His passing leaves an irreplaceable void in the Jewish world, and the world is poorer and smaller because this giant is no longer among us.

May the Almighty comfort the Jewish People in their time of need.

We, the undersigned, come to support the Rabbi of Jerusalem, the esteemed scholar Rabbi Aryeh Stern shlit”a (may he have a life of long and good days)…

… who spoke with strength and simplicity the eternal truths of our holy Torah and of normal humanity — beliefs with which the healthy majority of the State of Israel identifies, those who are shocked by the provocations and deviations of organizations supporting what our Torah calls “abomination,” those who make brazen parades through the Land of Israel, and went still further, to arrange and conduct these “abomination parades” on the day of the 9th of Av, a day of national mourning for the destruction of our Holy Temples, which were destroyed for the sins of sexual immorality and needless hatred, among others.

This aggressive terror, accompanied by daily media brainwashing to indoctrinate hearts to accept the idea that there is some sort of “family” [in this type of relationship], to destroy the very concept of family, and to turn willful deviants into heroes — it will not succeed, and neither will the attempt to silence the mouths of rabbis and sane people, to characterize them as delusional and extremists.

Rabbi Aryeh Stern shlit”a came out in defense of the children of Israel, who will be miserable if they are not placed in normative families!

We strengthen the hands of the Rabbi of Jerusalem, who expressed a simple truth and cried out the cry of the voiceless children, to preserve them from an unhappy life, and to give them the basic right to live in natural, normative families in order to grow into mentally healthy, normal adults.

Rabbi Chaim Steiner, Dean of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav
Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Emeritus of Kiryat Arba
Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau, Dean of Yeshivat Har HaMor

… and over 250 co-signatories

The Coalition for Jewish Values would like to share with you this report on the recent graduation speech hosted by the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College (HUC). The speaker was a well-known anti-Israel activist, who used the opportunity to not only demonize Israel’s self-defense, but even to oppose Jewish endogamy, Jews marrying Jews. The Interim President of the HUC, Rabbi David Ellenson, both welcomed the speaker and reaffirmed the decision to host him afterwards.

On May 14 at the Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, California, the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion held its annual graduation and ordination ceremony. The invited speaker was Michael Chabon, a known anti-Israel activist and author.

Chabon’s hostility towards Israel and its self-defense is well-known, especially due to his collaboration with “Breaking the Silence” (BtS), an anti-Israel organization that claims a domestic mission, “to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories,” but receives two-thirds of its funding from European governments and the New Israel Fund, and refuses to share evidence with the IDF for critical examination.

Chabon and his wife, Ayelet Waldman, met with BtS members before compiling an anthology called “Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation.” The book claimed to offer true accounts, although the spokesman for Breaking the Silence, Dean Issacharoff, was denounced by members of his platoon, including his commander, on video stating that he had lied about incidents in which he claimed to have participated and followed orders.

Chabon led a tour of Judea together with BtS, during which he called the occupation “the most grievous injustice I have ever seen in my life.” Regarding the Cave of the Patriarchs, “where supposedly Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rebecca and Leah are all buried” per his distorted account, he said: “to see that place being dishonored and made less sacred and less holy by the presence of this incredibly cruel and unjust machinery, some literal machinery and figurative machinery of oppression, it offends me.” He would have preferred to see Hebron with no “machinery” there to prevent a repeat murder of its Jewish visitors and residents. He claimed the Jews of Hebron see Arabs as “less truly human.”

After all of the above, HUC Interim President Rabbi David Ellenson introduced Chabon as a “moral voice,” emphasizing his book dealing with “fifty years of Israeli occupation in Palestine” — the aforementioned work inspired by BtS — and pointing out the current relevance of the book due to the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Taking to the stage, Chabon wasted no time condemning Israel’s security barrier, built to prevent further atrocities such as the Dolphinarium, Sbarro and Park Hotel suicide bombings. “Anywhere you look, it is and has always been a hand of power drawing the boundaries, putting up the separation barriers and propagandizing hatred and fear of the people on the other side of the wall. Security for some means imprisonment for all.”

He then went on to say that intermarriage is “the source of all human greatness,” while “endogamous marriage is a ghetto of two.” He condemned Judaism in particular by saying that “any religion that relies on compulsory endogamy to survive has, in my view, ceased to make the case for its continued validity in the everyday lives of human beings.”

At least one graduate, Morin Zaray, left in protest. In an op-ed in the LA Jewish Journal, Zaray wrote: “I know that the same wall he said he despised enabled me to live a normal life and to use the bus as a young girl… It was as if horrific terror attacks have never occurred against these Jews — this ‘sorriest’ and most ‘riotous’ group of ‘convicts’ Chabon has ever seen. Maybe he hasn’t seen the virulent Jew-hatred that permeates Palestinian society.

“I turned back to look at my brother, who served in a combat unit in the Israel Defense Forces. He looked sick to his stomach. I got up from my seat and approached my family… I asked my mother if not seeing me graduate would disappoint her. She responded that she would feel ashamed to see me walk on that stage after what had been said. We stood up and left the sanctuary. Standing outside, I was nearly brought to tears as I heard the crowd of Jews give Chabon a thunderous applause.

“For someone who presents himself as an intellectual — steeped in nuance — Michael Chabon has a remarkable ability to present a one-dimensional reality in which the Jews are evil oppressors and the Palestinians are powerless victims, with no agency, no responsibility and no blame. Such a careless disregard for depth and complexity dishonors an institution of higher learning — particularly a Jewish one — particularly on a graduation day.”

Ellenson responded: “it does not occur to us at HUC-JIR to quash or vilify political criticism of Israel out of a preemptive fear of controversy.” He even claimed that Zaray’s tearful essay, bemoaning how Ellenson and Chabon “ambushed” and ruined her graduation, was testament to the diversity of opinion at HUC-JIR.

These are the people demanding Israel bow to its wishes concerning Israel’s security, the peace process, the Western Wall and matters of Jewish status.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Managing Director
Coalition for Jewish Values

There are two glaring defects in the list produced by the ADL. The ADL tars mainstream conservatives with guilt by association, and betrays its core mission by ignoring defamation from left-wing speakers.

The list of “Alt Right” figures is a frightening depiction of American evil, including writers and advocates for Neo-Nazi and skinhead blogs, websites and organizations. The accompanying list of the “Alt Lite,” by contrast, is an often embarrassing exercise in demonization.

Brittany Pettibone is a conservative podcaster whose guests have included Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian-American engineer and political candidate. Pettibone devoted an entire podcast to the topic of “Why I will Interview Anyone” – yet the ADL tars her as follows: “whatever her personal beliefs, Pettibone uses her podcast to amplify the views of the alt right by interviewing members of the movement.”

Jack Posobiec hosted an inaugural event called the DeploraBall, which, says the ADL, “attracted many from the alt right and alt lite spheres.” He also protested a stage depiction of the murder of Donald Trump. For these and similar activities, the ADL cites him as a dangerous figure.

The inclusion of Corey Stewart, a strong backer of Israel who is currently serving his third term as Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, is perhaps the most disingenuous and openly political of all: Stewart announced just last week that he will oppose incumbent Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia in 2018. Stewart objected when Kaine skipped Israeli PM Netanyahu’s address to the U.S. Congress in 2015, and plans to make their contrary stances towards Israel an issue during the upcoming campaign. But because he does not believe Southern Civil War memorials should be torn down, the ADL claims he “embraces misogyny and xenophobia.”

Yet the ADL’s greatest sin is that of omission. The ADL and its Center on Extremism are so anxious to condemn relatively obscure conservatives that they give a free pass to far more prominent left-wing promoters of anti-Jewish hate speech.

This is both wrong and dangerous. The ADL declares that its primary mission is to “stop the defamation of the Jewish people.” While speakers associated with the political left may not advocate terrorism here in America, some will happily justify it in Israel, often by smearing Israeli soldiers as killers for defending innocent lives.

Any bipartisan list of dangerous American extremists would include at least some of the following individuals:

Hatem Bazian holds the title for “the most dangerous professor in America,” according to the campus watchdog Canary Mission organization. Bazian is the founder of Students for Justice in Palestine, which demonizes Israel, calls for its destruction, and celebrates terrorists. He recently asked rhetorically, “how come we don’t have an intifada in this country?”

Jamarhl Crawford is the author of the rap “Zionist Money,” which features lyrics claiming that Jews control business and the media and minimizing the Holocaust.

Keith Ellison, who defended the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan until he became a congressional candidate, previously wrote a column defending a speaker who claimed that Zionists had collaborated with the Nazis and said that “Zionism must be destroyed.” Ellison also says that the conflict between Arabs and Jews started only shortly before 1948.

Rachel Gilmer is the co-author of the Black Lives Matter platform which accused Israel of genocide.

Thomas Friedman has demonized Israel in the New York Times for decades. His most recent installment minimized calls for bloodshed from PA PM Mahmoud Abbas by pointing out that Israeli extremists can also be violent.

Linda Sarsour is an “activist” who promotes Jihad in America and encouraged support for Rasmea Odeh, convicted of killing Hebrew University students, under the banner of “Palestinian rights.” She defended Saudi Arabia, where women may not drive, but said that a feminist cannot be a Zionist.

Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of “Jewish Voice for Peace,” claims that Israel is “strangling” Gaza, that Israel is training U.S. Police to “brutalize black and brown communities,” and that U.S. Jews are “complicit” in “violence against Palestinians.”

Roger Waters, the co-founder, bassist and singer for Pink Floyd, was recently cited by the Simon Weisenthal Center for open bigotry against Israel and his use of anti-Semitic imagery onstage, including a Star of David painted onto an inflatable pig.

Philip Weiss is founder and co-editor of “Mondoweiss,” an “anti-Israel” hate site. Weiss claims that Jews control the economy, exploit the memory of the Holocaust, and justify anti-Semitism through their behavior.

Cornel West, a professor at Harvard, dismissed anti-Semitism due to Jews having “white privilege.” He claims that “the Israeli occupation is ugly, it’s vicious, it’s brutal,” and that “there is no doubt that Gaza is not just a ‘kind of’ concentration camp.”

Each one of these is better-known and better-respected, and thus is far more dangerous, than all of the combined members of the ADL’s “Alt Right” list. It would be trivial to develop a far longer roster of left-wing activists promoting defamation of Jews in America today — yet the ADL prefers to focus its attention upon obscure individuals who are politically conservative. The ADL is abandoning its historic mission of defending the Jewish people, in order to serve up hit pieces on behalf of left-wing liberalism.