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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: ADL'S FOXMAN: MAN OF FAITH? ADL'S FOXMAN: MAN OF FAITH? By Rev. Ted Pike Last summer, Orthodox rabbi Daniel Lapin shocked the world by warning that "secular Judaism" was in "relentless attack against evangelical Christianity." 1 Lapin was primarily referring to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and its executive director, Abe Foxman. But are Foxman and ADL really secular? In his latest book, Never Again: The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism, 2 Foxman reveals that despite 41 years of association with ADL, the most anti-Christian of liberal Jewish activist groups, Foxman remains a devoutly religious Jew. Foxman entered ADL in 1965, after graduating law school. At about that time he joined an Orthodox synagogue in Teaneck, New Jersey. He remained for the next 25 years, long after assuming control of ADL. 3 As director of a Jewish summer camp for several years, Foxman was intensely concerned that all attending Jewish youth be given a comprehensive education in Talmudic literature. His religious zeal incurred criticism from American, secularized Jews. "I was accused of trying to indoctrinate the young people in orthodoxy." But he persevered, combining nature and recreation with rigorous studies including the Talmud and Cabala. In fact, Foxman says he'd like every Jewish youth in America to be provided with two things: a Jewish education and a trip to Israel to see how real Judaism is practiced "as a living religion." 4 Man of Prayer In the late eighties, during the Palestinian "intafada" in Gaza, the policies of Israel's prime minister Rabin came under harsh international criticism. Rabin, furious that Palestinian youths of Gaza should pepper Israeli troops with stones and burn tires in the streets, gave orders to literally break their bones. As a result, hundreds were crippled or maimed for life. Western observers were horrified when they encountered Israeli troops burying alive four Palestinian youths. 5 Foxman's synagogue in Teaneck, however, was angry with Rabin for his subsequent peace initiatives. They thought he was soft on the Palestinians! In disgust, the congregation refused to pray for Rabin. Such lack of spiritual sensitivity troubled the deeply religious Foxman. He entreated his congregation to offer the customary prayers, as they had always done for Israel's leaders. They wouldn't budge. Finally, in a break that made the front page of the New York Times, Foxman left the Teaneck orthodox synagogue after 25 years of attendance. 6 Orthodox, Yet Persecuting Christians It is widely believed that Orthodox Jews share the moral values of Christians. They differ, it is thought, from "secular" Jewish activists who advocate for Christian-persecuting "anti-hate" laws, 7 homosexuality, pornography, abortion, the theory of evolution vs. biblical creationism, as well as removal of Christian symbols, values, and evangelism from public life. Yet Foxman, as an Orthodox Jew, has promoted all these anti-Christian initiatives during his years at ADL. During that time, he also ordered secret files to be kept on more than 10,000 unsuspecting Americans. These files included, of course, critics of Israel. Yet police also found in them confidential information about anti-abortion protestors, attendees at Christian/conservative meetings, and even those who did nothing more than request information from a right-wing periodical. During the ADL spy trials in California in the late eighties, David Gurvitz, librarian and researcher for the LA office of Foxman's ADL, revealed that such confidential information on conservatives and Christian Americans was routinely given to Mossad agents and taken to Israel. 8 Is There a "Safe" Judaism? What branches of Judaism, then, pose a threat to freedom and Christian values? Because all major denominations of Judaism - Reform on the left, Conservative in the middle, Orthodox on the right, and Ultra-Orthodox on the cabalistic far right - revere the anti-Christian Talmud and racist/revolutionary Zohar as their greatest spiritual authorities, anti-Christianity and left-wing activism can spring out of any of them. The only truly non-threatening form of Judaism is that which is evolving in suburban America: Jews through apathy, choice, or assimilation, lose all loyalty to the Pharisees and their evil Talmud and Cabala. When that happens, Jews become some of the nicest, most non-threatening people we know! Is Foxman still a devoutly religious Jew? While he recounts a falling-out at his Orthodox congregation, he never disavows his Orthodox convictions. Foxman intones: "As a Jew, I am still waiting for the first coming of the messiah." 9 Foxman's disclosures dramatize how inconsistent it is for Christian/Conservative columnists and talk-show hosts to allege conspiratorial, anti-Christian motivations within Islam, yet ignore the possibility such also exists within Judaism. Now, after over 40 years of anti-Christianity from Foxman at ADL, Foxman turns out to be, not the "secular, far-left, atheist" Jew we have always imagined. Instead, he is a passionately religious Orthodox Jew - a Jewish traditionalist. This is sobering. It tells us, that whether we like it or not, Judaism has its dark side. End Notes: 1 "Toward Tradition," telecast, aired on Trinity Broadcasting Network, August 19, 2005. 2 Harper San Francisco, 2004. 3 Foxman, p. 72. 4 ibid, p. 63-64. 5 Israeli abuses in Gaza and the West Bank are abundantly documented in The Encyclopedia of the Palestinian Problem, available in most university libraries. 6 Foxman, p. 72. 7 Foxman urges to "Work for passage of hate crimes legislation on the national level and in states and localities where no such laws currently exist." p. 278. 8 The full story of ADL's spying on thousands of innocent Americans is documented in Ted Pike's video Hate Laws: Making Criminals of Christians, available at http://www.truthtellers.org. 9 Foxman, p. 150.
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#1. To: Mind_Virus (#0)
Rabbi Daniel Lapin is the one who worked with Jack Abramoff in South Africa on operation "Sanhedrin". "This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector." ~Plato
I know that Jewish World review has routinely raked Foxman for Christian- bashing, I think the last time when certain evangelical groups question why continuing to support Israel when Christians were bashed JWR was damage control mood. Also when "The Passion Of The Christ" was raking in money JWR was telling fellow Jews to back off in their articles, not to offend.
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