hat tip: Ellen
I'm reeling in shock. The very person who introduced me to Zionism and brought me to the Betar Zionist Youth Movement, Dennis Avi Lipkin is heading, or fronting, a party/movement I consider dangerous to the State of Israel.
I always get a kick out which former Great Neck residents, those of us who spent our formative--adolescent--years there, avoid giving that little detail. In his bio, he admits to being born in Flushing, but just mentions "New York" for his later, pre-Israel, address.
In mid-1960's Great Neck we were an anachronism, rejecting America and its benefits. We weren't the only ones, but we took a different path from the "non-conformists" and their uniform green bookbags. There were a handful of us, students in Great Neck North, who went to the Free Soviet Jewry demonstrations of SSSJ, rather than demonstrating for "negro" civil rights, the Biaferans or against the Vietnam War. The war that ignited us was the Six Days War and the liberation of our Jewish Historical Lands.
We would meet at the Oneg Shabbat teenage programs of the Great Neck Synagogue, which were open to any Great Neck teenager, even if his/her parents were not members of the shul. It was Dennis who gave a focus to our feelings by teaching us Zionism and taking us to Betar meetings on Sundays in Manhattan.
Dennis went to Israel as a student, and when my husband, a Betari of course, and I made aliyah right after our wedding, there was Dennis greeting us in the Maon Betar, Old City, Jerusalem, our first home in Israel.
I consider my life here in Shiloh to be a direct consequence of what I learned from Dennis, but Dennis has changed. Christian America is a strong part of his psyche and/or political philosophy. I don't think it is good for Israel to have a joint Jewish-Christian Political Party. You can do that in the United States, but Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. I don't want Christians having political power. Things are dangerous enough as it is when our weak, "miss-guided" politicians run after world praise and approval rather than doing what's best for us and obeying G-d.
Yes, this is very hard for me. I warmly thank Dennis for helping to get me on the path I took and remain, but I totally disagree with the path he is now on. G-d willing he should return.
Chodesh Tov and Shabbat Shalom
10 comments:
I agree with you that Avi has bought into a little too much of the Christian worldview. Some of that Christian worldview is not bad, but it is necessary to beware of the difference between allies and brothers. We have some Islamic allies such as Sheikh Palazzi in Italy and the courageous journalist Salah Shoaib Choudhoury in Bangladesh. Yaakov, Yisrael, Judaism, Torah, is the bariach tichon, the middle linchpin, upon which everything else depends, and the reference point for all other ideologies. The Torah was the blueprint for creation. The Greek Christian Testament and the Islamic Koran are defined in their derivation from Torah. They are off-center with respect to Torah in that they deviate toward an excess of gvurah, strength, sternness, violence, in the case of Islam, and misplaced hesed, an attempt to love everyone without priorities, which leads to spurned love and hence crusades and inquisitions in the case of Christianity. Martin Luther was a good example. Take a deep breath, Avi, smell the coffee, and come home.
Thanks, goyish', for adding your perspective.
B"H It can be painful, but we must move forward, and away from our old contacts, if we do not feel our influence will helpful in aiding their "return."
Unfortunately, this turn to Christians is becoming more and more prevalent.
Irregardless of what I think of Christians, I find it dangerous for us to place the kind of hope or dependence on any human contact or group.
We also need to take responsibility for ourselves, something we haven't seemed to be doing for a long time.
Oh, and his time spent at JTS could not possibly have helped.
What Ben-Yehudah said. And what Goyisherebbe said, too. Anything that constitutes, or even simply smacks of, looking to anyone or anything other than HaShem to protect us will only cause us more trouble in the end.
-- MAOZ
by and a, I agree with you both. Thanks for adding your voices.
I find the 'alliance' very shocking. Give the xtians a voice in governing us?? Oy. Can you imagine the doors that might open as compromises are made? Most of the xtians, as much as they may love Israel, cannot separate themselves from preaching. They perceive it is a command.
We should not 'normalize' their behavior in Israel. There are too many uneducated Jews or Jews who had bad experiences
in a school, making them vulnerable to ''xtian love bombs''.
It becomes very hard to ''lhavdil'' after close involvement. HaShem is our Magen. In the united states, if xtians want to contribute to an Israeli fund to help aliya or Gush katif refugees, etc, that is a different thing ..bless them... but a voice in the govt???
Rahel, I agree with you. Thanks so much for commenting.
Reply to Rahel.
Why are you in shock? is he the first ?(will he be the last?)
I don't think so....
Apartments in Israel
true
this has been going on forever
but it doesn't mean that we don't have to fight it
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