[Another left-wing bastion on the Upper West Side. The Congregation in question has a long history of supporting anti-Zionist elements in the Jewish community here in NYC. Indeed, its spiritual leaders spread the left-wing narrative from their pulpit every week. I suppose it's a form of progress that a few lucid congregants finally "hit back." But the Upper West Side offers many alternatives for Jews seeking a liberal synagogue that has better things to do than undermine Israel. If I were a member of the disgruntled flock, I'd search around and find one. df]
Commentary, 02.10.2014
By Jonathan S. Tobin
It has become a commonplace observation in some portions of the organized Jewish community to complain that American rabbis are afraid to discuss Israel with their congregations. The assumption underlying this claim is that to criticize the State of Israel is the kiss of death for Jewish clergy who live in fear of offending wealthy donors. It’s all very sad but, in fact, completely untrue. Critics of Israel aren’t shunned in American Jewish life. If anything, they have a much better chance of being heard in the secular media—and given space on the opinion pages of major newspapers such as the New York Times—than those who attempt to defend the Jewish state against the slanders that are hurled at it by both its Arab foes and Jews who adopt a “more in sorrow than in anger” pose.
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