Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What Is It About Rabbis And Obama?

During the presidential campaign, among the groups that organized itself in support of Barack Obama for President was a group calling itself Rabbis for Obama--with a membership list of 577 rabbis. One of those members is Rabbi Michael Lerner, who has already criticized Obama for his selection of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, claiming that Emanuel will stifle
the peace voices that believe Israel's security would be better served by the U.S. putting pressure on Israel to end the Occupation, move the Wall to inside the pre-67 boundaries, and remove the settlers from the West Bank or tell them to live there as Palestinian citizens.
Looking at the list of liberal rabbis on that list, it is clear that they think along similar lines--favoring land for peace, a Palestinian state, and concessions on Jerusalem.

That being the case, it is interesting to see that a second--very different--group of rabbis has approached Obama as well:
A group of hundreds of prominent Israeli rabbis this week urged President-elect Barack Obama to "implement the will of God" during his upcoming presidency by ensuring the entire state of Israel remains under Jewish sovereignty.

"According to media publication of the prayer you recently placed in the Western Wall, you asked God: 'make me an instrument of your will.' Consistent with your focus on the will of God we trust that you are aware of the will of God when it comes to Jewish sovereignty in the entire Land of Israel," wrote the Rabbinical Congress for Peace in a letter delivered to Obama.

The Congress is a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and over 850 rabbis from abroad, including in the U.S.

These Orthodox Rabbis make it clear where they stand in the English summary of their ruling:
As much as the Rabbis for Obama think that they can count on the President-Elect to bring the pressure necessary to bring about territorial concessions for peace, The Rabbinical Congress for Peace think they see someone who will respect the territorial integrity of Israel as an intrinsic requirement for peace.

One of those groups is going to be very disappointed.
I'm guessing they both will be.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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3 comments:

road warrior said...

Rabbis for Obama, that is the greatest name ever! Rabbis for anything would be a good name. The liberal illuminati have done such a great job of puffing up Obama that people like these Rabbis think Obama is actually going to have the power and control to do for them what they want. I am not sure that is the case. Obama is going to have so much to sift through and so many issues to figure out it will be good if he gets to any issues of the people, even the rabbis. And then there is the liberal illuminati agenda. That's a whole other issues.

road warrior said...

come on! i want to hear some more conversation about the Rabbis and Obama. this is pretty interesting to me!

Daled Amos said...

What more is there to say?

The Rabbis For Obama Website is silent--there was not even a recognition on the site of his having won or any congratulations.

The other Rabbi site is far more sparse--both the English and Hebrew versions.

The Rabbis for Obama apparently felt their job was done and it is time to go home. Or maybe they will pursue their goal by other means: see Sultan Knish's post: "Rabbis for Obama Exposed as Front Group for Radical Hamas Appeasement Supporters"