I went to Rabbi Brant's blog to read the entire Yom Kippur sermon and I was disgusted by his lack of recognition of who actually lives in Texas. To be sure, people in the government there reflect the older, whiter Texas, since Texas's government, like most, reflects its older, more politically active population. However, Rabbi Brant made no mention of the fact that as of the 2020 census, the population of Texas is about 39% white and 40% Hispanic. My husband's large, extended, Catholic, Hispanic and, most importantly, conservative family in Texas think my white (Jewish), liberal East Coast politics will lead to the end of the world. And in fact, many Catholics in my Bernie Sanders-loving hometown have "Pray to End Abortion" bumper stickers on their cars. Rabbi Brant was making a politically convenient point by underscoring the so-called white male rage behind the Texas abortion law while but made the same error I find so frequently made by progressives of assuming that all POC have the same viewpoint (which happens to be his). To Rabbi Brant and those of his ilk: This is a form of soft bigotry, but it is bigotry nonetheless. You are practicing a kind of elitist paternalism that ignores the facts on the ground and appropriates the voices of POC in service of your own self-righteousness.
From an article co-authored by Natan Sharansky "The UnJews"
We call these critics “un-Jews” because they believe the only way to fulfill the Jewish mission of saving the world with Jewish values is to undo the ways most actual Jews do Jewishness. They are not ex-Jews or non-Jews, because many of them are and remain deeply involved Jewishly, despite their harsh dissent. Many un-Jews are active in forms of Jewish leadership, running Jewish studies departments, speaking from rabbinic pulpits, hosting Shabbat dinners. For many of these un-Jews, the public and communal staging of their anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist beliefs appears to be the badge of a superior form of Judaism, stripped of its unsavory and unethical “ethnocentric” and “colonialist” baggage.
What's so tragic is the utter upside-down-ness of their view. The liberal-leftist agenda turns "evil into good and good into evil; and, Isaiah warned us that was very bad..."woe" unto those who call good evil and evil good." The questions are: Are they halachically Jewish? Is there a way to shift them? Will it take Mashiach to do so? It seems bizarre that it's gone this far. We need Hashem's help.
the rabbi should try to deliver his sermon in gaza city or tehran then he can personally learn how it feels to be oppressed (i mean for the few minutes before he is murdered)
Thii oh a U.S. what happens when heterodox “rabbis” interpret Jewish tradition to satisfy the woke agenda.The author deserves much kudos for recognizing the complete distortion of Jewish values that he watched over Zoom
It appears that the Rabbi and his congregation would like their version of a better world and of course their version of better Jews. Maybe they will see progress? Maybe they will be in the Mishebeirach of others? Thank you Clayton Fox for your article.
Everything about this breaks my heart.
I went to Rabbi Brant's blog to read the entire Yom Kippur sermon and I was disgusted by his lack of recognition of who actually lives in Texas. To be sure, people in the government there reflect the older, whiter Texas, since Texas's government, like most, reflects its older, more politically active population. However, Rabbi Brant made no mention of the fact that as of the 2020 census, the population of Texas is about 39% white and 40% Hispanic. My husband's large, extended, Catholic, Hispanic and, most importantly, conservative family in Texas think my white (Jewish), liberal East Coast politics will lead to the end of the world. And in fact, many Catholics in my Bernie Sanders-loving hometown have "Pray to End Abortion" bumper stickers on their cars. Rabbi Brant was making a politically convenient point by underscoring the so-called white male rage behind the Texas abortion law while but made the same error I find so frequently made by progressives of assuming that all POC have the same viewpoint (which happens to be his). To Rabbi Brant and those of his ilk: This is a form of soft bigotry, but it is bigotry nonetheless. You are practicing a kind of elitist paternalism that ignores the facts on the ground and appropriates the voices of POC in service of your own self-righteousness.
From an article co-authored by Natan Sharansky "The UnJews"
We call these critics “un-Jews” because they believe the only way to fulfill the Jewish mission of saving the world with Jewish values is to undo the ways most actual Jews do Jewishness. They are not ex-Jews or non-Jews, because many of them are and remain deeply involved Jewishly, despite their harsh dissent. Many un-Jews are active in forms of Jewish leadership, running Jewish studies departments, speaking from rabbinic pulpits, hosting Shabbat dinners. For many of these un-Jews, the public and communal staging of their anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist beliefs appears to be the badge of a superior form of Judaism, stripped of its unsavory and unethical “ethnocentric” and “colonialist” baggage.
What's so tragic is the utter upside-down-ness of their view. The liberal-leftist agenda turns "evil into good and good into evil; and, Isaiah warned us that was very bad..."woe" unto those who call good evil and evil good." The questions are: Are they halachically Jewish? Is there a way to shift them? Will it take Mashiach to do so? It seems bizarre that it's gone this far. We need Hashem's help.
the rabbi should try to deliver his sermon in gaza city or tehran then he can personally learn how it feels to be oppressed (i mean for the few minutes before he is murdered)
Hatred of the State of Israel is the ultimate form of antisemitism.
Thii oh a U.S. what happens when heterodox “rabbis” interpret Jewish tradition to satisfy the woke agenda.The author deserves much kudos for recognizing the complete distortion of Jewish values that he watched over Zoom
It appears that the Rabbi and his congregation would like their version of a better world and of course their version of better Jews. Maybe they will see progress? Maybe they will be in the Mishebeirach of others? Thank you Clayton Fox for your article.