Press
\nreports this week stated that I was seeking to buy the Libyan compound
\nnext door to me in order to establish an international center for
\nJewish values. These reports are accurate.<\/p>\n
Aside from wanting to
\npush the Libyans out of New Jersey, which has 39 families that still
\ngrieve over loved ones lost over Lockerbie, I have long wished to
\nestablish a permanent institute for the identification and
\ndissemination of Judaism’s core values. A place where scholars and
\nstudents can publish Judaism’s answers to the great social challenges
\nfacing our nation. A values-based institute that will due for Judaism
\nwhat, say, the Heritage Foundation has done for Conservatism, spreading
\nJudaism’s unique wisdom on the great issues of our time.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n America faces four great social crises. The first is growing These four challenges will only be addressed through a new set of Never before has Judaism been so much in need for its values. While Pat Robertson may have indicted all of Haiti for having, as he says, How is that we have kept all these treasures to ourselves? Yes, we But there is so much healing the world can gain from Jewish wisdom. Christianity maintains that people do not have real choice, that I am currently embroiled in a dispute with my Congressman, Steve But I am prepared to bury the hatchet with both groups if they do My Congressman and city officials can begin by approaching the Press reports this week stated that I was seeking to buy the Libyan compound next door to me in order to establish an international center for Jewish values. These reports are accurate. Aside from wanting to push the Libyans out of New Jersey, which has 39 families that still grieve over loved ones lost over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","category-religion-and-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nmaterialism and an addiction to greed. The second is the collapse of
\nthe family, skyrocketing divorce rates, and singles who date
\nrecreationally but do not commit. The third is the dominance of
\ncelebrity culture and an obsession with fame, rendering non-showy
\nachievement almost irrelevant by comparison. And the fourth is the
\ndepression and unhappiness that is becoming endemic in American
\nsociety, with the United States consuming three quarters of the earth’s
\nanti-depressants and one out of three American women on Prozac, Zoloft,
\nand Paxil.<\/p>\n
\nAmerican values. No longer can the Forbes 400 determine who matters.
\nAnd there was must be some stigma attached to men who make a buck and
\nimmediately drop a wife of 25 years in favor of some hot, young thing.
\nLikewise must teenagers learn that helping their parents with household
\nchores and volunteering to raise money for Haiti is more noble than
\nwinning American idol. And happiness? Well, that can only come from a
\nlife that has purpose. Narcissism is a prison that breeds loneliness
\nand depression.<\/p>\n
\nChristianity speaks of getting into heaven, Judaism says that paradise
\nis found around a functional family that gathers for Friday night
\nShabbat dinners. While Islam seems obsessed with its humiliation at the
\nhands of Western power and progress, Judaism says real shame stems from
\ntaking a noble world religion and treading on G-d’s greatest teaching,
\nto love one’s fellow man as oneself, and to treat others and we
\nourselves wish to be treated, as Hillel declared.<\/p>\n
\nbeen in league with the devil. But Judaism cites the example of Abraham
\nwho lifted his fists to the heavens when notified of the coming
\ndestruction of Sodom, crying out to G-d, “Shall the Judge of the entire
\nearth not Himself practice justice?” It speaks of Moses challenging G-d
\nthat if He were indeed to destroy the Jews after the sin of the Golden
\ncalf then, “Blot my name out of your Torah.” Where Christian leaders
\nindict man and exonerate G-d in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Jews
\nhave always accused G-d and exonerated man whenever innocents have
\nperished. G-d does not need defense attorneys. But vulnerable and
\npowerless humans do.<\/p>\n
\nare not a proselytizing people, believing that one need not become a
\nJew in order to draw close to G-d. Each of His children may have a
\nrelationship with Him by living a righteous life, however they were
\nborn and whatever they believe.<\/p>\n
\nShould we not try and give America a single national family dinner
\nnight, on Fridays, where kids stop texting and parents start talking?
\nShould we not teach men that while evolution says they are walking
\nsperm banks, Judaism says they are, at heart, not sex but intimacy
\nseekers, and that, try as they might to find sexual adventure with
\nwomen other than their wives they will never be satisfied because only
\ntheir soul mate can understand their heart? Would this teaching not
\nhave saved Tiger Woods who acted as a champion on the golf course but
\nas a slave to his libido?<\/p>\n
\nnotwithstanding righteous action they were born in sin and only faith
\nin Christ can save them. Freud likewise maintained that we are not the
\nmasters in our mental household as we might have supposed and that an
\nuncivilized Id would always rear its ugly head. Modern science echoes
\nthe sentiment with its emphasis on genetic predisposition that goes
\nagainst the belief we are in control of our actions. But amid this
\ntriple assault on free will, Judaism stands alone in maintaining, as
\nits most basic foundation, that our lives are unscripted and we can
\nbecome whatever we choose to be. Astrology is a sham, as is every other
\nsupposed limitation on our capacity to chart our own destiny.<\/p>\n
\nRothman, for his misguided press release defending the Libyan
\nAmbassador’s right to dwell in Englewood based on an agreement he
\nhelped broker 27 years ago. Likewise, I am profoundly disappointed with
\nEnglewood’s city officials for allowing the Libyans to live tax-free,
\neven as they have now informed me that they are beginning to bring
\npressure on the Libyans to pay for basic city services rather than
\nhaving Englewood’s hard-pressed citizens, who are taxed to the max,
\nsubsidize an oil-rich dictatorship.<\/p>\n
\nthe honorable thing and get behind a sensible plan to transform the
\nLibyan mission from a home, quite literally, of an enemy of the State
\nof Israel – the Ambassador Shalgham recently accused Israel of War
\nCrimes in the UN Security Council, and last March his mission accused
\nIsrael of turning Gaza into a concentration camp – into an institute
\nfor the dissemination of family values, moral instruction, and a higher
\nlife calling.<\/p>\n
\nLibyans to discuss a sale and to inform them, in no uncertain terms,
\nthat their sojourn in Englewood is simply untenable. I look forward to
\ntheir response.\n<\/p>\n
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the founder of This World: The Values
\nNetwork, whose signature campaign, Turn Friday Night Into Family Night,
\ncan be found at http:\/\/www.fridayisfamily.com<\/a>. He will shortly publish a comprehensive book on Jewish Values. To get involved in the organization, write to info@thisworld.us<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"