Those Silly Jews

Posted by Joshua White on 12.13.2006

This week 7 Jews have made news because of the "freedom of speech." One uses it incorrectly, six uses it correctly and all of them upset me.



It was only a matter of time before the Jews would become a target of my column. I have critiqued the certain groups within the Muslim community, I have complained about the Christian influence on this country, and now it is time to express my annoyance with certain Jews.

Let me start off by defending the noble Jew. It must be very annoying at times to live in this country. Sure, they have all the protection that one religion could want. They can take off all of their holy days and they can easily find kosher meat easily. On the other hand though, they're constantly bombarded with Christianity. They are the constant minority. And during this even more forced down their throats during this Christmas season. More than ever it is reinforced that the whole world thinks that they're wrong. Christmas trees are everywhere and they're supposed to be in the "spirit of the season" when they don't even care about it. With this in mind, even you Christians have to sympathize for them a little, right?

Occasionally, however, a particular Jew forgets that what he wants and what he wants isn't what everyone else wants. This is what appeared to happen to Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky. While walking through Sea-Tac airport a few days ago he noticed what every Jew notices around now, namely that there are few to no Chanukkah decorations anywhere. Did he hope that all the Christians that passed through the Sea-Tac airport enjoyed their Christmas? Nope. Did he suck it up and remind himself that all these trees are symbols of the wrong religion (according to him)? Nope. What did he do?

According to one report Bogomilsky filed a formal complaint and asked for/demanded a menorah be put up as well. According to another story he threatened a potential lawsuit.

The Sea-Tac airport is not public land. It is a private institution. Because of this fact, they can decorate their business any way that they would like. And if this includes eight Christmas trees, then there is nothing that the Rabbi can do. Now, I can understand why he might be upset by this. And it might be reasonable to ask for a menorah to be put up for the Jewish fliers. However, to demand one or even threaten a lawsuit is unreasonable. What Bogomilsky is forgetting is that there is the freedom of speech in this country. And this freedom of speech doesn't have to be equal or fair (just look at talk radio). It is the airport's prerogative with regards to how it decorates its interior. If they don't want to have any Chanukkah decorations up my suggestion to the Jews is: get over it!

In a country of 300 million, there are only 5 million Jews. That means that only about 1.6% of the entire country is Jewish. With that in mind, it is surprising that anyone puts up any Chanukkah decorations at all. It is a statement to the power of the Jewish community that they get any respect, have any power or influence, and that there is more than one menorah being used as decoration. Rabbi Bogomilsky should realize this and that, like it or not, this is a primarily Christian country. They may all be wrong, but they are in power and they like to decorate. Further, Chanukkah is not a major Jewish holiday. It is only a recent phenomenon that Jews put up decorations. So, why is Rabbi Bogomilsky so upset? Why does he so desperately want recognition? Is he really insulted because there were no menorahs? I doubt it. I bet it had more to do with jealousy. His upset came from a petty desire to get his way. He was basically saying "Hey, I'm here too!" ("Me and my 5 million friends.") And as I said, I could understand why he might be annoyed, but to take it to this level seems silly.

Speaking of silliness, I think it would be silly for a Jew to go to Iran. But that is exactly what six ultra-orthodox Jewish rabbis from a sect of Judaism did.

As you may already know, Iran is sponsoring a conference that is supposed to be a "fact-finding commission" that will set out to determine whether or not the Holocaust happened.

Quickly countries came out of the woodwork to let everybody else know that they didn't approve of this conference. USA, Canada, Israel (obviously), Germany, France, England, the Vatican, they all publicly condemned this "commission." Hell, even Switzerland had a non-neutral opinion. (They disapprove of it as well.)

So why are the rabbis in Iran? Well, these rabbis are part of a very small sect of Judaism called Neturei Karta. This group believes that it is against Judaism to have a man made state for Jews before the return of the messiah. The Neturei Karta, who claim they are Jews, have something in common with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They both believe that Israel should no longer exist. Ahmadinejad because he hates Jews. The Neturei Karta because they love Jews (so far as they say).

Unlike most other commentators out there I don't hate the fact that this conference is happening. I'm a fan of "fact finding commissions." I like the Truth. In fact, under normal circumstance, I'd have no problem with a commission questioning whether 6 million Jews actually died in the Holocaust, or if the Holocaust actually happened. Fine by me. In fact, I don't like it that Germany and France (among others) actually have made it a crime to deny that the Holocaust happened.

I'll accept, for the sake of argument, that this actually was an act of free speech. This conference was just about talking about that which we never do. What doesn't make sense to me is why the Neturei Karta involved themselves in this. Again, this type of freedom of speech should be allowed (both Ahmadinejad's and the rabbis'). But are the rabbis so ignorant to think that Ahmadinejad is only interested in destroying the political system that is the state of Israel? Are they so naive to think that Ahmadinejad will stop with the destruction of Israel? Do they really believe that they are on genuinely friendly terms with this man? Yes, these people have their freedom of speech, and I think that they should make their arguments all over the place. But the consequences of their actions is that it looks from photos that Jews are actively engaging in the discussion of whether or not the Holocaust took place. This is a bad image to display to the world. And I would think that one would want to forsake their freedom of speech to protect their people.

I have now accomplished the task of criticizing the three major monotheistic religions. Who else on this site can make that claim?

Nobody. And nobody else can legitimately say the following:

Until next time…believe nothing unless you read it here