Tuesday, June 29, 2010
In full from Jewish Russian Telegraph. Looks like the Rabbis are outnumbered:
We, undersigned members and representatives of the Russian Jewish community of Massachusetts, are writing to you to express our deep concerns about the state of affairs in our community. Enemies of Israel and of the Jewish people are raising their heads without much resistance from the part of organizations that are supposed to defend us. Here is what we witnessed in our recent memory:
- In January when 54 Democratic congressmen wrote an unprecedentedly biased letter criticizing the Jewish state, six of these congressmen came from Massachusetts delegation. They joined without any fear of backlash or political and community repercussions
- during the past decade radical Islamists took over peaceful and historically tolerant Muslim community in the Commonwealth, building mosques with questionable terrorist affiliations that are providing safe haven to preachers of hate. Calls for elimination of Israel and physical destruction of the Jewish people are heard without any forceful resistance
- Jewish students are harassed on campuses
- radical anti-Israel organizations like J Street (routinely shunned by official representatives of the state of Israel) are brazenly claiming and getting their seat at the community table
- cases of terrorist activities by Muslim youth, influenced by radical hate propaganda, are increasing in Massachusetts
With these facts on the background ADL spends more time fighting cyber-bullying and attacking Avigdor Lieberman than they spend on fighting hate and calls to violence against the Jews coming from radical Islamists. JCRC, an organization solely dedicated and funded to be an effective community tool in situations like these, is completely missing in action. Granted, each time, when they are confronted with the facts, Islamists have a tale to tell: "jihad is a way for self-improvement; a gun mentioned in a talk, is not a real gun, but gun of prayer; killing Jews, meant killing only some Jews." Big comfort!? But there is no spin that our leaders would question, and there is no lie that they would not gladly absorb.Their good will and credulity have no limits when it comes to leaders of Islamist radicals. Everything changes though when dissent comes from within the community. Just look at the vicious ad hominem attack unleashed by self-selected community leadership on Charles Jacobs. While official Jewish leadership was silent, media oblivious or intimidated, Charles Jacobs and his group of volunteers have been providing precise and well-documented facts about clear and present danger of Islamist hate surrounding us. Our Jewish leaders who were tame as lambs in front of Islamists, roared as lions against this brave and lonely voice of dissent. Apparently freedom of expression, that is granted for use and abuse to our enemies without any reservations, is apportioned very narrowly to any critic of the politically correct dogmas. Back in the Soviet Union authorities would put a man like Jacobs behind bars for anti-Soviet propaganda. In the United States we are dismayed by attempts to ostracize and silence him. Unable to handle the message, Jewish community leadership decided to attack the messenger. But this shall not pass.
We demand a community wide dialog about the current situation. We must discover what our leaders knew, when they knew it, and why they failed to act. We must do it now, before it is too late. Scripture says: "don't stand idly by the blood of your neighbor." We, our families, and our neighbors are in danger. If we really mean it when we say "Never Again", we must act now.
Signed (90 people):
Dr. Nadia Rodberg, Framingham - RJCF, Romen Rodberg, Framingham, Dr. Nellie Konnikov, Newton, Gennady Konnikov, Newton, Samuil Shmuylovich, Framingham, Nima Shmuylovich, Framingham,Sergey Liberman, Waltham, Natalia Liberman MD, Waltham, Julia Velixon, Lexington, Elvira Fagel, Cambridge, Professor Michael Sherman, Newton, Julia Yaglom, Newton,Vitaly Dumanis, Foxboro, Lev Brown, Newton, Eugenia Brown, Newton,Alex Wolfson, Swampscott,Tamara Wolfson, Swampscott, Michael Brook, Newton, Dr. Mila Magitsky MD, Newton, Dr. Efim Magitsky, MD, Newton, Ary Rotman, RJCF President, Brookline, Alex Koifman, Newton,Greg Margolin, Brighton,Rabbi Dovid Margolin, Inna Tunkel, Lexington, Anna Krasko, Sharon, Raia Levin, Newton, Natalia D Tufeld, Ashland, Ilana Tufeld, Ashland, Shulamit Sophia Dubrovin, Brookline, Eli Dubrovin, Brookline, Igor Tufeld, Ashland, Anna Dubrovina, Marblehead, Dan Roginsky, Brookline, Dr. Dmitry Gurevich, PhD, Arlington, Dr. Boris Dashevsky, Ph.D., Boston, Boris Furman, Newton, Dr. Emmanuil Shrayer, Ph.D., Lexington, Anna Lanskoy, Lexington, Dr. Yuri Tuvim, Gloucester, Dr. Simon Gurmarnik, Sharon, Polina Margolin, Brighton, Ilya Goldovt, Ashland, Vitaly Khazansky, Brookline,, Dr. Igor Khait, PhD, Brookline, Ilia Sokolinski, Brighton, Anna Sokolinski, Brighton, Mikhail Rizkin, Carlisle, Irina Rizkin, Carlisle, Vitaly Tunkel, Littleton, Raisa Rosovsky, Littleton, Igor Chernin, Acton, Bela Chernin, Acton, Mikhail L Gershteyn, Newton, Mariya Gershteyn, Newton, Svetlana Sheinina, Boxborough, Dmitry Sheinin, PhD, Boxborough, Tanya Gurevich, Esq, Needham, Dr. Yuri Shamritsky, Needham, Inessa Rifkin, Newton, Victor Rifkin, Newton, Masha Rifkin, Newton, Ilya Rifkin, Louisville, KY, Lana Madorsky Rifkin, MD Louisville, KY, Leonid Madorsky Louisville, KY, Inessa Madrorsky Louisville, KY, Michael Gorbatov Newton, Lana Gorbatov Newton, Ross Gorbatov Newton, Joseph Itkis, PhD, Newton, Dr. Leonid Raiz, Newton, Alexandra Raiz, Newton, Alexander Epstein, Reading, Leo Galperin, Brookline, Irene Galperin, Brookline, Lina Klebaner, Esq., Boston, Dmitry & Maria Gofshteyn, Marblehead, Sergey Selyutin, PhD, Arlington, Anneta Trifonov, Arlington, Boris Levit, Newton, Berta Shaffer, Lynn, Seva Brodsky. Boston/Jerusalem, Gregory Kaidanov, Newton, Yury Livshetz, Revere, Tanya Gorlin, Brookline, Andrew Gorlin, Brookline, Iosif Lakhman, PhD, Brighton, Mr. George J. Vysotsky, Boston, Katherine Vysotsky, Boston, Dr. Olga Levenson, MD, Brighton
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Letter of Russian Jews to Leadership of the Jewish Community of Massachusetts.
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[The following, by Charles Jacobs, appears in The Jewish Advocate.] The recent kerfuffle - or is it a firestorm? - within the community here over how to deal with a radicalized Muslim leadership is a reflection of serious tensions within... Read More
This should be put on one of those petition websites so other people (Russian/Jewish and not) can sign it. I bet it would get thousands of signatures.
I'm not a Jew so it is with some reservation, and I may be speaking out of order, when I say that I have some sympathy for Jews who sold out their fellow Jews when the Germans, and their willing accomplices, were systematically murdering Jews, because of their own fears; but I have no sympathy for "liberal Jews" who sell out ther own when not subject to any duress or threat to their well being.
Maybe I'm being too harsh.
It seems Russian Jews are closer to reality than some westernised Jews.
You are not being harsh. There is much to what you say.
youcancallmemeyer,
So then you can sympathize with Soros when he went around helping the German Workers Socialist Party confiscate Jewish property in Budapest?
So then you won't have any objection to him with the organizations he has constructed helping the current socialist worker's party from confiscating your earnings? :-)
Aw, now that's not fair. Soros is long past any threat to himself, if he ever had one, and hasn't even shown a moment's remorse for what he did then. I think you know what yccmm is saying.
Not that Soros was really under much of a threat in 1944. The Schwartz family was assimilated and had changed their name to the more Hungarian Soros years before, which is part of what enabled George Soros to "pass," putting him in the position of helping his gentile godfather to confiscate Jewish property. Soros calls 1944, the year of the tragic and completely avoidable destruction of Hungarian Jewry, the best year of his life.
What Cynic says about Soros's organizations and the current socialist workers' party misses an important aspect of Soros's advocacy that is another example of Jews selling out their own: Soros's J Street is exhibit A.
Cynic's smiley shows that he wasn't seriously challenging what YCCMM said.
Before Soros hired him for J Street, Jeremy Ben Ami was Senior VP at the PR firm Soros used for MoveOn.org. Another client of Fenton Communications on Ben Ami's watch was CAIR. Fenton is now registered as a foreign agent because of their current $240,000 contract for Qatar's queen for the Al Fakhoora project, whose web site is part of the effort to demonize and delegitimate Israel.
Once again the Russian Jewish community has
stepped forward and reinforced the fact that
our leadership is totally inept and unable to
lead. As I have said before time and time again, it is time to step down and stop sucking the
financial blood from us. They didn't know what
to do in the 30's and haven't learned a step since then. Thanks again to the Russian community.
Cynic,
Yes, I can sympathise with someone who is 13 or 14 years old caught in the position Soros found himself.
I dislike Soros for what he does now, not for what he did when he was a child.