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Progressive Rabbis’ Blind Spot

JL;DR SUMMARY David Ingber critiques the tendency of some progressive rabbis to selectively apply their moral scrutiny, often focusing on the Israeli government while neglecting to address threats posed by groups like Hezbollah and Hamas or oppressive regimes like Iran. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HamasJewish EducationIranIsraeli GovernmentJewish SafetyLiberalismProphetic VoiceMoral StandardsProgressive Rabbis

Places mentioned

United States
"Over the past several years, Ive watched an increasing number of American rabbismany of them, like me, self-identified liberal progressivesuse their pulpits to call out the Israeli government and American Jewish institutions for moral failures."
Israel
"They frame their sermons as exercising a prophetic voice: speaking uncomfortable truths to their own community, refusing to look away from injustice even when it implicated their own people."
Iran
"But when rabbis mobilize communities to condemn violent extremists in contested Israeli territories while saying little to nothing about the 92 million people who still live under a brutal regime in Iran, the battles we choose reveal our priorities."
New York City, New York, United States
"The New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America promoted a Times Square rally on Oct. 8while terrorists were still operating inside Israelcelebrating Palestinian resistance to 75 years of occupation and apartheid."
New York, United States
"Some of the same rabbis who declined to confront the organization were later appointed to the transition committee of the DSA-backed Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who repealed the citys adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances definition of antisemitism on his first day in office."

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Retrieved 2026-06-01 05:31:25 UTC
Curated 2026-06-01 08:30:50 UTC