Sweet? Tom Friedman Gets Nailed With A Pie.

Response To My Messianic Article

Over at The Kvetcher, David Kelsey has the following to say about my defense of Messianic Jews:

Roi Ben-Yehuda is hand-wringing over on Jewcy about the way Jews for Jesus are being treated in Israel. He is upset that the Jews for Jesus are not being accepted as Jews, and notes,

“If we are going to say that Hitler and not Halacha determines who is a Jew, then we need to make room for Jews who also believe in Jesus — as Hitler would have done.”

Ben-Yehuda has a good point, and I would note that when the Zionist Entity first decided that Hitler was the ultimate authority on who is a Jew, no one could have predicted this problem specifically, or that there would be problems generally. After all, why should there be problems when the Zionists reasonably decided to express their Jewish pride both religiously and as a nation by embracing Hitler as grand posek? Clearly, for their time, the Zionist Entity did the right thing, just…Jewish history took an unpredictable turn, and this ostensibly reasonable choice for an ultimate Jewish authority proved to have shortcomings…but you can’t blame the impeccable reasoning of the Zionists for its time.

Zionism: Stage II

In the Jerusalem Post, Sarah Kreimer turns our attention to the challenge of Zionism today - the creation of a Jewish homeland that will be the state of ALL its citizens.

As we celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday, we need to make a paradigm shift, and to re-envision our society. Sixty years after the founding of the state, we must declare an end to stage one of Zionism - state-building - and move to stage two of society-building. We need to redefine our Israeli civic enterprise, not as a Jewish State, but as a Jewish Homeland, in a state with shared citizenship. Otherwise, in clinging to the visions that have guided Israel in the past, we will destroy what has been built.

To read more, click here.

Jewcy Thoughts: Are Messianic Jews in Israel the New Crypto Jews?

In Jewcy, I make a case for why Israel ought to respect and recognize the Jewish identity of Messianic Jews.

“Israel’s beauty shines brightest in its diversity. The country possesses one of the most culturally and physically diverse societies on the planet. No matter the kind of Jew, from Yemenite to Ethiopian to Polish, from Orthodox to Reform to secular, there is a place for you under the Mediterranean sun. Yet there is at least one group of Jews who is excluded from the Zionist mosaic. They are the Messianic Jews — a religious community that follows a Torah inspired life-style while believing in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.

To read more, click here. As always, if the spirit moves you, please leave a comment at the end of the article.

A (Weak) Critique of my Godless Jews Series

Over at the Jewish Exponent, Rober Leiter reviews the e-zine J.books.com. Leiter writes that the magazine covers Jewish subjects from a secular point of view. He adds that this approach is refreshing, except when the writers in question get too secular. Case in point, yours truly

The only thing that gets to me on the site is when writers become aggressively “in your face” about their atheism, as was the case with a two-part essay by Roi Ben-Yehuda called “Godless Jews: The Original Atheists With Attitude.” The piece points out that, “For two centuries Jews have contributed a disproportionate creative role to the discourse of doubt, skepticism and atheism. Jewish intellectuals, the likes of Emma Goldman, Ernestine Rose, Sigmund Freud, Woody Allen and Ayn Rand have all brought to bear their considerable talents on the question of God’s non-existence.

“It should come as no surprise that the same people that gave the world monotheism also played a significant role in its negation.”

Secularism is one thing, but trumpeting atheism so determinedly seems a little too triumphalistic. And Ben-Yehuda’s examples of great Jewish intellectuals — in his second installment, he adds Karl Marx — leave a lot to be desired (though Freud, outside of his anti-religion stance, far exceeds the others on that list). Like so many in literary and academic circles these days, Ben-Yehuda seems to overstate his case out of a need to counteract the seeming triumphs of the opposition.”

Hmm, so the problem seems to be that I was trumpeting atheism a little too zealously, and that my list of Jewish intellectuals was incomplete. This misstep on my part, according to Leiter, is the result of my need to “counteract the seeming triumphs of the opposition.”

Leiter writes that he gets upset when people try to shove their atheism down the throats of others. When they get really aggressive. I can understand what he is talking about. But for him to claim that that is what I am doing with my series is simply silly. He is confusing my essay, which explores the contribution of these jewish intellectuals to the discourse of atheism, with my own personal position. He is making an intentionalist fallacy. My own position, not that it matters, is that of an agnostic.

Of course Leiter makes no effort to explain his critique of my work. He does not offer any explanation as to why my list of godless Jewish intellectuaLs (I never called them great) leaves a lot to be desired, nor does he explain why am I being too “triumphalistic”. As for the claim that I am responding to the triumph of the opposition, I honestly have no idea what he is talking about. What opposition? Oh well, perhaps the author was under a word count limit.

To read the rest of Leiter article, click here. To read part I of my series “Godless Jews - The Original Atheists With Attitude”, click here. To read part II, click here. Part III, Freud, is coming out shortly. Enjoy.

Cleaning Out God’s Mailbox

Featured Friend: Shye Ben-Tzur

Yes folks, by the sign of my last few entries I have been in an artistic and musical mood. What can I say, it gives me real pleasure to share with you the tremendous talent and vision of my extended family. So let’s get to it: Shye Ben-Tzur is not only one of my best friends, he is one of the great spiritual and musical talents to come out of Israel. His music and poetry combines the best of the Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu traditions. His new project Shoshan is the follow up to his acclaimed album Heyaam. I have heard tracks from this project and it promises to reach heights that have yet to be scaled. Here is a sample for your viewing and listening pleasure.

For more of Shye’s music, visit his myspace page. Stay tuned for more updates on Shoshan.

Featured Friends: Sheila Ferber

Sheila Ferber, who also happens to be my cousin, is a fantastic Israeli musician. Hope you enjoy.

The Arab-Israeli Version of the “We Are The World”

“Try to See it My Way” - Jew & Arab United.