March 26, 2004

"An End of Pandering"

European and American Jewish leaders in the 1920’s and 30’s shared a posture known as "ma yafisism," translated to, "Oh, how nice." These leaders pandered to non-Jews. They smiled and backslapped and maintained that being nice would get us by the Jew haters. Some pandered to the Nazis at the onset of their power and others to the emergent Communists in spite of their persecution of Jews.

And here we go again. A few American Jewish leaders have properly protested a motion picture telling a long debunked story that has caused the murder of millions of Jews, and instead of applauding their courage to speak out, other American Jewish leaders have ridiculed them. Ma yafisism has reappeared, a sad moment of cowardice.

The ridiculers argue that Israel might lose the support of the religious right who believe Israel should keep all its land at any cost. I know the American religious right. I have spent the majority of my years as a rabbi in the South. I’ve come to understand their theology while developing friendships among their leaders. We should appreciate their support for Israel, but their support is by no means the result of some special friendship. The religious right’s uncompromising support for Israel today is eschatological Christian Biblical teaching of messianism. They will not sacrifice one iota of their beliefs for Jews. The Catholic Church, in contrast, most recently revised its long held view of Judaism as an illegitimate religion. Catholics are now to look at the Jewish perspective of G-d as an authentic path to salvation. As a result, Jews should no longer be proselytized.

But the religious right continues to believe in the damnation of the Jewish people. Jews must come to accept the Christian messiah as their savior and son of G-d. Thousands of Jews, including many from the former Soviet Union have fallen prey to this evangelism. Do those who ridicule protesting the Mel Gibson movie want us to acquiesce to the religious right’s efforts to convert Jews in the United States and especially in Israel? Many Jews have been lost to Christianity and other apostasies because we would not stand up and speak out. If we turn the other cheek now, it will be a sign of weakness and an invitation to persecution.

Leaders of the Christian right are my friends. I enjoy their respect and welcome their support for Israel, but with no strings attached. I will not resort to ma yafisism. Evangelism directed at Jews is more pronounced than ever, and we, as American Jews blessed with freedom of speech, need to denounce and openly reject any invalidation of Judaism. However much Orthodox Jews may share a common bond with other people who decry the lack of decency and morality in this country, we are by no means one with them.

Israel is a new phenomenon in Jewish experience. With the emergence of a Jewish state, a new Jew has appeared. The post ma yafis Jew should be headstrong and proud, not like the old patronizer. We should show the rest of humankind our faith and humanity and our absolute determination to follow the way of our fathers upon the soil of our land. Arafat and fellow terrorists have murdered hundreds of our people, but we have not surrendered. We can weather catastrophes.

President Bush is a born-again Christian and he enjoys the support of the American religious right. For their own reasons, these people believe Eretz Israel must be in Jewish hands. Please, I beg everyone to understand that their support is based upon their beliefs and is not the result of a new love for Jews. Thank G-d for the good, but as I have often told my Christian friends, they cannot own us and we will follow our own ways.

Shabbat Shalom