And I would add: what empowers you to tell us, Israelis, how to govern our democratic state in which you are not citizens, you don't live, you don't speak its official language and you don't pay the consequences of your words? We, the Jews of Israel, invite you to ascend to Israel and become part of our society, but most of you refuse to accept this invitation. So, what empowers you?

Was the article really that bad? Thanks at least for believing I can do better!

Thanks for your comments. Regarding Jewish “morality” (for lack of a better word in English I used “morality”), the source is the Tanach and the Sages, particularly books like Pirkei Avot. There have also been many works throughout the ages that deal w/various aspects (books of the Rambam, Ramchal, Rabbenu Yonah, Rabbi Kook, etc). Included in Jewish morality are of course concepts like “justice”, “truth” and “compassion”. However, the Sages taught us (just to quote one example) “He who becomes compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate”. Although this may not be politically correct in western, humanistic circles, to anyone who lives in the Middle East (as I do) this truth is obvious. By the way, I’m a former American that moved to Israel 14 years ago. I’m also a “he” and not a “she”.

Like usual, thanks Robert for your insightful comments. One word about Benny Morris. Originally famous as a revisionist historian for his book The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, about 10 years ago he started changing his views. After many terrorist attacks he honestly took a look in the mirror and began saying that everything he previously claimed was apparently wrong.

Thanks for your comment. To clarify, I didn't say that American Jews only read anti-Israeli propaganda. Nonetheless, I do believe that there is much bias (from many angles) and even if you're very smart it's not so easy to ascertain the truth.

There are fanatical pyschos in israel in the political scene and they must be countered The sharon election of 2001 was catastrophic for israel with his brutality baggage and barak was tough enough though internal security of the1990s and early 2000s proved destructive in the extreme.

American Jews, like all Americans can criticize any country in the world. Including the USA. And do so frequently. Most are like Jerrold Cohen who are so completely ignorant of the truth it is pointless to try to follow them Now, as to the idea that American Jews should only criticize Israel in Ivrit. That is really funny. Most Americans, Jewish or otherwise, can barely speak English correctly. Expecting them to master another language for what ever reason is completely unreasonable. As Jerrold Cohen shows he is unable to understand English. How can you expect a moron to understand yet another tounge?

That's right Mike. You can not believe what you see on you TV or read in your papers-- you saw Al-Dura kid die on TV and it turned out to be a hoax; you saw a funeral procession of dead Palestinian alleged to be killed by Israelis, only Israelis had an overhead film showing the dead come to life after being dropped (you never saw that part on CNN) You had a chief physician of Jenin hospital showing you hundreds of corpses of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli soldiers, (a genocide in Jenin) only to read in small print on page 21 or 22 that the UN had finally and very quitly determined that the ' dead civilians' were dug up from the local cementary to fake a massacre. You saw Reuters photos of bombing in Lebanon, only to have bloggers prove that they were photoshopped, staged or fabricated. And the list can go on. But you can keep on believing in what makes you comfortable.

My opinion is that one should not wash one's dirty laundry in front of the neighbors. It's all fine and good, and sometimes very appropriate, for a Jew to criticize Israel, but only to other Jews. Doing so to non-Jews only lends more credibility to the belief that Israel is evil. Jews who openly criticize Israel to non-Jews are even called "good Jews", while those of us who refuse to do so are called "bad Jews", by the anti-Semites. (And yes, that is what they are.) We don't have to, and certainly shouldn't, tell the world that we think Israel is perfect. But we should not criticize her to the world either. Let's keep it in the family.

Your points are very well taken. I don't live there; you do. In the meantime, I am learning Hebrew, and I hope to make aliyah someday. If my husband won't go with me willingly, I'll take him there in a box, with the help of G*d.

Very good column. On your last column you recommended the book The Jewish State by Yoram Hazony. I have made slow progress because it has quite a devastating effect. It's one thing to know bits and pieces about the leftist sickness and its effects in Israeli society, but quite another to learn more about their warped thought process, and how they have methodically managed to suffocate much of the Zionist spirit in Israel. Aside from anger and despair, I feel deep embarrassment. Those Israeli writers, politicians and academics are Jews too - or at least the world regards them as such - and they are allowed to express themselves in such an offensive and destructive way against Jews and Israel without any consequence. And to educate generations of Jews along those lines. A society that does not react gives the impression of being a society that does not care. Hazony presents facts without attempting to psychoanalize anyone, so he makes only a very brief reference to this when he writes: "What is perhaps most remarkable about the advance of the new ideas in Israeli government policy is the way in which even the most sweeping changes in Israel's character as a Jewish state can be effected by a handful of intellectuals, WITH ONLY THE MOST MINIMAL OF OPPOSITION from the country's political leaders or the public. This has been true of the issuing of Israel's new public-school curriculum, and it has been true of the 'constitutional revolution' as well." (Page 52.) The author had already discussed the two Basic Laws passed by a handful of MKs in 1992 that opened the way to sweeping powers for the High Court (page 48). This got no reaction from polticians or the public at the time, and so far there has been no effort to cancel those laws, although it would only take a majority of MKs to do so. So there we can see the crucial obstacle to the defense of the Jewish spirit in Israel. I'm not sure what it is. It could be indifference, or a sense of being disempowered, or hopelessness. I don't know. You once wrote a column about the need to change the Jewish mindset in Israel in order to change the system. My first reaction would be to agree with you. But the more I learn about this, the more I think that big changes will have to originate from just a small group (as few as ten or so) of well-respected intellectual and spiritual leaders ready to put their differences aside and advocate relentlessly and in unity in favor of new policies to safeguard Zionism and Jewish principles. And also to take steps within the law in order to challenge the system. There are lots of Israelis with the right ideas but they probably feel too alone and too helpless to confront the system. In face of the social and spiritual tragedy taking place all these years, I wonder why they haven't unified their forces yet.

I have never seen so many backhanded insults and proof that Israel needs to sit down and stare deep into the mirror while looking at a printed out list of cult characteristics. The fantasy land that is painted hear is that Israel is not provoking intentionally its own isolation even from other Jews. Isolation serves cultic leaders (its on your printed out list) and not Judaism, Jews that it holds captive nor in any way Torah. Stop with the "them against us" garbage. This is exacly what this letter strives to do. Separate Israel, guilt disporah Jews into silence and allow cultic behavior here to continue under the radar to consume the Israelis and their future children trapped unwillingly within. America needs to come to israel in massive numbers, open up businesses, buldoze over the mob-like atmosphere and barbaric mentalities of macho (children-like) men and take away their monoply that keeps being used to drive out other Jews based on race, country of origin, as well as to oppress native Israelis into doing things they object too morally. Let my people go. The bias agenda in this letter without a stretch found in cult characteristics. An attack on self, a call to alienate all outside influences other than the Israli from of Judaism including American Jews, a guilt based on reinterpretation of critcism as a form of sin that kills Jews, guit for being a disporah Amercian living in peace not war (indication of curses), a mystery element that only Israelis understand, a rejection of the obligation to hold truth as noble, and a complete abandonment of Torah values such as one law, righteous judgement, trusting G-d, etc. etc. This is not Torah. Torah rejects the fears of the spys that state cowarding from battle and fearing the other nation is the only way. Hide the truth? Are you for real? That is not Torah. If we listen to such fear and isloation creating blather, we have truly lost our connectin to Torah and to God whom we stand as light to all nations, not a secretive society in the shadows of dismissed truth, hiding rather than correcting our flaws 9which Israelis see full well), any tilted unfair judgement. You shall not show favor in judgement. Criticism when righteous is this judgement. Torah actually divides the Jews (not lumps all in one protective cell) into choose life and choose death and instructs that no pitty should be given by choose life for the mess the choose death person has gotten themselve into by doing evil. We are to remove evil from our midst not cover it up and pretend that addressing it is sucide by the hands of other nations who have not our G-d. That is the true weakness, not running around with your arms puffed out and stepping on the necks of your neighbors, friends and families. That is inscure weakness and pretend strength. American weaknes is an Israli myth and they learned from that mistake. Liittle boys that throw stones should grow up. I defend my American family that is a lot closer to choosing life than your letter shows you to be.

Thank you for your comments. Hope to see you and your husband living in Israel!

Thanks for your comments Marcella. I'm also happy to see that you're reading Hazony's book. I really liked the book. Regarding the seeming indifference or hopelessness on the part of many people here, no one knows for sure what is the cause of this or what is the way to change it. It's a whole subject in and of itself. Perhaps you're right that just a small group is needed. In the meantime we all have to do what we can, each in his or her own way, in trying to wake up as many people as possible.

Since I welcome all comments, I thank you for taking the time to write what you did even if it was quite scathing. I would like to respond to a few of your comments. You wrote "Stop with the "them against us" garbage. This is exactly what this letter strives to do. Separate Israel, guilt Diaspora Jews into silence and allow cultic behavior here to continue under the radar to consume the Israelis and their future children trapped unwillingly within." I'm not sure what you mean by "cultic behavior" but regarding the "them against us" and the "guilt Diaspora Jews into silence", this certainly was not my intent. Anyone familiar with my writings knows that I'm trying to bridge gaps w/in the Jewish world and to cause unity, usually by finding the sparks of truth w/in different worldviews. Even here I wrote "For starters, since the Jewish nation is comprised of every Jew and the land of Israel, eretz yisrael, belongs to every Jew, then certainly American Jews can speak their mind about events in Israel. No one is suggesting that these two cornerstones of our tradition, namely that all Jews have an intrinsic connection with each other as well as with a common land, be tinkered with." You also wrote "a rejection of the obligation to hold truth as noble, and a complete abandonment of Torah values such as one law, righteous judgment, trusting G-d, etc. etc. This is not Torah……..Hide the truth? Are you for real? That is not Torah. If we listen to such fear and isolation creating blather, we have truly lost our connection to Torah and to God….." How do you infer from my article that I'm suggesting to hide the truth? I actually praise the pursuit of truth which is a cornerstone of Judaism. I wrote "Unlike the Middle Eastern culture that has an aspect of tribal affiliation and less internal criticism, American culture is hypothetically based upon an objective pursuit of truth and justice. Therefore, being influenced by the surrounding culture, American Jews tend to give precedence to what they consider the pursuit of truth and justice as opposed to simply granting unconditional loyalty to other Jews. On the surface this is quite a noble quality, one worthy of exporting to the rest of humanity." On the one hand I'm praising this noble aspect although on the other hand I'm also highlighting some potential dangers that one needs to be aware of in order to implement it. This is called "hiding the truth?" I also finished with "To summarize, American Jews definitely have the right to express their opinion regarding the Jewish State since Israel, like any nation, is certainly not absolved from criticism." Am I suggesting here that Israel cannot be criticized and that we should hide the truth? Once again, I welcome any comments, even ones that I don't necessarily agree with, since this is what creates the badly needed dialogue amongst the Jewish people.

the national home of the Jewish people. We look forward to your arrival in Israel!!!

I'll leave it at that...!!

Thank you! It will probably be several years, but I hope we make it!!!

Among jewish people there is a type that jews themselves call a bagel and lox jew. Kagan the pagan is a bagel and lox jew. What does this mean? it means a person of jewish descent who mocks her own religion. A person who shuns her own religion. When she spoke at her nomination hearings this week and said she was probably like most jews at a chinese restaurant during christmas, what she is doing is insulting not only her own heritage, but christians as well. This is exactly what we do not need on the supreme court: an anti-religious pagan. She is the type of judge who stands in sharp relief to a serious person of jewish descent. Louis Brandeis became the first jewish supreme court justice in 1916. He was born of jewish parents who had immigrated from europe. He enrolled at harvard law school, graduating at the age of twenty with the highest grade average in the college’s history. As a lawyer he devoted most of his time to public causes and was later dubbed the “people’s lawyer” because he insisted on serving on cases without pay. As a member of the supreme court, he was a staunch defender of free speech and the right to privacy, but he opposed franklin roosevelt’s new deal power grab. As a jew, he worked for the creation of a Jewish State long before world war 2. Would a man of this stature and dignity have joked about being at a chinese restaurant at christmas? of course not. He would have realized that he would be mocking himself by doing so. But as demeaning and self-loathing as kagan’s type of personality is, it can have grave consequences for the law and human lives as well. Take the case today of judge Dennis G. Jacobs. Jacobs is chief judge of the second circuit cort of appeals, appointed by George w. Bush. he graduated from Queens college where he later lectured in the English department. Then in 1973, he graduated from NYU Law. Jacobs also once wrote this in an article: in our courts, judges are lawyers … most of us have never been, nor want to be, anything else. We are proud of being lawyers. For many of us (like myself), lawyering is our only talent (assuming we have any talent at all), and it is the source of as much esteem as we enjoy. Does that sound funny to you? because it’s not. It’s disgusting. because today, this piece of garbage, Jacobs, just threw out a death sentence against a double cop killer for reasons only lawyers can understand. The killer was found guilty of executing two cops in an undercover operation. He was given the death penalty in 2003. Yet this judge Jacobs threw out the death sentence today because he claimed that prosecutors violated the cop killer’s constitutional rights by stating the cop killer wasn’t remorseful. It’s an insane technicality that only a lawyer could understand and only an NYU Law graduate could accept. This is what i mean when i say that pagan-like judges can have grave consequences indeed. Kagan is unqualified at any weight. She should not be confirmed, she should be filibustered. If we had a real two-party system she never would have been nominated.

America's far left liberal Jews are socials and communists that view Israel as the enemy to world peace. They loved Israel when it was a socialist, agrarian country but once it flexed it's muscles they despised Israel. The friends of Israel in the U.S. are conservative Christians who feel they have a biblicle tie with Israel and it's people.

You just repeated yourself. Never in Torah is it stated "simply granting unconditional loyalty to other Jews" is tolerated. Unconditional loyalty is cultic and a complete violation of Torah's requirments to not show favor injudgement, removal of evil from your midst and one law for everyone. It is a garden to grow bad seeds. How can one be truthful if the loyalty requires they sit in silence and allow a rapist or murder go unconditionally? I have personally seen this loyalty let several criminals terrorize good Jews in Israel. Too many times I hear "flee" rather than fight for good. "unconditional loyalty" is the cornerstone of people like Davidian compounds. Torah takes a righteous approach. You speak of Torah while you walk on your way. You share the laws, critcism under those laws and the honest truth and this - not false loyalty to choose death people who rape, rob, cheat, lie about Torah, etc. We see the results of unconditional loyalty in Israeli society. A spirit of lawlessness allows theives to trump converts or visitors because of "loyalty". And what happens to the righteous person who say no to inustice, they are labeled disloyal and punished? Do they show up to work only to be told they are fired? So yes this call for granting unconditional loyalty is found on a checklist of cultic characteristics and puts segments of our nation in the ranks of OJ supporters as far as morality and jackboot thugs in the realm of enforcing "loyalty". Right is right and wrong is wrong and outing evil is a commandment not an optional part of Torah that flexes to the will of criminals and corrupt police who think a good family name allows them to show favor in judgement. It may be a middle east value but it was never supposed to be our value. Disporah does this sometimes. Ideas from surround nations creep in. ..and I want to add that veiling (secrecy which is also on characterist check lists) only gets uncovered by other nations and is used for fuel in antisemitism. We can fool anyone any more than OJ supporters could. So I didn;t like your article and I think it exposes a menatlity that is sure to bring war and oppression to our people. (history shows it has) Try being honest and doing Torah the way Moses and G-d intended it. Speak of it on your way, not hide it and flee from confrontations that make evil amoung us look bad. Choose life is not unconditionally loyal to choose death in the orginal Torah.

Just wanted to add that "true" loyalty is NEVER unconditional. If you are loyal to someone you place conditions on your support that helps allow that person or nation to develop into a blooming flower. Unconditional loyalty is like not disciplining a child so that they can grow into a valid good adult. Society is the same way. It is a big favor for someone to point out flaws that cause the death and draining of the power of our people. I have seen the suffering here that "unconditional loyalty" has played. We are to be a light to all nations and this cannot happen if we are so disloyal as to hide the illness in society that needs to be called out and held accountable before the world. No one buys the falseness that everything is honkey dori behind the curtain and with the internet, we can no longer allow evil among us to put skelatons in the closet or bully our own people. True loyalty is what I give. Not secret opression under the false claim of loyalty. Lets cure our ills instead of ignoring them and let no one be decieved into thinking we are dishonest in hiding the truth from the world. In the society that hides criticism, the world will see the hidden anyway and expose not just the individual but label the entire nation and people liars. Do we want antsemitism that grows on this fertile ground? No we don''t. So how loyal is one who brings this on our people by falsifying and hiding what can;t be hid? Now add curses for the evil that grows in such places of "unconditional loyalty" that is enforced. How loyal is a jew who knows G-d will slay us and kick us out of Israel for sinning and yet continues to block out criticism that could have saved the nation from sins? Is loyal to the sinner and not G-d? You get my point. Loyalty is conditional and highly critical when needed. It is not a betrayal to criticize in truth.

The entrire artcile is testimonial to coercion to oust US Jews that make aliyah and to keep them from owning restaurants or shops in Israel. "Unconditionally"" says what? "Loyalty" to middle east judaism that US doesn't understand says what? The loyalty is to natives, not Judaism or the Jewish people? Look at the numbers and stories of failed Aliyah. What looks like coincidence in failure may well be unconditional efforts to be loyal by natives. Change is needed in such thinking. Take a copy of this article, it is usre to be pulled soon.

I would not demean Mr. Meltzer's integrity, nor his good will which is evident in his article. However my response as a left wing Jewish kibbutznik, is that if the choice includes defending the absolutely worst Israeli government since Saul tried to kill David, or honestly criticizing it as a liberal Jewish American, the second choice is so much more to be desired. Please make note; criticism of the Bibi/Avigdor axis is NOT the equivalent of denying the necessity of a democratic Jewish homeland.

I will answer your question anyways. Why should someone hate robotic propogation of cult concepts by people who are unware that they suffer Hellsinki syndrome or aknowlege they are under mind control? Why should someone hate having their life destroyed by members of a secret organization that bullies Israelis into oppression to discriminate against American, South African, Ethiopian, South American, and Eurpoean Jews? Why should people who have every desire to fullfill Torah and move to Israel loose everything because some cultic leaders don;t want their "uncónditional loyalty"'of their subjects challenged by logic or exposure to the worldwide Jewish view? I think maybe that my hate of such ills might have been spurred by loyalty to Torah and G-d who hates the very same. Why should a people who have been subject to social isolation, racism, and mass murder at the hands of vile nations be angry when they are subject to the same thing again because they are Americans and not Middle East descent? I just makes sense to hate racist unrighteousness. Lets face it it isn't about Judaism nor Torah. So yes there is righteous anger and hate of these behaviors and the fakse attempts to legitimizaton of such behaviors (the way skinheads do) that are contrary to Torah deserves a strong response in order to draw attention to its evil ideas that will and have injured and oppress Jews. How many physical attacks of Americans have sent them home with medical problems and scars under the umbrella of "unconditional loyalty"? I know of a few including one whose legs were broken, woman who had her teeth knocked out and a tourist who had his nose broken. But I don't think you really are asking for an asnwer but just posting the words "hate" in an attempt to do discredit rather than to address these important life threatening issues. Issues that had Jews not so long ago rounded up for camps. There is hate where there needs to be hate. I hate racists. I hate people who attack Jews based on race. I hate people that rather than use logic use brainwashing techniques to sidestep truth and honesty. I hate totalitarian "absolute loyalty" that hurts good people and is neither absolute nor loyal but rather flexed to oppress our people into doing evil. I especialy hate that the cult assigns one or two members to maintain the other members in silence of expressing their opinions and work as the interfacing liasons between the real world and the prisoner cult world. I hate false fronts and lack of freedom of Hebrews to speak of Torah on their way.

in Israel by the Zionists were/are the indigenous Middle-Eastern Jews. Am I misinformed?

If you read Torah the first racism " in Israel" (not counting the Aaron and Miriam story against the cushite woman and Moses outside of Israel proper) was by the Levis who made laborers unsavory characters. This and people with long eyelashes unequal length arms, etc. Violatons of Dev 4:2. This stemmed from the corruption of Torah into making Levis legislators of illegal laws and capable of making objects and themselves Holy. They even go as far as believeing they can make G-d holy and sanctified. Something pagans think they have been doing for milleniums. Before that only we were clear that only G-d made things Holy. Following that if you want to go back to the settling in of Isarel this last time, the racism wholy belongs to Rabbinical teachings and their view of "them against us" that persecuted anyone not in their group especially goyim. This type of closing people into groups with fear of outsiders and ideas is a cornerstone of any cult building and it is no wonder that they demand unquestionable status and unconditional loyalty. since the groups rely on the bloodlines race moves front and center. Torah has always had conditional loyalty to our people. Choose life gets the proceeds not choose death. I am confident that the disagreements between the rival factions of Jews based on race and ideology was equal on both sides. So your are informed but preferencial in your logical at analysis of the facts.

Josh shalom. I mistakenly thought that the comments had finished but I just saw now that they continued. Thus I belatedly would like to reply. I hope you will read this. You wrote "Never in Torah is it stated simply granting unconditional loyalty to other Jews is tolerated." I agree! I didn't write such a sentence. I'm assuming the brunt of your criticism comes from the following: "Unlike the Middle Eastern culture that has an aspect of tribal affiliation and less internal criticism, the American culture is hypothetically based upon an objective pursuit of truth and justice. Therefore, being influenced by the surrounding culture, American Jews tend to give precedence to what they consider the pursuit of truth and justice as opposed to simply granting unconditional loyalty to other Jews." To clarify, I stated in the above paragraph what I believe drives a lot of the Middle Eastern culture. This is simply my assessment. However, I never said that this is a Torah perspective or that it is good. In contrast, the pursuit of truth and justice which I believe drives a lot of American Jews is in fact a very positive aspect. It's also a Torah perspective although I didn't mention that because this is not a Torah article. In addition, it was only in reference to the "pursuit of truth and justice as opposed to simply granting unconditional loyalty to other Jews" that I wrote "On the surface this is quite a noble quality, one worthy of exporting to the rest of humanity." (in other words, I didn't write this regarding the Middle Eastern perspective with its limited internal criticism). The point of the article was not, as it appears you believe, to stifle criticism. I hope the above helped to clarify this. Together with this, I want to bring awareness to the incredible power of the false messages all around us. Although maybe some will think that I'm being condescending (someone wrote in one of the comments "We are smart enough to ascertain the truth"), I'm really not being condescending. I just think that many people are unaware of how much they/us are being influenced by the messages all around us. Therefore everyone needs to be much more aware of this. For example, a good-intentioned Jewish kid studying in a university who receives all his understanding of Israel from someone like Edward Said, or someone else who receives all his understanding from CNN, etc, etc, are being presented with very biased pictures. For me this is a fact that we all need to be aware of no matter how smart we think we are. However, this by no means suggests that I'm against criticizing Israel. I hope this clarified my point. Tzom kal. Yoel.

Your article has a perspective in it that has many harsh implications and actually does a good job of inadvertently exposing the teeth of the issues why people are critical. Although you rounded off the sharp edges in the article the truth on the ground is I am still looking at the fang marks that I know are the true nature of this. I agree with the dialog attempt but at issue here is something much bigger -the survival of Israel. The nations are barking war and you would think that a people so accustom to the curses of war would self assess and regroup to a better more defensive position. Instead there is cowering in the same old vulnerable hole we dug for ourselves. A secret or closed society is a prison of delusion. We are not strong. We can only increase the curse of war right now just like the Pharaoh’s magicians. A nuclear capability increases the cost and is not going to save us if someone will pay that price. Hitler killed 7 million non jews that stood in his way of kiiling Jews. Strong would be to bring peace as Torah said we could achieve. The ramblings of CNN or the outside world under propaganda influences is the symptoms not the illness. Make it better here, open up the secret castle and show a shinning bright house. If the house is dirty clean it up. We will be respected and revered if we do this honorable deed. We also wont be cursed as Torah perscribes. The only way to win this is to open Torah and get it back in the hands of the people on the streets and not in pieces in boxes or institutions that seal it up in pontification that forbids it on the streets. Allow Judaism/Torah/Israel to be the light to the world. I can't abide by the article. Whether it is the shutting out American streams of Judaism, harming the converts, hindering free expression of a love for G-d, abusing the Ethiopians, to protecia, barogus, isolation/cherim, defamation, controlling dating, chutzpah (evil by another name), being unread, slacking professionally, and so much more. I envision Israelis laughing at this point, like some kid that just totaled his dads car. This is the root right there. Self responsibility and a desire to be the best. We need to get a handle on this or we are going to loose this nation. When it comes to criticism, Take it on the chin and take it like a man. A pattern of hinting at criticism or using cultic pressures to hope the society or person gets the message is flawed. Outright face to face adult responsibility. Got a message, say it out loud. Allow the accused a defense and correct the ills. We need to grow up so we can grow old in the land (a nation of judges). Criticize away and with the open door people can see what is false and what is not. Without cultic defamation tactics we can analyze the credibility and concepts in a message, not let evil remain unchecked. Just once I would like to hear "Yes we were wrong and yes we will address the issue" instead I hear "you don't understand", "that's not Judaism (M.E.) " , "it doesn’t sound like us" or "it will never change". Even with the edges rounded by explanations, the body of the article and the reality of this day in Israel it is still speaking louder than the individual parts. All criticism based on righteous analysis is our best medicine. We've been cursed with war for centuries, let’s brush the dirty off of us and try this from a new perspective. The bitter pill with the sharp edges is that we cannot say we bear no responsibility for our condition since we are the central unchanging element in every nation and in every age. If one child is always in a fight, it is time to think and change. Torah said we would be getting war if we did it wrong, lets look in this area for our solution without saying we need someone to go over the sea to get it for us or that we need ten levels of expert interpretation. The uneducated Hebrew slaves had to do it immediately and righteously, it can't possibly be that complicated.