[NYTr] Cindy and the Rabbi Hold a Mystical Love Fest forYom Kippur

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Angry but also amusing words from Dave Silver about silly Cindy and
her pal Michael Lerner. Previous stories on this "presentation" by
Sheehan took it all with embarrassing seriousness and would make our
readers cringe too much, so we ignored them.  This is good for a laugh
and a little outrage.  At least in last week's "Forward" story, we read
about Fidel Castro's Hannukah appearance in Havana and learned he
had the good sense to admit he knew nothing about the holiday. -NYTr]


Cindy Sheehan Meets Liberal Rabbi Michael Lerner
at Beyt Tikkun Temple for Yom Kippur

by Dave Silver

Cindy accepted an invite by Lerner to speak on the highest Jewish Holy
Day. Cindy invoked that "universal Creator" who "must be pleased" at
your "wonderful celebration."  If you believe the story, Yom Kippur --
unlike Chanukah --  is a solemn days whose theme is to do penance by
fasting and ask her or him upstairs to forgive your sins.

Cindy's words sound similar to the "Intelligent Design" folks who are
reactionary, mainly racist and who poison minds with deep mysticism and
theological bullshit rather than rationalism and a real concern for
the human condition here and abroad.  

The most dangerous part of any theology is that some mysterious power
outside of human experience controls mortals on earth and severely
limits efforts by our species to change the human condition in a
significant way here and now. How ironic that the Hebrew words Tikkun
Olam mean "to rectify and renew the world."

We should note some of the political views expressed in the past issues
of Tikkun magazine edited by the good Rabbi dealing with the
Israel/Palestine conflict.  Tikkun and its supporters want a new
"Planetary Consciousness" built on love and generosity, and a
recognition of "God in Each Other."  Once again a view mired in
mysticism and superstition and prayer while trying to connect to Jesus,
Allah or the Jewish Messiah perhaps Moses.  

Tikkun calls for some reparations for over a million Palestinian and
Arab refugees forced into the diaspora but *no right of return nor an
unequivocal return to pre-1967 borders or removal of all settlements
and FULL compensation to the owners of homes destroyed by US-paid-for
Caterpillar tractors like the one that ground Rachel Corrie to her
death.*

Cindy and Michael, theology screws up the brain that can think
rationally or to act politically to change our (and Israel's) society on
behalf of real justice and against imperialism.   As someone who grew
up in a super-orthodox Jewish home in Brooklyn and found my way to
orthodox Marxism and started to talk about Israeli war crimes and
crimes against humanity -- such as treating Palestnians like
"cockroaches" (Sharon) or the Mossad, engaged to  train Latin Amerian
Death Squads or those who overthrowing Allende in Chile, of course I
automatically become a self-hating Jew.   

One Humanity, One Struggle.