What have Orthodox Jews, as a group, to do with institutionalized racist bigotry? The Orthodox do not oppose inter-racial marriage--they are opposed to inter-religious marriages. That is their religious right, and they are no different from the Old Order Amish in this respect. Israeli Orthodox in Israel, for example, as a group, welcome black Ethiopian and Sephardic Jews into the fold, and there are no official strictures against "inter-racial" marriage. Individuals, Orthodox and otherwise, in Israel might be as guilty of racism as any individual Christian in South Carolina (sinners come in Jewish and Christian stripes), but the Jews as a whole and within their institutions, care about your Judaism, not your race--unlike the Bob Jonesers as a whole, who do care about your race, and say so officially. Even Pat Robertson, of all people, is on record as saying that he would have advised Bush not to go there, that "those people are pretty far out."
The issue is race--a still-poisonous issue in this country that needs to be confronted and defused and healed, not pandered to or excused by winking and looking the other way. We need a leader who can help us move on into the 21st century, who stands up for what he believes under fire, not someone who is so weak that he will say he is a compassionate conservative but yet pander to base sentiments to win an election. One must lead by actions, not just by what one says or ones "heart" -- and Bush showed bad judgement by going there--and even worse judgement by not forthrightly apologizing or even addressing the issue at all later.
I don't believe you are actually making apologies for the Bob Jones extremists. Right? I can't believe you detect something questionable with a Presidential candidate in 2000 speaking at a Synagogue? Really? |
