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Benyamin Cohen debuts with #1 Jewish bestseller

By Daniel Sieradski · October 7, 2008

Former American Jewish Life editor Benyamin Cohen’s book, “My Jesus Year,” debuted today at #1 on Amazon.com’s Jewish bestseller list.  The book catalogs the year Cohen, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, spent visiting Southern churches while trying to figure out why he found synagogue so unfulfilling.

Publisher’s Weekly has called it “a delicious olio of guilt, longing, surprise, wonder, unease and of course humor.” You can order the book online here, but if you happen to pick it up in a bookstore, take a photo of the display and send it to Cohen.  He’ll pay you back with a shout-out on his blog.

Cohen also spent a half-hour with NPR’s Lynn Neary yesterday discussing the book.  You can tune in to a recording of the broadcast here.

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Pope Pius XII revisited

By Lisa Hostein · September 17, 2008

The debate over what Pope Pius XII did or didn’t do to save the Jews during the Nazi era continues to roil. The latest effort to cleanse the record of the pope who is on the path to sainthood came at a symposium in Rome this week where an American Jew led the charge. As reported by NCR Cafe, an online Catholic publication:

Organizers published a 200-page glossy book offering documentation of Pius’ efforts to save Jews, including transcripts of eyewitnesses and previously secret material culled from diplomatic archives in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The case for the defense of Pius XII, as presented during the conference, is highly complex, but in essence it pivots on three claims:

• Charges that Pius XII was “silent” are false, because he spoke on numerous occasions in defense of Jews, in ways that were abundantly clear to everyone at the time and for decades afterwards;
• If he did not directly and dramatically condemn Hitler or National Socialism, it was because he had well-founded fears that doing so might unleash greater persecution upon both Catholics and Jews;
• Behind the scenes, he mobilized church resources in multiple ways to save Jews.

Jews, meanwhile, continue to challenge the Vatican to open up its archives before it moves to canonize Pius XII. For more on the debate, read this.

4 Comments | Share This | Christianity, Shoah

CUFI united for Hagee

By Ami Eden · May 26, 2008

David Brog, the executive director of Christians United for Israel, has sent out a mass e-mail to followers urging support for Pastor John Hagee and the organization. The money line: “Make no mistake about it, many who attack Pastor Hagee seek not only to hurt him, but to silence all Christian friends of Israel. We need to give a bold and unified response!”

He also did a Q & A with Shmuel Rosner of Ha’aretz. [UPDATE: Sorry, I had the wrong link up for a while.]

Here’s Brog’s full e-mail:

As a supporter of Christians United for Israel, I want to provide you with an opportunity to show your support for our founder and chairman, Pastor John Hagee.

As I’m sure you’ve seen, Pastor Hagee has come under an angry attack by many in the media.  They have ignored his fifty years of ministry.  They have overlooked his lifetime of loving-kindness and charity.  And they have horribly twisted his decades of zealous support for Israel and the Jewish people.

And make no mistake about it, many who attack Pastor Hagee seek not only to hurt him, but to silence all Christian friends of Israel.

We need to give a bold and unified response!

Now is the time when all of us who appreciate Pastor Hagee’s leadership and heart should step forward to help set the record straight.

First, I recommend that you read the attached statements from Pastor Hagee and Rabbi Scheinberg explaining Pastor Hagee’s views on the latest controversy.  I encourage you to forward these statements to your friends, families, and colleagues so they too can know the truth.

Secondly, we ask that you keep Pastor Hagee and his family in your prayers during this difficult time.  If you are moved to share your prayers and thoughts with Pastor Hagee please email them to .

Finally, the best way we can respond to these attacks is to turn out in record numbers for our Washington, DC summit this July 21-23.  If you have not already registered, please do so today. IT’S IMPORTANT!  If you have already registered, please ask a relative or friend to join you.  You can click here for more information.

When we are together in July, we can give this good man and his wife the warm welcome and display of respect that they so richly deserve.  More importantly, we can stand together in support of Israel and the Jewish people as never before.

Let’s demonstrate to all the critics that their attacks will only strengthen our determination to do what is right.

David Brog
Executive Director
Christians United for Israel

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Ann Coulter lied to me

By Ami Eden · February 11, 2008

Reader mail:

Dear JTA,

My father thought I should email you this story. My name is Marc Friend and I am a student at the George Washington University. Recently Ann Coulter came to speak at G.W. and I was able to get a ticket, even though I am a Jewish Liberal. So, Ann Coulter gave her usual liberal bashing speech and then opened it up for questions. I got in line to ask her a question and when it was my turn, I said the following.

“Thank you Ms. Coulter for coming, my name is Marc Friend, I am a sixth generation American and one of the proudest Americans you will ever find. In an earlier interview, you said that Jews were imperfect Christians, as a Jew I was wondering how am I imperfect ?” She responded by saying that she never said anything like that and this is an example how the liberals make things up that she never said.

For the record here is the Fox news story on her interview, followed by the YouTube Video of it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,301216,00.html

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2wnPHFSdrME

So, there is my story of how Ann Coulter lied to me. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Marc Friend

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Jew like me

By Ami Eden · December 31, 2007

Maybe everybody messed up and the millennium starts tonight: Christians are joining being officially represented at the highest levels of the Jewish Agency and getting circumcised by mohels.

Not sure which is crazier (for them or for us).

I guess the latter shouldn’t come as surprise, considering the popularity of Hebrew National. It’s sort of the same idea.

0 Comments | Share This | Christianity, Israel

Some of my best friends are named Schneider

By Ami Eden · December 13, 2007

‘Tis the season for the war against the war on Christmas, so we weren’t surprised to receive a press release from the Catholic League’s president, Bill Donohue, listing about a dozen examples of “multicultural monsters” censoring holiday displays. What did catch our eye, however, was this item on the list: “A Jewish public official in Wisconsin wants to rename the state Capitol Holiday Tree the Christmas Tree, but is being opposed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.”

The Catholic League was talking about Marlin Schneider, a state representative from Madison – the very same Marlin Schneider who went to bat for naval veterans demanding a congressional investigation into Israel’s attack on the U.S.S. Liberty during the 1967 war.

Hmmm.

As it turns out, Schneider is not Jewish.

But he does like Jews, which is why he was so baffled by all of the hoopla over his efforts on the U.S.S. Liberty issue:

The Liberty veterans believed that the attack on their ship was deliberate and not friendly fire, and that it had been covered up by the United States Navy and the State Department for years because of fear of reprisals by influential people who would bring down any politician with the audacity even to ask questions about the attack. Some of the people who later talked to me both within and outside our own capitol warned me to beware of massive political contributions against me and even potential assassination. I laughed that off because I have never been anti-Israel and, in fact, the people who got me to run for office in the first place in 1970 were Jewish constituents whom I admired because in the 1950s they had taken on Sen. Joseph McCarthy right here in central Wisconsin. Moreover, one of my former assistants was the daughter of a rabbi incarcerated at Buchenwald who now works for a Jewish organization in New York City. I also thought that a lowly state legislator was too small a potato for anyone really to care much about.

It turns out that the Catholic League misread this story, which identifies Schneider’s pro-Christmas Tree spokesman, as a Jew:

“A rose is a rose is a rose,” said Schneider spokesman Michael Schoenfield in the article. “Whatever you call it, it is going to be a Christmas tree, so call it what it is.”

While opponents to the resolution said by using the word “Christmas,” it is offensive to non-Christians, Schoenfield said he disagrees.

“As a Jew, I have a problem calling it a holiday tree,” he said in the article. “It’s not my holiday.”

While we’re on the topic … Schneider from “One Day at a Time”:

Jew or not a Jew? I’d say no. But that was actor Pat Harrington Jr. sitting at Larry David’s seder table in Season 5, Episode 7 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” (Thanks to my wife for that pickup.)

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Coulter follies

By Ami Eden · October 12, 2007

The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee are out with statements condemning Ann Coulter’s recent interview on CNBC with Donny Deutsch. Both groups focus in on her assertion that Jews should be “perfected” by dumping Judaism and becoming Christians.

But the real zinger, I think, came a few moments earlier in the interview, when she responded to a question about her “dream” American, by saying: “It would look like New York City during the [2004] Republican National Convention. In fact, that’s what I think heaven is going to look like. ... People were happy. They’re Christian. They’re tolerant. They defend America.”

So Ann Coulter is a Christian who thinks Jews should become Christian. That’s her religion. Fine. It’s not as if she’s launched a conversion crusade. Watch the interview, and it’s clear that Deutsch was the one pushing to get to the religion point, not Coulter.

Her comment about the GOP convention, however, was not just about her own personal theology. It speaks more directly to her understanding of America and the contemporary Republican Party. She essentially described the GOP convention as an all-Christian club (guess she missed then-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman).

Again, the irony with all of the fuss over this Coulter outrage is that this time around it was really Deutsch pushing her toward controversy (usually she has her own offensive agenda item that she’s pushing – i.e, Democrats are traitors).

Deutsch says he wants to know what she hopes America will look like. First she says she wishes everyone was Republican. Deutsch pushes. Then she wishes that all of the Democrats would be like Joe Lieberman (!?!). Deutsch pushes some more. Only after a few more prods does she find religion.

Judge for yourself…

I had a similar take watching the video of John McCain’s “America is a Christian country that needs a Christian president” interview.

To my eye he seemed stilted and contradictory the whole way through. He wants a president who will uphold Judeo-Christian values. He wants a Christian, not a Muslim. Well, maybe a Muslim would be okay. But maybe not. Mormon, that would be just fine.

All that said, it’s hard to see how Coulter’s or McCain’s remarks could be interpreted as a “Non-Jews welcome” sign. And it’s hard to ignore that its supporters/lawmakers of the party with no blacks and just three Jews in Congress who keep saying these sorts of things (yes, yes, Democrats have their own patterns to worry about, but that’s for another post).

Senate GOPers are tripping over themselves to run out Larry Craig, but what about his fellow Idahoan over in the House of Representatives, Bill Sali. Here’s a quote of his from last summer:

“We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes – and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The principles that this country was built on, that have made it great over these centuries were Christian principles derived from Scriptures. You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.”

Throw in the fact that the Hindu in question was actually heckled (see video) during his prayer, and you’d think this sort of talk might be a bit higher on the agenda of congressional Republicans than Larry Craig’s wide stance.

Sali tried to backtrack from the impression that he was saying Muslims shouldn’t be congressmen. But he wasn’t the first Republican to wander into such territory.

After Ellison’s victory in 2006, a Republican House member from Virginia, Virgil Goode, sent a letter to constituents complaining about the Minnesota Democrat’s decision to take his private oath on the Koran:

“I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.”

Jeez, even Iran has a token Jew in its parliament.

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