|
Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, famously called Judaism a “gutter religion.” Regular Daily Planet contributor, Joanna Graham, heartily agrees (October 23, 2008):
American Jews can enjoy the fruits of assimilation or the ‘solidarity of the Jewish community.’ Right now, they are desperately trying to have both…If you really want a ‘Jewish community,’ you need to observe the 613 mitzvot which regulate every aspect of Jewish life…spend one full day a week doing nothing but reading prayers in a language you don’t understand, have (and refrain from) sexual relations with your spouse on a religious schedule, stop having lunch with your goyishe friends (it’s forbidden); let your most intimate decisions be made for you by rabbis …and get very angry and upset when some kid spray paints [a swastika] on a [pro-Israel] poster.
Graham goes further to rejoice that, although her parents were born Jewish they assimilated out of the religion, and that she herself therefore had the good fortune to be able to marry a blue eyed, blond haired gentile. She argues that the only choice available to those who were misfortunate enough to be born Jewish is to fully assimilate like her parents or to follow her perverse definition of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. In fact, virtually none of Berkeley’s Jews are ultra-Orthodox, and neither are very many American Jews outside of some areas of New York. The very few Berkeley Jews who actually spend their Saturdays reading nothing but Hebrew, actually, counter to Graham, do understand what they are reading. She utterly demeans these Orthodox Jews, misunderstanding their beliefs almost entirely. Her argument that one cannot be a Jew if one does not practice its most rigorous forms is much the same as arguing that only those who speak in tongues and kiss poisonous snakes can be considered Christians. This former Jew (through the happenstance of being born to Jews who had renounced the religion) reminds us that some of the cruelest inquisitors of 15th century Spain were priests of Jewish ancestry. We cannot find a single example of any other religion being subjected to such cruel attacks in the pages of the Berkeley Daily Planet.
Finally, so there can be no doubt of the author’s anti-Semitism, elsewhere (February 9, 2007), Graham describes Arianpour’s anti-Semitic screed as being “eloquent.” Ms. Graham would no doubt also consider Mein Kampf as “eloquent.” When queried as to why the Daily Planet persists in publishing an avowed anti-Semite like Graham, O’Malley replied that it is because Graham is a “good writer” (email communication).
|
