Another clue is that they quote Hannah Arendt, usually incorrectly.

I was looking for a Jewish charlatan!  

I am in the wierdest scavanger hunt ever.  

Sory, jackson- it's been a long day.

The following was written about MiniMe but, with a light edit, is even more valid for the source of the gangrenous rot that infests the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in this magazine - Martin Peretz.

Martin Peretz stands in the vanguard of the "no peace in our time" movement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In years of reading The New Republic I have seen many, many articles critical of US politicians and their policies but I have never seen any article critical of any Israeli politicians and their policies. And here we have the most bigoted and stupid writers at the magazine once again mock someone seeking an end to this conflict. The mockery should be reserved for people like Martin Peretz who do not care how many people die in this conflict as long as there is no peace in our time.

This intellectual and moral failure is systemic of the ultra-nationalist Israeli right of which The New Republic is one of the main standard-bearers in the United States. In perpetuating these failures The New Republic and its writers have caused immense harm to Israel and to the Jewish people that nation claims to represent. The New Republic has encouraged American Jewry, and the rest of the American people, to view its brand of mendacious and malicious bigotry as normative. The magazine is driven by a misguided ideology that has brought shame on the people of Israel - and this gangrenous rot has infested the core of this magazine leading it to intellectual and moral failure.

History has already demonstrated the failure of this "no peace in our time" mantra. It is anti-Israeli, anti-American and, frankly, given the shame it has brought on World Jewry - anti-Semitic.

Thankfully, for the sakes of the Israeli and Palestinian people, there are increasing signs of recognition in the American media of the depths of the failure of our policies towards Israel over the last few years. The American people are slowly but surely turning their backs on the failed course propagandized over the years by The New Republic and Commentary magazines. There is hope yet for a safe and secure future for both the Israeli and Palestinian people - for which they will have no reason to thank The New Republic.

Spencer Ackerman has given us a clue to what everyone at The New Republic knows but is too cowardly to state in public:

-- Everyone who works at TNR knows Marty is a racist.

toohotfortnr.blogspot.com/.../i-see-you-crawling-in-your-garden.html

Here comes the predictable mackenzie posting about things he knows nothing about.  That this antisemite posts on Jewish issues is really revolting.

What the fuck does he know about Rabbi Heschel?

Besides, Spencer Ackerman is fixated on Peretz and he thinks about him  the way Peretz thinks about Hillary.

This is kind of crap Ackerman writes:

"Thursday, January 25, 2007i see you crawling in your garden, subhuman, subhuman:Jon. You know very, very well Marty, um, isn't really fond of the Arabs. For instance, he likes to flirt with descriptions of Arabs as subhuman. Everyone who works at TNR knows Marty is a racist. Don't make me tell stories. You shouldn't really be contesting this point with Matt. And, if you insist on it, you certainly shouldn't write about how someone else "wants to pretend he doesn't know that's the case."--Spencer Ackerman"

toohotfortnr.blogspot.com/.../i-see-you-crawling-in-your-garden.html

Really, everyone?  And 'everyone" who works with Ackerman knows that he is a vile liar. Ask everyone.

He also yelps,

"For instance, he likes to flirt with descriptions of Arabs as subhuman."

"flirt" with the description?"

Translation:

I have no evidence that Marty doesn' like Arabs so I will use the  weasel word "flirt"  instead.

Only a true believing bigot like mackenzie would assent to this tripe.

I'm pretty sure Marty just slammed the entire Reform branch of Judaism.  

The phrase "tikkun olam" does not first appear in the mishna torah (a 12th century work on Jewish Law written by Maimonides) but in the mishna (compiled about a thousand years before).

What do you care Mr. Peretz? Do you actually believe in anything? Since many remarks of yours are characteristic of a superior outsider facing the ones that actually believe and try to make sense of their beliefs.

I do understand that many Jews that actually keep their beliefs struggle within the meaning of "tikkun olam" and try to find one that actually projects their own humanity.

Against people that do this - that actually live that struggle - your remarks sound like the ones of a "prefect of the holy congregation of doctrine of faith", defending the ortodoxy against the heretics. And you are in no position to adopt such a stance, because in you (the one that constantly proclaims his superior disdain for beliefs and his faith in "science") it can only be a self-contradictory one...

"Thankfully, for the sakes of the Israeli and Palestinian people, there are increasing signs of recognition in the American media of the depths of the failure of our policies towards Israel over the last few years." Translation: Barack Obama will defend Israel's "right to defend itself" but not listen to "Likudnik" arguments and the media will applaud, as will those that can barely disguise their animus towards the Jewish people and will shed no tears if this prescription results Israel's destruction and a Palestinian state run by Hamas.

"...your remarks sound like the ones of a "prefect of the holy congregation of doctrine of faith", defending the ortodoxy against the heretics. And you are in no position to adopt such a stance, because in you (the one that constantly proclaims his superior disdain for beliefs and his faith in "science") it can only be a self-contradictory one..." luispc

To someone who knows something about Jewish culture and thought in America they don't sound like that at all.

Came down R-ennis. No one is looking for the destruction of Israel.

Marty, I recall you being taken aback when commentators on a thread called you a "self hating" Jew. I thought it was little bit ironic then (taste of own medicine etc) but resisted the urge to post something.

But here you are again - calling any Jew who doesn't sign up to YOUR vision of Israel and specific policy approach (let's remember that 64% of Israeli voters want the government to talk to Hamas) as a "Charlatan Jew".  Are the Jewish people not allowed to voice differen't visions for Israel without having their Jewishness questioned?

"To someone who knows something about Jewish culture and thought in America they don't sound like that at all. "

Would you explain this to me Jackson?

Because for me what is being substantively defended by Peretz (independently of specific cultural contexts) is that only the ones that interpret Joshua Heschel in a specific way and see in "tikkun olam" a specific meaning (the orthodox meaning that Peretz defends) are true Jews as opposed to "Jewish charlatans"...

Others call "charlatans" heretics. But at least, when they do it, they actually speak from a religious "internal point of view"  against another possible religious "internal point of view" (that they take to be heretic). What does a man that clearly adopts an external point of view in all religious matters (a man like Peretz) have to say about the ones that adopt an internal point of view. Isn't it an incredible pretentious move?

Perhaps the meaning that these "charlatan Jews" (taken as such by Peretz) see in "tikkun olam" is only accessible to them, precisely within their internal point of view. Perhaps, for them, if a non believer calls them "charlatans", that is nothing but a ridiculous insult of a man that is interfering with very difficult religious and philosophical interpretations not because of their value in themselves for him, but only to advance his political causes (legitimate or not, that is not relevant for the discussion).

Reading this screed, and noting that the High Holidays are almost upon us, I really wonder if Peretz, in his doctrinaire arrogance and interpretative religious chauvinism, really has a grip on himself, the beauty of his religion, and the generosity that this holiday has for all Jews, not just those Jews who agree with his particular brand of politics.

peretz, you should be ashamed of this post. I'm not even a Jew and I feel offended by your remarks. You are a bitter, angry old man, and not even the once-a-year High Holiday post, which has been your pattern can atone for this kind of mean spirited attack upon those of your own faith. I

r-ennis -

You need a new babblefish because your translation is at once mendacious and malicious. The Ignorant Populist is correct.

No one commenting on these boards seeks the destruction of Israel. Over the last four decades the State of Israel has had the worst of "friends" in America - "friends" like Martin Peretz and other writers at The New Republic - who have encouraged the continuation of policies that have brought moral ruin on Israel. It is they who have damaged Israel not those who have sought and continue to seek to have Israel change its course away from one that has brought moral ruin.

There clearly has been a change in the ability of American commentators whose views differ from the "no peace in our time" camp to get their voices heard and understood by the American public. People like Eric Alterman, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias seek a better future for Israel - one not tarnished by the moral failure wished upon it by the Likudnik camp with its no peace in our time mantra.

The malice and hostility of Martin Peretz and his accomplices towards these individuals is hard to understand. I suspect it is caused more by a worry that their worldview has been exposed as false and hollow rather than by genuine concern over Israel.

Cookie love, Passover is passover, not a high holiday.  You're married to a Jewess, no?

Ignorant:  When did Marty get into a snit about being called a self-hating Jew?  

Luis:  Heschel is not a text from the Torah or the Mishna or the Mishna Torah.  He is a theologian whose words, Marty believes, have been intentionally taken out of context for the purposes of defending policies Marty holds as anti-Zionist.  Marty is defending the meaning of Tikkun Olam according to Heschel.  

Frankly, going along with Carter on Israel does show a certain amount of self-loathing.  The man visited Arafat's grave and embraced not one but two Hamas swine.  Remember, Arafat paid the family's of so-called martyrs--he personally signed checks to these people.  I'm sure Heschel would be spinning in his grave if he knew his ideas were being twisted in defense of this globe-trotting clown, who can't quite admit that the old man wanted nothing but Israel's destruction.  HE SAID SO, ND, so don't go down that path.

Do I think Likud is bad for Israel?  Insofar as they've encouraged loonies to continue building their ridiculous outposts in the West Bank.  But attacking Likud is a joke.  Because Israel at this point can no more leave the West Bank without surrendering its own security as I can shit on a piece of matzoh and eat it  without spending this year's seder heaving my guts out.

'Til anon, my fine Iberian friend.

If you reread my post, you will see that I accused nobody of seeking the destruction of Israel. Only that they would shed no tears at that eventuality. But, pardon me if, if after reading your vitriol for so long, I scoff at the suggestion that you have genuine concern about its continued existence, even within the pre-1967 borders, or even in its original 1948 mandated borders.

Ezra Klein responds:

-- Generations ago, Heschel saw this, and he exhorted America to fight only until it could stop, and then step back and plan out an exit from the cycle of violence. That required negotiating with individuals of apparent evil, and reaching out to -- and even protecting -- peoples who had committed some of history's most egregious crimes. But it was the way out of the pit. It is time Israel, too, made its priority an escape from the darkness, rather than the momentary satisfaction of another dead serpent. Heschel, ending his essay, wrote, "The Fascists have shown that they are great in evil. Let us reveal that we can be as great in goodness." Peretz is right to say that some of Israel's enemies have shown that they can be great in hatred. But don't dare say that Heschel believed Israel should eternally reflect their fury.

www.prospect.org/.../ezraklein_archive

But, finding Peretz's post to be full of "charming hypotheses," Ezra Klein directs our attention to a riposte by Gershom Gorenburg:

--  Much as I’ve come to disagree with Marty Peretz, I admit that I hesitate viscerally before criticizing him. Marty opened the pages of the New Republic to me in the 1990s. So attacking him feels like an act of ingratitude, if not a minor violation of oedipal inhibitions toward a one-time mentor. In his own blog, though, Marty appears to have thrown off all inhibitions. He’s turned obscene in print, figuratively and literally, as in his new screed against J Street. Even stranger, he’s exhibiting a definite ultra-Orthodox tendency in defense of his bellicose version of Zionism.

southjerusalem.com/.../marching-up-j-street-passing-marty-peretz-in-a-shtreimel

Both these blogs are worth reading. They are also notable for being far better written and argued than this post by Martin Peretz.

"Because for me what is being substantively defended by Peretz (independently of specific cultural contexts) is that only the ones that interpret Joshua Heschel in a specific way and see in "tikkun olam" a specific meaning (the orthodox meaning that Peretz defends) are true Jews as opposed to "Jewish charlatans"..." Luis,

Peretz isn't offering an "orthodox meaning" to Tikkun Olam, he is giving you an historical account of its origins.

Now, while the poster upthread is technically correct when he says that,

“The phrase "tikkun olam" does not first appear in the mishna torah (a 12th century work on Jewish Law written by Maimonides) but in the mishna (compiled about a thousand years before).” amitaich

He omit to say that the reference to tikun olam in the Mishna has a radically different meaning than that developed later on by the 16th century   Lurianic Kabbalah.

It is the latter meaning which some leftist Jews want to reinterpret the notion by giving it a universal meaning.

First some issues of meaning and translation:

Tikun (letaken) in Hebrew is a verb which merely means to repair something. If you want to repair any item say a pair of shows you would use that verb.

Olam is usually translated as world but it was often used in small Jewish communities to mean “our world,” i.e. the world of the village, etc. It can be used as a restrictive term and not a universal one. I believe that other languages as well will the term world to mean the world “we inhabit,” and the world as a whole. (Its inflected form can have other meanings such as “never.”)

In any case, tikun olam in the mishna, if you go by its application it clearly refers to the world of observing Jews and not to the world in general.

Later on in the Lurianic Kabbalah that meaning becomes not just universalized it becomes part of a complete metaphysical system which they tease out of different aspect of Jewish law and worship. This is not the different from the way some Phenomenologist may re-conceptualize some social or political practice.

The problem with the way Tikun Olam is used by some leftist Jews is that they turn an abstract and religious notion into a social practice. They reconfigure the term without adopting its metaphysical underpinnings.  Their aim is to universalize what is in essence a non universal religion. Judaism has always fought against such a move.

Judaism thrives on the tension between the particular and the universal.

There are already a number (too many in fact) universal religions. If they want to belong to one let them embrace either Christianity or Islam.

Moreover, if these folk had accepted the rest of the Kabalistic message then at least they would be consistent. But many of them don’t even believe in Judaism as a faith.

This is why I agree with Martin Peretz, who is neither Orthodox nor mystically oriented, that these people are charlatans.

As  a non believer it would be hypocritical of me to adopt some religious term and make it the lynchpin of my political activity.

I hope this anwers your question.

thejauntyboulevardier said:  "Reading this screed, and noting that the High Holidays are almost upon us, I really wonder if Peretz, in his doctrinaire arrogance and interpretative religious chauvinism, really has a grip on himself, the beauty of his religion, and the generosity that this holiday has for all Jews, not just those Jews who agree with his particular brand of politics."

JB, the “high holidays” are not upon us! Only Passover. The high holidays where in The Fall.

Get a grip.

Before you insult someone who knows a lot more about Judaism as you do, or even as I do, check your terms.

Don't let your hatred for Marty fuel or thought processes.  Leave that to mackenzie.

Have a good and tasty Seder.  Chag Sameach!

r-ennis it's losing game replying to mackenzie. The oly way to deal with this scavenger is to insult him, but otherwise to ignore him.

Let him go post on the Ezra Pound Klein blog.

thejauntyboulevardier said:  "Reading this screed, and noting that the High Holidays are almost upon us, I really wonder if Peretz, in his doctrinaire arrogance and interpretative religious chauvinism, really has a grip on himself, the beauty of his religion, and the generosity that this holiday has for all Jews, not just those Jews who agree with his particular brand of politics."

JB, the “high holidays” are not upon us! Only Passover. The high holidays where in The Fall.

Get a grip.

Before you insult someone who knows a lot more about Judaism than you do, or even than I do, check your terms.

Don't let your hatred for Marty fuel your thought processes.  Leave that to mackenzie.

Have a good and tasty Seder.  Chag Sameach!

You're not a self loathing Jew R-ennis, or a Charlatan Jew, are you?

We do have a charlatan Irishman don't we? Or is a “charlataness”?

Fine explanations, Molly and Jackson, thank you.

And although I keep my doubts about the objectivity of historical accounts (historical accounts are always made by subjects within their presuppositions), and although I do think it to be much deselegant to call "charlatans" those that interpret history or theological texts differently (is it absolutely impossible to find universalism in judaism? what would Levinas say?), I'm not going to argue any more.

I stand corrected on the High Holiday reference. I stand by my criticism of peretz' continued presumption that he, using his own personal yardstick, is the arbiter of his faith. This was a pretty repulsive post, irrespective of my confusing Passover and the High Holidays.

And unfortunately, in Spineland, peretz isn't the only one who occasionally falls into an arbiter pose. Politics trumps everthing in Spineland, and it can apparently even strip a fellow Jew of his or her Jewish chevrons. That, dear posters, is pretty disgusting.

Jackson, awesome post explaining the closer interpretation of Tikkun Olam, though I don't really have a problem with the modern reinterpretation.  Synagogues to which I belong and have belonged use the phrase in explaining why we must help save Darfurians and victims of the tidal  wave in Thailand--and so on and so on.  Nu, not such a terrible thing.  Though I agree, as I stated above (and where I managed to correct Cookie's use of high holidays--if you'd bothered to read my post), that the current craze perverting it's meaning to encourage Carterian malfeasance is in fact despicable.

Chag Sameach--I'll make a mental toast to you as I drink, to moderate excess, my extra-heavy Manischievetz sweet malaga wine, if there is such a thing.  

"And although I keep my doubts about the objectivity of historical accounts (historical accounts are always made by subjects within their presuppositions), and although I do think it to be much deselegant to call "charlatans" those that interpret history or theological texts differently (is it absolutely impossible to find universalism in judaism? what would Levinas say?), I'm not going to argue any more." luispc

Re-read my post, this is not what I said. I said that universalism and particularism are in tension within Judaism and whenever one notion gets the upper hand the religion as a religion becomes subverted.

I don't really see "despicable" in Marty's post, Jaunty.  I see anger--justified in my opinion.  Anyway, I'll be toasting Jackson with my maniscievitz, but eating a chocolate macaroon from Barney Greengrass in your honor.  

And as for you Luis, I'll be gorging on my world-class brisket and wishing a nice lapsed Catholic boy such as yourself could be enjoying same said braised beef.  You haven't lived until you've had my brisket.  At least that's what my Goyim friends (a seder ain't a seder without them) tell me every year.  

One other thing, Mr. Portugal:  I don't think Jackson is making an historic interpretation of anything.  He's showing a really good understanding of the way the original texts (my fave po-mo word) were understood at the time.  If he was interpreting, well, then, sometimes an interpretation is more correct than another.  Because speaking of po-mo, those people were full of shit, where as Lionel Trilling's readings were pure genius and full of truth.

"I stand by my criticism of peretz' continued presumption that he, using his own personal yardstick, is the arbiter of his faith. This was a pretty repulsive post, irrespective of my confusing Passover and the High Holidays."

Peretz is less guilty of that than are many Jews on the left who try to impose their half baked notions about tikun on the rest of us.

"Re-read my post, this is not what I said. I said that universalism and particularism are in tension within Judaism and whenever one notion gets the upper hand the religion as a religion becomes subverted."

Ok. Sorry. How do you describe precisely that tension? Why does it exist? Why is it that particularism cannot be overcomen by universalism?

Do answer me. I'm very interested.

 mollysimon, I have no problem with the way tikun is being interpreted today either. As long as the interpreters don't assume that it's the only way to interpret this notion.

As far as working against genocide or for human rights Jews in previous generations have done without appealing to tikun olam.

It's been estimated that between a fourth to a third of the famous Lincoln Brigade that went to Spain to fight for the Republic and against Franco were American Jews. They certainly didn't do so because of tikun olam. They did it because they were on the side of human justice.

I feel nervous when secular people start appealing to religious principles to justify their stance on social issues.

I want to end genocide in Darfur not because I want to "repair the world" but because I want to help the people being massacred daily there.

I don't for a moment believe that ending genocide in Darfur will make the world an ideal place. Murder is wrong, that’s all you need to know and believe in to work against genocide.  Too many leftists use social causes to push a political agenda.

Chag sameach to you too, and

Extras heavy sweet malaga wine is one of my favorites too; the other one blackberry wine.

“Do answer me. I'm very interested.” Luis

Me too. Unfortunately it would much more time than I am able to muster right now.

These are really complex issue, Luis, which would take many posts to explicate.

Perhaps on some fine summer day when there is very little going on, here.

I'd love to have a piece of that Molly. What's it exactly and what is it made of?

Speaking of Jewish cooking, I had a portuguese national dish today for lunch that has a Jewish origin. It's called Alheira de Mirandela. It's like a sausage without pork (made with hunted meat). Delicious. The Jews that lived here centuries ago created the recepy to have their own kind of sausages and it turned into everyone's favourite dish, even 500 years after they left.

I will toast you all on Sat night, molly, jackson, peretz, sleepy, et al. Variety is the spice of life and though I may disagree with you on some things, you all make life more interesting. Here's to luis too. For that matter, I will toast tnr, which is a very Hebraic place and a place that I really enjoy being allowed in as a participant.

Luis:  Brisket is a cut of beef that needs slow-cooking.  I looked it up in Portuguese and the only thing I could find was "culin falda."  Ring a bell?

I believe Jews influenced some Italian cooking as well.  I'm curious to look into this sausage--may have to go to a Portuguese restaurant to find it.  But in L.A., you can usually find anything.

"culin falda"? Never heard it. But next time I go to LA I'll try to go in this time of year and visit you in order to eat that.

Can you find Alheira in LA? Extraordinary. When you look into it, don't forget to mention that you want an Alheira "de caça" (which means "hunted"). It's expensive but it worths it. That is the true original recepy. There are very poor imitations.

Luis, you will always be welcome at my Seder table.  Looked up alheira online--definitely a Portuguese Jewish sausage.  Interestingly, my parents summer in an area with a high concentration of Portuguese and Brazilian immigrants.  

And believe it or not, here in L.A. we have a butcher called the Sausage Kitchen.  Maybe I could get him to special order some of this.  You never know . . . my curiosity is definitely piqued.  

Very interesting thread concerning Jewish influence in the kitchen and good will concening Pessach. Happy Passover to all.

I believe strongly in Tikkun Olam as well, as a religious principle. Perhaps the only one that really matters. But, I am appalled by Jews who give cover to the enemies of Jews with one sided attacks. "If I am not for myself who is for me". - Pirkei Avot - Ethics of the Fathers.  

"But, I am appalled by Jews who give cover to the enemies of Jews with one sided attacks. "If I am not for myself who is for me". - Pirkei Avot - Ethics of the Fathers. "

Exactly right, r-ennis.

Happy Pesach.

Amen, Ennis, on all counts.  And a happy passover to you.  Remember to eat lots of fruits and vegetable with that matzoh.

Hey molly, hag sameach from Santa Barbara!

jaunty,a nice seder to you too! Always happy to read you - even when(often...)  disagreeing, it's interesting!

So that's where you are, Sleepy,  you devil.  Pretty damn sweet for someone in research.  Although for some reason I had you out in Pasadena.  Don't know why.  We were just in El Capitan Canyon, north of you, last weekend.  Beeea-u-ti-ful.  Cheers from Santa Monica.  Make that the United Soviet Republic of Santa Monica.

Not at all, normally I 'm on the East Coast... I'm here just for a few weeks, visiting UCSB. And yes, it's pretty damn sweet!

sleepy,

You in SB?  If you get to the Bay Area, contact me at mrcookie1@comcast.net.

We had a great Seder and yes, I toasted youse all....

Hey Jaunty, nice of you to say that! I might go to SF before returning, but am not sure yet. I will contact you if I go there.

okey dokey...

If it works out, great.

I didn't remember this from the Republican primaries in 2000, and I don't know from where it's