Both the New York Times and Haaretz think Passover is a great time to insult Judaism.
In the NYT, we see Shalom Auslander, whose credentials to write this article about Judaism are stellar indeed. After all, as this 2007 article notes:
His father was an alcoholic, violent with his two sons. His mother was a sad character, trying to keep up appearances of a normal home life. Incessantly reading decorating magazines, she harbored the hope that if she rearranged their furniture well, they would have a peaceful home.As a young boy, Auslander began sneaking out of the house on Shabbat afternoon; a first transgression was to ride his bike to a local store, but then he couldn't get himself to step on the electronic pad to open the door, which would have been another transgression. But soon after, he was taking taxis to the mall, shoplifting small items and sneaking non-kosher foods. By the time he was in high school, the Manhattan Talmudic Academy, he was shoplifting the kinds of expensive clothing his classmates wore, smoking dope and skipping classes to go to museums, bookstores and porn shops.
Of course a person whose entire view of Judaism was warped from the start is the perfect person to say in the New York Times that we really need to get rid of the cruel Jewish God:
God, it seems, paints with a wide brush. He paints with a roller. In Egypt, said our rabbi, he even killed first-born cattle. He killed cows. If he were mortal, the God of Jews, Christians and Muslims would be dragged to The Hague. And yet we praise him. We emulate him. We implore our children to be like him.
Because a thief whose main concept of Judaism comes from his third grade Hebrew teacher is obviously an expert in theology. Even if he claims in the fact-challenged NYT article that the Hebrew chumash is the Old Testament - something any bright eight year old in any yeshiva knows is not true.
The illustration of the NYT article says it all: it depicts (the Jewish) God as a combination of Zeus and Godzilla, holding his lightning bolt as he wantonly terrorizes innocents.
Meanwhile, Haaretz publishes Dr. Ofri Ilany - a professor - who says that the Exodus story is really a colonialist myth. Instead of being upset over God's treatment of Egyptians, Ilany is upset at the Jews' treatment of Canaanites.
The brilliant professor says that the Torah, which is literally the basis for all Western morality, falls short of his moral standards:
The story of the Exodus would truly constitute a positive political myth if Moses had demanded that Pharaoh grant the Israelites equal rights in Egypt – exactly like those of his subjects who worshiped the gods Horus and Seth. Alternatively, a scenario can be conjured up in which the slaves and their descendants would have been integrated into another kingdom – Babylon, say, or the Hittite kingdom. But that’s not what happened. The Israelites embarked on a journey rife with wars and killing, in which they inflicted deaths on every people they came across along the way.
Except that Moses did demand rights - the right to worship God. Pharaoh refused, repeatedly. To Ilany, the evil of Jews remaining stateless slaves is far better than their returning to the land they came from and that the Creator of the universe promised to them.
And nearly every war (Amalek, Ammon, Bashan, Canaan) was self defense, the possible exception being Midian which was punishment in their role in trying to destroy Israel spiritually.
Jewish nationalism is the real crime. The Hittites and Ammonites and Moabites and Amalekites and Jebusites and Girgashites and all the other nation states of the time could all fight and invade and take land from others with nary a negative word from today's woke scholars. Only when Jews did does it become a retroactive war crime.
Only Jews of 3500 years ago are judged by the woke standards of the 21st century.
In both the New York Times and Haaretz there is an unmistakable whiff of self-congratulations, that these newspapers are so brave as to attack Judaism and Jewish belief on the holiday of Jewish national liberation from slavery. Of speaking "truth to power." In both these cases, the editors would no doubt argue that religion is fair game for criticism. Indeed, it is.
Yet I don't recall seeing any anti-Christian op-eds on Christmas or Easter, or any anti-Islam op-eds on Eid at-Fitr or during Ramadan, in either of these newspapers. There are no cartoons of Jesus or Mohammed doing anything unsavory. In fact, these newspapers would not lampoon any deeply held religious belief besides that of Jews.
Only Jews are fair game for vitriol and insults.
One can recall Slate's "Blogging the Bible" where a non-religious Jewish writer read the entire Bible and offered insulting and snarky commentary - but he only blogged the Hebrew Bible. Why didn't he read and comment on the New Testament, or the Koran? Or why didn't Slate hire a lapsed Christian or Muslim to do the job? Nope, only the Jewish scripture is subject to popular ridicule of that level by major media.
Jews are prohibited from drawing God no less than Muslims are prohibited from drawing their prophet. But Jews aren't going to firebomb the NYT offices or threaten to assassinate the writers. The newspaper of record isn't that brave.
That is the proof that this isn't legitimate criticism. This is antisemitism.
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