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Volume 17 Number 9

Wed Apr 16 23:50:02 2008

Hagee
- Alan Cohen <alanbcohen@gmail.com>

mail.liberal-judaism v17n8

Shoshana L. Boublil <toramada@zahav.net.il>

From: Alan Cohen <alanbcohen@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 7:32 AM
Subject: Re: Hagee

A previous poster has commented on the apparent lack of Rabbi Yoffie's
comments on whether Senator Obama is  anti-semitic.  Here is a link to Rabbi
Yoffie's own video on the topic:

http://shalomtv.org/EricYoffie.htm

And here is the exact text of his comments on Rev. Hagee and other Christian
Zionists.  He makes a distinction between Hagee and some of the others, based
on their actions and words about other non-Jews:

http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=19553

Personally, I see his point; you may or may not.

Alan B. Cohen
AIM: alanbcohen GMT: alanbcohen ICQ: 49972123
YM: alanbcohen Skype: alanbcohen Phone:+1 443/451-5369
MSMess:alanbcohen Preferred email: alanbcohen@gmail.com

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From: Shoshana L. Boublil <toramada@zahav.net.il>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:23:47 +0300
Subject: Re: mail.liberal-judaism v17n8

    From: Julian Yudelson <jeybbu@rit.edu>
    Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:01:16 -0400
    Subject: What do we make of CUFICUFI

[del]

    I am also puzzled about why the belief that God has a special, beneficial
    relationship with the Jewish nation and the land of Israel should be
    labeled
    "bizarre and bigoted."  I know it is troubling to many Liberal Jews, and
    unclear in its implications but that does not make it "bizarre and
    bigoted."
    Christian Zionist do believe that God will punish and reward as expressed
    in
    Deuteronomy.  Is that what the poster considers is "bizarre?"

I've seen this many times, and what I've seen is that it comes with
"baggage":  If Jews are more special, they are "better" than others
"superior" etc. with the conclusion of having more rights than others,
leading down the slippery slope to racism.

That is not the essence of the "special" relationship The Creator has with
the Jewisn Nation.  The relationship is about OBLIGATIONS and not rights.
The Jewish Nation has more obligations, and as such they have a beneficial
relationship with The Creator.  One of those benefits is the Land of Israel,
which is considered, in Jewish literature, to have a soul of its own, and to
be a unique place on earth that The Creator decides who live there.  When
the Jewish nation lives in Israel and follows the Torah, it can create in
Israel the closest thing to paradise here on earth.  When that happens, all
the nations of the world benefit as well, both from the example and from the
general blessings.

But being chosen isn't about benefits, it includes being under a closer
microscope (someone quoted from Micha in a previous post) - we are punished
more severely then other nations when doing the same bad things.  That is
also part of the meaning of being "chosen" and "special".  It's like 2
students who cheat on an exam.  The class president will probably get a
harsher punishement than the kid who's been failing on every exam all
semester.

Another issue to remember is that being a member of the Jewish Nation is not
only about who your parents are -- Judaism allows outsiders to join and
become members of the same group, for better and for worse.  Judaism also
does not claim that everyone in the world has to be Jewish.  As long as you
keep the 7 mitzvot that include things like not killing and having a court
system, you can be a wonderful non-Jew.

So, please, let's not mix up modern day terminology loaded with specific
meanings, with the historic Jewish terminology that has different specific
meanings.

Chag Sameach,

Shoshana L. Boublil

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