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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Zip it Zweibel

Here's Dovid Zweibel, the Agudah muckety-muck, misunderstanding and/or misconstruing the California court's ruling on SSMs, as reported by the Jerusalem Post:

Rabbi David Zwiebel, Agudath Israel's executive vice president for government and public affairs, said the Supreme Court decision "vilifies communities like ours and the countless other Americans who consider the institution of marriage in its traditional form to be the foundation not only of the family but of civilized society."

Vilifies us how? The courts of this country also allow people to worship idols, a practice that, according to the Torah, also undermines the family, civilized society, etc. Does the first amendment to the US Constitution "vilify" us, too?

Anyway, Zweibel should zip it, because Jews invite their own destruction when they argue against extending the liberties we enjoy to other groups. As Steven Pinker put it in another context: "The price of freedom is tolerating behavior by others that may be undignified [DB: or immoral, or otherwise objectionable] by our own lights. I would be happy if Britney Spears and "American Idol" would go away, [DB: and Zwiebel, no doubt, would turn cartwheels if the sodomites disappeared] but I put up with them in return for not having to worry about being arrested by the [circumcision] police. This trade-off is very much in America's DNA and is one of its great contributions to civilization: my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty."

NB: Men like Zweibel insist that they are not bigots. They insist that their objections to SSMs are principled, and rooted in a sincere understanding of the Jewish religion. I think they are lying -- if not to us, then to themselves. If Zweibel cared one drop about the Torah, and its teachings, he'd object to foreign religions with the same ferocity with which he objects to SSMs. He doesn't and I have no charitable explanation for the double standard.

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