My main objection to rabbis such as Riskin, Lichtenstein, Boteach etc who are ritually Orthoddox but politically and philosophically Liberal (with a capital "L,") is that they have substituted a secular philosophy and value system for pure Judaism. There's a very crucial, dangerous conflict in that. Judaism, as many polled by Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center for Surveys, along with the Avi Chai Foundation agree, includes a G-d given philosophy and value system which must be followed.
Democracy, for example, is not a Jewish value. We are warned not to follow the majority, because it is frequently wrong. We're supposed to follow the one giving us G-d's instructions and not the majority. One of my favorite Torah examples is when G-d told Moses to send representatives to scout the Land after fleeing Egypt and Pharaoh's cruel regime with the help of G-d and His Miracles. Moses assembled a delegation of tribal representatives, twelve in all, one from each tribe. Instead of just reporting the beauties, riches and wonders they saw, they, ten out of twelve--the majority analyzed the situation and reported that there was no way that the Jewish People, tired* former slaves, could possibly conquer the inhabitants of the Land.
The Jewish People exist and survive due to a totally different system. G-d runs that system, and we can't figure it out. It trumps nature for sure. That's the story behind Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Days War. All of the experts had predicted Israel's defeat. Without any allies at all, Israel took on the Arab armies on all fronts and rolled them back. With G-d's help, Syria gave us the Golan, Egypt gave us the Sinai and Jordan gave us all of the Land west of the Jordan River which includes Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Democracy and western values have given us nothing, nothing at all. The "civilized, cultured" western, Christian world stood by as the Nazis slaughtered the Jews of Europe. The war against the Nazis wasn't to rescue Jews it was to stop the invasion of Europe and Britain.
G-d's Law, Jewish Law is the only one I care about.
*tired-Just like Ehud Olmert
12 comments:
"Democracy, for example, is not a Jewish value." ~ Batya
But Jewish values have provided the foundation for democracy.
"Jews have contributed the values that are now linked with democracy—the values that come from the Torah—respect for life, justice, equality, peace, love, education, social responsibility etc."
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/founder-of-judaism/
Abraham is the father of democratic values!
Mrs. Dash, democracy is just the rule of the masses. It has nothing to do with values. Hitler was voted in by democratic means.
Mrs. Batya,
A Torah government cannot be instituted before its time. Even I, a lowly goy, know that.
Yes, corrupt individuals can create a mobocracy within a democracy. Think Adolf Hitler; think Hillbilly Hitler (Newt Gingrich).
Now. This is as great an opportunity as I may have all day to share this passage:
[quote]
Capitalism and communism are both bastard children of the Bible, for both are processive faiths modeled on biblical faith and demanding of their adherents that they always hold in their hearts a belief in the future and keep before their eyes the vision of a better tomorrow, whether that tomorrow contains a larger gross domestic product or a workers’ paradise. Neither ideology could have arisen in the cyclical East, in Hinduism, in Buddhism, Taoism, or Shinto. But because capitalism and communism are processive faiths without God, each is a form of madness -- a fantasy without a guarantee. Democracy, in contrast, grows directly out of the Israelite vision of individuals, subjects of value because they are images of God, each with a unique and personal destiny. There is no way that it could have ever been ‘self-evident that all men are created equal’ without the intervention of the Jews.
[unquote]
Thomas Cahill, “The Gifts of the Jews” -- page 249
I wouldn't try to out guess G-d on the timing. If we keep trying we may get it right. If we don't try, we'll miss it. G-d wants us to keep trying, practicing or it'll never be the "time."
And you wonder why some of us consider you people bigots?! Israel is, will always be, a democracy -- this side of the Great Divide.
It is, and will continue to be, the only one in the Middle East -- save some SERIOUS self-reflection by the Arabs.
Not sure where you are going with all of this, unless it's to a reservation in the middle of the US upon Arab conquest.
Loosen your beanie and get your head in the game, Mrs. Batya!
Why are you so sure that you're right and I'm wrong? And there's nothing bigotted about what I've written at all. YOu're reading things into it that I didn't say.
oy, batya! this weeks parasha -- acharei rabim le-hatot!
I read something interesting on it here
Shalom!
It's rather strange to see Abraham mentioned in the context of democracy. He told the entire world that G-d's way is right and their ways are wrong.
There's a condition on that "rabim". The "rabim",generally translated as "majority", refers to a majority among the Sages, as in a beit din.
I guess the majority rule makes sense when there is no absolute truth or justice. Judaism has G-d given truth and justice.
"Democracy and western values have given us nothing, nothing at all. "
I think you're forgetting that if it weren't for the Protestant British and their support of the "restoration policy", i.e. the return of the Jews to the promised land in order to bring about the 2nd coming of the messiah, which resulted in the Balfour declaration and if it weren't for the British mandate in Palestine, you wouldn't have had the partition plan being passed by the U.N. and you wouldn't have had this piece of land to fight for in the first place.
huh??? double huh???
The British did everything in their pwoer to prevent the establishment of a Jewish State.
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