Op-Eds

To those who are actually bitter that he was freed by our very not Antisemitic President Trump, let’s make a comparison to another criminal who shared a similar fate under our justice system. Namely, Jonathan Pollard.

It was shocking to read Shmuly Yanklowitz’ Dec. 22 Newsweek article lamenting the commutation of Rubashkin’s sentence and in effect seeking for Rubashkin to remain imprisoned.

Western civilization depends upon choosing Biblical values over those of Greeks, Romans, Huns, and Visigoths. This is not a political posture, but reference to our moral foundation.

What constitutes tikkun olam is not personal whim, but limited to that which realizes Jewish values found in Torah and traditional sources. Not only do we regard having a positive impact on the world as a Jewish and moral calling, but it is the raison d’etre of our organization.

Chanukah is God’s reminder to stand strong for values – holy, eternal and true values – and to defy the majority in taking a moral stand.

No one was “roughed up” due to being a Reform Jew, much as saying so delighted anti-Semitic bigots around the globe. Whatever violence transpired was directly attributable to the behavior of Rabbi Davidson and his colleagues.

President Trump acknowledged that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel” is not just an applause line at a generation of AIPAC conferences. So, who would oppose such an obvious iteration of reality? It seems like almost everybody.

There is no Middle East “peace process” and there has not been a “Middle East peace process” for decades. It is a sham. For the Arab Muslim world, “Palestine” is Israel. One need not be fluent in Hebrew nor in Arabic to grasp this, simply capable of looking at four pictures.

With her celebrity in the US because of the Princeton Hillel boycott, comes a new price to pay — dealing with the hatchets swung by the “Gotcha!” crowd. They hate her because, without a fight, she defeated the rabid leftist rabbis of Hillel.

It would be edifying if Israelis truly understood what is happening in American Jewish life and paid less attention to the instigators of insincere indignation, such as those who smeared Hotovely. Netanyahu should have supported her.