For those of you who are “fans” of Richard Silverstein, it is with great please that I have stumbled upon his article “A Laughingstock Unto the Nations.” Silverstein criticizes Israeli Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman for suggesting the implementation of a rabbinical court system to be used in conjunction with the current judicial system. Silverstein’s frustration with such an idea is revealing:
Let’s call a spade a spade here. Instead of a western democracy, we have a call to turn Israel into a theocracy. It isn’t bad enough that Israel is currently a truncated democracy, or ethnocracy. While we’re at it, why don’t we rule Israel according to the medieval laws of the Shulchan Aruch? Tell women they are unclean during their menstrual cycle and must abandon public life. Tell them they must walk behind their husbands and male relatives on the public street. And lets revive the ancient Temple rites as well and appoint a High Priest and conduct animal sacrifices. If we’re going back to the Dark Ages why don’t we go all the way?
This is coming from someone who claims:
If you’re talking to me you’ve made a big mistake. I have a BHL in Talmud fr. Jewish Theological Seminary. I have many years of studying Jewish religious texts in my background. I’m quite familiar w. all the issues you deal with here.
So is this what they teach at the Jewish Theological Seminary? Observing the laws of the Torah is akin to the Dark Ages? Now I am starting to see why Silverstein has half-cocked notions about Israel-he was obviously taught to hate Judaism in his youth. Of course, the term “Medieval” comes from the Christian world. So, Silverstein’s worldview is clearly Christian and not Jewish-all the more the case for people like him to immigrate to Israel before they assimilate further.
It clearly states in the Amidah, the prayer which is said daily:
סדור תפלה-נוסח אשכנז-סדר עמידה
השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה ויועצינו כבתחלהReturn our judges as at first, and our advisers as in the beginning.
It appears as though the laughingstock is Richard Silverstein, or perhaps those who taught him his “Judaism.”
השיבה שופטינו כבראשונה ויועצינו כבתחלה.
