{"id":2877,"date":"2015-08-20T09:39:03","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T14:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?p=2877"},"modified":"2015-08-20T09:39:03","modified_gmt":"2015-08-20T14:39:03","slug":"340-rabbis-come-out-in-support-of-iran-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2015\/08\/340-rabbis-come-out-in-support-of-iran-deal.html","title":{"rendered":"340 Rabbis Come out in Support of Iran Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

September is a busy month for the Jews this year. As is usually usual, the \u201chigh\u201d holidays fall in the middle of the month. As is most definitely unusual, so does the vote in Congress about a certain nuclear arms deal with Iran.<\/p>\n

I imagine that many rabbis will use the first occasion to comment on the second. It\u2019s harder to gauge where American rabbis stand (outside of the Orthodox) on this issue than where American Jewry does (see my previous post<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I have joined 339 other American rabbis who have signed a statement urging Congress to support the deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said before, I don\u2019t think that organizations like Jewish federations \u2013 which claim to represent Jewish consensus \u2013 should take a position on this. I\u2019m just a person \u2013 not an organization \u2013 so I felt quite at liberty to do so. I even used my home address. My congregation, of course, tends to skew liberal (and our conservatives are pretty much libertarians and \/ or security-oriented \u201cskeptics\u201d) so I know that most of them agree with me. My informal polls confirm this. But I don\u2019t pretend to represent the collective position of my employers.<\/p>\n

The liberal Zionist organization Ameinu published our letter and you can visit its\u00a0site to explore the list of 340<\/a> on which I\u2019m proud to be included.<\/p>\n

You might also want to pay a visit to the comment section. But just in case you don\u2019t have that kind of time or patience, I\u2019ve culled some of the juicier ones:<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t believe that 340 Rabbis can be so na\u00efve \u2013 and I try to explain myself as civilized as possible.<\/p>\n

If it is true that 340 Rabbis really support Obama\u2019s Iran deal it proofs that we Jews don\u2019t have the monopoly of intelligence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is correct. We do not have a monopoly on intelligence. I think your spelling \u201cproofs\u201d that. I\u2019m sorry that it took something like this issue for you to confront your idiotic racist assumptions about Jews and everyone else on earth.<\/p>\n

Please ask them this: What will you say to any remnants of a nuclear vaporization.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apocalyptically catastrophic much are we?<\/p>\n

I bet all these \u201cso called \u201d rabbis voted blindly twice for Obama so they are trying to justify their dumb decisions. Should have put that in the letter to identify their long standing blind political views.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I bet you\u2019re right about us voting for Obama! But no matter how bad my eyesight gets, I do not vote \u201cblindly.\u201d<\/p>\n

I checked Snopes.com but apparently this petition is TRUE. I feel bad for the signators, but they still have a chance to remove themselves from the petition. I respectfully suggest they reconsider and pull out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Did this letter seems so awful that you thought it was Snopes-worthy?\u00a0I think this is the first time I\u2019ve\u00a0been Snopes-ed!<\/p>\n

If you go through the list of signers of this document, you will discover that the majority are \u201cReform and Reconstructionist\u201d Rabbi\u2019s whose liberal ideals have driven them away from authentic Torah<\/strong>. Their teachings and inclinations no longer reflect Torah, but instead a secular humanism with a Jewish twist<\/strong>. [The emphases are mine.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nah. There\u2019s only a few of us who are actual secular humanists on this list. I am<\/em> proud to have been driven away from \u201cauthentic Torah,\u201d by the way. My morality did the driving.<\/p>\n

One of the commenters asked a good question: Why should rabbis\u2019 opinions have any greater weight than any else\u2019s?<\/p>\n

Our opinions should not necessarily be granted greater weight. But I do believe that leaders on both sides have the right to make our voices heard and so far it\u2019s the incredibly well-funded opponents of the deal who have been shouting the loudest.<\/p>\n

For this reason our letter emphasizes the fact that American Jewry is not of one mind on this:<\/p>\n

Most especially, we are deeply concerned with the impression that the leadership of the American Jewish community is united in opposition to the agreement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We would like\u00a0to remind people that we most certainly are not.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September is a busy month for the Jews this year. As is usually usual, the \u201chigh\u201d holidays fall in the middle of the month. As is most definitely unusual, so does the vote in Congress about a certain nuclear arms deal with Iran. I imagine that many rabbis will use the first occasion to comment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":2881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4,49,20,33],"class_list":["post-2877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-american-jews","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n340 Rabbis Come out in Support of Iran Deal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"September is a busy month for the Jews this year. As is usually usual, the \u201chigh\u201d holidays fall in the middle of the month. 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