[(Continued from p.10)]
ranging from the belief that industrial pollution produces global warming to fear of nuclear winter. However, these are not issues for Jewish organizations to take up as if they speak on behalf of their entire membership. In short, what we oppose is so-called Jewish leadership, Reform, Conservative or Orthodox (we are in no way critical of Reform Judaism as such, but must recognize that Reform leaders are the worst offenders) dabbling in issues which have absolutely nothing to do with Judaism or Israel. And, what is risible in Marc X. Jacobs' testimony is his invoking the highest Jewish theological authority on behalf of some unproven suppositions about auto emissions.We at AFSI are scarcely the only ones to observe that the Reform Follies grow steadily more bizarre. Here are some excerpts from "Alamance Independent,"
We oppose Jewish leadership dabbling in issues which have nothing to do with Judaism or Israel.
"At the registration desk, items put out by the Reform rabbinical body (Central Conference of American Rabbis) included two leaflets by the Greensboro Justice Fund the heir to the Communist Workers Party discussing the Nov. 3, 1979 shootout between CWP members and assorted Klansmen and neo-Nazis...At a second official literature table run by the Reform rabbinical body itself, the rabbinical body of Reform Judaism was selling audio cassettes for $9.00 each on topics such as 'A Review of the Klan/Nazi shooting from 1979' [with Communist Worker Party leaders being two of the three speakers] and 'The African-American Community and the Police.' If you are interested in 'Economic Justice Issues,' 'The Death Penalty,' or 'Justice in Sentencing,' Reform Judaism will sell you the cassette.
"Other fascinating topics Reform Judaism sells tapes on include 'The Political Issues of Same Gender Ceremonies'...and that's just the official stuff Reform Judaism itself distributes. Go to the affiliatedWomen of Reform Judaism table and a Fall 1999 leaflet urges members to write Senators in opposition to a ban on partial-birth abortion....[T]he real fireworks doesn't begin until Wednesday with Israeli Reform rabbis threatening to walk out en masse over a vote that day on the resolution endorsing gay marriage....Reform Judaism is increasingly provoking a new variant of the 'Who is a Jew?' crisis one here, not in Israel, with this time Conservative and not Orthodox rabbis having to decide if Reform Judaism is really 'Jewish' because, to all appearances, Reform Judaism is much more a leftist sociopolitical doctrine than a religion."
Too harsh? Clearly there are many Reform
rabbis and congregation members (it may well be a major-
ity) who deplore these goings-on. But by not
protesting, they allow a band of activists to take over in a
pattern which the churches have made familiar. The
National Council of Churches is totally out of sync with
the ordinary churchgoers in whose name it pretends
to speak.
And from AFSI's point of viewfor our focus is steady on Israel's welfareprecisely because they dabble in a host of trendy causes, Reform leaders have lost the credibility needed in defense of the Jewish people and Israel.
Just prior to the national elections in
Taiwan, Secretary of Defense William Cohen visited the
nation island hoping to prevent a victory for the
"secessionist'' candidate. Cohen issued thinly veiled references to
the crude threats emanating from mainland China,
reminded the Taiwanese of the "one China" policy which
commits their fate to the butchers of Tiananmen Square.
The "one China" policy is, to our mind, the failed dream
of nationalists on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Fortunately, Taiwan's leaders, faced with the horror of
unifying their thriving democracy to the despotic Beijing
regime, have chosen to abandon the vainglorious
dreams of return to the mainland. Instead, they opted for a
freewheeling, democratic election in spite of the
pressures coming from the Clinton
[(Continued on p.12)]
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