By GottaLaff
From a few days ago, but still relevant:
"We ask you Joe, look into your conscience". He assumes Traitor Joe has a conscience:
--Sen Joseph Lieberman, Nov 8, on Fox News Sunday.
Rabbi Fish of Beth El, in Norwalk, calls on Lieberman's conscience to do the right thing. His invocation of the Torah commandment (Lo taamod al dam reakha, "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbors") was especially poignant.Amen.
By GottaLaff
One of my Twitter pals, "BernieKram", wrote this up to share with our TPC readers. I think it's an important story, and a touching one... and informative:
I went to visit my Lubavitch Rabbi today. I had not seen him since the High Holy days and we chatted and caught up on our lives. I found out he had a new son, six months old who had a rare hereditary disease (only about 700 documented cases) found only in Ashkenazi Jews and he had been in and out of hospitals since he was born. As you might expect the conversation turned to health care and health care reform.Perfect, Bernie. Every word. You have the wisdom and patience of a, well, rabbi.
As we talked, I realized he had pretty much bought into much of the misinformation about reform and I tried my best to disabuse him of these. He defended private health care companies and how public choice was going to put them out of business. I assured him that they probably wouldn’t go out of business, but might have to change their business model a little to compete.
He was concerned that because of a public option, doctors would make less money. My answer was a shrug of the shoulders and a “why would that be so bad?”
I turned the conversation to the obscene profits private health care companies are making and how they can afford to spend $1.5MM a day to try to defeat reform. I asked him why he though they would spend this kind of money other than to protect their profit stream.
He then related a conversation he’d had with a health care executive about why health care companies can’t afford to pay claims for pre-existing conditions. It came down to that they lose money on “everyone of these people.” My Rabbi, being a firm believer in capitalism, found that very reasonable. I agreed, that from a pure business perspective, that made sense…for the company.
So I asked him about the morality of denying someone lifesaving treatment. Doesn’t the Torah say that to save one life is to save the world? The Talmud tells us that the wealthy have an obligation to use their money to help those less fortunate. Is it any less so for corporations? Is it moral to deny lifesaving medicine or treatment in the name of corporate profit? I asked him, as a man who lives a moral life and carries out the mitzvoth, how can he reconcile that? I had taken him from the realm of money and profit to the realm of man’s obligation to another man, a place where he lives his life and what he sermonizes about every week.
One last thing, I’m a Cohane, a member of the priestly caste, who, tradition has it, are directly descended from Aaron, Moses’ brother. As I was leaving after an hour of talking and debating, he asked me for a priestly blessing. I was stunned. I’d never been asked this before. I protested that I wasn’t worthy of blessing such a learned and righteous man as he, but he insisted. My blessing was, “May Hashem grant long life and peace to you, your wife and your children.”
By GottaLaff
Here's something about Barack Obama you probably didn't know: He's related to a rabbi.Oy, what a sheyn ponom. I want to pinch his cheeks!
His wife's cousin, Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr., leads a mostly black Jewish congregation on Chicago's Southwest Side. He is Michelle Obama's first cousin once removed: Her paternal grandfather is the brother of Funnye's mother. [...]
Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) says he hasn't been involved in the campaign, except to donate money. But he speaks glowingly about the Obamas.
"I'm very moved and very proud of all they've become so far," the 56-year-old rabbi told The Associated Press.
In childhood, Funnye and Michelle Obama's families visited each other almost monthly. Funnye's mother and Michelle Obama's father, who were closer in age, had a good relationship, Funnye said.Such a mensch.
Funnye and Michelle Obama, 44, lost touch in later years, though he attended her wedding in 1992. They reconnected about a decade ago when Funnye started working at a social work organization based near the University of Chicago, where Michelle Obama worked.
Funnye said he met Barack Obama shortly before the future candidate married Michelle.
"He was very caring, a little skinny and very sincere," Funnye said.
The Obamas have not publicized the connection to Funnye out of respect for the privacy of their large extended family, said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama.
"It was a total surprise to me," said Ira Forman, the executive director of the National Democratic Jewish Council. "Despite coming under attack unfairly in the Jewish community, Obama didn't even mention this. I think it's a piece of the puzzle that validates him." [...]A gezunt ahf dein kop!
In his nearly two decades at Beth Shalom, Funnye has garnered a reputation as a spiritual leader who promotes interfaith dialogues and has worked to unify black and white Jews.
"I believe that all humanity and all faith communities are trying to reach a summit," he said. "The summit is of brotherhood and sisterhood, a summit of equality."
Funnye attended the African Methodist Episcopal Church growing up, then explored a number of other religions before converting. [...]
Since Funnye took over Beth Shalom in 1991, the congregation has more than doubled from 150 members to 350.
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