“Don’t Blame Obama”Recently, news sources reported a rally in Jerusalem. Demonstrators protested President Obama’s policy to freeze settlements. The intent of the rally was supposed to send a message to PM Netanyahu that the people who elected him to office were extremely uneasy with any suggestion of selling or otherwise negotiating away any part of the Land of Israel. |
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| Speakers at the rally roused up the crowd with rhetoric not about President Obama’s policies but about President Obama himself. More on that later, but for now — well, those speakers were wrong… I mean plain WRONG! for more than one reason. They should have studied the facts before speaking.. They should have looked more closely at the Jewish observance of Tisha B’av which was today. | |
| Tisha B’av is a special day on the Jewish calendar. It is not a holiday, and not a day of celebration. The opposite; it’s a day of fasting and mourning in remembrance of awful things that have befallen Jews on this particular day. In one way of looking at the Jewish calendar, the month of Av is the 11th month. Tisha B’av then is the 9th day of the 11th month, or 9/11. Not to diminish what 9/11 – the 11th day of the 9th month – means to Americans, Tisha B’av has been the host to the most immense pain and loss that the Jewish people have suffered repeatedly throughout history. As the U.S. 9/11 is characterized by the falling of two towers, in Jewish tradition Tisha B’av is most remembered for the destruction of two great and holy structures – the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. That destruction of the two temples occurred centuries apart is less significant than that the destruction occurred at all. |
 
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| At the time of the destruction of the Temples, thousands upon thousands of Jews lost their lives, and those who survived would face being captured, being enslaved, eventually being exiled from the land and dispersed throughout the world. The 2000 year Jewish diaspora has not been a good time for the Jewish people. But never, never in the literature or the litany have Jews focused on blaming Nebuchadnezzar or even Hitler for their troubles. | |
| Although evil leaders have caused great pain and suffering that has perpetuated even up to today in the Jewish experience, on Tisha B’av we have a very typical Jewish response; Not revenge. Not violence. Not even trying to talk with our enemies. On Tisha B’av Jews look inward as a nation and attempt to answer the questions: “Where did WE go wrong?” “What did we do wrong to invite this disaster upon ourselves?” | |
| At the rally in Jerusalem, the speakers were wrong to point fingers at anyone. Yes, some U.S. emissaries have shown anti-Israel leanings, and Jews should rightfully demand that they reconsider their positions before they come to Israel And yes, President Obama has put pressure on Israel to abide by policies that would be detrimental to Israel. And yes President Obama has been wrong about this issue. BUT so has Israel; the people of Israel, including Jewish people wherever they live. A former Member of Knesset, a Rabbi Eliezer Waldman called Barack Obama a rascist. (I hope these comments will fade into obscurity quickly. Nevertheless here is the story – for more context. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132612 ) His remarks were not about U.S. policy. They were leveled at the U.S. president and they were confrontational. His remarks drew cheers from the crowd the same as radio talk show hosts in America draw cheers when they say something outlandish. |
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| Rabbi Waldman was wrong. And so were those who cheered. | |
| For a Jewish leader to publicly call Barack Obama a rascist not only is a blatant falsehood which serves no positive purpose whatsoever, it has the great potential to incite the wrath of anti-semites worldwide. As if all we need now is for the world to point fingers at us – Jews – for insulting, without reason, a very popular world leader. | |
| Rabbi Waldman was wrong, and his statements should be denounced by more learned rabbis and more savvy leaders. | |
| As it turns out, a few days before the rally – but largely unreported – President Obama was reconsidering his policies in the Middle East, particularly in Israel, and was considering changing some of the personnel involved in middle east affairs. Obama reportedly was easing off on some of the things he had said earlier regarding Israel’s right to build in Jerusalem. | |
| I think the U.S. president is someone who will listen to reason. I believe it will take a long time, but that with a proper approach, President Obama will come to agree that the settlements are not the real issue, and not at all a blockage to peace. The operative phrase is “proper approach.” | |
| Confrontational words and gestures are not a proper approach. Reasoning and negotiating would be more effective. Looking within ourselves as a nation, and reflecting on how we got ourselves into our present predicaments, would serve us much better than false and inflammatory remarks. | |
| 30 July 2009
Sderot Israel |
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I’m not sure if he was wrong. This whole thing with Prof. Gates and police officer Crowley has shown that he automatically sides with Blacks against the police. First he said he didn’t have all the facts about the case; then he said that the police officer (Crowley) acted stupidly. That – to me – is a racist remark against the white police officer. Now he is trying to ‘make amends’ by his invitation to them to the White House for a couple of beers. He knows he made a mistake (but he still won’t apologize). I believe that Obama is an anti-Semite – all those years he sat in Rev. Wright’s church listening to him spewing his Jew hatred to the congregation; and his friendship with radical professors who have only hatred for Israel. Birds of a feather flock together. You judge a man by the company he keeps.
Chaya, you are entitled to your opinion. Mine is different. And neither my opinion nor your opinion regarding what Obama thinks is very useful. The fact is Barack Obama is the president of the United States. What matters to us is not how he thinks about the police or about white people or about Jews. What matters is what he does. So far he has not done anything to discriminate against Jews. He has not created any policy that is biased against Israel – he has sent messages that he wants to enforce policies that were created in previous administrations, but he has not created any new anti-Israel policy. There are signs, in fact, that he is revising his own plans regarding Israel and the Middle East in favor of the Jews. Which leaves us with the point I was trying to make in the first place: We gain nothing from pointing fingers at Obama. It is useless to blame him or Bush or Clinton or any foreign leader for troubles we have in Israel. The Jewish way is to look at ourselves to see how we have brought these problems on ourselves. And if we are smart — and on occasion we have been — we will take actions to remove our troubles and fears. As for the company Barack Obama has kept — it is apparent that the Jewish community of Chicago has had more influence on his career than the church he attended. His closest advisers now are Jewish – but that is little comfort to me when the top Jewish politicians have been so swayed by the anti-Israel atmosphere that prevails in universities and in the media. I remain hopeful, though, that Obama will do the right thing. I believe it is up to us – Israel – to point him in the right direction.