Comments on: This Passover Don’t Pour Wrath on Goyim, Open Door to Peace

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:17:21 +0000

@aj: I’m not so up on my Tehilim these days. Why don’t you quote whatever passage you’re asking me about so I don’t have to go dig out my Tanach & find it.

By: aj

aj — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:30:30 +0000

Ok, Richard, tell me- how do you interpret Psalm 79:6 ? I’m curious.

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:05:20 +0000

I don’t blame Israeli soldiers per se unless they’ve specifically targeted & harmed civilians in an unlawful way. I more blame the senior officer echelons, intelligence establishment & politicians for not training soldiers properly & not giving them a mission that is achievable & viable. I feel the same way about U.S. troops in Iraq. This is a failure of leadership just as much as a failure of execution on the ground.

By: bar_kochba132

bar_kochba132 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:28:24 +0000

Richard, aren’t there any Israeli soldiers you have any respect for, or are all they all baby killers?

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:36:42 +0000

@ Bar Kochba:

"it still motivates those who defend it."

Yes, Jewish rage & vengeance DOES motivate some of those who defend Israel: the Border Police who taunt, maim & kill Palestinian children, the IDF which fires artillery shells killing scores of Palestinian civilians, & the zealots who wage pogroms against Palestinian villagers because one of the residents' sons engaged in an act of terror.

Given a choice between embracing a vision of Jewish history outlined by a professor of midrash at JTS & you I know which one I'd choose. Sorry, you lose.

@ AJ:

"our enemies do not invoke the name of God, they worship other gods like Allah or Jesus..."

This is Jewish religious triumphalism at its worst.

"The wisdom of the bible becomes clear when a person like you tries to dismiss it."

I'm not dismissing the wisdom of the Bible as it's a book I cherish & have studied all my life. I am rejecting a particular, vengeful interpretation of the passage in question. Examining, questioning & embracing or rejecting Biblical commentary is a long & honored rabbinic tradition about which you appear to know nothing.

By: aj

aj — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:09:18 +0000

Actually, Israel’s enemies are still hard at work at destroying us, just as much as they were then.
And no, our enemies do not invoke the name of God, they worship other gods like Allah or Jesus, or in your case, Liberalism.

The wisdom of the bible becomes clear when a person like you tries to dismiss it.

By: bar_kochba132

bar_kochba132 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:59:18 +0000

They said:

——————————–
In the Middle Ages, Jews invoked this fantasy of divine retribution as a poultice for the wounds inflicted during our long history. This bitterness was understandable, if unproductive.
————————————-

Actually, it was VERY productive. It gave the Jewish people the energy and motivation to build a Jewish State in Eretz Israel when the opportunity arose, and it still motivates those who defend it.