Mazel Tov Temple Beth El for Showing the Way! When Will Other Synagogues Follow?

"For organizations genuinely dedicated to Israel's well-being to welcome such individuals and groups - caricatures and travesties of pro-Israel efforts - within the tent of Israel's supporters, to lend them that legitimacy, is a betrayal of the cause of the Jewish state's survival and security" -- Kenneth Levin, author "The Oslo Syndrome"

Finally, an antidote to the Jewish wasting disease. An important breakthrough of Jews not afraid to be Jews and not afraid to support our Jewish homeland.

Yasher Koach to Temple Beth El and Charles Greenberg for signing on to a petition of Reform Jewish congregations (see above) reaffirming solidarity with Israel. Under the banner, "Reform Jews Who Want the Reform Movement to Stand with Israel," the signatories to this letter representing Jews Against Divisive Leadership (JADL) are entreating the Union for Reform Judaism to reconsider the appointment of its nominee for president, Rabbi Richard Jacobs. Rabbi Jacobs, the signers, agree:

"does not represent the pro-Israel policies cherished by Reform and American Jews. He does not represent us."

The petition cites Rabbi Jacobs' membership on J Street's Rabbinic Cabinet and the consistently "hostile" positions J Street has taken against Israel, loudly condemned by outgoing Reform Movement head Rabbi Eric Yoffie. Yoffie called J Street's position on Israel's retalliatory Operation Cast Lead in Gaza "morally offensive and appallingly naive."

Liberal Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) recently divorced himself completely from the George Soros- and Arab-funded J Street. Said Rep. Ackerman: “I’ve come to the conclusion that J-Street is not an organization with which I wish to be associated … The decision to endorse the Palestinian and Arab effort to condemn Israel in the U.N. Security Council is not the choice of a concerned friend trying to help. It is rather the befuddled choice of an organization so open-minded about what constitutes support for Israel that its brains have fallen out.”

Rabbi Jacobs also has served on the board of the New Israel Fund, at the forefront of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) campaign against Israel. This is completely at odds with the position articulated by ARZA, the Zionist Arm of the Reform Movement, now dedicated to educate the Reform Jewish community in America about the BDS efforts to delegitimze Israel and "brand Israel as an apartheid state."

Talking Tachlis congratulates Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills for standing up to proudly represent mainstream American Jewish support of Israel as the sovereign Jewish homeland.

As pointed out in a recent column dubbed "American Jewry's Fight," the Jerusalem Post's widely read Caroline Glick points out incontrovertible survey evidence demonstrating US Jewry's support for Israel

"According to mountainous survey evidence, the American Jewish community writ large remains deeply supportive of Israel. Two surveys released last year by the American Jewish Committee and Brandeis University's Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies showed that three quarters of American Jews care deeply about Israel and that Israel is an important part of their Jewish identity. The Brandeis survey notably showed that young American Jews are no less likely to support Israel than they were in the past.

In fact, American Jews under 30 are more hawkish about the Palestinian conflict with Israel than Jews between the ages of 31-40 are."

Where are the names of Detroit's other Reform Jewish temples on this letter? Don't they share Temple Beth El's affinity for Israel? Aren't they likewise concerned that the appointment of Rabbi Jacobs, with his anti-Israel associations, is inimical to the cherished Zionist roots and principles of Detroit's Reform temples.

It is especially important for Detroit area Reform synagogues to challenge the appointment of Jacobs, given the alarming hostility to Israel demonstrated in the media, on campuses, in some churches and by many local Muslim organizations, particularly those aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Talking Tachlis encourages our readers to contact the synagogues with which you are affiliated and inquire where they stands vis-a-vis Israel. Please let us know what you learn by emailing Talking Tachlis at talkingtachlismichigan@gmail.com

It's time for our synagogues to come forward and proudly reaffirm their support for Israel at a time when Israel is under siege worldwide and when its very existence is threatened on virtually every front. Ironically, with the rest of the Middle East in turmoil, it should be patently clear to the world that Israel is the only pluralistic, stable democracy in that vitally important region. Israel is America's only dependable ally in the Mideast and the free world's proxy.



Posted by MT Beadle and The Mole