Rabbi Susan Grossman: February 2008 Archives

Sen. Barack Obama has shown himself to be a strong friend of Israel, as Florida Congressman Robert Wexler makes clear in a recent Jerusalem Post article. Obama also made his position clear in the most recent debate in Cleveland this past week, reiterating he is a stalwart friend of Israel whose security he believes is sacrosanct.

What impressed me most during the debate, though, was Obama’s clear rejection and denouncement of the anti-Semitism which has found its way into the African American community, particularly in the form of Farrakhan and those who support him. Obama’s willingness to speak out against anti-Semitism in the African American community, for example, while addressing the largely African American crowd at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, is an impressive example of moral courage: the willingness to speak out about what he believes is morally right even when the message may be unpopular among those listening. That is what he is also doing with his own minister, Rev. Wright, with whom Obama has publicly disagreed. While I may have preferred he not affiliate at all with Rev. Wright, I can respect how he has determined he can have the most impact by standing up for a different perspective within his congregation, which hopefully can influence others as well.

Rabbi Stern is right that it takes faith to get through a recession, but I would suggest a different type of faith is in order: the faith to give.

A scene in "Fiddler on the Roof" captures the dilemma: A neighbor gives a kopek to the town beggar who replies, ‘One kopek? Last week you gave me two.’ ‘I had a bad week,’ the neighbor answers. ‘So why should I suffer?’ the beggar replies.

Too many charities, and the people who depend upon them, stand to suffer in the coming recession, especially as state and local funds dry up.

This past year has been a relatively quiet one for most of Israel. (Though not for the citizens of Sderot who continue to be bombarded regularly by rocket fire from Gaza.) The security barrier has been working, saving lives. If only a security barrier were unnecessary. If only suicide terrorists were stopped by PA security and given no quarter or support by the Palestinian populace from which they spring.

But barriers are only as good as the people who guard them. Sources have suggested that Hamas was behind the barrier between Gaza and Egypt failing two weeks ago. The break in that barrier was all it took to provide 22-year-old Luay Laghwani and his accomplice access to Egypt’s Sinai and then Israel’s Negev into the desert town of Dimona. Luay killed one woman and wounded 11 others, some of whom are in critical condition. The death toll could have been higher, if not for fast thinking Israeli rescue workers who shot a second suicide terrorist as he tried to detonate his explosive belt.

Rabbi Waxman is right that it is hard to feel sympathy for striking writers who may make millions of dollars a year. However, I disagree that the fact that many other workers in other industries are severely underpaid should prejudice us against the screen writers. Many writers are freelancers or lower level writers who make $50,000 or less a year. And 48 percent of writers, on the West Coast at least, are unemployed (not because of the strike).

Try living on a salary like that, or during the frequent periods of unemployment between assignments. The online royalties that the writers are seeking can make the real difference between making ends meet or not.