Comments on: Who Is That Masked Fundamentalist?

By: another Mordechai

another Mordechai — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:48:19 +0000

Tal Benschar has really capsulized every relevant point into his one short comment. He really said it all.

By: dovid

dovid — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:20:41 +0000

I can’t hold my breath any longer. Who is (s)he?

By: Tal Benschar

Tal Benschar — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:05:49 +0000

“Sadly, many of today’s Jewish stars are not committed Jews.”

That’s really rich coming from him. First, reduce a 3000 year old religion based on the revelation of the Almighty to an entire nation down to nothing more than the tribal customs of a small group of Semites. Then wonder why no one is “committed” to it anymore.

By: YM

YM — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:31:51 +0000

Now that I did google it, I look forward to your follow-up piece.

By: Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz

Hillel (Sabba) Markowitz — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:49:11 +0000

I would not have guessed correctly (I did google it). It is astonishing that the author would pen those words.

By: T.A. Zev

T.A. Zev — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:48:28 +0000

David Mamet?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:11:45 +0000

If not for the fact that his synagogue includes so many A-list celebrities, I’d say this was written by the Exodus-Denier himself - David Wolpe.

By: Jonathan Rosenblum

Jonathan Rosenblum — Wed, 09 May 2007 07:27:10 +0000

I bet Jonathan Schorsch though it could be his father.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 09 May 2007 04:13:18 +0000

It’s odd that he included Natalie Portman in that list - based on the quote, she seems to be in agreement with him.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 09 May 2007 03:54:47 +0000

By cutting off the first and last paragraphs, you’ve made him sound much frummer.

By: Avigdor

Avigdor — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:20:59 +0000

Don’t confuse “practicing” for “orthodox”. And certainly don’t assume that “committed” means to the Torah. I cheated - I won’t give it away - but I have to say that I am not surprised by who the author is. It’s important for frummer yiddin to realize that the Reform and Conservative who are committed to their Judaism really are sincere in their beliefs.

By: Lumpy Rutherford

Lumpy Rutherford — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:54:56 +0000

A reform rabbi?

By: Koby

Koby — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:44:44 +0000

Sounds like vintage Dennis Praeger.

By: Noam

Noam — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:32:21 +0000

In Natalie Portman’s defense, she wrote an op/ed piece with her own name attached, while at Harvard strongly defending the State of Israel. And, from what I see here, she is only commenting on what she sees around her.

By: Ahron

Ahron — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:19:57 +0000

>“Natalie Portman finds little evidence of Jewish teen involvement in social justice; the value young Jews are taught, she suggests, is the importance of getting a nice car for their sixteenth birthday.”

I don’t know about “social justice” (whatever that term is supposed to mean) but Ms. Portman is right that most secularized Jews (i.e. the majority of Jews in America today) seem to be raised with few more values than the secularized society around them. The incoherence of that upbringing would indeed lead one to suspect that “getting a nice car” is a high value for many of them.

For her part Ms. Portman is very open about her Israeli heritage and Jewish identity.

By: soccer dad

soccer dad — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:06:43 +0000

Kirk Douglas.

Maybe he didn’t say that, but he’s said and written similar things.