Gary Walk http://jta.org/user/profile/35822 en-us rcsillag@jta.org Copyright 2009 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Can there be any question whether one is required to take advantage of an opportunity to save 1,500 Jewish (or non-Jewish) lives, coming from a tradition where it is taught that to save one life is as if to save the whole world? The so-called Jewish heros of Inglourious Basterds were not authentically Jewish. Golda Meier said that she had anger toward the Arabs not so much for killing Jews, as for making Jews kill Arabs. She was authentically Jewish! 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 The problem with pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions is that history shows that they will not be reciprocated; that the Palestinian leadership will once again not miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity for peace, as Abba Eban observed. Obama doesn't care because his political and physical security are not at stake, and because he has the audacity of grandiosity. Win or lose, he burnishes his image as a rock star to his acolytes. 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 Their tax exempt status should not be an issue. 501(c)(3) organizations are permitted to take non-partisan positions on political issues, and as an affiliate of a religious organization, the RAC may not even be a (c)(3) anyway. What I am saying is that a Jewish religious organization (as opposed to a Jewish political organization) should have some regard for the Torah in its public positions. 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00 This raises an issue that I discussed with Rabbi Saperstein at a reception in Palm Beach Gardens on Sunday: is it appropriate for a Jewish organization to take a position based on consensus Jewish political beliefs, which is not grounded in Halacha? The Torah contains passages which are inconsistent with same sex marriages, yet most Reform Jews, including me, believe that principles of individual liberty should trump the Torah's proscriptions in matters of civil law. Yet it still seems to me that a Jewish religious movement is on shaky ground taking a position that is clearly at odds with passages in the Torah. I feel perfectly comfortable taking such position as an individual, but I am not comfortable with my movement taking the same position. Gary Walk Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 2009-11-20T;16:30:00-05:00