39 thoughts on “Ben & Jerry’s Board President Receives Death Threats, Called “Hindu Whore,” Abandons Her Home – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Hi Richard,

    You question who would want to pose as a “rabbi” from Brooklyn, (Shloime Dovid Lewis) with the vile Hindu rhetoric, if the letter is a fake.
    I believe the letter is a fake too, and I think it is probably written by a Pakistani.
    Islamist Pakistanis and marxist ones both regard Israel and India as enemies. Because of Israel’s growing relations with India in the military sector the Pakistani media is rife with Hindu-Zionist conspiracies.

    I’m guessing the letter is a fake written by a Pakistani wishing to drive a wedge between Israel and India.

    I don’t for a minute believe that even a far right settler Rabbi would say ‘Most Jews would consider Hindus to be low lifes’…

    Do please investigate and try to find out who this ‘Rabbi Dovid Lewis’ is. He probably doesn’t exist.

    1. @ Tiff: You clearly don’t know or understand ultra-Orthodox Jews. Of course, many of them consider any religion other than Orthodox Judaism to be idol worship. Everything in that letter is a credible belief that an ultra Orthodox Jew might believe. Though usually they’re more circumspect about exposing these foul prejudices in public.

      I would not have published the message if I thought it was fake. I believe it is genuine. But there is just enough weirdness in it to raise a small possibility it isn’t genuine. I thought it was wise to acknowledge this.

      1. Islam too regards Hinduism as idol worship along with trinitarian Christianity which could further bolster my argument too. A Pakistani Israel hater is probably the author of that letter.

        I do understand the ‘Ultra Orthodox’. I have a degree in Jewish Studies and Islamic studies and I have been taught by ‘Ultra-Orthodox’ (they do not like that label) Rabbis. A Chabad Rabbi I know talked about a Hindu friend of his who objected to Hinduism being called polytheism because according to him the multiple deities worshipped a single deity. In other words, some Hindus believe Hinduism is a monotheism and some Haredim are sympathetic towards that belief. But that is neither here nor there.

        I get what you mean, but here is another reason I do not believe the letter is written by a Haredi Rabbi. They are anti-Zionist. They would be happy with a boycott or anything that delegitimises secular Zionism (which they see as a heresy), and would be supporting Ms Mittal.

        There is the possiblity, as you believe, that it is a Zionist Haredi Rabbi who wrote the letter. But if the letter is genuine, I look forward to your showing us who this Rabbi Dovid Lewis is. Until the author is verified we are justified in believing it is a fake. Innocent till proven guilty.

        1. @ Your claim to be aware of ultra-Orthodoxy is worthless. There are anti-Zionist ultra Orthodox and there are Zionist ultra-Orthodox (or at least ultra-Orthodox who participate in Israeli politics and society, including the IDF.

          1. Ultra Orthodox are never Zionist , they are always against the state of Israel.
            They indeed participate in Israeli politics to protect the money that they get from Israel.
            That is their main purpose , to get money even hating the state.

      2. You always require a source for things but you don’t give a source for the quote at the beginning of the post.

      3. The email was fake , check again the email address and you will see that is a FAKE email address. It just doesn’t exist . You are posting fake things without checking them !!!!!!

          1. [comment deleted: Do not post essentially the same e-mail three times. That is a comment rule violation.]

          2. There is something called freedom of speech. Your answer is totally unacceptable.
            How can a serious journalist write “” I’ll ban your ass “” ?

          3. @ silvia: You have no idea what “freedom of speech” means. It is a right granted to you by the government and regarding the state’s relationship to you. I am not the state and it has nothing to do with my relationship to you or my blog.

            My blog is mine. I determine the comment rules and make editorial decisions. The US constitution does not govern my blog comment threads. My own rules do. I suggest if you don’t like those rules and find them “unacceptable” you go peddle your papers elsewhere. As long as you are here you are governed by my rules.

            As I wrote, you are done in this thread. And you are on notice that the next comment rule violation will result in your banning.

      4. [comment deleted: this is a comment rule violation. I do not permit anyone to claim I, or anyone else is anti-Semitic or anti-Israel unless they offer credible proof. You offer a pro Israel rag like Washington Free Bacon, which is a garbage publication. Also publishing 7 comments within a short period of time is not acceptable. It floods the comment threads and monopolizes them. Do not publish more than 3 comments in any 24 hour period.]

          1. @ silvia: I checked with 4 online e mail verification sites the day I published the post and every one said the e mail address was valid. Now they say it’s bad. That means that whoever created the e mail has since cancelled it. But it definitely was valid at the time it was sent and at the time I checked it.

          2. [comment deleted: I do not permit commenters to post unsubstantiated claims insulting other people, as you have against Anuradha Mittal. YOu may not publish another comment in this thread.]

        1. [comment deleted: Washington Free Beacon is a far-right Judeo-supremacist publication. It’s a journalist rag offering lies and unethical standards. Using it to prove anything here is unacceptable. And falsely accusing anyone of being anti-Semitic is also unacceptable. Nor did Mittal ever say the statement you claim she did. Because of the virulence of your comments, you are now moderated. Only future comments which respect the comment rules will be published here.]

    1. @ Jack: You’re a piece of work, Jack. You denounce Lewis’ hate-filled message with one breath and then EMBRace his hate with another. You can criticize India’s caste system when you do away with Israel’s caste system.

      1. I would say Ms Mittal can criticize Israel’s ‘apartheid’ system when shes done away with India’s caste/apartheid system, which caste system Ms Mittal has no doubt benefited from.

        1. @ Jack: Another comment rule violation. Do not make claims about others unless you know or can prove them to be true. You know next to nothing about Mittal, including whether she has benefited from the caste system. THis is yet another red herring hasbara diversion. I will not permit you to sabotage my comment threads with this nonsense.

    2. [comment deleted: comment rule violation. Do not post the same e mail twice or two emails saying virtually the same thing. And read the comment rules.]

  2. If it is one of those Kahanist sect leaders who penned this drivel, they would not have insulted Hindus, even if allowing for the fact that they see Hinduism as idol worship. That is because India is a close ally of Israel, even closer than the US. He would have insulted Anuradha Mittal, but not all Hindus. It is likely someone who is posing as a Jew to portray Jews in a bad light.

    The letter smacks of mischief and seems to be written by someone who hates Hindus and Israel. And obviously someone who doesn’t want Hindus migrating to the US and gaining influence. That does not fit the profile of a kahanist or messianic Jewish Rabbi; they would welcome Hindus even if Anuradaha Mittal roused their wrath.

    Incidentally, India has not had an antisemitism problem like there is in Christian and Muslim countries. Jews are welcome to come to Israel. Our Bombay film industry has had a number of prominent Jewish stars.

    1. @Anupam: I hate to break it to you, but ultra-Orthodox Jews hate anyone who isn’t ultra-Orthodox. They absolutely despise non-Jewish religions and even despite their fellow non-Orthodox Jews. They are deeply intolerant.

      Most ultra-Orthodox Jews have no interest in Israeli politics and could care less who Israel allies itself with.

      You are either ignorant of ultra-Orthodox Judaism or have a Hindutva agenda (or both).

      As for Indian not being anti-Semitic, there are almost no Jews in India. But the country more than makes up for the lack of anti-Semitism with its virulent hatred of Islam.

      1. “…the country more than makes up for the lack of anti-Semitism with its virulent hatred of Islam…”

        Richard: all religions are vile, and have their fair share of nationalistic messianic followers; yes also Islam. Be it the crazy Christian evangelists who strive for Armageddon, Muslim hating Hindus, Jewish ultra-orthodox or כיפה-סרוגה weirdos who dream of the Temple Mount, and last but not least – Islamic fundamentalists.
        I hope that this post will not trigger a typical Pavlovic reaction whenever a non favourable reference at Islam is made.

      2. I admit I am no expert on ultra-Orthodox Judaism, but there has not been a problem with hatred from them either that I know of. Can you show me an example of where an ultra-Orthodox Jew said something like this about Hindus? Hindus do not seek to convert Jews so why should they hate us? Indians in diaspora do not target ultra-Orthodox Jews like the Christians and Muslims have done. Judaism is not a threat to Hinduism. Both Christianity and Islam need Judaism to validate their religions but they claim to have replaced them.

        Their relation to other Jews who are not like them is likely to be more contentious simply because where religion is concerned, the main threat comes from your own. This is true of any religion. Other interpretations of your own religion are more threatening simply because your religions.

        I do not support Hinduvta, but I do like Israel and love Jews, a peaceful industrious people who have helped India in agriculture and defence.

        Indians do not have a virulent hatred for Islam but at the same time our relations is not the same as with Jews. You will understand why we don’t love a religion whose followers from Mahmud Ghazni sought to conquer our land, murder us for our religion and do what Romans did to the Jews.

        I don’t expect you or Jews to love the Roman religion whose followers sought to conquer your ancient lands so please do not expect me to love Islam.

        1. @ Anupam: No problem regarding ultra-Orthodox hate? You mean other than ultra Orthodox MKs calling non-Orthodox Jews vermin and other delightful terms? And an ultra Orthodox chief rabbi calling Palestinians donkeys serving Jews? So you think the ultra-Orthodox show their love for non-Jewish religions like Hinduism? I should point out that Hindutva extremists hold the same views about non-Hindu religions, especially Islam.

          You are absolutely ignorant about the history of Indian relations with Israel. For decades Indian governments led the Third World movement criticizing Israel and supporting Palestine. Yes, Israel now does support India and is its largest arms supplier. Its weapons are used to suppress the Kashmiri movement and maintain INdia’s occupation of that Muslim-majority region. So of course you love Israel. It permits your country to kill and oppress Muslims.

          Indians do not have a virulent hatred for Islam

          That is a lie. It ignores the hundreds of reports of violent, murderous incidents against Muslims by Hindus. Do not spread lies in my comment thread or you will be disciplined for violating the comment rules.

          I don’t expect you or Jews to love the Roman religion whose followers sought to conquer your ancient lands

          NOnsense, Most Jews have no problem with Italians or Roman Catholicism. You’re raising events that happened a millenium ago to Jews and a similar distance in time regarding Indian. You shouldn’t have any problem with Islam. You’ve created the problem because you need it to uphold Hindu supremacism. You exploit an imaginary past to maintain a murderous religious movement today.

          You are done in this thread.

      3. “@Anupam: I hate to break it to you, but ultra-Orthodox Jews hate anyone who isn’t ultra-Orthodox.”

        that is not true and you could never validate that statement. you spent a few years in HU in the early 80’s-do you have any idea how much has changed here in the last 40 years that you cannot possibly know by reading Hebrew newspapers and esp articles by Gideon Levi who is another self-hating Jew.
        Circa 10 years ago there was a ‘balagan’ about ‘wigs’ being taken from Hindu women when they took vows to whatever aspect of the religion there were about to enter. This hair, since it is real and not artificial, got a good price אבל דע אקא it was determined by some rabbis to be from idol worshippers and thus forbidden for use. Following this a few ‘normal’ rabbis who also have PHDs went to investigate and deemed them kosher. One of the rabbis, Alon Goshen-Gottstein whose father came from Germany as a professor of proto-Semitic languages including Hebrew wrote at least two books in English verifying that Hinduism is not idol worship and some other articles. You may have come in contact with his father when you were in HU.
        Alon Goshen-Gottstein is involved or head of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. You could not have actual/intimate knowledge of every ‘ultra’ orthodox Jew because there are endless differences and I doubt you hang around all aspects of Orthodoxy if any at all. So your generalization is basically invalid and stems from your own hate of halachic Judaism. Hardly an objective blog when any valid arguement is either twisted around or said to be ‘not germane’ and not published with either banning or threat of one.

        1. @ Avram: You don’t know nearly as much about me as you think. In addition to living in Israel and spending time observing, studying and worshipping with ultra-Orthodox Jews, I have done the same here in the US among our large communities of Haredim.

          I am not denying there are reasonable, rational even enlightened ultra Orthodox leaders. But your claim is based on anecdotal evidence regarding a few specific individuals. The majority of Haredim hold views much closer to the ones I depicted than the ones your selected few observe.

          your own hate of halachic Judaism

          This is a lie and another comment rule violation. You are now moderated. Only future comments respecting the rules will be published. Your next offense will lead to banning.

          Calling Gideon Levy as self-hating Jew is a comment rule violation. You are now on notice.

  3. This letter is horrible and crazy, and no sane person rewrite like this. But When you write “This is what the Israel Lobby represents, how low it can go” and “Ben & Jerry’s board president, Anuradha Mittal. Threatened by pro-Israel thugs.” clearly a false Generalization on the supporters of Israel, you’re helping anti-semites, you’re inciting against Jews

    1. [comment deleted: comment rule violation. The comment threads are not a cheering section. Comments must contain a real argument or point regarding the original post. Read the comment rules and respect them.]

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