Ignorance of Jewish Values

Shas Party Chairman,, Aryeh Deri (Arutz Sheva)

Unbelievable! In a shocking development in Israel, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri took to the Knesset podium yesterday and called for the resignation of President Biden. Although he gives him credit for supporting Israel, he believes that Biden's advanced age has caused him to go astray with bad policies for Israel, the US, and even the free world. Which could end in disaster of global import!

That of course never happened. Deri would never say anything like that in public even if he believed it. It would be a Chutzpah of major proportion to suggest that the freely elected leader of major ally resign from office, No matter how noble were Deri’s intentions.  

But this is almost exactly what happened here in reverse from the podium of the Senate chamber:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish lawmaker, levied some of the harshest criticism yet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a top U.S. official, calling on Israel to hold elections for a new government to deal with the threat of Hamas.

Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (ABC)

Calling for the resignation of the freely elected leader of the closest ally the US has in the Middle East is an exercise in politics motived by willful ignorance and the optics of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. What Schumer said was no different than had Deri said the same thing about Biden. And just as condemnable. In fact there was near universal condemnation of Schumer’s remarks by Republicans. Starting with Minority leader Mitch McConnell who said the following:

“It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel,” McConnell said, calling Schumer’s remarks “unprecedented.” 

How ironic it is that the non Jewish McConnell and his non Jewish Republican colleagues were disgusted about the lack of support expressed by a Jewish Democrat who has always been one if Israel’s strongest supporters. And Schumer is not the only Jewish Democrat that has criticized Israel’s conduct in the war. 

Surely his open criticism will give cover for other Jewish Democrats to do more of the same. The left might be cheering Schumer on. They might argue that Schumer is not criticizing Israel. Only Israel’s current leader - adding that the vast majority of Israelis agree with him abut Netanyahu. But there is a difference between people criticizing their own leader and outsiders doing it from the safety of the Senate chamber floor. Especially in the middle of a war.

What is Schumer so upset about? First it is the high number of ‘innocent civilian’ casualties. Which he blames on Netanyahu's lack of concern for Palestinian death, destruction, and human suffering. And calling Netanyahu’s opposition to a 2 state solution an obstacle to peace. Problem with that is the vast majority of Israelis are with him on that issue. No sane Israeli - even on the left - believes a 2 state solution will bring peace. They rightly believe it will bring more terror.

Schumer also charges that Netanyahu’s conduct of the war will generate even more terrorism. 

Seriously? After October 7^th?  And their promise to do it over and over again? What kind of additional terrorism is he talking about? Is he not aware of Palestinian cradle to grave ‘education’ about Israel (read  Jews)?  Does he not know about the popularity of books like Mein Kampf or Protocols?

Allow me to speculate a bit about the reasons behind Schumer’s outburst. It is a. combination of the optics in Gaza, his left leaning constituency, and  ignorance of Jewish values. While it is true that Netanyahu is wildly unpopular since the events of October 7^th, (and for many on Israel’s left, well before that) his prosecution of the war with Hamas is not at all unpopular. 

To the contrary. The vast majority of Israelis know that Hamas must be eliminated. Even though their own children are fighting and dying in battle trying to do so. Even though there are so many ‘innocent civilian’ casualties.  

It is oh so easy for a politician 7000 miles away to pontificate about Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war. He doesn’t have to worry about his throat being slit in his own home by a marauding group of Hamas terrorists.  It’s easy for him to say that Netanyahu’s opposition to a Palestinian state bordering Israel is obstacle peace. No sweat off his back!

I am 100% convinced that the more Palestinians that are killed, the better Hamas likes it. Their goal is to turn world opinion against Israel and they are succeeding. Overjoyed to provide as many ‘martyrs’ as they can toward that goal. 

Meanwhile they are biding their time until the world forces Israel to stop. They will then regroup; rebuild; and continue to terrorize Israel as a religious obligation. All with the substantial help from and encouragement of Iran.

A word about left leaning Jewish angst over the carnage in Gaza. No one wants to see innocent people die. Not even people that hate us. But it is no coincidence that Jews like Schumer seem to be more concerned over Palestinian casualties than they are over Jewish casualties.  I believe it has to do with the values of knowledgeable observant Jews versus the values of non observant Jews ignorant of their own Judaism.

Chuck Schumer brags about being a Jew when he doesn’t have the slightest idea what that really means. Either that or he chooses to ignore it.  Which is even worse.

He may be ‘proud’ to be a Jew. But being proud of something you have no clue about  makes you stupid. He should be embarrassed about his ignorance. Not proud.

The values of knowledgeable observant Jews are biblical. The values of non observant Jews are not. They are mostly liberal humanistic values. I believe there is a correlation between those values and how one sees Israel’s conduct in the war. The one Mitzvah  non observant Jews do know about is Tikun Olam. Known to them as social justice. 

Which is what they mean when they talk about the injustices they say Israel commits against the Palestinian people. This is why they call concern over the human suffering in Gaza a Jewish value. 

Sad to say - other than Tikun Olam - people like Schumer wouldn’t know a Jewish value if it hit them in the face. In their ignorance they believe they are following God’s will. And if they see Jews being responsible for the suffering underdog. They are going to say so and call their concern a Jewish value. Regardless of the actual reasons for that suffering.

On the other hand the vast majority of observant Jews tend to reserve their sympathy and caring mostly for fellow Jews that are suffering at the hands of the very ‘underdogs’ they pity so much. 

Orthodox Jews have been increasingly supporting Republicans because their polices tend to be more supportive of Israel and biblical values. Their biblical values also accounts for their greater support for Israel.  

To an Orthodox Jew Israel has religious value. To a secular or heterodox Jew there is little if any religious values to the state. The secular and heterodox Jew believe that  purpose of Israel’s creation was as a haven for Holocaust refugees who had nowhere else to go.

That was surely true. But for the Orthodox Jews it is more about our belief in our God given rights to that land. We are connected to Israel for religious reasons much more than we are for pragmatic reasons. (Whether Israel should ever give up land for peace is a debate within Orthodoxy. But that is currently a moot point and outside the purview of this post.)  

For all of my fellow Jews on the left that might be applauding Schumer and agreeing with what he said, they should consider how damaging his views are with respect to Israel's existential goals. Because with respect to the conduct of this war it would make little if any difference who would take  Netanyahu's  place.