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Imus the Jew Hater and the Babbling Jew30 March 2005
An Observation by Shelomo Alfassa
This morning the clean shaven man with a large lop of grey hair and a small black kippah sat next to the Catholic priest as radio and television talkshow host Don Imus opened his interview. The opening question, stated in an accusatory tone from the host, was "do you both believe in the same God," to which they both indicated "yes." Gellman, the "rabbi" joyfully joked with the radio host, and went blurted out (in an inappropriate manner), "yes, amen, hallelujah!" When Imus asked what do they [Jews] think of Jesus, and Monsignor Tom Hartman responded--he was a "prophet, teacher, a rabbi, all good things" Gellman did not challenge him, Gellman did not question him, Gellman said nothing, not a word. Gellman's silence when his friend the priest called Jesus a prophet and rabbi, was indicative of how most of the "rabbis" of the reform movement treat Christianity. They treat it without challenge, thus with holiness. Yes, as people in society we should treat each other with respect, but when Gellman is there supposedly representing the Jewish perspective on national television and a priest tells the world Jesus was a prophet, teacher and rabbi of the Jews, then Gellman has a responsibility to speak up. To Judaism, Jesus was in NO WAY a prophet or a teacher or a rabbi. This is at its core the exact opposite of what Judaism feels.
Imus started to speak of the head of the Vatican who is near death, and blurted out to Gellman, "Of course you hate the Pope" "I do not," barked Gellman. The priest then spoke about the holiness of the movie The Passion of the Christ, and Gellman said nothing--absolutly nothing, his silence indicated to the Jews watching, that Jesus was holy, that the film portrayed the "true history" of Jesus, as the priest mentioned.
At the commercial break, Imus said they would return with Monsignor Tom Hartman, and Hartman responded: "let the rabbi speak." Imus said, "He's sitting there, you can see that he is irritated!" When Gellman and the priest made statements saying that he was not irritated, Imus blurted out in a cynical manner, "Enough with Jesus, lets get back to the Jewboy." To which you can hear another announcer in the background say, "its always that way with the Jews."
Gellman is a leftist self-hating mouthpiece of the reform synagogue movement. His views are not consistent with Judaism, and he has made outrageous statements in the past on issues important to Jews. He once said: "When Israel was a fledgling State, some hard choices had to be made. When a ship arrived in Tel Aviv carrying Zionist Extremists, Ben Gurion had to make the hard choice to fire on the ship to make sure that Israel would be Democratic and would not become an extremist country." Zionist extremists? That ship held Menachem Begin, there were no enemies of the state on board that ship! In that case, Gellman had the audacity to compare the passengers on the ship to Islamic terrorists. In this case, Gellman allowed himself to look like a spineless jelly fish, a coward, as Imus embarrassed him and insulted all Jews utilizing childish jokes.
This is nothing new for Imus. On December 15, 2004 on the MSNBC cable news channel, Imus referred to the publishers of a new book called The Christmas Thief as "thieving Jews." Those remarks were met by a letter issued by the Anti-Defamation League who complained about his statement, but that did nothing. The more the Jews go on shows like Imus in the Morning, and as long as Jews as continue to be fearful to speak for the Jewish perspective, then the Jewish world will continually be made to look like fools, and will bear the brunt of the world's laughter. Jews such as Gellman need to stop trying to do things for themselves, and start doing things for Klal Yisrael. Gellman needs to remember the words of the sages, "Do not seek greatness for yourself and do not covet honor; let your practice exceed your learning."
