really awkward.
“Jacobs: It is up to all of us to foster a deep love for and engagement with Israel among Reform Jews of North America, young and old.”
And Reform Jews must trust that that the love is repaid a thousandfold
link to haaretz.com
In an interview last night with the Kol Berama radio station, which is identified with Shas, (Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel) Shlomo Amar said the Reform and Conservative movements “uprooted all the foundations of Torah” and that there’s a need “to explain the terrible damage that they wreak.”
Fact is, when he was elected to this leadership position he got a lot of flak about his membership in J Street with its wildly outre views on I/P, and ever since he’s been forced to prove his love. This is just one more love letter on his redemption tour. It’s pretty wince-inducing. Hard to know though, if he’s wincing while he gushes.
Blindfolded, they stepped off their buses holding hands, moving slowly toward the edge of the Haas Promenade that overlooks the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem. They were about to have their first glimpse of the City of Gold. You cannot imagine the look of amazement and wonder on their faces as they opened their eyes to the setting sun over Jerusalem.
A most effective brainwashing technique, I’m sure.
I hope that every Jew can come to see Israel the way those teenagers did, with the sparkle of its promise searing our souls.
More like Zionist propaganda seared into their poor manipulated souls. Talk about “brand” Israel.
I have spent much of my rabbinate working to strengthen Israel’s security
Silly me. I thought rabbis were supposed to be religious, moral and spiritual leaders. So Rabbi Jacobs took Bible, pastoral counselling and waterboarding at seminary?
“The whole of Germany was swept up in this esoteric wave, and youth more than anyone. The peculiarly nineteenth-century phenomenon, spiritualism, and its more “scientific” variation, Theosophy, in Germany were welded together with a mystical concept of the Volk as a people whose collective “soul” was more than the sum of its parts. This Aryan “soul,” Germans believed, united the individual German to his geographical place. Every tree and rock of German soil was holy, and spoke to the people, shaping them and causing their creativity.”
Perhaps we should be careful to differentiate two issues.
One is that there is nothing bad in cherishing traditions, either ethnic or religious. The second is that traditions have their demons. Uncritical love of tradition is dangerous EVERYWHERE, ANYTIME. So what is weird about Reform rabbi indoctrinating youngsters in uncritical love of Israel is that the whole premise of the Reform movement was that Judaism has elements that Reform movements strives to preserve, and also what are really superstitions. Does Almighty God care if I use period in writing God or if I eat shrimp, or He would rather care if I kill people without good reason or not.
So there is nothing wrong in “falling in love with Israel” if it does not lead to embracing the dark side, justification of killing as “Tikkum Olam”, as a precaution, because it is “good for the Jews”. And justification of oppression and dispossession. Reform movement has the philosophy and tradition that allows for making such distinctions, but being critical is always hard, can displease donors, create disharmony in the congregation.
One ridiculous aspect of Zionism is that it views Jews in Israel as automatically superior to Jews in the diaspora, and now that Israel is increasingly theocratic, it automatically views Reform as inferior to rabbinates in Israel. Why Reform Jews are lead by their rabbis to masochistically submit to it, I do not know, but this is what happens.
To conclude, it is marvelous to take a blindfold off and fall in love with Jerusalem. But I am afraid that blindfold was replaced with blinders. If not, I owe deep apologies to Rabbi Jacobs.