From:
Allan Brownfeld <[email protected]
>
Date: August 9, 2014, 9:24:07 AM EDT
Subject: Letter Published In Today's Wall Street Journal
An edited version of my letter responding to former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's article,"In
Defense of Zionism" is published today in The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 9-10, 2014).
This is the text of the letter as published;
For more than 70 years, the American Council for Judaism has advanced the traditional view of Classical
Reform Judaism, that Judaism is a religion of universal values, not a nationality, and that American Jews are American by nationality and Jews by religion, just as other Americans are Protestant, Catholic or Muslim.
Mr. Oren speaks of Israel's democratic ideals. Sadly, democracy doesn't exist for Palestinians in the occupied territories. And within Israel itself, a theocracy exists. Reform and Conservative rabbis cannot perform weddings and funerals, and their conversions are not recognized. This is hardly the Western-style democracy Mr. Oren p proclaims Israel to be.
Judaism has been corrupted by its politicization. For some, a form of idolatry seems to have been embraced, making Israel an object of worship, much like the golden calf in the Bible. It is not only Palestinians who have been the victims of this enterprise, but Jewish moral and ethical values as well. The Jewish tradition believes that all men and women, of every race nd nation, are created in the image of God, and deserve to be treated humanely. What happens to Palestinians, as a result, is no less important than what happens to Jews.
ALLAN C. BROWNFELD, American Council for Judaism, Alexandria, Virginia.
Allan Brownfeld <[email protected]
>
Date: August 9, 2014, 9:24:07 AM EDT
Subject: Letter Published In Today's Wall Street Journal
An edited version of my letter responding to former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's article,"In
Defense of Zionism" is published today in The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 9-10, 2014).
This is the text of the letter as published;
For more than 70 years, the American Council for Judaism has advanced the traditional view of Classical
Reform Judaism, that Judaism is a religion of universal values, not a nationality, and that American Jews are American by nationality and Jews by religion, just as other Americans are Protestant, Catholic or Muslim.
Mr. Oren speaks of Israel's democratic ideals. Sadly, democracy doesn't exist for Palestinians in the occupied territories. And within Israel itself, a theocracy exists. Reform and Conservative rabbis cannot perform weddings and funerals, and their conversions are not recognized. This is hardly the Western-style democracy Mr. Oren p proclaims Israel to be.
Judaism has been corrupted by its politicization. For some, a form of idolatry seems to have been embraced, making Israel an object of worship, much like the golden calf in the Bible. It is not only Palestinians who have been the victims of this enterprise, but Jewish moral and ethical values as well. The Jewish tradition believes that all men and women, of every race nd nation, are created in the image of God, and deserve to be treated humanely. What happens to Palestinians, as a result, is no less important than what happens to Jews.
ALLAN C. BROWNFELD, American Council for Judaism, Alexandria, Virginia.