Rabbi Eric Yoffie Should Stop Harming the Jewish Community

November 7, 2013 11:24 am 4 comments

Dr. Miriam and Mr. Sheldon Adelson at the 2011 AIPAC Conference. Photo: Maxine Dovere.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, who served as president of the Union for Reform Judaism from 1996 to 2012, is a very busy man. Running a denomination which purportedly represents 1.5 million Reform American Jews, who have largely assimilated and intermarried, is clearly a challenging task – one which he has failed miserably at if every study, poll, or simple demographic survey on American Jewry is to be believed.

Despite these vast failures, Yoffie keeps himself quite busy. He fills his days writing articles urging more pressure to be put upon the tiny, often beleaguered Jewish state, with pieces like his recent op-ed entitled: “Why U.S. Jews must embrace Kerry’s appeal to put pressure on Netanyahu.” Not content to fail at outreach, he criticizes one of the largest (and most successful) Jewish movements in the world, Chabad, claiming that it “is often the address for those who wish to avoid serious requirements for the child or family.” (One may have thought he was referring to the Reform Movement.)

Yoffie’s foolishness extends to previous calls on the Jewish community to boycott Pastor John Hagee and Christians United for Israel, one of Israel’s most powerful and closest allies in the United States. (None of these objectives have thankfully been achieved – he’s failed at all of them.)

Not content with the terrifyingly high intermarriage rates, he involves himself in issues having nothing to do with Judaism, speaking out on issues like gun control: “… We are ready for a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred battle against the NRA, which is the real criminals’ lobby in this country, and which is drenched in the blood of murdered children.” (One wonders if he considers the Maccabees heroes with Hanukah approaching).

The above still not enough, his most recent act has been to call upon the most substantial Jewish philanthropist in the world, Sheldon Adelson, to be boycotted. Sheldon and Miriam Adelson are great Jews about whom it has been said that “not since the Rothschilds and Moses Montefiore has one philanthropist so dominated the global Jewish stage with such total commitment to the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland…” They are among the rare high-profile Jews to stand up and say what is in Am Israel’s (the Jewish people’s) best interest, regardless of political correctness.

As their website states, “the Adelson Family Foundation focuses its support primarily on programs that benefit the State of Israel and the Jewish people.” They give away more than $250 million annually to Jewish causes.

Yoffie’s Torah is the “Torah of Liberalism,” as Norman Podhoretz has referred to it. It’s praying for liberalism to win at all costs and is despicable.

Where are the mountains of condemnation for Yoffie and his comments? Where are all the Jewish liberals who speak about freedom of expression, and the “diversity” of views which are so important? Imagine if a right-wing leader called on a boycott of a left-wing mega philanthropist? Imagine the banner headlines and yelling?

As none other than Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz has said, “I know Sheldon Adelson, and I have worked with him on several matters relating to Israel and the Jewish community. I have spoken on behalf of the wonderful school he has built in Las Vegas. And have had the pleasure of teaching one of the brilliant graduates of that school. Adelson was deeply involved in the creation of the Birthright Israel Program, which has had extraordinary success in exposing young Jews to Israel. It’s hard to find anyone who has done as much for the Jewish community as Sheldon Adelson. Adelson grew up in Boston in near poverty and is a shining example of the American dream. He is a self-made multi-billionaire who has contributed significantly to the world of modern technology and to the economic growth of Las Vegas and other areas. His generosity has helped repair the world…”

Other than Dershowitz, the deafening silence of our so-called leaders is despicable. Sheldon Adelson and his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson epitomize many of the great things about American Jewry. It’s a shame that the Jewish community doesn’t support them as they support the Jewish community.

Philosopher Max Nordau once told Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky that “the Jew learns not by way of reason, but from catastrophes. He won’t buy an umbrella merely because he sees clouds in the sky. He waits until he is drenched and catches pneumonia.” With the recent Pew Report survey, we know that American Jewry is in a catastrophic situation and it is pouring rain.

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson should be lauded and thanked, and liberal extremists like Rabbi Eric Yoffie asked to keep their mouth shut. He’s already harmed the Jewish community enough.

Ronn Torossian is an entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist, via the Ronn Torossian Foundation.

4 Comments

  • An interesting article, and well written. With respect, I offer my comments.

    Firstly, I reject the idea that the NRA and gun control are beyond the scope of a Jewish awareness of the world. Doesn’t the Torah teach us to work for a time in which we will plunge our swords into ploughshares? When nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall the study war any more? Gun violence in the US is out of control, and if Rabbi Yoffie can save a single life by using his platform to speak against it, then it is if he has saved an entire world. And I support him in that effort.

    Secondly, the land of Israel is our spiritual and ancestral homeland. I have hiked from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kineret, and have never experienced such beauty. The State of Israel, on the other hand, is NOT BEYOND REPROACH. I believe that there are human rights issues at stake in the way that the Israeli government treats Palestinians (of course, this is a two-way street, and no one party is guilt-free). I believe that Israel does not represent a truly free Jewish state. Orthodoxy is not the only authentic form of Judaism. The only authentic form of Judaism is the sacrificial Temple cult described in the Torah. So who is the Orthodox community to say that other ways of being Jewish are inferior, when their Judaism is also interpreted to fit their understanding of the world.

    Further, intermarriage is NOT terrifying. From where I stand it is beautiful. Some people I know consider a Jew marrying a non-Jew to be marrying “out,” but I say we need to change the language to their partners marrying “in.” We can engage interfaith families. We can help them to provide nurturing, Jewish homes for their children. We can provide safe spaces for their families, even if the Chief Rabbi and the State of Israel will not.

  • The author has engaged in a bit of hyperbole here. Where in Yoffe’s piece does he call upon the Jewish community to “boycott” Adelson?

  • How surprising. The head of the Jewish branch of the Martin Luther Reformation Movement working against the interests of those Faithful Jews who haven’t bowed before the secular golem created by the German anti-Semite responsible for the Reformation. I seem to recall another German institution that adversely affected European Jewry in the 30′s and 40′s. Some believe there’s a connection.

  • PASTOR YOFFIE DID a few GOOD THINGS.
    1)Rejecting pastor hagees help. Every cent comes with attachments, missionaries political pressures to hand over part of King Davids Tomb for xtian prayer.Every cent of hagees comes with an obligation to hear his prosletizing out of guilt.
    2)when kerry was a presidential candidate his wife donated 5 million dollars to the muslim brotherhood.
    Now she donates throough the ‘tides foundation’ which is a conduit to various radical groups such as muslim brotherhood. So far what kerry and obama has supported are all against the interests long term, of Israel.

    PASTOR ERIC YOFFIES ORGANIZATION LIKE ALL GOOD XTIANS ARE SLOWLY DISINTEGRATING INTO THE DUST.

    THAT POLL OF AMERICA JEWS…maybe they should have taken it in JEWISH SECTIONS WHERE THERE ARE JEWS THAT ARE SHORT OF HOUSING DUE TO THE TREMENDOUS EXPANSION OF TORAH OBSERVANT JEWS OF ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD LIVING AND PRAYING EITHER TOGETHER OR NEXT TO EACH OTHER.
    Synagogues popping up all over..TORAH dedications everywhere…in JEWISH SECTIONS…MARRIGES, BABIES..RABIES… BARUCH HASHEM…

    THE GROWTH TOWARDS THE GENIUNE ORIGINAL…TORAH ORTHODOX JEWS, ASHKANAZ AND SEPHARD ARE GROWING AND WE NEED MORE HOUSING BOTH IN AMERICA AND ISRAEL….
    WE NEED MORE KIPAS MORE TEPHILIN…
    TORAH JEWS ARE GROWING EVERYWHERE……B’H

Leave a Reply

Please note: comments may be published in the Algemeiner print edition.


Current day month ye@r *

More...

  • Theater US & Canada ‘Homeland’ Season Finale Stirs Controversy After Comparing Menachem Begin to Taliban Leader

    ‘Homeland’ Season Finale Stirs Controversy After Comparing Menachem Begin to Taliban Leader

    A controversial scene in the season finale of Homeland sparked outrage by comparing former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to a fictional Taliban leader, the UK’s Daily Mail reported. In the season 4 finale episode, which aired on Dec. 21, CIA black ops director Dar Adal, played by F. Murray Abraham, justifies a deal he made with a Taliban leader by referencing Begin. He makes the remarks in a conversation with former CIA director Saul Berenson, a Jewish character played by Mandy [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Spirituality/Tradition Placing Matisyahu Back Within a Life of Observance

    Placing Matisyahu Back Within a Life of Observance

    Shining Light on Fiction During the North Korea-Sony saga, we learned two important lessons. The first is that there are two sides to this story, and neither of them are correct because ultimately we should have neither inappropriate movies nor dictators. The second is that we cannot remain entirely fixed on the religious world, but we also must see beyond the external, secular view of reality. It’s important to ground our Torah-based thoughts into real-life activism. To view our act [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Blogs Nine Decades of Moses at the Movies

    Nine Decades of Moses at the Movies

    JNS.org – Hollywood has had its share of big-budget biblical flops, but until now, the Exodus narrative has not been among them. Studios have brought Moses to the big screen sparingly, but in ways that defined the image and character of Moses for each generation of audiences. The first biblical epic In 1923, director Cecil B. DeMille left it to the American public to decide the subject of his next movie for Paramount. DeMille received a letter from a mechanic [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Blogs Exodus on Screen (REVIEW)

    Exodus on Screen (REVIEW)

    JNS.org – The story of the Exodus from Egypt is a tale as old as time itself, to borrow a turn of phrase. It’s retold every Passover, both at the seder table and whenever “The Ten Commandments” is aired on television. But the latest adaptation—Ridley Scott’s epic film, “Exodus: Gods and Kings”—fails to meet expectations. Scott’s “Exodus” alters the source material to service the story and ground the tale, but the attempt to reinvent the biblical narrative becomes laughable. Moses [...]

    Read more →
  • Jewish Identity Lifestyle ‘Jewish Food Movement’ Comes of Age

    ‘Jewish Food Movement’ Comes of Age

    JNS.org - In December 2007, leaders of the Hazon nonprofit drafted seven-year goals for what they coined as the “Jewish Food Movement,” which has since been characterized by the increased prioritization of healthy eating, sustainable agriculture, and food-related activism in the Jewish community. What do the next seven years hold in store? “One thing I would like to see happen in the next seven years is [regarding] the issue of sugar, soda, and obesity, [seeing] what would it be like to rally the [...]

    Read more →
  • Blogs Education Seeds of ‘Start-Up Nation’ Cultivated by Israel Sci-Tech Schools

    Seeds of ‘Start-Up Nation’ Cultivated by Israel Sci-Tech Schools

    JNS.org – Forget the dioramas. How about working on an Israeli Air Force drone? That’s exactly the kind of beyond-their-years access enjoyed by students at the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) industrial vocational high school run by Israel Sci-Tech Schools, the largest education network in the Jewish state. More than 300 students (250 on the high school level and 68 at a two-year vocational academy) get hands-on training in the disciplines of aviation mechanics, electricity and energy control, and unmanned air [...]

    Read more →
  • Beliefs and concepts Education Haredim and Bedouin: A Tale of Two Communities Transformed by Vocational Education

    Haredim and Bedouin: A Tale of Two Communities Transformed by Vocational Education

    JNS.org – Low enlistment rates in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). High rates of poverty. Communal resistance to traditional schooling. Difficulty finding employment or a lack of motivation to be employed. These conditions are shared by two sectors of the Israeli population that the casual observer likely wouldn’t group together: haredi Jews and Bedouin. Through its operation of schools for each population, however, the Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network seeks to give haredim and Bedouin a brighter future in the Jewish [...]

    Read more →
  • Arts and Culture Theater US & Canada New Play Explores the ‘Arrogance’ of American Jews Critical of Israel, Playwright Says

    New Play Explores the ‘Arrogance’ of American Jews Critical of Israel, Playwright Says

    In his new play Mr. Goldberg Goes to Tel Aviv, playwright Oren Safdie tackles an issue that is a cause of great concern to him: the relationship between Israelis and left-leaning Diaspora Jews with their “I know better” critical views. At the heart of the one-act play is Tony, a Jewish and gay Palestinian sympathizer who expresses strong anti-Israel sentiments when the play begins and at one point even sides with a Palestinian terrorist who holds him captive. Tony, who is [...]

    Read more →