Being American you naturally know not of whom you speak. Rabbi Sirat was chief rabbi of France for many years and was always a passionate advocate of interfaith dialogue as well as a wonderful friend to Israel. This in addition to being a great scholar on a wide range of subjects. If anyone`s eyes and ears are open it is his.
It is grotesque that a conference like this, held here in Jerusalem, should be held in English by an organization that calls itself the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI). It is also tragic, because it falsely implies a) that Hebrew no longer binds the Jewish people and b) that, for Israelis, showing off their English is much more chic than speaking their own beautiful tongue and thus relegates that tongue to second place in the only country on earth where it could and should have been first.
Not putting peace on the agenda of Jewish People Policy Planning speaks volumes about this organization, which has money but nothing else to recommend it. |
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