Outstanding. Shoebat calls for us to take the initiative and pre-emptively strike at Israel's and the West's enemies. To act and not to react. In every forum.

Most Jews act as they see other Jews react around them. They seem to seek more to be accepted in order to get respect, instead of gaining respect by strength and honor.

Ouch. That really bites.

Stand and fight, attack the enemy, make your case. Do what needs to be done, if so, sign up and join us.

These critics are essentially correct. I argued with an Israeli diplomat years ago at the time of Oslo that Israel couldn't rely on goyim to stand up for it if things went bad. His lame response was, "We're prepared for that." Yeah, right.

The problem is, for Jews - especially Israel - to take a stand of explicit moral superiority carries its own danger of making Jews a target of hostile criticism from inside the Jewish community and deadly attack from without.

Of course, that is happening anyway. G-d said we would be a light to the nations. But for an individual Jew to assert himself this way is to single oneself out as a target, whereas the secret hope is that the axe will fall on some other Jew.

What did the Orthodox ex-Hollywood director tell me would need to change so Robert could successfully execute a script depicting Arabs as terrorists?

"Shoot every Jewish executive in the movie business."

Then the remaining non-Jews can depict true terrorism. In the long run, for us Jews to pluck up courage and defend ourselves will be far less bloody, and certainly more satisfying in the eyes of G-d.

He's right. Ouch. Only one presumption he and too many others make: What Jewish community?
We are a fragmented nation of fifedoms, of every religious strain doing their own thing. There is no central voice or leadership for "The Jewish People." Israel is no better: led by corrupted oligarchs, intent on pushing their own agenda, regardless of the needs or sacrifices of the populace...Heedlesly pushing towards self destruction.
What can individuals do?
I hope, I pray. I have no other answers.

Fragmented, yes. The ancient Sanhedrin was composed of seventy representatives. That would be sufficient diversity to represent the Jewish people even today...

Let me be as polite as I can and say: Horsefeathers!

Sorry, but this is yet another blanket indictment of a people by someone or somebody who is very, very angry. And is mostly angry that everyone else isn't as angry as he is.

Sorry again, but Israel may be naive lots of times when it comes to peace, but it also boasts a pretty darn good record of military participation and rare instances of "conscientious objectors."

Sorry again, but naive or apathetic as many Jews are when it comes to terror and Israel's plight, we have a very high percentage of activism and willingness to donate money and time to our own people.

I'm sorry the naivete of some Jews rears its sorry head from time to time, but you know me; if you accuse my fellow Americans and or Jews as a whole, I get really angry. Once again, the pundits show their true colors; they basically hate and resent everybody.

Jake:

I believe that you dismiss Walid's essay far too cavalierly. There is much truth in what he says. For instance: what did we do when Joseph's Tomb was so nakedly desecrated. What did we do when Rabbi Lieberman went there to rescue the Torah scrolls and was brutally murdered? Joseph's Tomb is now a Mosque.

What did we do?

And what did the Arabs learn?

Change "we" for "Israeli government" and I'm sold. Otherwise, I'm not happy. In order to have a nation, the Jews of Israel have agreed to follow the laws of the government for better or for worse. "Rules of engagement" or "roadmaps" betrayed us in this instance and in many others as well. The Jewish people will have to work harder to learn from these mistakes, and I believe we will.

I know! Let's build a wall between us and these murderers and let the critics be damned when the army and only the army goes in and retaliates for attacks on the people of Israel. Oh wait, we're working to do that and the overwhelming majority of the Israeli people have endorsed this course of action. I see a sober understanding of the enemy in Israel and what is needed to defeat and contain them.

All that's left is hatred and anger. That's a cocktail for a torturous life.

Unfortunately, this article describes all too well the Jewish community of the Upper West Side in NYC. And every other liberal moderately observant large urban Jewish community. It describes Boston, LA, DC, Philadelphia.

Unfortunately, it describes most of the rabbinical students at JTS and HUC and their Jewishly well-educated friends. I even know a few who are sympathetic to ISM and the Protestant divestment movement, although most don't go that far. Most of them are Ivy League graduates, active in Hillel, graduates of Ramah and Schecter, a year in Israel, the works. They manage to know real Jewish history and can still say things like "we stole the Palestinians' land." I don't know how they do it.

The ones who aren't politically correct keep their heads down, at least I rarely hear about them. I get told it's a "diverse" community because the range of political opinion goes from left to far left. I'm the only one who's open about voting for Bush, but a few tell me furtively that they did too.

Gee, sounds like Hollywood. But it's worse because they are knowledgeable Jews and cherry-pick the texts that confirms their viewpoint. At least the Hollywood Jews just don't know any better.

Yehudit:

If you really think the people you describe make up even close to a majority of Jews, or Ivy-educated Jews, or "Ramah Jews," I'm very sorry but you are mistaken.

You see, the pundits out there may say they hate the "enemy" (terrorists, liberals, conservatives, imperialists, fill in the blank), and they do. But their real target is the people among their own ethnic group or nationality who don't do exactly as they do. These people suffer from an inner hatred that will never be consoled, but misery loves company.

In our case, they mean to tear the Jewish people apart because they're not all listening to them and them alone. They might even succeed.

Save your energy for our real enemies, please. We're gonna need it.

I don't understand, Jake. Who are the people "targeting their own ethnic group," me or the people I am describing? If me, you are telling me that I am helping tear the Jewish people apart by describing this behavior. I don't think that's what you are saying and I would deny that anyway.

If them, then why not give some energy to being concerned about them, since you say they may even succeed? I wouldn't by any means call them the "enemy" but I am concerned about them because they are influential. I do save most of my energy for the real enemies. And I don't hate these people by any means, in fact, I like a lot of them very much. But I have been involved with several Jewish communities and organizations and I don't think they are a tiny minority who can be ignored.

Yehudit:

I think it's better to bring the incidents like what happened at Joseph's Tomb to more people's attention rather than focus on the reaction to it, or lack thereof, from a minority of Jews and organizations. So I thank you for reminding people what happened and realize that's important. But I think you need to realize there will always be people, even Jews, who will react inappropriately to these things and make mistakes, etc. Let's A) Focus on the proper retaliation for these horrific acts and B) Not waste a moment worrying, agonizing, and hating those who do not.

The worst I see in all of this are some Jews who have "ignored" this incident at Joseph's Tomb because they were unaware of it. That's sad, but not a reason to indict the souls of your fellow Jews.

Jake, Yehudit:

I'd like to jump in here and just remind everyone that Walid is certainly no pundit. He is a former terrorist, a former Muslim who is now a Christian convert, a lover of Israel and a defender of the State and the Jewish people. He always travels with bodyguards for there is a fatwa calling for his death. That he speaks so loudly and so often places him in an entirely different category. I think it's called: hero. We should keep this in mind when discussing this exceptional and brave man.

I think Walid is a hero too. I just think that many Jews who are obsessed with in-fighting are using his message for their own ends. It goes without saying that we Jews should be doing more, and a reformed Arab does shame us much like the people of Ninveh shamed the Jews in the story of Jonah by repenting so quickly. Maybe I'm too much like Jonah; I'm too worried about making Jews look good and not castigating my people enough. But maybe I'm simply impressed by the outstanding "record" we Jews have overall and don't like to nitpick or point out our differences.

I know Walid personally, and he really is a hero. What he describes in this email is so true for the suburban Jews of Boston, it's pathetic.

So, this is where the lively conversation was at today! I appreciate the opportunity to hear engaged Jews speaking on this one. If I have anything to contribute, it would have to do with the naive desperation of trying to fulfull a Jewish promise by embracing that kind of "world-citizen" universalism - absent any affiliation with Judaism or Zionism, however. Mostly, it's a privilege to be in from the spiritual cold, to warm my hands by your (plural) fires. Thanks.

Jeremiah:

Consider Seraphic Secret more than a plural fire, think of us as your Torah furnace. Jump in anytime, you won't get singed.

You make me want to daven - and I don' t even know exactly what's required for that (I kind of know, but don't really know, y'know.)

Jeremiah:

You will learn, y'know.

"Let's A) Focus on the proper retaliation for these horrific acts and B) Not waste a moment worrying, agonizing, and hating those who do not."

You can't mobilize to get retaliation if most of the leaders and members of the Jewish community don't support you. Not over the long haul, anyway.

"I don't even know exactly what's required for that"

The Synagogue Survival Kit is a great way to learn the liturgy. Also scroll my blogroll for the section on Jewish Learning, there are some sites for liturgy and nusach. I think it would be easier to transition to davening at home after experiencing communal prayer, but YMMV.

If you want to try out some shuls in your area for Shabbat or morning minyan, see which ones provide an encouraging environment for communal prayer. I personally like musical services with proper nusach and songs that flow out of that, some people like fast mumbling, others like more camp-type singalongs (usually Reform or Renewal). The spiritual energy of the place is important, you'll be able to tell what feels dull and what feels lively and focused. And friendly is good too.

Don't try to be an expert on the service before you go, just learn an overview so you won't feel lost. It took me 5 years to get comfortable with the full liturgy. (Not knowing Hebrew slowed me down too.)

Thanks.

Yehudit:

I trust the Israeli army to respond properly no matter what. I defy anyone to find a Jewish organization with a better track record than the IDF. And somehow, I don't think the IDF gives a rat patoot what people on the Upper West Side say or do. BTW, neither should you. The world, and especially the world wide web and the radio pundits out there, are far too obsessed with the red herring jerks out there who cloud the overall view of reality. Don't fall for this divisive, ratings-grabbing tactic. So while Walid is a great person and his argument is worth listening to, I think he's wrong overall about Jews and our committment to each other. (I mean for all the talk about Arab outrage over the Palestinian "plight," what has the Arab world actually done for these people in 40 years? Nothing.).

Yehudit, Robert, everyone, remember that as isolated and angry as we all might feel in the war on terror, or the war on decency, etc. we are in the overwhelming majority in this fight. I don't say this so that we should be complacent, but to remind us that we are on the right side and so are the overwhelming number of our neighbors. You wanna obsess about the 1% of Jews who aren't? Go ahead, but it will be utterly useless.