I

s the Boycott, Divestment, 
Sanctions (BDS) movement, 
which calls for economic, cul-
tural and academic boycotts of 
Israel, just a way of punishing the 
Jewish state for its policies toward 
Palestinians — or is it anti-
Semitic? Well, let’
s ask the 
experts — Germany.
The German parliament last week 
forcefully and overwhelmingly con-
demned BDS, likening its tactics 
and methods to “Nazi-era cam-
paigns targeting Jewish businesses 
in Germany.”
According to a report in the Wall 
Street Journal, members of parlia-

ment were particularly incensed by 
the “Don’
t Buy” stickers BDS affixes 
to Israeli products. The resolution 
opposing BDS stated that the stick-
ers “inevitably prompt associations 
to the National Socialist Slogan 
‘
Don’
t Buy from Jews’
 and the cor-
responding smears on facades and 
shop windows.”
Anti-Semitism is rising in Europe 
and America. Groups on the left 
and right of the political spec-
trum are finding common cause in 
demonizing Jews. Media platforms, 
ranging from the New York Times to 
the Daily Stormer and Atomwaffen 
Division, either subtly or blatantly 

revive and advance damning Jewish 
conspiracy theories.
There’
s a memorable line from an 
advertising campaign touting the 
investment firm E.F. Hutton. “When 
E.F. Hutton Talks, People Listen.” 
When it comes to BDS, there are 
a lot of expert talkers who claim, 
occasionally with hints of sincer-
ity, that a broad-based boycott of 
Israel, its products and citizens has 
nothing to do with anti-Semitism. 
But when it comes to boycotts, 
anti-Semitism and disastrous con-
sequences for Jews, Germany is 
talking. How arrogant are those 
who choose not to listen. ■

When Germany Talks BDS,
It’s Time to Listen

have lost respect for each other and rare-
ly engage in meaningful dialogue. This 
led to a fractured Jewish community in 
which we are more like rivals than broth-
ers and sisters.
According to Torah, we are all one fam-
ily, descendants of our forefather Jacob. 
We are to love and care for one another 
regardless of our differences. We know 
from history that HaShem will leave our 
midst if we dismiss His Commandments 
and show animosity toward our fellow 
Jews. This occurred prior to the Roman 
destruction of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
Because of the recent election to the 
U.S. Congress of radical Muslim women 
and left-wing activists, we can no lon-
ger rely on the Democrat Party for its 
unconditional support for Israel and 
Jewish causes. Anti-Semitism is brazenly 
demonstrated by groups such as the BDS 
Movement (Boycott, Divestment and 
Sanctions), Black Lives Matter, J Street 
and If Not Now. College campus groups 
like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) 
and the Muslim Student Association 
(MSA) instigate and promote violence 
toward Jewish students and pro-Israel 
speakers across the country. Our apathy 
and indifference toward these groups will 
only fan the flames of Jew-hatred.
As HaShem’
s chosen people, we must 
set aside our differences, engage in civil 
discourse and demonstrate goodwill 
toward each other. The adage “united we 
stand, divided we fall” is as true today as 
ever before. Our love and respect for one 
another will usher in a time of blessing 
for all Jews and make us far less vulnera-
ble to outside threats and intimidation. 
To quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “… 
Remember, God chose us as a people, and 
it is as a people that we come before God 
and before the world. The Sages said… 
‘
Great is peace because even if Israel is 
worshipping idols and there is peace 
among them, God will never allow harm 
to happen to them.
’
 Go think about that.
”
The time for Jewish unity is now!

Michael S. Ginsburg 

Southfield

views

8 May 30 • 2019
jn

continued from page 5

commentary

Why We Really Aren’t Debating Abortion
I 

love men. I am the mother of the 
most generous, caring son and the 
wife of a man who has blessed me 
with his devotion for 23 years. My prob-
lem is not with men. My problem is 
with patriarchy.
Patriarchy is a system 
of society or govern-
ment in which men 
hold predominant 
power and social privi-
lege. Like all systems of 
power, patriarchy seeks 
one thing and one thing 
only: self-preservation. 
Whether consciously 
or unconsciously, the 
people who profess to be pro-life are 
primarily motivated by the desire to 
maintain their way of life. I am 100 per-
cent sure that, if they could, along with 
making abortion illegal, many of them 
would vote to put slaves back in the 
cotton fields.
Their message is the same as it was 
during the Salem witch hunts.
Their message is the same as it was 
during Jim Crow.
Their message is the same it was 
during the Anita Hill hearings.
It is as cruel as it is insane. 
Yesterday, I was emptying out my 
teenage daughter’
s leftover lunchbox as 
she sat next to me in the kitchen watch-
ing the television show Once Upon A 

Time. The storyline was about a beauti-
ful young woman who had been cursed. 
“The only way to reverse the spell is 
with a kiss,
” the narrator explained. And 
who has to kiss her? Her captor. She 
must make him fall in love with her, 
kiss her and then she will be free. Sound 
crazy?
Remember the story of Beauty and 
the Beast? Belle is captured by a large, 
overwhelmingly powerful, angry male 
creature. He locks her in his castle. But 
they fall in love, kiss and the spell is 
lifted. I loved the musical. I saw it on 
Broadway. But come on. No woman 
in her right mind falls in love with her 
captor. And captors are not knights in 
shining armor in disguise or misun-
derstood beasts. They are characters in 
a misogynistic mythology that goes all 
the way back to the bible itself. 
Think of our first myth, the myth 
of Eve. Eve is the very first person to 
have the chutzpah to take charge of her 
body. She eats the apple and because 
of this, Paradise is over. Forever. For 
everyone. Yes, Adam is punished too, 
but he is not blamed. Eve is blamed for 
all the suffering that all men will have to 
endure until the end of time. The need 
to control women entered the matrix 
of society as the most essential norm to 
maintain the patriarchy.
This is the reason why we are not 
really debating abortion in our coun-

try. The debate on abortion is almost 
a distraction. It has so much less to do 
with saving “unborn children,
” as it has 
to do with controlling women, terri-
fying females and sending a message 
to people of color. I do not believe for 
a minute that the men (and women) 
of Alabama and Missouri and Ohio 
and Michigan advocating for abortion 
restriction sincerely care about the lives 
of all children.
Do you think that they are going to 
protect and provide for the children 
who, as a result of the new laws, will 
be born from rape and incest? Do you 
think they will include the mothers of 
those children fully and completely in 
society? Invite them to church picnics?
Don’
t be distracted by the conversa-
tion on killing babies in late-term abor-
tions. The fine white folk who are trying 
to overturn Roe Vs. Wade don’
t really 
care about “unborn babies.
” They really 
care about maintaining power. They 
care about money and privilege and 
staying in charge, especially of women. 
We must see them for who they really 
are: Predators whose worst nightmare is 
powerful women with self-esteem. ■

Tamara Kolton is an independent rabbi in the 
Detroit community and the author of the upcom-
ing book, Oranges For Eve: My Brave, Beautiful, 
Badass Journey to the Feminine Divine. 

Rabbi Tamara 
Kolton, Ph.D.

Corrections:
• In “Water is Life” (page 22, May 23), 
it should have said the concert will start 
at 4 p.m. June 4 at Congregation Shir 
Tikvah in Troy.
• In “Politically Active” (page 34, May 
23), Contributing Writer Esther Allweiss 
Ingber should have gotten a co-byline.
• In “Broadway Bound” (page 106, May 
23), Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is 
extended through January 2020 at Stage 
42; Michael Yashinsky rejoined the cast. 

 editorial