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By Donald H. Harrison
 SAN DIEGO—Radio talk show host Dennis Prager (pictured at right), keynote speaker at a Christians United For Israel rally in San Diego Sunday night, September 13, criticized those of his fellow American Jews who believe Christian Zionists are acting for ulterior motives rather than out of a sincere desire to help the Jewish state.
Prager said such distrust results from the deep psychological wounds that the Holocaust and previous centuries of persecution have caused the Jewish people. However, Prager added, arguments frequently cited by Jews for their suspicion of Christian Zionists are not valid.
He called for an apology to CUFI from rabbis who he said had published an advertisement or proclamation urging Jews to stay away from the San Diego event. The existence of such an advertisement later was questioned by Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal of Tifereth Israel Synagogue, who had delivered an invocation at the event attended by perhaps 1,000, and by Dr. Bob Shillman, a Jewish philanthropist who had helped the local organizer, Rev. Greg Stephens of Father’s House Church in La Mesa, to cover the costs of the event. While many rabbis indeed had remained away, both Rosenthal and Shillman said that they knew of no such advertisement.
Prager did not respond to an email asking him to identify the material for which he asked an apology, but questioning by this publication of other sources in San Diego led to the disclosure of a letter sent last July by local Reform rabbis to the United Jewish Federation asking that a proposed Walk for Israel--then being coordinated by private citizens Dan and Nina Brodsky--not include CUFI as sponsors.
The letter was signed by Rabbis Michael Berk and Michael Satz of Congregation Beth Israel; Marty Lawson of Temple Emanu-El; David Castiglione of Temple Adat Shalom, and David Frank and Jeffrey Brown of Temple Solel.
In the letter, the rabbis alluded to a speech given by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, to the Central Conference of American Rabbis at their convention in 2008 in Cincinnati. We reprint that letter in this issue for our readers' reference.
Among objections to CUFI raised by Yoffie were what he said were attacks by its leaders on at least two other religions--Catholicism and Islam. Yoffie contended if Jews want other organizations to disassociate themselves from people making anti-Semitic statements, so too should Jews be willing to disassociate themselves from people attacking other religions.
Furthermore, contended Yoffie, the Israel that CUFI wants is a "Biblical Israel," one that does not relinquish any territory to the Palestinians in the interest of a peace process. He said this approach is opposed by Reform Judaism, which favors a two-state solution leading to peace.
In their letter, the rabbis suggested that the views of the Reform movement may not have been taken into consideration when Federation decided to give its support to the Walk for Israel. They said the movement could participate if CUFI withdrew as a co-sponsor of the walk, while walk organizers continued to seek participation from individual churches and pastors. "We would also request that the Walk and the {CUJI-sponsored} Night to Honor Israel be distinct in all respects. Ideally, we would like to see them held on different dates. Publicity would also need to be completely separate, with no reference to the Night to Honor Israel contained in publicity for the Israel Solidarity Walk itself, and certainly no publicity of the Night to Honor Israel during the Walk, especially the dissemination of flyers."
Andrea Oster, chair of UJF's board of directors, responded a few days later to the rabbis.
She wrote that "UJF is the central and unifying agency of the San Diego Jewish Agency ... There are times when we have differences of opinion with others about what's in the best interest of those we serve. In order to be the unifying force UJF seeks to be, we adhere to the most inclusive approach possible, which acknowledges and respects diverse viewpoints. Simply put, our motto is 'UJF is the largest tent in town ... with all flaps up."
Oster went on to say that UJF's Executive Committee "unanimously supported our participation in the Walk for Israel. Our goals are to increase pro-Israel visibility in our community, help San Diegans actualize their commitment to Israel and strengthen the San Diego-Israel connection. The Walk for Israel is a grass roots event in which all San Diegans, Jewish and other, are invited to participate. It is our understanding that, by design, no one who wishes to participate will be excluded. Working with CUFI to support Israel is not new to Federations across the contry or ours in particular. Two years ago at a Night to Honor Israel, CUFI raised and contributed $27,000 to the Sha'ar Hanegev Educational Village.
"The Federation respects your views, and will carefully consider them before participating in future Walks for Israel.."
So matters stood until late last month when the Walk for Israel was canceled with the Brodskys, United Jewish Federation, Anti-Defamation League, The Center for Jewish Cultural Renaissance, and Training and Education About the Middle East (TEAM) announced the planned Walk on the Embarcadero had been cancelled as a result of a dispute over march security and whether sufficient time remained to properly plan it. UJF continued, meanwhile to back CUFI's Night to Honor Israel.
The hall in the Town & Country convention center initially had been set up for 850 attendees, according to ushers. However, a retractable wall was opened to provide space in the back of the hall for latecomers.
Conservative Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal was on the program, and Conservative Rabbi Arnold Kopikis and Orthodox Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of Chabad of Poway were in the audience. If other rabbis were in the large hall, I did not see them.
Some leaders from the San Diego Jewish community’s lay leadership also attended, including Oster, who accepted from Rev. Stephens a check for $14, 407—described as the proceeds from a fundraising session in which members of the audience dropped their donations into buckets. Barefoot women (shown at top of page) danced in white dresses and blue tunics emblazoned with the Star of David while the offering continued.
Following the offering, representatives of CUFI and UJF counted the proceeds together, with the result being about 53 percent of the 2007 total mentioned by Oster in her lettter to the Reform rabbis. The money—along with any other funds that might still be contributed--was placed in a UJF account for the construction of a secure, rocket-resistant high school in Sha’ar Hanegev, a region of Israel bordering Gaza. Sha’ar Hanegev is the UJF’s regional partner in Israel.
Jackie Gmach, cultural programming director for the Lawrence Family JCC, took some other women by the hands at the end of the rally and began an Israeli dance session in front of the room to the music of Wild Roots, a Christian performance group.
During the formal proceedings, Rev. Stephens gave special mention to Shillman and the Brodskys, who all were seated in reserve seats in the front row. Nina Brodsky told me at another point in the evening that another march may be organized, but, as before, some Jewish organizations believe it would be safer to hold a rally in a place with controlled access.
Controlled access was indeed a feature of Sunday night’s CUFI rally, with volunteer security guards positioned throughout the lobby and meeting hall politely but firmly checking tickets for the $18-per-person event.
In building up to Prager’s keynote speech, there were these other developments at the rally:
--Several Israeli soldiers, out of uniform, were introduced as guests in the front row, and were accorded a standing ovation.
--Norma Handy, a member of St. Stephen’s Church of God in Christ, sang “The Star Spangled Banner” and Bishop George D. McKinney of the same church delivered the closing prayer.
--A video presentation of the singing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s National Anthem, was accompanied on stage by the Wild Roots performance group.
--Rabbi Rosenthal read as an invocation the traditional “prayer for Israel” that is recited in Jewish congregations around the world, and then topped it off with the sounding of a shofar.
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--Assemblyman Joel Anderson (Republican, El Cajon) received from Randy Neal, CUFI western regional director, a CUFI awardfor his successful bill last year requiring state pension funds to divest themselves of holdings of companies doing business with Iran—holdings that he said accounted for nearly $24 billion. Anderson currently has before the Legislature another measure, resolving that “The Legislature supports Israel’s right to seek peace and security for its citizens, the prime obligation of any government and we stand with Israel.”--Israeli Deputy Consul General Gil Artyeli announced emotionally the death in a training flight of Israeli Air Force pilot Assaf Ramon—son of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who in 2003 had died with six others in the explosion of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia when it reentered earth’s atmosphere. Artyeli called for a moment of silence for Ramon, to which the audience responded by rising en masse for the tribute. Then, in prepared remarks, he described Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the “new Amalek … the new Hitler.” He said the world witnessed the crackdown in Iran on the protestors of the recent election by which Ahmadinejad allegedly was overwhelmingly re-elected, and said if the Iranians did that to their own people, “what would they do to ‘infidels,’ Jews and Christians alike, if they obtained nuclear weapons?” He also suggested the possibility that Iran's Ahmadinejad someday will sneak a nuclear weapon to his “best friend, Chavez” and that, in turn, it will be “snuck into the United States.”
--Organizer Stephens said if anyone needs proof that God exists, the answer is “Israel” because that nation has thrived against all odds. “Those motivated by hate have taken their best shot, yet the Jewish people still stand,” he declared. In weddings, he noted, clergy typically pray “What God has put together let no man put asunder.” The same holds true for nations. “What God has put together, let no man—or government—put asunder,” he said. He asked for a showing of hands to see what percentage of the audience were Christians, what percentage Jews, and announced that it was a 50-50 participation.
Prager was introduced by Pastor Barry Sappington of Crosspointe Life Church in La Mesa. Before settling into his keynote speech, Prager put a kippah on his head and recited the Shehechiyanu prayer, thanking God for bringing him to this special moment. He said that he was particularly thankful for seeing so large a contingent of Jews at the CUFI rally.
Prager said no other issue in the world has consumed more time at the United Nations than that of Israel, and suggested that there is “no secular explanation for all that preoccupation with Israel.” Rather, he suggested, this is part of the unfolding of God’s plan. “The bad hate Israel, the good love it—that is pretty much the way it is,” Prager declared. Whether one loves or hates Israel “is a moral litmus test,” he said. Often the United States is Israel’s only supporter in the United Nations, a fact that he said makes him proud. If ever the United States should abandon Israel , it will be the day the U.S. goes into decline, because at such point America would care more about people’s opinions than God’s, Prager asserted.
He described Jews and the State of Israel as the “miners’ canary” for the world—the first to perish when the atmosphere gets poisoned with hate. He added that he believe God chose Jews for their role—not because Jews are better than other people, but because they are as flawed as other people, and He wanted to shape them.
“I am aware of a number of Jews’ confusion regarding Christians’ support of Israel,” Prager said. “I know there was controversy here in San Diego, where even some rabbis either took out an ad or put out a proclamation …to not attend this particular evening, and it was a shock… I think I have to say that I hope that these rabbis atone prior to Yom Kippur (laughter) … for coming out against goodness. It was bigotry, it was intolerance and it was ignorance.”
While not alluding directly to the past controversies between the Reform movement and Hagey, Prager said that Nobel peace laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel recently had a dialogue with Hagey and expressed appreciation for CUFI’s work.
“Those who did not attend (Sunday evenings rally) for whatever personal reason they may have, owe this organization an apology, a public apology, and they should do it before Yom Kippur,” Prager said.
He then went through a litany of objections that some Jews have about CUFI, among them that the organization’s ulterior motive is “to convert Jews.” He called this argument “absurd” and asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they know a Jew who became a Christian thanks to Christians United for Israel. There was laughter in response. He asked the audience to imagine someone named Haim Rubenstein seeing that Christians United for Israel supports Israel and concluding, “Ah-hah! I’m going to church!”
Saying he is often asked by Jews to speak about the threat of “Jews for Jesus” to Jewish survival, he commented that he does not consider that organization a threat to Jewish survival, rather “Jews for Nothing is a threat to Jewish survival.”
Another invalid argument made by Jews, Prager said, is that the only reason Christians care about Israel is because in their theology, Jews need to be in Israel before Jesus can return. He suggested the next time a Jew says something to that effect , a Christian should challenge him by saying “You seem to know a lot about Christian theology; can you name the Four Gospels?” Those who claim expertise on Christian beliefs about the End of Days ought to at least be able to name the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Furthermore, he said, Jews need to understand that Christians do not believe that by their actions they can hasten Jesus’s return; rather they believe only God can decide on the proper time for Jesus’s return.
Christians support Israel, he said, in an allusion to Genesis 3:12, because they believe “God blesses those who bless Israel” – Prager was interrupted by cheering applause here. “I will give you a secular proof,” Prager added. “The United States is the most blessed country in the world—everyone knows that. … I do not believe it is coincidental that the country that has treated the Jews of its country the best of any country that Jews have ever lived in is also the most blessed in history! It is not coincidence!”
Prager attributed the suspicion Jews feel about Christians to the Holocaust, explaining “we have been bruised mentally…the Jewish psyche has been formed by the Holocaust most recently and by thousands of years of death, torture and destruction before that…. When two year old Jewish babies are considered an enemy to be exterminated, it does something …. You just don’t trust anybody…”
He added that “there is no Jew walking on the Earth who is not traumatized by the Holocaust … “ and suggested that is why there are even some Jewish opponents to Israel, willing to see it destroyed, “because we have been so damaged by all this hatred. “
Prager said this is “not an excuse” for Jewish rejection of CUFI, “but it is somewhat of an explanation.”
The radio talk show host and author said that he participated in a campaign of “Non-Christians for the Cross” after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit to remove the image of a cross from the Los Angeles County seal. Noting that Los Angeles was founded by Catholic missionaries, Prager said taking the cross of the seal was tantamount to denying the county’s history. The name “Los Angeles (the angels)” in itself suggests the city was founded by people who believed in Angels, people were Christians, he said. Should the name be changed to “Los Secularos?” He said the controversy reminded him of a joke that used to be told in the old Soviet Union: “The future is known; it is only the past that keeps changing.”
So, he said, some Christians are fighting for Israel; some non-Christians are fighting for the cross and both are doing good for one another.
Prager advised the Christians in the audience that they too have a battle within the ranks of their religion—“You have fellow Christians who have bought the Kool-Aid on Israel,” explaining he meant those who lash out against settlements and describe Israel as an apartheid regime. He said if it’s an apartheid regime, how is it that Arab Israelis have more freedoms than anywhere else in the Middle East and want to stay in Israel?
Prager said CUFI will have to fight organizations like the Presbyterian Church USA, which has adopted platforms critical of Israel and favoring the Palestinians. Prager said it will have to be decided whether Christianity is a religion “that worships princes or worships God – that is how big this issue should be in Christian life.”
Finally, he urged Christians not to give up in the face of hostility from some Jewish quarters. He said it is hard for Jews to believe that there are other people who want what is good for them, “so be patient.”
Prager’s speech and the now public letter from the Reform rabbi put before the Jewish community the issue of how it ought to relate to CUFI.
Morris Casuto, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said some Jewish organizations are willing to have dialogues with Muslims and other religious communities, yet are hesitant “to reach out to Conservative Christian groups as well.”
He added “that doesn’t mean that reaching out to pastors like John Hagee requires us to provide a quid pro quo.” Rather, he said, the Jewish community should continue to “stand up for those other values that we view as important.”
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