ti

WHERE ELSE CAN YOU PICK UP THE PHONE, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH A
FURNITURE DESIGNER TO COME TO YOUR HOME AT NO CHARGE, CUSTOM DESIGN
YOUR NEW FURNITURE TO FIT YOUR ROOM AND THEN FINANCE IT FOR YOU?

Illegitimate Claims
To Denigrate Jews

NEIL RUBIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

BUT
DIRECT

rrom the

MANUFACTURER

MONTH

Interest-Free
FINANCING

-Limited-
off er

Fall Winterizing Special
Call for Details

RICK WALD (810) 489-5862

74

We Now Welcome VISA and MASTERCARD / Licensed and Insured

f you can't beat them, beat
them up ideologically. Scream
about their control of the slave
trade and call them blood
suckers. Or fanatically push a
maximalist claim to Jerusalem,
blaming your shortcomings on
others. How about this one: Place
a Torah next to a Christian cross
and repeatedly explain that the
two belong together.
An unholy triumvirate is on
the march. The players — the
Nation of Islam, the Palestine
Liberation Organization and the
Messianics — are not acting in
union, but are aligned in purpose.
The three groups have found
the formula to successfully im-
plement anti-Semitism's original
intent: the denigration of Jews to
show that we no longer possess
God's mantle of chosenness.
Hence the downside of religion's
much trumpeted return in Amer-
ica: the revival of the illogic that
brought us the Spanish Inquisi-
tion, the Crusades, pogroms and
legal subjugation and murder of
Jews in Moslem lands.
Feeding into the frenzy of pop-
ularizing these groups is the sec-
ular media, a pack that relishes
stereotypes the way a chocoholic
worships Godiva. Their surface
treatment of the complex issues
involved is pathetic.
Ironically, the Nation, PLO
and Messianics are gaining suc-
cess by borrowing elements, al-
though not the defining factors,
of Judaism: a psychology and the-
ology of our claim to being God's
chosen people, which has result-
ed in being opposed at best and
persecuted at worst.
The backdrop to this is the in-
crease of fundamentalism in all
aspects of our society. We see this
most clearly in the meteoric rise
of the Christian Coalition. They
offer a vision of American religion
that, as U.S. Rep. Barney Frank
has said, "ain't Sh'ma Yisrael."
Not convinced? Glance at some
recent statements and actions by
the leaders of these groups.
At the Million Man March,
whose many and mixed messages
reached tens of millions, Louis
Farrakhan had the world's
attention. In a typically rambling
two and one-half hour speech, he
held no olive branch to groups
that he has repeatedly attacked
— black critics, Catholics, Jews,
whites and homosexuals.
Before and after those re-
marks, he did what all preachers
of hate do. He denied that he was
a racist. And he called for dia-
logue with the Jews. He's even
ready to meet with Jews willing
to refute his claim that we're

.

bloodsuckers. What a guy!
All along, we cannot forget that
he combines the real frustrations
of black America with funda-
mentalist Islamic theology, which
is rejected by some mainstream
American Moslem leaders.
Then there's Mr. Arafat. The
PLO leader, instead of focusing
on the legitimate gains he has
made, keeps vowing jihad, or holy
war, to win Jerusalem. This fits
classical Islamic ideology of be-
ing victorious over the infidels.
And hey, Shlomo and Rivka,
don't look too far to figure out who
that might be.
That brings us to the Mes-
sianics. They believe that one can
and should live a "Jewish life" by
believing that Jesus was the Jew-
ish messiah.
They like to place "Jews" after
the word Messianic. I won't. They
espouse a type of Christianity

There is a common
thread among the
Nation of Islam, PLO
and Messianics.

that, regardless of the Jewish
symbols they appropriate, is anti-
Jewish. In a pluralistic America
they are entitled to do so, but
they're not about to mix milk and
meat in my kitchen.
Locally, the Messianics have
set up shop in the Toco Hills area,
also home to the area's Orthodox
Jewish community. That latter
group is protesting the presence
of these strangers in their midst.
In short, the Messianics' re-
jection of 2,000 years of Jewish
history and theology is one of the
world's grossest simplifications.
Dialogue with them will offer
Jews little more than heartburn.
But as troubling as it might be
to many Jews, the Nation and the
PLO can give us something: a
chance to enhance our values
while creating healthier societies
here and in Israel.
As these two groups seek to
move into the political and social
mainstream, we must recognize
that the need to deal with them
does not lead to the need to love
them.
At the same time that we ago-
nizingly find the formula for co-
operation, we must press these
potential enemies to do what the
Rev. Farrakhan called upon black
men to do — atone for past sins.
In the framework of Chris-
tianity and Islam, that concept
has uniquely Jewish legitimacy
and originality. El

