{"id":45567,"date":"2012-08-05T12:59:14","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T20:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=45567"},"modified":"2014-11-17T20:46:08","modified_gmt":"2014-11-18T04:46:08","slug":"friends-anthony-gordon-avi-shafran-debate-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=45567","title":{"rendered":"Friends Antony Gordon, Avi Shafran Debate Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Antony Gordon, an Orthodox Jew from South Africa and a prominent member of the Fairfax-La Brea community, went to Harvard with Barack Obama. He writes this long essay against Obama<\/a>. Rabbi Avi Shafran rejoins<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It is painful to publicly criticize something written by a dear friend. But improper public words require a public response.<\/p>\n

I have known Chanan Gordon for years and deeply admire his passion to bring all Jews closer to their religious heritage. But Ami\u2019s interview of him in a recent issue left me saddened and puzzled.<\/p>\n

He pronounces President Obama an \u201cintellectual lightweight,\u201d \u201carrogant,\u201d possessive of \u201ca grandiose sense of self-importance\u201d and \u201ca sense of entitlement\u201d; and asserts that his reelection would be a \u201ctragedy.\u201d Reb Chanan\u2019s credentials for reaching those conclusions are that he attended Harvard at the same time as Mr. Obama, and \u201cwas close to people who were close to him.\u201d They may even have been in one class together.<\/p>\n

Reb Chanan considers it somehow iniquitous that, when at Harvard, Mr. Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review but wrote no articles for it. What\u2019s more, he \u201cheard that Obama took pains to recalibrate its ideological disposition.\u201d Also, the man who would become president, Reb Chanan asserts, was \u201cnot popular\u201d with others at Harvard.<\/p>\n

\u201cReliable sources\u201d are cited, one contending that Mr. Obama cut off communication with two former financial backers\u2014a sign, in Reb Chanan\u2019s diagnosis, \u201cof extreme narcissism and being exploitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other \u201creliable sources\u201d called Mr. Obama\u2019s writings at Columbia University \u201cradical at best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reb Chanan kindly concedes that he \u201chas nothing on record where [Mr. Obama] says that he\u2019s a Muslim.\u201d But he asserts, without any specific attribution, that \u201ca common theme in Obama\u2019s administration is that he is not a G-d-fearing person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Antony Gordon, an Orthodox Jew from South Africa and a prominent member of the Fairfax-La Brea community, went to Harvard with Barack Obama. He writes this long essay against Obama. Rabbi Avi Shafran rejoins: It is painful to publicly criticize … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29668,1569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antony-gordon","category-barack-obama"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t