Friday, June 6, 2008

Three letters worth reading regarding the recent controversy related to remarks attributed to Pastor John Hagee and Rabbi Eric Yoffie.

1. PASTOR HAGEE and 2. RABBI SCHEINBERG RESPOND TO RECENTCONTROVERSIES.
3.Robert Abrams,esq. responds to President of the Union of Reform Judaism

From Pastor Hagee:

The past 24 hours have been extremely disappointingones to me. My disappointment has nothing to do withthe fact that I parted company with John McCain thiswas best for both of us and for the country. It istime the candidates and the media turn their attentionback to the pressing issues of our day and stopfocusing on what I did or did not say decades ago.

But what has been disappointing has been to see mylife's work the great passion of my lifemis-characterized and attacked. I have dedicated mylife to combating anti-Semitism and supporting theState of Israel. In taking a stand for Israel I havereceived death threats from anti-Semites andneo-Nazis, and I've had the windows of my car blownout beneath the windows of the rooms in which mychildren slept. To hear people who know nothing aboutme or my life's work claim that I somehow excuse theHolocaust is simply heartbreaking.

Let me be clear -- to assert that I in any way condonethe Holocaust or that monster Adolf Hitler is theworst of lies. I have always condemned the horrors ofthe Holocaust in the strongest of terms. But even moreimportantly, my abhorrence of the Holocaust andanti-Semitism has never stopped with mere words.

I have devoted most of my adult life to ensuring thatthere will never be a second Holocaust. I have workedtirelessly to eliminate the sin of anti-Semitism fromthe Christian world and to ensure the survival of theState of Israel.

I have traveled the country teaching Christians tolove the Jewish people and stand with Israel. Ourministry has given over $30 million for humanitariancauses in Israel, founded Christians United for Israelto bring together all pro-Israel Christians into amovement that can support Israel during these verychallenging times.

The fact is that all people of faith have had towrestle with the question of why a sovereign God wouldallow evil in the world. After Auschwitz, thisquestion became more urgent than ever.

Many people simply could not explain how a loving Godwould permit such horrors. After the Holocaust, theyabandoned their faith in a sovereign God whointervenes here on earth. While I disagree with thisconclusion, I would never denigrate those who arrivedat such a conclusion.

But I and many millions of Christians and Jews came toa different conclusion. We maintained our faith in asovereign God who allows both the good and the evilthat is in the world. We therefore search thescriptures for an explanation for that evil. Webelieve that the words of the Hebrew prophets such asJeremiah may help us understand the mind of God. Butour search for an explanation for evil must never beconfused with an effort to excuse it.

What is more important than how we answer the questionof where was God during the Holocaust is what we asmen and women do here on earth to make sure that therewill never be another Holocaust. We must give meaningto the words "Never Again" through our actions. It isto this effort this effort to fight anti-Semitism andto support Israel that I now return. Thank you.

From Rabbi Scheinberg:

I have known Pastor John Hagee for close to 30 years.Pastor Hagee is a man of G-d, a visionary leader, aperson of courage and integrity, a lover of people ofall faiths, an embodiment of truth, justice andkindness.

I met him in 1981, when he stood almost alone in thedefense of Israel, after Israel destroyed Iraq'snuclear reactor in 1981. At that time, while themajority of world leaders criticized Israel, PastorHagee declared: "Israel, we are with you." He wasthen as today a courageous Christian, guided by anunparalleled moral compass who distinguished rightfrom wrong, good from evil.

The same zeal and vision that moved Pastor Hagee in1981 to stand in the defense of Israel, has moved himto strongly condemn anti-Semitism and bigotry in itsforms.

Pastor Hagee is a world leader in his support ofIsrael. For he understands that Israel is the onlynation of the world who faces extermination for beinga Jewish nation, for being a democracy, for beingAmerica's most trusted and loyal friend among thenations, He understands that no other nation in theworld has yearned so much, nor given so much, norrisked so much, nor suffered so much for the cause ofpeace, as Israel and yet has been so criticized.

It is ironic and absurd that when Pastor was lecturingon one of the Jewish perspectives of the Holocaustthat his words were twisted and used to attack him forbeing anti Semitic.

Pastor Hagee said nothing of the kind. Pastorinterpreted a Biblical verse in a way not verydifferent from several legitimate Jewish authorities. Viewing Hitler as acting completely outside of God'splan is to suggest that God was powerless to stop theHolocaust, a position quite unacceptable to anyreligious Jew or Christian.

No less an authority than the author of the EimHabanim Semaichah, Rabbi Yisachar Shlomo Teichtal ofblessed memory wrote these words while cowering in aBudapest cellar in the very midst of Hitler'sHolocaust: "Furthermore, the sole purpose of all theafflictions that smite us in our exile is to arouse usto return to our Holy Land."

I have seen Pastor's tears and Diana's tears at YadVashem. They identify and feel the pain of our people,therefore I know that of all the criticisms thatPastor has been subjected to when he stepped into apolitical mine field, and of all the distortions ofthe truth that he had to contend with, this must bethe most painful, because of his love for the Jewishpeople and his genuine total efforts to see that neveragain shall the Jewish people be alone in a world ofapathy, hatred and anti-Semitism.

A Holocaust survivor, who lived through the deathcamps of Auschwitz, recently declared at the SanAntonio Jewish community commemoration of Yom HaShoah:"If during the Nazi era the world had leaders likePastor John Hagee, 6 million Jews, among them one anda million children, wouldn't have been brutallymurdered."==============================================

To Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President, Union of Reform JudaismMay 25, 2008I am appalled and mortified by your call for dialogue with the Islamic Society of America. What an exercise in futility! Meeting with the Islamic Society is analogous to negotiating with Adolph Hitler in the 1930’s.As a former Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I have a strong sense of justice and injustice. In an era of political correctness you play directly into the hands of Hamas and Hezbollah and encourage Islamic Jihad throughout Europe and North America. Today I see African Americans in Boston converting to Islam and spewing out anti-Jewish and anti- Christian rhetoric. The State of Israel needs all the friends it can find, and Reform leaders should be praising Evangelical Christians for their strong support for beleaguered Israel. What Reform Jews need is a profile in courage from you not misguided leadership. As a member of Temple Israel, Boston for 48 years, I am ashamed to have you serving as the leader of our Union for Reform Judaism.Robert T. Abrams.