Friday, January 28, 2011

Open Letter to Glenn Beck

What follows is the Wall Street Journal full-page ad of an open letter from the Jewish Funds for Justice and signed by 400 rabbis calling on Fox News to sanction commentator Glenn Beck for his "over-the-top" attacks on George Soros. Kudos to Simon Greer and Mik Moore of Jewish Funds for Justice on this initiative.

Glenn Beck:
George Soros, who as a child in Hungary survived the Holocaust by living with a non-Jewish family "used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here's a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps."
November 11, 2010

Roger Ailes:
There are some "left-wing rabbis who basically don't think that anyone can use the word 'Holocaust' on the air."
November 16, 2010

"[NPR] are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left-wing of Nazism."
November 17, 2010

Rabbis to Rupert Murdoch: 'Sanction Glenn Beck'
An open letter on the occasion of UN Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 27, 2011 - Dear Mr. Murdoch, We are rabbis of diverse political views. As part of our work, we are devoted to preserving the memory of the Shoah, and to passing its lessons on to our future generations and to all humankind. All of us have vigorously defended the Holocaust's legacy. We have worked to encourage the responsible invocation of its symbols as a powerful lesson for the future.

We were therefore deeply offended by Roger Ailes' recent statement attributing the outrage over Glenn Beck's use of Holocaust and Nazi images to "left-wing rabbis who basically don't think that anybody can ever use the word 'Holocaust' on the air."

In the charged political climate in the current civic debate, much is tolerated, and much is ignored or dismissed. But you diminish the memory and meaning of the Holocaust when you use it to discredit any individual or organization you disagree with. That is what Fox News has done in recent weeks, and it is not only "left-wing rabbis" who think so.

Abe Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, a child survivor of the Holocaust, described Beck's attack on George Soros as "not only offensive, but horrific, over-the-top, and out-of-line." Commentary Magazine said that "Beck's denunciation of him [Soros] is marred by ignorance and offensive innuendo." Elan Steinberg, vice president of The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, called Mr. Beck's accusations "monstrous." Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, called them "beyond repugnant." And Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University, says Beck is using traditional anti-Semitic imagery.

"I haven't heard anything like this on television or radio -- and I've been following this kind of stuff," Lipstadt said. "I've been in the sewers of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial more often than I've wanted."

We share a belief that the Holocaust, of course, can and should be discussed appropriately in the media. But that is not what we have seen at Fox News. It is not appropriate to accuse a 14-year-old Jew hiding with a Christian family in Nazi-occupied Hungary of sending his people to death camps. It is not appropriate to call executives of another news agency "Nazis." And it is not appropriate to make literally hundreds of on-air references to the Holocaust and Nazis when characterizing people with whom you disagree.

It is because this issue has a profound impact on each of us, our families and our communities that we are calling on Fox News to meet the standard it has set for itself: "to exercise the ultimate sensitivity when referencing the Holocaust." We respectfully request that Glenn Beck be sanctioned by Fox News for his completely unacceptable attacks on a survivor of the Holocaust and that Roger Ailes apologize for his dismissive remarks about rabbis' sensitivity to how the Holocaust is used on the air.

Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Vice President, American Jewish University, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies

Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz
President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Rabbi Daniel Nevins
Dean, Jewish Theological Seminary Rabbinical School

Rabbi Yael Ridberg
President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Rabbi Steven Wernick
Executive Vice President, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie
President, Union for Reform Judaism

All organizations are listed for informational purposes only.

Rabbi David Adelson | Rabbi Charles Arian | Rabbi Benjamin Arnold | Rabbi Melanie W. Aron | Rabbi Erica Asch | Rabbi Larry Bach | Rabbi Justus Baird | Rabbi Lewis Barth | Rabbi Samuel Barth | Rabbi David Baum | Rabbi Shelley Kovar Becker | Rabbi Anne Belford | Rabbi Arnold Mark Belzer | Rabbi Joshua Ben-Gideon | Rabbi Alvin Berkun | Rabbi Jonathan Berkun | Rabbi Lauren Berkun | Rabbi Donald R. Berlin | Rabbi Phyllis Berman | Rabbi Joseph Berman | Rabbi Leila Gal Berner | Rabbi Edward Bernstein | Rabbi Kim Blumenthal | Rabbi Neil Blumofe | Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor | Rabbi Charles Briskin | Rabbi Deborah Bronstein | Rabbi Herbert Bronstein | Rabbi David Brusin | Rabbi Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik | Rabbi Daniel Burg | Rabbi Joshua Caruso | Rabbi Aryeh Cohen | Rabbi Heidi Cohen | Rabbi Samuel Cohon | Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels | Rabbi David Cooper | Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove | Rabbi Rachel Cowan | Rabbi Jill Cozen-Harel | Rabbi Meryl Crean | Rabbi Robin Damsky | Rabbi Judith Edelstein | Rabbi Hector Epelbaum | Rabbi Jerome Epstein | Rabbi Noah Farkas | Rabbi Michael Feinberg | Rabbi Samuel Feinsmith | Rabbi Fern Feldman | Rabbi Brian Field | Rabbi Tirzah Firestone | Rabbi Joel Fleekop | Rabbi Steven Folberg | Rabbi Jeff Foust | Rabbi John Franken | Rabbi Anthony Fratello | Rabbi Alan Freedman | Rabbi Daniel Freelander | Rabbi Michael Friedman | Rabbi Dara Frimmer | Rabbi Gary Gerson | Rabbi Jordie Gerson | Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz | Rabbi Henry Glazer | Rabbi Gary Glickstein | Rabbi Andrew Gold | Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg | Rabbi Josh Goldstein | Rabbi Leonard Gordon | Rabbi Andrew Gordon | Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb | Rabbi Roberto Graetz | Rabbi Laurie Green | Rabbi David Greenberg | Rabbi Fred Greene | Rabbi Steven M. Gross | Rabbi Victor Gross | Rabbi Eric Gurvis | Rabbi Fred Guttman | Rabbi Andrew Hahn | Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper | Rabbi Joshua Hammerman | Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann | Rabbi Joshua Hoffman | Rabbi Michael Holzman | Rabbi Daniel Horwitz | Rabbi David Ingber | Rabbi Sheldon Isenberg | Rabbi Brett Isserow | Rabbi Steven Jacobs | Rabbi Daria Jacobs-Velde | Rabbi David Jaffe | Rabbi Howard Jaffe | Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster | Rabbi David Kalb | Rabbi Raphael Kanter | Rabbi Aaron Katz | Rabbi Elie Kaunfer | Rabbi Allan Kensky | Rabbi Stanley Kessler | Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block | Rabbi Ralph Kingsley | Rabbi Daniel Klein | Rabbi Zoe Klein | Rabbi Jonathan Kligler | Rabbi David Kline | Rabbi Marc Kline | Rabbi Asher Knight | Rabbi Peter Knobel | Rabbi Douglas Kohn | Rabbi Stephanie Kolin | Rabbi Debra Kolodny | Rabbi Chaim Koritzinsky | Rabbi Jamie Korngold | Rabbi David Kosak | Rabbi Chava Koster | Rabbi Mark Kram | Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz | Rabbi Stephen Landau | Rabbi Ben-Zion Lanxner | Rabbi Michael Adam Latz | Rabbi Esther Lederman | Rabbi William Leffler | Rabbi Mordechai Leibling | Rabbi Susan Leider | Rabbi David Lerner | Rabbi Michael Lerner | Rabbi Alan Lettofsky | Rabbi Joel Levenson | Rabbi Daniel Levin | Rabbi Hillel Levine | Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater | Rabbi Richard Levy | Rabbi Sheldon Lewis | Rabbi Mordechai Liebling | Rabbi John Linder | Rabbi Ellen Lippmann | Rabbi Alan Litwak | Rabbi Barry Lutz | Rabbi David Lyon | Rabbi Craig Marantz | Rabbi Janet Marder | Rabbi Marc Margolius | Rabbi Rolando Matalon | Rabbi Jacqueline Mates-Muchin | Rabbi Sarah Meytin | Rabbi Brian Michelson | Rabbi Shira Milgrom | Rabbi Jason Miller | Rabbi Jonathan Miller | Rabbi Mark Miller | Rabbi Joshua Minkin | Rabbi Yocheved Mintz | Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh | Rabbi Ben Morrow | Rabbi Janet Offel | Rabbi Jack Paskoff | Rabbi Jay Perlman | Rabbi Rex Perlmeter | Rabbi Jonah Pesner | Rabbi Stephen Pinsky | Rabbi Richard Plavin | Rabbi William Plevan | Rabbi Rayzel Raphael | Rabbi Matthew Reimer | Rabbi Paula Reimers | Rabbi Victor Reinstein | Rabbi Steven Reuben | Rabbi Elizabeth Richman | Rabbi Ben Romer | Rabbi Joshua Rose | Rabbi Aaron Rosenberg | Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld | Rabbi David Rosenn | Rabbi Jennie Rosenn | Rabbi Adam Rosenwasser | Rabbi John Rosove | Rabbi Robert Rubin | Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay | Rabbi Arthur Rutberg | Rabbi Jan Salzman | Rabbi Daniel Satlow | Rabbi Scott Saulson | Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe | Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb | Rabbi Deborah Schloss | Rabbi Sid Schwarz | Rabbi Arthur Segal | Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller | Rabbi Benjamin Shalva | Rabbi Ari Shapiro | Rabbi Howard Shapiro | Rabbi David Shneyer | Rabbi Andy Shugerman | Rabbi Daniel Sikowitz | Rabbi David Small | Rabbi Myra Soifer | Rabbi Felicia L. Sol | Rabbi Marc Soloway | Rabbi Ned Soltz | Rabbi Abby Sosland | Rabbi Adam Spilker | Rabbi Brent Spodek | Rabbi Mychal Springer | Rabbi Israel Stein | Rabbi Stephen Julius Stein | Rabbi Frank Stern | Rabbi Keith Stern | Rabbi Yvonne Strassmann | Rabbi Mark Strauss-Cohn | Rabbi Ron Symons | Rabbi Elliott Tepperman | Rabbi David Teutsch | Rabbi Mervin Tomsky | Rabbi Daniel Treiser | Rabbi Lawrence Troster | Rabbi Jan Uhrbach | Rabbi Jason van Leeuwen | Rabbi Arthur Waskow | Rabbi Donald Weber | Rabbi Ezra Weinberg | Rabbi Michael Weinberg | Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt | Rabbi Jay Weinstein | Rabbi David Widzer | Rabbi Avi Winokur | Rabbi Amiel Wohl | Rabbi Sarah Wolf | Rabbi Bridget Wynne | Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz | Rabbi David Young | Rabbi Michael Zedek | Rabbi Daniel Zemel | Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman | Rabbi Misha Zinkow | Rabbi Leonard Zukrow

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

These 400 rabbis along with the so called Jewish Fund for justice (JFFJ) are a sham.

Please, read this article published in the Washington Post:

More objections to selective outrage about the Holocaust
By Jennifer Rubin, Feb. 2, 2011;

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2011/02/others_agree_with_right_turn_e.html#more

Who are they, the JFFJ, funding? and who funds them? George Soros. But George Soros is notoriously known for funding the enemy of Israel and America, sadly

barb said...

Dear Rabbi Miller

I am surprised and disappointed at this article and all the Rabbi's defending george soros. He should be punished.

Do you not see what is happening to Israel? With Turkey changing its spots and cutting ties with Israel, we would be better served
by all of these Rabbi's
if they spent their time defending Israel and speaking on her behalf....with out Israel, you and all of the other Rabbi's should be very concerned at what will happen to our people!!!
barb brewer