Editor's Letter

THE

The Danger Of Preaching

hat a week it was, with Pat Robertson's vitriolic claim
that divine intervention caused Ariel Sharon's mas-
sive stroke. The Protestant evangelist, ironically con-
sidered a friend of both Israel and the prime minister, drew the
civilized world's ire in suggesting that the Jan. 4 stroke was retri-
bution for "dividing God's land."
Robertson's dumb pronouncement managed to offend Jews
everywhere, whatever their religious
upbringing or political views.
"God considers this land to be his','
Robertson said on the Jan. 5 edition of the
Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700
Club."
Preaching from Virginia Beach,
Robertson, who commands an audience in
the millions, continued: "You read the Bible
Robert A. Sklar and He says, `This is my land' And for any
Editor
prime minister of Israel who decides he is
going to carve it up and give it away, God
says, `No, this is mine. '
Robertson was referencing Sharon's order for Israel to leave the
Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank last August in hopes of
restarting peace talks with the Palestinians. Sharon, an Israeli
military and political titan, long had favored Jewish settlement in
the Palestinian-controlled territories.
Robertson called Sharon "a very likeable person, a delightful
person to be with." He lamented Sharon's condition.
But, Robertson said, Sharon essentially divided God's land,
"and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who
takes a similar course" to appease the European Union, United
Nations or United States of America. "God said, `This land
belongs to me; you better leave it alone:"

W

"

who see God exacting revenge on Sharon for perceived criminal
or evil acts.
Ifs one thing to interpret the Bible. It's another to draw an
insolent conclusion. To tie a political action to a religious out-
come is perverse and dangerous. God is not cruel, plotting or
vengeful. Illness and global calamity are not God's work.
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, the thoughtful executive vice presi-
dent of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America,
put it well: "That God's ways are often inscrutable is a basic and
accepted component of our belief system and that of the world's
great religions. Jewish prophets from Moses on found that God's
ways were mysterious. Why bad things happen to good people is
a question about which libraries have been written, but the bot-
tom line is that human humility demands that we admit our
ignorance and bow to His will."
Important as Eretz Yisrael„ the land of Israel, is to Judaism,
historically and spiritually, it would never supersede the impor-
tance of B'nai Yisrael, the children of Israel. The land could exist
without the children chosen by God to inhabit it, but it's the
Jewish people who give our ancestral homeland its vigor, spirit
and soul — it's very reason for being.

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For a minister of Pat Robertson's

stature among evangelists to

God's wrath is a sign of growing

danger for Jews.

Robertson said the prophet Joel "makes it very clear that God
has enmity against those who, quote, `divide my land:"
In initiating the unilateral territorial pullout along with the
Knesset, a move that I supported, Sharon broke from his right-
wing Likud Party. With some core supporters, he formed
Kadima, a centrist party. Some Christian conservatives who also
resisted the withdrawal believe the territories are within the bib-
lical land of Israel and thus tied to prophecies foretelling the sec-
ond coming of Jesus Christ.
Breaching the limits of human ability to truly know God,
Robertson wildly linked Yitzhak Rabin's 1995 assassination to
the then-Israeli prime minister's bid for giving back land in
search of elusive peace with the Palestinians. "The same thing,"
Robertson said.
For a minister of Robertson's stature among evangelists to
brand Sharon's stroke as God's wrath is a sign of growing danger
for Jews. No matter what spurred his shocking claim, Robertson
now finds himself in the jaded company of Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Jew-hating fundamentalists

Pat Robertson: He sullied us.

God's role in Ariel Sharon's fate intensified when the premier
fell ill on his Negev ranch. But God did not trigger the stroke out
of spite — Pat Robertson's predilection for tainting scriptural
meaning notwithstanding.
Robertson sullied us. He turned God against us in the eyes of
the world by deducing that Sharon, leader of the Jewish state, was
divinely stricken for committing the sin of dividing the biblical
land of Israel.
Robertson's claim reinforces that we Jews must never let down
our guard — even for an instant. Jew bashing is not done in iso-
lation.

POIN TS TO PON DE R...

brand Ariel Sharon's stroke as

THE SALE

AT

TENDER

How can we, as Jews, counter
others who claim to know God's
will over us?

Is Pat Robertson's clear lack of
shame in sullying a Jewish leader
surprising?

E-mail letters to:
letters@thejewishnews.com

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January 12 A 2006

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