Far from the genuine respect you would expect from a former Israeli ambassador, Oren seems to view America’s Jews as unreliable and quick to criticize the Jewish state.
By Rabbi Eric H Yoffie, HAARETZ
Michael Oren ca me to see American Jews as unreliable in their support of Israel, quick to criticize the Jewish state, and unable to appreciate Israel’s vulnerabilities. In his eyes, they were unsure of their own position in America. This made them incurable do-gooders, forever babbling about Tikkun Olam, and more inclined to help others than their own. To Oren’s dismay, the harder he worked, the more critical of Israel the community became.
I have finally finished reading “Ally” by Michael Oren. I was not surprised, or even deeply distressed, by the things that infuriated so many others. What bothered me was something else altogether: Michael Oren, it turns out, does not much like American Jews. In fact, he appears to view them with considerable disdain.
This was a revelation to me. I served in leadership positions in the American Jewish community for 30 years and worked with many Israeli ambassadors to the United States, all of them very competent. But like many other American Jewish leaders, I believed that Oren was easily the best of the lot. A genuinely nice guy with a razor-sharp mind, he brought to his position an astounding array of skills. While he lacked the political experience of his predecessors, the fact that he was neither a veteran politician nor a professional diplomat actually worked to his advantage.
Oren did those things that American Jews especially value. He understood the American media, or so it then seemed, and defended Israel with gusto and eloquence. When provoked, he responded in a restrained way that heightened the impact of his message. He was skillful and effective with members of Congress of both parties. And he worked very hard at cultivating strong ties with the American Jewish community.
No one was better at dealing with American Jews than Michael Oren. He asked questions and knew how to listen. He reached out beyond the big-money, big-name leaders who tend to dominate an ambassador’s time. His speeches to Jewish groups were substantive but also warm, personal, and filled with humor. And when approached by American Jews about matters of religious rights, Oren seemed to really understand the issues and even share their concerns.
No one was being naïve. Michael Oren had a job to do, and American Jews understood that he was doing it. Still, I had no doubt that Oren saw American Jews as supporters and partners in his work. I would have bet anything that he concluded his assignment in Washington with genuine respect and even affection for the Jews of America.
But I was wrong, and to me this is the real story of “Ally.”
What actually happened, according to the book, is that Michael Oren came to see American Jews as unreliable in their support of Israel, quick to criticize the Jewish state, and unable to appreciate Israel’s vulnerabilities. In his eyes, they were unsure of their own position in America. This made them incurable do-gooders, forever babbling about Tikkun Olam, and more inclined to help others than their own. To Oren’s dismay, the harder he worked, the more critical of Israel the community became.
I suspect that Oren might deny this interpretation. And it is true that “Ally” is a dense book with a lot of “on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand” passages. There are sections praising certain aspects of American Jewish life, such as AIPAC’s work on Israel’s behalf, but taken as a whole, the book offers almost as devastating a critique of American Jews as it does of U.S. President Barack Obama. And in the most revealing passage in the entire volume, it connects the two:
“I could not help questioning whether American Jews really felt as secure as they claimed. Perhaps persistent fears of anti-Semitism impelled them to distance themselves from Israel and its often controversial policies. Maybe that was why so many of them supported Obama, with his preference for soft power, his universalist White House seders, and aversion to tribes.”
This, then, is Michael Oren’s message: American Jews flee from commitment to Israel and the controversies that Israel provokes. They prefer weakness to strength, the universal to the particular, and the weak-willed Democrats to the stand-tall Republicans. And the reason for all of this is not conviction but fear — fear for their well-being in America and fear of the anti-Semitism that lurks beneath the surface.
Really? How did a smart man who won Jewish hearts in his tenure as ambassador so completely misread American Jewish realities?
The issue is not Oren’s right to say such things or the fact that he has offended American Jews. The issue is that this is poppycock. American Jews are a diverse bunch, to be sure, but they are not hiding under a rock. It is absurd to explain their behavior as resulting from ‘insecurity.’ Oren’s words here say nothing about the pride, power, and toughness of the American Jewish community. They say nothing about how indispensable American Jews remain to Israel’s standing in America. They say nothing about the relative cohesion of American Jews at times of war and crisis in Israel. And they say nothing about the obvious fact that disagreements between American Jews and Israel are natural and flow mostly from the same questions of politics and values that divide Israelis from one another.
The book is wrong about many things, but not about everything. Most importantly, I agree with a lot of what Oren has to say about Iran. American policy on Iran may be well-intentioned, but it is profoundly mistaken and dangerous for all parties.
Yet the great irony of Mr. Oren’s “Ally” is that he professes to have written it in order to enlist American Jews to fight the Iran deal. But it is likely to do exactly the opposite. If he wanted to influence the American Jewish community, he needed to show some understanding and sympathy for that community. Instead, he gave us a book that, in its own way, is dripping with contempt.
Eric H. Yoffie, a rabbi, writer and teacher in Westfield, New Jersey, is a former president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
“Michael Oren is a Zionist, a patriotic American and a courageous fighter” provides additional context regarding this issue.
https://www.israpundit.org/archives/63607731
@ lovezion:
You have encapsulated my life-challenge, for I’m not easily categorized; here, I had heard Oren years ago in Philly and had “smelled a rat” regarding the depth of his commitment to core-Zionism [and others have documented, in the interim, faults in his public-policy].
I was also angered by his having attacked BB for having delivered the staggeringly-precise “State of the World” Address to Congress, last March.
Nevertheless, because I believe in redemption, any claim that BHO is anti-Jewish could tip-the-scales [against any capitulation to Tehran] immediately prior to any finalization in Vienna.
Elaborative info is on other Israpundit pages plus @ the Philadelphia Inquirer’s website.
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20150629_Two_very_different_views_of_Iran.html
My rationale is perhaps surprising, but this is an EMERGENCY. I’m told Oren was appointed by BB despite the fact that he knew Oren was not a Likudnik @ heart; he wanted someone in D.C. who could relate maximally with BHO [and his minions, such as Rahm] because he wanted to minimize anticipated damage [wisely].
Now, Oren isn’t a diplomat, so he can come clean both as a historian and as a witness; if he can “play amateur psychologist” with regard to the journalists, he surely harbors sufficient data to “diagnose” BHO.
I feel this is CRUCIAL, because some people may feel it’s implicit that BHO is anti-Israel…although they may need to have it rubbed into their faces that he is EXPLICITLY anti-Semitic [because, we all know, the terms are interchangeable].
I know that lotsa people like Michael, but he needs a nudge, and what better place than in L.A. [only 5 days prior to the latest red-line “deadline”]!
I did as much set-up work as possible, both last week and last night; someone must follow-up succinctly. He must be asked WHAT ELSE BHO could do that would finally convince him that helping Iran to nuke-up threatens Tel Aviv!
[BTW, anyone who takes my bait should anticipate him providing a terse reply (unlike all other colloquy throughout the appearance) or relying upon a disclaimer (“you’re entitled to your opinion”); you should then be prepared to issue a quick follow-up that (even if the audience includes those who consider it impudent) will trigger some sort of a recognition of BHO’s antipathy (notwithstanding his affinity for his Jewish pals).]
I answered to 2 members but don’t see the posts here…I wrote to The Economist:
Not so tiny Sir, you should see them at the rallies which they are careful never to miss!
And to rsklaroff:
If I misinterpreted your post I apologize, but it seemed that you denounced Oren for criticizing the publications which links you listed. Those publications are leftists and, yes, Jewish and part of the traitor American Jewish community…as if we didn’t have enough with the “classical” anti-Semites!
@ rsklaroff:
If I misinterpreted your post I apologize, but it seemed that you denounced Oren for criticizing the publications which links you listed. Those publications are leftists and, yes, Jewish and part of the traitor American Jewish community…as if we didn’t have enough with the “classical” anti-Semites all over the world!
Tiny in numbers but vocal in demonstrating. The Jewish census data is irrefutable.
I note he will be speaking in LA on Wednesday-p.m.; perhaps someone could pose my follow-up query @ that time???
http://www.jewishjournal.com/michaeloren
@ Economist:
Not so tiny sir! You should see them at the rallies which they always see to it never miss!
I have not disputed Oren’s presentation…as far as it goes; note, however, the absence of any reference to Stuxnet/Azerbaijan [in Oren’s book] as examples of BHO’s perfidy.
When I asked him why he refrained from citing such biting evidence of BHO’s anti-Semitism [as far as the American electorate would permit it to go] in Philly, last Wednesday-p.m., he muttered the book had been vetted 7x by Israeli censors.
I want him to state unequivocally that the same claim he harbors against quasi-Jewish journalists applies to BHO, quoting Newsweek [via Mondoweiss]:
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/06/critique-rothkopf-reality?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=5f2a4427e4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-5f2a4427e4-398525761
http://www.newsweek.com/michael-oren-anti-obama-memoir-347759
lovezion Said:
You’ve got Sklaroff wrong. He is definitely not “one of them”.
Excuse me, but I’m “one of them” [who?] because I pressure Oren to “call a spade a spade”???
A tiny but vocal sect of the Orthodox, Naturei Karta, are anti- Israel because they believe only Hashem can establish Israel, not man. The overwhelming bulk are strongly pro- Israel, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe has issued many strong declarations of support, met with Israeli leaders, and has hundreds of Chabad institutions there, whose Rabbis come to the U.S. yearly for their global convention.
This Rabbi doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m getting used nowadays to see revolting opinions and actions! I SO agree with all posts here, except rsklaroff’s…as he must be “one of them” – I’ve been saying the same things for years against American Jews for not only voting for BHO, and…TWICE!!! but because they DON’T WANT to listen to or read the arguments for the opposition . Years ago I had to get rid of my so-called Jewish friends who are part of this anti-Jew/anti-America community! I love Israel and I love America and cannot understand their cowardly blindness and/or whatever are their ulterior motives! I must add that the Jewish Orthodox are the worst, they even come to Israeli rallies with big signs against Israel and FOR the “palestinians” and the 2-state!!! Just saw them again in huge numbers doing that during the Israel Parade in NYC!!! Oh God, these traitors hurt me more than the filthy arabs!!!
Here it is:Oren is 1000 x right: most Liberal/Democrat Jews are socialist and therefore antisemitic and selfish! Their leaders believe that they more than IL represent the majority of Jews.
What happened to my post? Lost in translation!!!
Oren is 1000 x right: most Liberal/Democrat Jews are socialist and therefore antisemitic and selfish! Their leaders believe that they more than IL represent the majority of Jews.
I was uncomfortable reading those portions of Oren’s book, but one of the reasons I was uncomfortable is that I realized he was correct. One of my interpretations is that much of American Jewry is suffering from a disease akin to the Stockholm Syndrome. The basic fact so many of us are afraid to acknowledge is that the anti-Zionist, anti-Israel activity that has become so endemic is just one more form of anti-Semitism.
Yoffie is a self righteous self centered egotist who always thinks he should tell Israel what they should do just like his buddy Obama. So if he does not like the book “Ally” by Oren I need to buy it.
The amazing fact, here, is that Yoffie cannot dispute anything – nor has anyone else – regarding the SPECIFICS of what Oren wrote…as far as it goes.
The Reform cult was anti-israel even before Israel was born. I guess if you run a pro-Israel blog you need to air the erev rav’s POV on occasion. But I want to reiterate my POV: Yoffie and his sect have been a piece of poison to the Jewish people for generations. Yoffie is just carrying on the tradition.
The American Jewish community has never been held to account for certain components which have acted very badly. In 2008 3/4 of U.S. Jews mindlessly voted for a racist anti-Semite who ‘graduated’ from 20 years of indoctrination by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In 2012 over 60% of U.S. Jews again showed they learned nothing and understand nothing. Even today more than half of U.S. Jews still support Obama. That means that they have chosen Obama and the Democrats over America and over Israel. Part of the blame owes to Rabbi Yoffie who failed, during his leadership of the Reform movement, to discern between true Judaism and secular liberalism.
And after he cites and quotes, he fails to synthesize a diagnosis.
According to Mondoweiss [a pro-“Palestinian Arab” site], he “criticizes American Jewish journalists, charging they are largely responsible for Israel’s poor image in the U.S. media. He singles out New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, as well as what he calls that paper’s “malicious” editorial page, which is edited by Andrew Rosenthal. He complains about The New Yorker’s editor David Remnick, Time columnist Joe Klein, The New York Review of Books, and Leon Wieseltier, former literary editor of The New Republic, saying their antagonism toward Netanyahu resembles classic anti-Semitism.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/06/critique-rothkopf-reality?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=5f2a4427e4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-5f2a4427e4-398525761#sthash.DzmCHx6F.dpuf
Why not apply the identical standard to BHO???
@ rsklaroff:
I believe Oren states that to understand BHO, look at his Cairo address of 2012, which demonstrates his reverence for Islam and his post-colonialist ideology….
If indeed Oren is primarily trying to enlighten America as to bho’s perfidy, noting the iran-nuke threat, he should be pressed to reply to the query as to the psyche of a person who would empower an avowed anti-Semite with nukes.
As critical as I have been toward Oren’s avoidance techniques (regarding the etiology of bho’s anti-Semitism)–both in Philly this past Wednesday and last night during Aaron Klein’s radio show–he has smoked-out bho’s defenders.
They’re unable to challenge his facts (noting Indyk’s epic failure yesterday on Zakaria’s CNN “GPS”) and are reduced to ad-hominem attacks
I have read dozens of columns by Joffie over the years and I must admit that over the years the guy plays, at least superficially, a good defensive strategy, yet is still, just as obvious. Such moral indignation from someone who used his appointed position of Rabbi Reformed to castigate and degrade ISRAEL, as he did is beyond “poppycock”, into the realm of “whale-cock”. His disingenuous tactic of pretending to defend the dignity of the “American Jewish Community” is delusional at best and OBAMAesque at worst.
Yoffie uses a traditional form of rhetoric, template quite overused in reform circles and is quite transparent, which in no way is meant to imply clear thinking. At first, Oren is larger than life then suddenly, he is cut down, only to be brought back up and this is where Yoffie erred. Yoffie always errs. “…I agree with a lot of what Oren has to say about Iran…”. Yoffie does not detail what he agrees with Oren about Iran or what he does not agree with Oren on Iran. So, what is the windbags point, it is all about Iran, if you agree with any part of Oren’s Iran, let alone “a lot of what Oren writes regarding Iran, then you agree with Oren and that means you agree OBAMA
Is a disaster. It is too bad Yoffie can not break out of the 1960’s mold of a stuffy dry reformed oratory making a formal speech to a segment of the community who come to shul more for the quality of the coffee cake then anything the so-called Rabbi may utter in the course of his daily duties.
In most cases, Oren is spot on.
For American Jews to have supported an Obama second term (especially given his attacks on Netanyahu, demands for settlement freezes and other ridiculous Israeli concessions and of course his Iran policy) is clear evidence of such lack of support for Israel.
As one of them (American Jews), I am greatly troubled by what I see as diminishing support for Israel and for our rights to all of it.
That may be so for Reform Jews but the most conservative of all, Orthodox Jews, believe that after the Flood Hashem gave the Seven Noachide Laws to all humans, and observing them earns non-Jews a place in the World to Come. The Chosen-ness of Jews likewise means they are to be a “nation of priests” rather than superior in any way.
The problem is American Jews are wishy-washy – most of them are liberals bent on destroying the underpinnings of traditional American morality that has sustained support for the Jewish State. And they want Israel to be a sort of JINO state reflecting their lack of Jewish values. On the other hand, they’re aware their being Jews means their allies see them as a tribal, sort of clannish human being filled with a racist animosity towards the rest of humanity because they insist for inexplicable reasons, to remain Jewish.
And if all you need is to be a good liberal, why is it necessary to support Israel? Eric Yoffie doesn’t get anywhere near to addressing the question but the late Rav Meir Kahane, tz’l, wrote about the contradiction between being an American and being a Jew decades ago.
Don’t get me started on German-American reform Jews and their notorious historical bias and contempt for other European immigrant Jews. This arroganct attitude of superiority seems to have informed their attitude to Israel.
Yoffie is a notorious member of the left-wing anti-Israel cabal, who refuses to acknowledge the genocidal ambitions of the Palestinian establishment and their brainwashing others in both schools and media. He seems to think if we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, Arab irredentism will go away. He criticizes Israel at the drop of a Yarmulke, for self-defense. American Jews like him are skewered by Oren, whom Yoffie would love to discredit to preserve the Obama fantasy. He deserves anything rhetorical he gets from Oren, for trying to wrap himself in the phony mantle of speaking for American Jews, most of whom are reliable supporters of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State within secure boundaries.
Oren got that right.