fbpx

Letter to the Editor: Rabbi Sharon Brous vs. Rabbi Daniel Gordis: Betrayal or compassion?

Equating Rabbi Brous with Rabbi Gordis is almost laughable - if it weren\'t so sad.
[additional-authors]
December 3, 2012

To the editor,

Equating Rabbi Brous with Rabbi Gordis is almost laughable – if it weren't so sad.

Brous is soft on Israel. Read her LAJJ article after the pro-Israel (Flotilla) rally organized by the Israeli Consulate a few years ago, where she equated the rally with a Lakers rally, and expresses her sympathy for the 'Peace Now' speaker. She is quick to criticize Israel from her comfortable and secure rocking chair here in the States.

Jeffrey Goldberg put it best when he tweeted, “Rabbi Daniel Gordis asks Rabbi Sharon Brous to love Jews a little more than she loves Palestinians.” That was the point, plain and simple.

On the other hand, Rabbi Gordis is a true lover of Israel, a true role model. When he criticizes Israel (and he does – often) he has the moral right (unlike Brous) and his criticism is credible (unlike Brous).

If Brous wants to criticize the way Israel handles the Palestinian situation, she needs to follow Gordis' example – make aliyah,  pay Israeli taxes, send her kids to serve in the IDF. Until she does she needs to understand that her criticism is meaningless, and worse, it only strengthens those trying to deligitimize and destroy Israel.

Paul Jeser

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Three Dates to Dataland

I took three different dates, ages 6, 72 and 35, to see Dataland, the unusual digital art experience in downtown Los Angeles.

Hakol Shalom, All Is Shalom

This is the transcript of the speech Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson gave at the 2026 AJU Gala on May 19, 2026.

A Slice of Aussie Heaven for the Jewish Day of Love

A classic Australian dessert chocolate coconut slice features a rich, dense, fudgy chocolate base packed with dried coconut, finished with a thick cocoa frosting and generously dusted with even more coconut.

The Empty Plaza and the Eternal Bond

This Tisha b’Av, as we mourn over the Temple once more, it is an occasion to consider what resonance the remnants of the Temple structure hold for us today.

Rosner’s Domain | A Leftist (Not) by Choice?

Coalition supporters want to define Eisenkot as a leftist because leftist is a title most Israelis do not want their Prime Minister to hold. But this definition has inherent limitations.

Life, Love and Tisha b’Av

As if life needed one more complication, my anniversary with life, my birthday, usually falls somewhere inside the Three Weeks, that narrow corridor of Jewish time when celebration starts to feel suspicious.

Echoes of Oct. 7 in ‘The Odyssey’

The film reminded me that an ancient poet could write about massacres but also about moral courage, while terrorists who dream of killing Jews can only think of going right to the massacre.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.