Gotnews.com On Ben Shapiro

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Luke Ford

Charles Johnson writes: #GrabGate: It’s about ethics in conservative journalism.

Columnist Ben Shapiro once praised Donald Trump but now with anti-Trump, pro-Cruz money for his venture on the line he’s allowing his judgment and his ethics to be corrupted.

That’s a shame but Shapiro has crossed a legal line that may call into question his law license and undermines his credibility by helping a known fabulist falsely accuse a rival campaign manager.

Shapiro wasn’t always as anti-Trump as he is today.

Shapiro praised the “Magic of Donald Trump” in 2011 writing the following approvingly (and rather presciently) of Trump the politician:

If Republicans were to construct an ideal candidate, he would have to be rich beyond belief… would have significant name recognition with the general public…[and] would have stage presence, an intimidation factor, and a willingness to play dirty.

The moment he declares in earnest and gets on the campaign stump, his numbers will rise dramatically.

Is Donald Trump the best Republican candidate for president out there? It would be tough to argue otherwise. He’s got all the makings of a breakout star; he’s got bravado and the cash to back it up. If he really runs, he won’t have any trouble finding supporters.

Shapiro has subsequently granted that while Trump isn’t a conservative in Shapiro’s eyes, he has mass appeal.

Here’s Shapiro praising Trump as recently as July of last year.

“The real reason why people support Donald Trump, the real reason is because he is capturing the moral narrative in the country right now…” Shapiro said at an Ann Coulter event in July 2015.

“What Republicans need to do is recognize is that what Trump does and what he is so incredibly effective at in his own kind of brusque and rough way is Donald Trump says there is a villain to this story,” Shapiro said.

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Meet the Israelis praying for a Trump win

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Luke Ford

Los Angeles Times: Trump was sent to us by God,” said Michael Yigal Mimon, a former intelligence officer in the Israeli army who proudly counts himself among a growing number of Donald Trump supporters in Israel.

Like the United States, Mimon said, Israel longs for a return to a “purist” conservative politics – one characterized by individualism, strong national defense policies, and the conviction that Israel is a key buffer against a “Muslim takeover” in the West.

“Obama decided to destroy America’s credibility in order to help his Muslim friends, but now we are witnessing a rebellion of the masses, people who feel they are being dominated or shut up by the radical left elite,” said Mimon. And though Trump has not revealed his strategy for the Middle East, he added, he has expressed a “healthy fear of Islam.”

61% of Israelis see Trump as “moderately” or “very” friendly to Israel, according to an Israel Democracy Institute study released this month. 34% said that a Republican candidate would be pro-Israel, as opposed to 28% who said the same about a Democratic candidate.

“People in Israel, given the choice of the wild card Trump or the known quantity of Hillary Clinton, would choose Trump,” said Abe Katsman, an American immigrant to Israel who works with Republicans Abroad Israel. While Bill Clinton had a favorable reputation in Israel, he said, Hillary is seen as responsible for Obama’s unpopular policies.

Israelis have a more negative view of Obama than most people around the world, according to a WIN/Gallup poll conducted last year. Of the 65 countries surveyed, only four had a dimmer view of Obama than Israel. Even Iranians held Obama in slightly higher regard, giving him a net favorability score of -21%, compared to Israel’s -22%.

Israelis who support Trump claim that Obama has turned his back on the war on terror, leaving a power vacuum that has bred an emboldened Iran, a tumultuous Syria and Iraq, and a wave of radicalism throughout Israel’s Arab neighbors. And they decry what they see as America’s lack of support for Israel during the “knife intifada” – the wave of attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers over the past six months, largely carried out by young Palestinians.

Trump’s campaign coincides with a period of growing political polarization among Jewish Israelis, as the far-right grows in popularity due to the ongoing attacks. His brash colloquial style and “chutzpah” resonate with an Israeli public, said Nimrod Zuta, a 24-year-old security guard and activist with the youth department of Netanyahu’s Likud party who manages a Facebook page for Israeli Trump supporters.

But while Trump has said he would “bomb the hell” out of the Islamic State, he has said little about his foreign policy plans for Israel — only that he would be “neutral” in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Zuta is not worried. “I believe that [Trump] will take a ‘live and let live’ policy in regard to our expansion in Judea and Samaria,” said Zuta, referring to the biblical name for the disputed territory where increasing Jewish presence has been condemned by Obama and the international community — but which 42% of Jewish Israelis believe is crucial to Israel’s security, according to a Pew Research Center poll.

Trump’s Israeli critics fear him for the same reasons his followers love him: he is impulsive and liable to turn the political landscape on its head. Many find his rhetoric unnerving, regardless of the target group. “When we hear him talk about the Syrian refugee crisis, who to the Jews of Israel represent a mirror image to our own grandparents fleeing war, we can’t accept it,” said Tal Schneider, a political commentator.

Some in the Israeli right-wing establishment, too, are unnerved by Trump’s penchant for provocation and “borderline racism,” Likud party member Amir Witeman said. “We do distinguish between his seeing foreigners, like Chinese or Mexicans, as the enemy — which makes us very uncomfortable — and [Trump’s] stance against immigrants from the Middle East, who are potential extremists who can, like in Cologne on New Year’s, bring violence into the countries,” he said, referring to the sexual assaults reported outside Cologne, Germany’s central train station on New Year’s eve. Police initially said the perpetrators were of North African descent, though German newspaper Welt am Sonntag later reported that police had determined many of them were Syrian refugees.

Israel’s most widely-read newspaper, Israel Hayom, backed by American GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, is already throwing its weight behind Trump. The conservative tabloid ran multiple front page stories this week touting Trump’s victories and presenting him as a friend of Israel.

“My win is great news for Israel,” Trump told Boaz Bismuth, the paper’s foreign editor who is currently covering Trump in Florda. “Your friend is leading the primaries. I’ve always been your friend, even in the most difficult moments, and that’s not about to change.”

It doesn’t hurt that Trump’s daughter Ivanka converted to Orthodox Judaism before marrying real estate mogul Jared Kushner. “Trump is better than a Jew because he doesn’t have any of the complexes of Jewish guilt,” said Andrew Hamilton, an Australian immigrant to Israel and Jewish convert. “Ironically enough, a White Anglo Saxon Protestant with Jewish grandchildren is doing the most to protect the future of the Jewish people.”

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How the ADL is working to destroy America

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Luke Ford

Rabbi Nachum Shifren writes in 2009:

It is difficult to write about Jewish traitors, but I have the obligation to do so. My life as an American and a Jew is rooted in one miracle: individual liberty and freedom of speech and conscience. We are living in dangerous times, times when men of good will are afraid to speak out. There are some things you cannot say in America today.

I will say them anyway.

For years, I have noticed something curious about religion in America, Israel, and elsewhere. When I go into an establishment to pray, I notice how thick the carpet is. The gold and silver on doors and paneling’s. The “honorees” abounding with their plaques and pictures adorning walls and halls. I have prayed in many different shuls (synagogues) throughout the world, and I admit a proclivity toward those humbler, more “hamish” (homey) environs, with the simple wood benches and plain floors.

For me, it is in a place surrounded by holy books, next to the Torah, with those dust-coated windows, that I find solace with the Creator of Heaven and Earth. No games here, no power trips — and you are only as good as your cleaving and yearning to be a part of His world. I reckon there’s lots of folks out there who feel the same, regardless of their beliefs.

Our history as a people has been divided, roughly, into two camps.

There is one camp that stood at Mt. Sinai, witnessed great miracles, received an awesome legacy, and despite the most horrific of human travails — pogroms, inquisitions, crusades, and more — decided to hand down that legacy from generation to generation.

It is because of that meritorious Jewish tradition that I am here today and am able to write these words.

There is a second camp — a more sinister group, that has done more damage to the Jews and caused more murder and destruction than all of Israel’s enemies combined. To this troika belong Jews and non-Jews, and our Jewish heritage has been irrevocably altered by this movement.

This second camp is about control of human beings. It holds a vision of a One World Order, together with Marx, Trotsky, and Lenin — an evil that, to date, has claimed nearly two hundred million souls.

With these international bandits and mind-control wizards stands the ADL (Anti-Defamation League). Now, if anyone else would say this, that person would be labeled an anti-Semite. But as anyone that knows me will tell you, I am a Jew who strives always to do good, give to charity, and am diligent in study and prayer. Of my many shortcomings, anti-Semitism is not one of them.

There are things that for a Jew, there is no excuse. One aspect is the unrelenting war waged by radical Islam against the Jewish people (they say they’re not anti-Semitic, just anti-Zionist).

But far worse are those who aid and abet this satanic force. For the leftist control-freaks of the ADL, there cannot be a Land of Israel! That would mean they’d be out of a job! They thirst on dissention and division — anything that will drive up their stock. Their support from the outset of a two-state solution means the destruction of the Jewish homeland.

Period.

No amount of agreements with terror and those who support it, will buy peace. The ADL, in a very real sense, is anathema to the survival of the Jewish people. Moreover, they never cared about the survival of the Jewish People!

The ADL’s agenda is simple: anything that will increase their power and control is good. Anti-Semites could never have destroyed the Jewish people. Only Jews can destroy the Jewish People.

The entire world, including Christians of all faiths, knows and understands that there is only one people in the world that was given the Land of Israel as an eternal inheritance: the Jews. The only people in the world who rebel against this eternal truth is the ADL and their communist comrades and enablers. Why?

In order for there to be a ONE WORLD ORDER, man’s spirit and soul must be brought low, be subjugated to the level of the beasts. This was the communist credo, to claim that we are no better than animals that must be controlled. G-d must be destroyed, faith debauched, and religion — ALL RELIGION — extinguished.

In this camp we find the ADL. Let’s be clear: The ADL has nothing to do with Judaism, Jews, or Jewish Survival. It is a collection of communists, anarchists, Jewish 60’s drop-outs, bitter about their nothing status and eager to spread their venom about a socialist paradise at which they believe only they can succeed. (The earlier Bolsheviks and Trotskyite’s, they assure us, just didn’t get it right.!)

It’s more than interesting how Obama has surrounded himself with these same radical leftist rejects from the 60’s. Interesting also, is how the ADL and the present administration are working hand in glove to make us safer with insane, counter-productive “Hate Crime” legislation.

Now, the ADL is on the warpath again, this time advocating for a federal data bank to be housed (with them?) in Washington, where each American can be monitored and pursued, for ever having said anything “hateful.”

And what is the definition of “hateful,” you ask? Simple, whatever the ADL dictates. And how, you’ll ask can that possibly happen here in the land of the Free, the home of the Brave? Again, simple: just play the anti-Semitic race card, and you will have people tripping all over themselves to acquiesce to your every whim. The facts are:

not one Christian today in America dare read the Bible, with it’s exhortation against bestiality and homosexuality without looking over their collective shoulders to see if the ADL is monitoring.

So why would the ADL, an organization supposedly founded for the purpose of helping Jews in peril, be spending their capital railing and ranting about Christians and what they do in the privacy of their churches. Interesting, how the ADL could care less about groups like ACORN, ISLAMIC JIAHAD, HAMMAS, CAIR — could it be because they’re people of “color?” Or maybe it’s because they are necessary in their scheme of ONE WORLD ORDER, neutralizing the fabric of America, getting it ripe for a takeover in which the ADL can take part.

Why is the ADL, supposedly the “sentinel” of the Jewish people so disposed to the rights and whims of radical gay and lesbian groups? Is this the pervue of the ADL? The answer lies in one simple concept: power and control. What the Soviets could not do in Russia, the ADL will attempt to do to America.

Witness the ADL at work:

1- advocating federal statutes and punishment for just “saying” something negative about Gays, essentially making every Christian a law-breaker in America today.
2- storing thousands of files on suspected “haters,” including names, addresses, and phone numbers to be shared with both local and federal police whenever these “haters” get out of hand by saying what they believe.
3- advocating massive censorship where media and films must pass a litmus test before being called “kosher”
4- proposing legislation for simply expressing “seed ideas” (Biblical in origin), concepts or utterances that “stimulate” or “cause friction” against targeted groups.
5- lobbying Canada to pass hate crime legislation: $5,000 misdemeanor, serving up to 2 years in prison.
6- working 24/7 for their new “messianic” legislation: HR 262, the “Hate Crimes Bill,” where the ADL will be positioned to establish a massive, pervasive and fascist bureaucracy that will monitor every single American and impose in this country Nazi Germany-style control — the ultimate vision of the leftist ADL.

The far-reaching consequences are: no church director will ever be able to utter the word of G-d! Is this not the communist “utopia” coming to fruition? Massive mind control about bias is even now, being established in education — inculcating our youth from kindergarten through college about politically correct speech. Churches that do not hire homosexuals will be closed down. Preachers will be jailed. Here in California, our insane legislature just passed such a bill, a bill that will fire faculty or expel students that make a slip of the tongue.

Isn’t it amazing? We’re not allowed to have the Ten Commandments in our schools. No “minute of prayer” allowed. No mention of G-d allowed. But plenty of mind control about how the White Christians have destroyed the earth and must be neutralized. The Day of the multiculturalists is here, aided and abetted by the ADL, using “hate speech” as the Trojan horse that will destroy our once-great America.

I find a certain peace in getting back to that earlier mention of the plain synagogue, permeated with an aura of stark truth and humility, the sometimes shaky rafters and squeaky doors giving testimony to a simplicity lending itself to truth and the eternal peace.

How this contrasts with the monstrous and ostentatious ADL building in New York! A skyscraper pointing to heaven, symbolically raising its accusing finger at the Master of the Universe. No, the tons of glass and concrete here cannot mask a horrifying lie and evil intent for this country.

I find myself having crossed the political Rubicon. As a conservative, passionate advocate of America’s freedom for individual liberties and speech, I have become a pariah in the Jewish community. Who knows, maybe the ADL is monitoring this very message?! But one thing is clear: I stand on the shoulders of many great Americans who have given their lives for this great land. I will not shirk from my responsibility as an American, as a beneficiary of this grand and blessed legacy. I hope that my urgent words are heeded and that people will wake up about those alien forces threatening our very lives.

To all my friends throughout America: G-d bless you, and G-d bless America

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Why Trump?

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Luke Ford

Rabbi Nachum Shifren writes: I recently took a walk on one of the busiest streets in town frequented by orthodox Jews on one particular Saturday, and was looking for a particular synagogue. Not having been around for many years, I noticed something different: there were security guards manning the entrance of each establishment. These were not unemployed seniors on some make-work project. Here were combat-dressed, kevlar-vested men, each sporting a serious demeanour, matching the 9mm pistols they wore. The perfunctory “shalom, have a great day” greeting seemed designed to distract more than convey friendship.

Yet on that same street are several churches. I visited them the following day, Sunday, as parishioners visited during the morning service. Not satisfied with the nearby churches, I decided to take a drive around the city at that moment. In not one instance did I see a security guard. Why was this? In the context of recent events, what message could be learned?

A friend of mine, a rabbi, recently returned from a trip to Jerusalem to attend a family event. When asked about his experience there, his reply was terse and alarming: “Everybody’s watching their back.” In a rather Orwellian explanation, he detailed the level of panic caused by the dozens of knifings whose victims never saw their attackers. Just as the state of Israel would like to wish these bloody events away, the international media seems complicit about the refusal to expose the level of Jew-hatred actually occurring.

A while before the present Trump hysteria, I visited a synagogue in Hamburg. Here the Germans upped the ante, surrounding the area with armoured personnel carriers and police carrying automatic weapons. An isolated event? No, I was told it’s like that each Saturday. A few miles to the west in neighboring Holland, a friend involved in security matters told me what few outsiders know: synagogues are being closed up and shuttered.

“So where are the Jews disappearing to?” was my obvious response.
“They’re conducting their services underground in private homes”, came my friend’s ominous message.

Everywhere in Europe, Jews who normally wear head covering identifying themselves as orthodox Jews, have been instructed by communal leaders to stop doing so. Whether it be East London, the Paris underground, or any major skandinavian city, Jews are under attack. And while Donald Trump was still making high-end ties, this has been going on for years.

In Londonistan (London, England), I received an invitation by the English Defense League to speak on behalf of English sovereignty and security amid the growing Muslim threat to non-Muslims in townships like Luton (see Youtube video: Rabbi Shifren speaks in Luton). In a background of “grooming” (sexual enslavement of young Christian girls through intimidation and death threats toward family members), “no-go-zones” (exclusive Muslim areas where access to non-Muslims is denied), and general mayhem and harassment, I was greeted by over 5,000 Luton residents. I was asked by a leftist BBC reporter: “How can an orthodox rabbi such as yourself associate with such an ‘extremist’ group?”

I didn’t bat an eyelash: “These are my friends!”

It was important to show solidarity with a group that has always treated me with he utmost of respect, a rare patriotic organization dedicated to saving Britain from itself, despite an incessant miasma of hatred directed at it by the press, pressured by a powerful political mafia, and law enforcement. The most remarkable incident of my visit to London? The left-wing “Jewish Chronicle” proposed that I not be invited to London, lest I incite the otherwise friendly Muslim population! Only Kafka could make sense of such intellectual rubbish.

The world is ablaze. The long-kives are drawn. The entire European continent is drowning in rapes, assaults, and cultural and physical invasion. Nowhere are people allowed to speak freely about a danger that threatens their very existence. Freedom of speech has gone the way of civility. Instead of security and protection of borders, we get more bilge by the politicos in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood, a recognized terrorist organization. While the destruction goes unabated, law-abiding, overtaxed citizens are branded with the race card for suggesting maintaining their culture, language, and borders. In an upside down world, Egypt, the most populous muslim country in the world has outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, while here at home they are hobnobbing with Obama in the Oval Office

Trump?

…For the first time in recent memory, the US is poised to elect a man that the world may fear and respect. Donald Trump may not be a Reagan, but he will certainly give pause to enemies and haters of America. I have no doubt that the jihadist world will have much re-calculating to do, navigating away from the cozy relationship they’ve enjoyed with Hussein Obama. The rest of the world will look at America differently before the the finest military was purged of its patriots and real fighting leadership. Making America great again requires that our enemies fear us, and our friends can count on us. This, more than anything, is the meaning of the Trump campaign.

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Critiquing Open Orthodoxy

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Luke Ford

Marc B. Shapiro writes:

Those who follow Jewish debates on the internet have probably heard of Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, who has assumed the mantle of defender of the faith. He sees his goal as exposing the non-Orthodox nature of Open Orthodoxy, and has spent many hundreds of hours reading everything written by Open Orthodox figures (and their spouses), looking for a problematic sentence in order to pounce on them. He not only attacks the Open Orthodox rabbis but also shows his contempt for them by generally refusing to even mention their names. Instead, he refers to an unnamed Open Orthodox rosh yeshiva or rabbi and you don’t know who he is speaking about until you click on the link. I realize he doesn’t respect these figures, but to even deny them the simple courtesy of mentioning their names, as if to do so is muktzeh mehamat mius, is in my opinion simply disgraceful (albeit a common writing style in the haredi world).

This obsession with the Open Orthodox reminds me of how in earlier centuries Christian zealots “could declare themselves ‘crusaders’, join a company of St. Peter Martyr, and assume a special responsibility for denouncing suspicious behaviour to the Holy Office.”[1] It also reminds me of how in previous years the right wing would constantly attack YU and Modern Orthodoxy. Now that the Open Orthodox are under attack, YU and Modern Orthodoxy re getting a pass. But make no mistake about it, if there wasn’t an Open Orthodoxy to kick around, YU and Modern Orthodoxy would once again be the focus. It appears to me, and many others, that all of Rabbi Gordimer’s attacks are pretty meaningless by now, as we get it, he doesn’t like Open Orthodoxy and he thinks that they are not “Orthodox” (a Christian term which perhaps it is time to jettison). Simply drumming this point continuously is not going to make it any clearer.[2]
R. Kook famously said that the righteous do not complain about heresy but add faith.[3] In other words, they always focus on the positive. Now the truth is that this quote, taken by itself, is problematic, as we have examples where R. Kook himself complained about heresy. I think that the passage therefore must be speaking in generalities. In other words, he doesn’t mean that the righteous never complain, but that their essential nature does not focus on the negative and finding the flaws in others. Rather, they are focused on adding faith in order to show the truth of their own position.
Rabbi Gordimer gives us a continuing list of controversial statements from people identified with Open Orthodoxy. As mentioned, he will spend hours and hours reading their material until he finally hits pay dirt. We are never told about any of the good things he sees in the writers he so often attacks, and how 99% of what he reads in their writings is not objectionable. I also find it most curious (but not unexpected) that it is only the left who are subjected to this type of detailed examination, all in order to find material with which to attack them. What about people on the right who also say objectionable things? Why are they not subjected to the same criticisms? How come he criticizes Open Orthodox figures for their liberal Zionism, but never says a word of criticism about the anti-Zionism found in Satmar and other haredi groups? The question is rhetorical.
Another problem is that while Rabbi Gordimer himself tries to stick to the issues, the comments to his posts, which have to be approved before being posted, sometimes do contain derogatory and insulting remarks about individuals. How can anyone view this as appropriate?
I have no difficulty if someone wants to criticize, even sharply, Open Orthodox writers, as long as there are no personal attacks. In fact, if the criticisms of Rabbi Gordimer and others were offered on a basis of friendship and common purpose, I can tell you without hesitation that the Open Orthodox writers would be grateful for the criticism and dialogue, as they want nothing more than to engage with all segments of the Jewish world, including the more right wing elements.
As mentioned above, I find it most objectionable that all of Rabbi Gordimer’s (and others’) criticism is of the left, never the right. I have made this point in a number of lectures. Occasionally, individuals have replied to me that it is unfair to compare Open Orthodox ideas with actions of people identified with the haredi world, as these actions are simply the result of people making mistakes and say nothing about haredi Judaism itself. Thus, they claim, if a criminal is haredi, this has nothing to do with the ideals or teachings of haredi society.
While there is some truth to this argument, it is not entirely true. For example, the widespread cover-ups of sexual abuse in haredi society, and the reluctance to go to the authorities, are directly related to haredi ideology. Yet Rabbi Gordimer has never commented on this. I also have no doubt that some financial crimes in the haredi world, including by institutions such as yeshivot, are often related to both the structure of haredi society, which leads many into poverty, and also haredi teachings that may downplay or even deny the halakhic prohibition of certain white collar criminal activity. And you don’t need me to say this. Haredim say the same thing all the time. I mention this only to stress that just as I would be the first to say that there is plenty to criticize in Open Orthodox thought, there is also plenty to criticize in haredi thought (and also in Centrist thought). In fact, as we shall soon see, one can find things written by those on the right that I think many readers, including haredim, would find even more objectionable than what Rabbi Gordimer has written about.
Before going further, let me note that there is much that Rabbi Gordimer criticizes that I don’t find at all objectionable, and I will give an example of this below. By the same token, there are aspects of the Open Orthodox critique of haredism and Centrism that I do not share, and I don’t expect either the haredim or the Open Orthodox to agree with everything I write either. But that is OK, as no one can expect everyone to agree on everything. Well-founded criticism is a vital part of any society and must be appreciated. Just as there is what to criticize in all camps, there is also a great deal to praise in all camps (and in some areas, in particular Torah study and respect for Torah scholarship, the haredi world is far superior to what is found among non-haredim in the United States).
As noted already, Rabbi Gordimer is an avid reader of Open Orthodox writings. In fact, I think he has read more such writings than anyone else (even more than the Open Orthodox!), and yet he is not able to come up with anything positive that they say or do. This shows me that he is not being fair, as I can give a long list of great things that Open Orthodox rabbis have done across the country, things that even the most right wing would applaud. I can do the same with haredi rabbis and I guarantee you that Open Orthodox rabbis would applaud. Contrary to the mean caricatures one finds online, the Open Orthodox are some of the most genuine and giving people I have ever met, and I say this as one who has never been an adherent of Open Orthodoxy. The Open Orthodox leadership and its rabbis show respect not only for those on their left (which leads Rabbi Gordimer and others to criticize them) but also for those on their right, as I can attest from many years of personal interaction. (When I speak of respect for those on their right, I am not referring to people like myself, but of Torah scholars firmly ensconced in the haredi world who do not reciprocate this respect.) In short, we must recognize there is a lot of good in all camps and we should support positive developments no matter where they originate.
Furthermore, it is important for the halakhic community to understand that there needs to be different paths for different people as not everyone has the same spiritual make-up. It is therefore important to have responsible halakhic authorities who can speak to the different communities. Rather than engaging in constant criticism, Rabbi Gordimer should be happy that the communities on the left are able to turn to an outstanding talmid chacham such as R. Dov Linzer, as he understands their situation and can provide proper guidance. I encourage people to examine some of R. Linzer’s recent halakhic writings here.
Returning to an earlier comment I made, if the point of all the criticism of Open Orthodoxy is the protection of authentic Judaism by countering the distortions on the left, then shouldn’t the distortions on the right also be countered? Aren’t these also dangerous, even more dangerous as they reach a wider range of people and are regarded as authentic Torah teachings by many? Since Rabbi Gordimer and others only look to criticize those to their left, never those to their right, they must ask themselves if the protection of Judaism is really their only goal, or if, unconsciously perhaps, their crusade against Open Orthodoxy also has other motivations.
When I have mentioned these points to various people, they always ask me to provide examples of what I am talking about, i.e., of writings from the haredi world that should be criticized by Rabbi Gordimer in the same way he criticizes what Open Orthodox writers are saying. There are lots of examples I could give (and readers can find some of them in previous posts), but let me choose a book that was actually removed from a synagogue library because of the views expressed in it.[4]
In 2007 Rabbi Dovid Kaplan published Major Impact.[5]


It has a chapter entitled “Jews and Goyim”. The chapter begins as follows:
Every Shabbos in Kiddush we declare that HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose us from all the nations. At every Havdalah we declare that we’re as different from them as day is from night. It’s always interesting to see examples of just how different we are. So read this chapter and then enjoy your next Kiddush and Havdalah.
Here are some examples from the chapter:

We once took our kids on a trip to the United States. A goy on the plane asked me how many children we have. I told him five. “How old are they,” he asked. “The oldest is eight, and the youngest is three months.” “Wow,” he said with a look of disbelief, “you have twins?”

COMMENT: The idea of bringing children into the world on a regular basis was utterly foreign to his way of thinking. 

The Polish maid brought her fiancé to meet her employer, Rebbetzin Ruchama Shain. “You have to treat your wife with respect,” she said. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll only beat her if she disobeys me,” responded the big shaigetz.

COMMENT: And he’ll only steal if he doesn’t have enough money. And he’ll only kill if he’s upset. And he’ll only . . . 

Shechitah houses often employ goyim, big strong ones, to help with the animals. A friend related the following incident to me. A cow had just been shechted. One of the goyim walked over with an empty cup, filled it with blood that was oozing from the neck, and then drank it down.

COMMENT: For him there’s no issue. For us it’s unimaginable. 

I once saw a young boy sitting on a fence at the zoo. A little old goyish lady wearing a zoo maintenance outfit approached him. “Come on down off that fence honey,” she said, “cuz I don’t want you to fall.” Wow, I thought to myself. It’s nice of her to be so concerned. I was really impressed, but only briefly. “cuz if you fall there’ll be brains all over the place, and I don’t wanna hafta clean up no brains.”

COMMENT: Can you imagine a Jewish bubby ever talking like that? 

Dr. Jacobs was making his rounds through the ward accompanied by Dr. Obama [!], an African-American. “What’s happening with Mr. O’Neill?” he asked Dr. Obama. 

“Her blood pressure is up and she has a little edema. Other than that she’s fairly stable.”

“I asked about Mr. O’Neill.”

“And I answered. ”

“But why did you refer to him as ‘she’?”

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know. Mr. O’Neill is eighty-eight years old. Back in Africa our native tribe has a custom. Once a man passes eighty-five and can’t do much, he’s referred to as ‘she.’”

COMMENT: We place older people on a pedestal and make every effort to make them feel important. Anything that may even remotely reduce their dignity is by definition pasul. And them? Yuch![6]

I realize that most of these stories are made up in order to make non-Jews look bad, but this last one is really stupid, even as a racist story, since when was the last time you heard an African-American referring to the customs of his native tribe? Also, in case anyone missed it, the name “Obama” is probably not an accident.
I don’t think there is any need for me to elaborate on how offensive this material is. Everyone understands how we would react if the focus was Jews and if one were to extrapolate from a (phony) story with one Jew to the entire Jewish people. The ideology expressed in this book (and others like it) is in direct opposition to everything I was taught about how Torah is supposed to make one a more refined individual. I also wonder, how many potential baalei teshuvah who picked up this book were turned off to Judaism after reading what I have quoted?[7]
I have no doubt that Rabbi Gordimer agrees with me that the views expressed in this book are not in line with what we should stand for as a people. So will we see a condemnation of this book and of ones that express similar views, or do they get a pass because they emanate from the haredi world?
Despite my great opposition to this book, I am willing to acknowledge that other things the author has written can be valuable. Why can’t Rabbi Gordimer, despite his criticism of Open Orthodox writers, admit that even if he disagrees with them about certain things, they can still make valuable contributions in areas where he would agree with them? In sum, when Rabbi Gordimer begins criticizing the problems in the haredi and centrist worlds with the same enthusiasm (or even half the enthusiasm) as he takes on writers in the Open Orthodox world, then I and many others might begin to take him seriously as someone who can offer a valuable perspective.
I should note that R. Yitzchok Adlerstein has made some comments relevant to the matter I have just discussed:

Mean-spirited and racist remarks made on comboxes on websites catering to the Chassidic community turn up quoted on anti-Semitic and anti-Israel websites. . . . Enough material exists to make it easy for intelligent outsiders to get beyond the posturing of spokespeople and learn about attitudes often expressed by the masses. For decades, observant Jews of all persuasions could go about their business flying under the radar of their neighbors. If they stayed out of trouble with the law (or did a good enough job at keeping malefactors out of the headlines), they were more than tolerated by other Americans. There are no longer any secrets. Every small group is the subject of inquiry, and the free sharing of information means that outside investigators quickly learn what people speak about behind closed doors. 

Agudath Israel undertook an impressive program of community education to parts of its membership regarding dina demalchuta[8] and chillul Hashem[9] in the aftermath of too many high-profile scandals. It will not be enough. The next exposés (they have already begun) will not deal so much with criminal behavior as with rejection and contempt. Many Americans who are not anti-Semitic will still not take kindly to the thought that large numbers of people, albeit minorities even within their own communities, have little or no regard for them as human beings, and no concern for their welfare. Those who take the policy of hen am levadad yishkon to the limit will soon learn that there are minimum expectations placed upon citizens not by law but by popular sentiment. If they wish to live as equals in the United States, they will have to come to some sort of modus vivendi with other Jewish values like darkhei shalom and genuine regard for the tzelem Elokim in all people.[10]

Let me now turn to the reason I have been discussing Rabbi Gordimer in the first place, and that is his attack on R. Ysoscher Katz found here. Rabbi Gordimer claims that there is no such thing as Modern Orthodox pesak, and that decisions by Modern Orthodox poskim “should look no different than if [they] were adjudicated by a chareidi posek; process (research) and product (conclusion) should be indistinguishable.” This is simply false, as anyone who knows the writings of Modern Orthodox poskim can attest. A posek is not a computer. All sorts of meta-halakhic considerations go into his rulings and this explains why a Modern Orthodox posek will come to different conclusions than haredi poskim on many issues. I am not referring to whether a tea bag can be used on Shabbat, as in this sort of case there shouldn’t be any differences between haredi and Modern Orthodox poskim, but in matters concerning which the two camps differ (e.g., the role of women) there will obviously be differences among the poskim.
For Rabbi Gordimer, all poskim share the same “process”. Not only is this historically incorrect, it isn’t even “doctrine”. Does he really think that there are any haredim who believe that Modern Orthodox poskim operate the same way as haredi poskim? Of course they don’t, which is precisely the reason why they reject Modern Orthodox halakhists, because they know that their meta-halakhic values influence their halakhic decisions. The haredim don’t oppose meta-halakhic values per se. Meta-halakhah has a very prominent place in haredi halakhah. It is the particular Modern Orthodox meta-halakhic values that they see as problematic.
I realize that for people reading this post what I have just said is neither new or even controversial. Many of you are probably wondering why I am even wasting my time in making an obvious point. So let me mention some important sources that you might have been unaware of that illustrate what I have been saying.
In 1951 R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik was asked if it was permitted to volunteer to serve as a chaplain in the U.S. armed forces, as this might lead to various halakhic problems, in particular with regard to Shabbat. Before analyzing the halakhic sources, R. Soloveitchik gives us an insight into the meta-halakhic factors that are operating within him. He confesses his lack of objectivity in a way that directly contradicts his portrayal of how Halakhic Man operates.

Posted in Marc B. Shapiro, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy | Comments Off on Critiquing Open Orthodoxy