Forgiving Ronan Tynan
Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, a fixture at New York Yankees games, stole the show from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the ADL's Annual Meeting Thursday when he apologized for making an anti-Jewish comment. At the dinner, Tynan received a standing ovation after delivering a dramatic rendition of "God Bless America" -- which he regularly sings at Yankee Stadium during the sevent inning, until he was temporarily banned by the team.
Tynan was invited by ADL national president Abraham Foxman, who said he accepted Tynan's public apology for the joke as sincere.
"We need to give a message to people that they can be forgiven if they own up to their bigotry," Foxman said. "Otherwise, it's counterproductive to our fight against racism."
Who connected Tynan with the ADL? Meet Abraham Cohen, 37, from Teaneck, N.J. Cohen spoke exclusively to the JTA about how the shiduch came into being.
"When I heard what happened, I called Jeff Sulivan, who's a mutual friend of mine and Ronan Tynan's, and I said 'what happened? This isn't the guy! It isn't him!' Then Ronan called me and said 'Abe, I may have said something but I didn't mean it.' Then it was in Sports Illustrated and other meida. It got worse and worse. I called Jeff again and I was livid. At this point Ronan was starting to lose business. I said, hey, I live in Teaneck, New Jersey," where Foxman also lives, "and the ADL is someone who stands up for you."
"It was a lesson well learnt," Tynan, who was standing nearby, added. He said he hopes to sing at Yankee Stadium again in the future.
As he departed, the soft-spoken Irish singer said "lehitraot," the Hebrew equivalent of see you later.
UPDATE: Click here and scroll down to read Sullivan's defense of Tynan.
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Danny, relax, I’m usually very sensitive towards this kind of stuff but give the guy a break. You hear way more anti-semitism at any gathering of moslems more then one person. Or for that matter at the recent j-street gala. Besides, he does do a great rendition of god bless america.
I cant forgive the irish bastard for his anti-Jewish comments and I surely cannot forgive the zionist filth for shoving this vile disgusting clown abe foxman yimach shemo down the throats of american Jewry. I am in Israel and can vouch for the fact that zionism is destroying not only world Jewry but Jews in israel as well. You should see the jewish girls with arab boyfriends ll over the country
Steve Ariza: “ vile disgusting clown abe foxman yimach shemo”
Sad to to know that “Seenus Achim” is alive and well.
What was one of the causes of the destruction of the Temple?
steve ariza may be in Outer Mongolia. You cannot believe everything a blogger, especially such a nasty one, says about himself/herself, starting with the claim to being Jewish at all. I tend to give the benefit of a doubt, although steve ariza stretches it quite a bit - see the uniformly negative tone of all his posts.
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danny bloom
10/30/09 09:02 PM
SOme people in the USA still don’t get it. Yes, forgive the man who his antisemitism, but don’t deny he said what he said and don’t ignore why he said it. The man is an immigrant to the USA, applying for US citizenship and yet he carries within him the seeds of British antisemitism. Ask John Derbyshire, he will tell you. Social antisemittism is a reality in the USA. Tynan was very very wrong to say what he said and he should do penance for the rest of his life. He is a hypocrite, another damn Catholic antisemite! The gall! He comes to the USA to be an immigrant and he tries to lord it over other people. Sick sick man. And now he says it was just a joke. Sure.
QUOTE” Tynan called Gold-von Simson to apologize and told NBC he intended his comment to be a joke. Tynan also told the Associated Press he is donating to KiDS of NYU, an NYU Langone children’s health services foundation. Gold-von Simson said she accepted the apology, but is still horrified by Tynan’s conduct.
“The incident was not a joke,” Gold-von Simson said Saturday, on her way to the Yankees game. “What bothered me, I think even more than the anti-Semitism it portrayed, was the hypocrisy of it all, that this is coming from a man who is an immigrant and who sings ‘God Bless America’ in Yankee Stadium.”