American Jewish leaders and their egos — then and now

57

This magnificent article should be required reading for every Jewish leader in the United States today, especially those of the ADL, J-Street, and the rest of the leftist Jewish leadership that would rather sell Israel and their own people down the river than break ranks with the increasingly anti-Semitic, pro-jihad left. They are Stephen Wise personified. They put their own position and prominence ahead of the defense of the Jews against those who wish to destroy them, and short-sighted alliances of convenience over their own longterm interests. But where is today’s Ben Hecht?

“American Jewish leaders and their egos,” by Rafael Medoff, Jerusalem Post, March 5, 2018:

Seventy-five years ago this week, as the Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ben Hecht was putting the finishing touches on a dramatic pageant to alert the world about the Holocaust, his telephone rang.

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The caller was Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, longtime leader of the Zionist Organization of America, the American Jewish Congress and several other Jewish institutions.

“Rabbi Wise said he would like to see me immediately in his rectory,” Hecht recalled. “His voice, which was sonorous and impressive, irritated me. I had never known a man with a sonorous and impressive voice who wasn’t either a con man or a bad actor. I explained I was very busy and unable to step out of my hotel.”

So Wise got straight to the point. “I have read your pageant script and I disapprove of it,” the veteran Jewish leader declared. “I must ask you to cancel this pageant and discontinue all your further activities in behalf of the Jews. If you wish hereafter to work for the Jewish cause, you will please consult me and let me advise you.”

Wise had no problem with the content of the pageant. Titled We Will Never Die, its intention was to survey Jewish contributions to civilization throughout history and describe the Nazi slaughter of Europe’s Jews, culminating in an emotional recitation of “Kaddish” by a group of elderly rabbis.

“Will it save the four million [Jews still alive in Europe]?,” Hecht wrote on the eve of the opening. “I don’t know. Maybe we can awaken some of the vacationing hearts in our government.”

Rabbi Wise’s objection was that We Will Never Die was created by the Bergson Group, a handful of upstarts who were acting independently of the established Jewish leadership.

Wise and his colleagues opposed the project “not because they are against it, but because they are against us,” a Bergson Group leader explained to the bewildered Hecht. “Stephen Wise will not tolerate any other Jewish organization [that is] stealing honors and publicity from him.”

One of the most revealing anecdotes about Wise’s personality comes from Wise himself. He enjoyed recounting how Sigmund Freud once asked him to name “the four greatest living Jews.” Wise named Einstein, Ehrlich, Freud and Brandeis. Freud expressed surprise that Wise had not included himself in the list. “No, no, no, no, you cannot include me,” Wise replied. To which Freud responded: “If you had said ‘no’ once, I would believe you, but four ‘nos’ leads me to suspect that you protest too much.”

Today, too, the American Jewish community is saddled with “leaders” whose self-perception sometimes seems a tad inflated. An Israeli newspaper recently described how one Jewish official “reveled” in describing how he was introduced by someone in Washington as “the most important Jew in America.” Some of the Jewish figures involved in the recent visits to Qatar have compared themselves to “Moses, Esther and Herzl,” and characterized their critics as “haters” and “antisemites.”

One leader of an American Zionist organization recently was quoted as boasting that his group’s banquet was “the greatest Jewish dinner in history.” Does getting a lot of Jews to eat really qualify as an organizational accomplishment? “Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid,” Mark Twain wrote.

Back to 1943. To their credit, Ben Hecht and his Bergson Group colleagues ignored Rabbi Wise’s objections. They understood that in view of the crisis facing Jewry, the show must go on. More than 20,000 people jammed Madison Square Garden on the chilly evening of March 9, 1943. There were so many people gathered on the sidewalks outside – because all the seats inside were filled – that the cast decided to do a second performance immediately afterwards. The second show, too, filled the arena.

“If there was a dry eye at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, it wasn’t mine,” wrote reviewer Nick Kenny in the New York City daily newspaper PM. “It was the most poignant pageant we have ever witnessed. It is a story that should be made into a moving picture, just as it was presented at the Garden, and shown in every city, town and hamlet in the country.”…

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DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago

Jews did not invent rottenness
– rotten people are pretty common
– in human populations
– that’s what the Bible is about
– fighting rottenness

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago
Reply to  DemocracyRules

The entire Bible shows our fallen HUMAN nature!

God chose the Jews to spread His word.
It didn’t work out. Had God chosen Protestants or Catholics the outcome would have been the same.
God offered us the gift of His son. Christ paid our sin debt. Jesus was the ultimate lamb sacrifice for our sin debt. Happy Easter!

Rom.6:23

[23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

mackykam
mackykam
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

You are wrong. Jews spread His word, sometimes using christians as messengers. You live in a Jewish world, bordered by a 7 day week cycle, moral laws and values directly from the Testament.
And if you believe some long time ago dead Jew will expiate your sins you will be sadly disappointed when your time comes. That belief is contrary to the Testament given at Mt. Sinai. And human sacrifice has been opposed by God ever since the sacrifice of Isaac was halted.

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

Jews that converted to Christianity spread God’s word. The idea was for God’s chosen people to covert others.
You are very confused and deny this:

Rom.6:23

[23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am going to heaven. My faith and trust is in Christ. I look forward to heaven.
WHERE are you going?

mackykam
mackykam
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

LOL!

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

LOL to you too!
I noticed you avoided answering WHERE you will wind up after you die. It’s crystal clear you have NO Old or New Testament knowledge.

mackykam
mackykam
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

well versed in ‘The Testament’ handed down at Mt. Sinai; None whatsoever in man created ‘new testament’ collection of fable, parable and letters, whose only credence lies in restatement of valid Jewish Testament laws, principles and morality.

And calling ‘the Testament’ old is nothing short of a christian conceit. It isn’t old; it’s eternal.

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

The NEW Testament REPLACED the OLD Testament. It’s not “conceit”. It;s just a FACT you have trouble with. It’s a CHOICE, Christian hater.

mackykam
mackykam
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

the replacement is a christian conceit to give themselves legitimacy. believe what you want, but 1500 hundred years before christianity God proclaimed on Mt. Sinai, ” Hear ‘O Israel, the Lord Your God is One”…not two or three; or have a need to fukk a woman to have a son.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

macky:
– ….

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Felix…

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

felix:
Please lighten up…

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

Let Jews and Christians live in peace
– we are buddies in bad times

mackykam
mackykam
6 years ago
Reply to  DemocracyRules

only in bad times…christian good times is noted for killing, raping and pillaging Jews.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

macky: True
– and I don’t expect Jews
– to fully trust Christians
– ever

FedUp71Ohio
FedUp71Ohio
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

Not Christians, Catholics. The Crusades and the Inquisition were approved by the Popes. True followers of Jesus Christ believe God’s word. They will bless Israel and God’s Chosen. Please, don’t confuse the two.

mackykam
mackykam
6 years ago
Reply to  FedUp71Ohio

ever hear of Lutherans? Just asking….

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  mackykam

macky:
You’re right
– Luther was viciously anti-Semitic

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

We took those basic teachings
– and built the most successful civilizations
– in the history of the human species
– in spite of the rottenness that abounds

poetcomic1
poetcomic1
6 years ago

Alan King does a vastly under-rated and amusing take-off on Rabbi Wise in the great and vastly under-rated film ‘Enemies: A Love Story’ based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel. If you haven’t ever seen it, I wish I were you so I could see it again for the first time!

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago

My respect for Ms. Geller is not disappointed.
She points out the problems within the Jewish community hoping
to bring change and WAKE THEM UP! It is terribly sad to see Jews betray other Jews – SOROS, Zuckerberg, Speilberg etc..

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Christians also betray Christians all the time
– but Jews have more on the line
– when they are betrayed

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago
Reply to  DemocracyRules

It’s human nature.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Yes
– if we were all angels
– we would not need the Bible

Joe Powers
Joe Powers
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

I have Never been able to comprehend, how the Jewish People could possibly be Liberals. It is sheer, suicidal insanity…The Old Testament is loaded with hard core life teachings. One would think that Gods Children would be pretty Conservative in all aspects of their life and politics.

lostlegends
lostlegends
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

Most people’s concept of reality is social. They act so as to raise their standing in organizations and among their peers eyes. People conform to whatever is being pushed as “the thing” to do or say, or get a promotion or an Oscar or a role. Truth is irrelevant and fluid changing with the times rather than shaping it. People don’t like to stand out from the crowd unless they are commanding it.

lostlegends
lostlegends
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

But only if they are committed to truth, which they are not.

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

Read the OLD Testament closely. Rebellion is human nature. Had God not chosen the Jews as His special people, the result would have been the same. As mortals we are attracted to sin and often don’t want others telling us what to do or how to live. God allows us to make CHOICES.

Michael Garfinkel
Michael Garfinkel
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

You’re right of course, but you proclaim this with the easy assurance of a person who has never seen, first-hand, a brutal murder, the rape of a child, or any number of assorted heinous acts that occur all the time.

It’s your self-satisfied tone that I find offensive.

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago

I find You and your post offensive.
I am SATISFIED to be a Christian.
I have peace that you do not have.

I don’t need to SEE a rape or a murder or be RAPED or a victim of violent crime to know that God allows people to make CHOICES. YOU have ISSUES….I would imagine nearly everything “offends” you that is related to Christianity.

michaelgarfinkel
michaelgarfinkel
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

I am a great admirer of St. Paul, but that’s beside the point, isn’t it?

It’s your self-satisfied stupidity I find offensive, not Christianity.

You’re free to “imagine” as you please, but you might benefit from considering my remarks with a bit more humility.

In any case, this will be my only response to your comment.

IzlamDownpressesHumanity
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
6 years ago

I’ve read that Paul/Saul was responsible for introducing antisemitism into Christianity. I also find it interesting that Paul/Saul’s interest/co-option of Christianity only occurred after Yeshua the carpenter and sometime street preacher died. And why would anyone Jewish decide to adopt a GREEK name?

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago

Izlamis:
St. Paul was a devout Jew
– who started out by assassinating Christians
– for powerful Jewish interests in Jerusalem
– this is all well – documented
– he changed his mind in a revelation of Jesus
– who basically said, “Why are you doing this?”
– and he began to build the Church in Greece
– he did let gentiles into Christianity
– but I don’t see that he started antisemitism
– he was always proud of his Jewish roots

Michael Garfinkel
Michael Garfinkel
6 years ago

Your comments give credence to the old adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Felix:
– lighten up

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago

Mike:
– lighten up

Joe Powers
Joe Powers
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

Yeah, tell that to Mark Levin.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

The Founders of the Republic were conservatives
– by today’s definitions
– and they were pretty smart

Michael Garfinkel
Michael Garfinkel
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

Diaspora Jews, particularly in America, have eschewed their religious traditions, and in so doing have, in many cases, ceased to be moral actors.

This is not to suggest that they are strangers to virtue-signaling.

On the contrary, they have accustomed themselves to incessant virtue-signaling, which is in itself a behavior reflective of a thorough abandonment of moral inquiry.

The religious refer to this inquiry as the study of Torah – which you referenced in your comment.

Like women, generally speaking, they have become social, rather than moral creatures – and this is quite evident in their cultural and political choices.

To put this in its simplest terms, American Jews supported Hillary Clinton 3 to 1 for the presidency of the United States – to no one’s surprise.

The vestigial honor of American Jewry rests within that voting minority, and with those Jews who remain open to persuasion, through the work of Pamela Geller and others.

Joe Powers
Joe Powers
6 years ago

Most excellent answer, so far. My compliments…

movingwaters
movingwaters
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

Amen!. If ever the Old Testament “hard core life teachings” seemed to be especially relevant, it is today.

Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe Powers

The Torah (and the New Testament too) were pretty radical documents which shook up the established order in their day. Don’t be so surprised.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael Jacobs

Still shaking it up

Kalambong Kalambong
Kalambong Kalambong
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

The only problem with Ms. Geller is that she still believes that the JINOs (Jews in name only) are still JEWS, and that they can wake up one morning and miraculously become JEWS again !

No, it won’t work that way

Those JINOs have no soul. They have already sold their souls to the devil

They cannot wake up, they can never be JEWS again

Their mission on earth is to DESTROY JEWRY, as much as they could

I am saying all these as an OUTSIDER – and as OUTSIDER I get to observe both sides, through my non-Jewish eyes, and filter whatever thoughts through my non-Jewish brain and soul, and my conclusion is this —

G-d is coming, and He will punish whoever has betrayed Him

That is why you see the emergence of so many JINOs, popping up all over the place, nowadays

It is because G-d allows all these to happen

G-d allows those anti-Jews who camouflage as Jews to ‘get out of the closet’, so to speak

When He cometh, G-d will punish the JINOs as harsh as He would punish the moslem savages !

felix1999
felix1999
6 years ago

I let God sort that out. I listen to the talk and then see if the BEHAVIOR lines up with it before I make a call. God will have the final say on mortals whether they are Jewish or non Jewish.

leonkushner
leonkushner
6 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Don’t forget Dershowitz!

Mahou Shoujo
Mahou Shoujo
6 years ago

There is no end to the manipulative con men of the world. All a person or people can do is be on guard and stop them from carrying out their plans. Try very hard not to be an accessory to the criminal intent of self centred liars.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  Mahou Shoujo

And call them out

Jackie
Jackie
6 years ago

Thank you for discussing this. This is the problem I had with the Neocon Jews during the W. Bush admin. Destroy the middle east war criminals like Kristol. Had nothing to do with protecting Isreal and everything to do with money and power. To be honest I think this is why people are worried about Javanka and are watching carefully.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  Jackie

Jackie:
– un-watched politicians
– are a dangerous thing

RCCA
RCCA
6 years ago

Freud wasn’t asked to name “Jewish leaders,” he was asked to name greatest living Jews. Big difference. I don’t confuse the two. People who lead Jewish organizations are like any other politicians, flawed individuals sometimes corrupted by power, who are tolerated because of their overall important contributions politically. They are not giants spiritually, culturally, scientifically, etc.

I did a little research and noted that many of the so called powerful Jewish leaders named in 2010 by the Jerusalem Post were solid Obama supporters and no longer have any power at all. The leftist Islamic alliance is not a good place for Jews. Understatement. The umbrella organization, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, has been without a chairman for several years, the current vice chairman is retiring, so things are very much in flux.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  RCCA

“Great and good are seldom the same man.” ~ Winston Churchill

Richard Harris
Richard Harris
6 years ago

Here is an interesting paragraph from this article: “Today, too, the American Jewish community is saddled with “leaders” whose self-perception sometimes seems a tad inflated. An Israeli newspaper recently described how one Jewish official “reveled” in describing how he was introduced by someone in Washington as “the most important Jew in America.” Some of the Jewish figures involved in the recent visits to Qatar have compared themselves to “Moses, Esther and Herzl,” and characterized their critics as “haters” and “antisemites.”

Jews stepping on each other and doing things at the expense of other Jews is nothing new. They have done this through out their history. Most Jews currently and for decades have voted for the Democrat party even though the Democrat party has a growing Anti-Jewish base of voters and supporters. Democrats want open borders and want more Non-White migrants to come to America, even though they are much less sympathetic to the state of Israel and Jews in general than White people are. If the demographic change in America goes according to the Democratic plan….this demographic will demand that their Democrat party stop supporting Israel and Jewish causes.

Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs
6 years ago

Ms. Geller, you do realize that the EXACT SAME ARGUMENTS raised in this article, can be used against the American Jewish establishment (AIPAC, Hillel, etc) for their efforts to marginalize and exclude J Street and other “disapproved” Jewish voices? Just FYI, I am a longtime participant (board member, etc) in the “established Jewish institutions” of the US, and am no fan at all of J Street. But, be careful what you wish for, and the tools you intend to use to get there. Yes, get ego out of the picture. But don’t delegitimize atttempts by the establishment to control and shape the message. Sometimes they have a good reason, as sometimes it IS the content of the pageant being put on by the outsiders that the establishmentarians strongly object to. Jewish Voice for Peace, anyone? But now, Ms. Geller has given the JVP nutheads a fine tool to claim their seat at the table.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago
Reply to  Michael Jacobs

Mike:
Face it
– some Jews are anti-Jew
– and everyone needs to follow the 10 Commandments
– otherwise the fundamental global Jewish message
– gets lost

Scott Smith
Scott Smith
6 years ago

These are the same jews that do not recognize the borders of Israel nor do they accept that Jerusalem is their capital. These are called fake jews and there is a severe punishment coming to them.

DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
6 years ago

Socialist Jews
– come from logical places
– consider the Dreyfus scandal in France
– it pushed Zionism into high gear
– because European Jewry were not going got tolerate Euro-hate
– and they were not going to support Euro or Russian Feudalism
– which only left socialism as an alternative
– so Jewry were pushed into socialism
– and building Israel would require cooperation
– so it made sense
– then when Stalin labeled Nazi’s ‘far right’
– this made Holocaust survivors even more left-wing
– it’s only now that the democratic free-enterprise republic
– makes more sense as a better model

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