"NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee is considering making it a felony to follow some versions of the Jewish code known as halakha, the most severe measure yet put forth by a national movement whose members believe devout Jews want halakha to supersede the Constitution.
The bill – drawn up by conservatives with ties to opponents of a planned Jewish center two blocks from Richmond's Confederacy museum and efforts to expand a synagogue 30 miles southeast of Nashville – would face steep constitutional hurdles if enacted.
Nevertheless, it represents the boldest legislative attempt yet to limit how Jews worship.
Jewish groups fear the measure would outlaw central tenets of Judaism, such as studying the mitzvot, abstaining from pork or fasting for Yom Kippur.
'This is an anti-Jewish bill that makes it illegal to be a Jew in the state of Tennessee,' said Dov Solomon, policy coordinator for the Tennessee Coalition for Displaced Persons, which was among several civil rights and interfaith groups that held a news conference Tuesday to oppose the proposal.
Avram Colon, a 35-year-old American Jewish entrepreneur who drove about 160 miles from Knoxville to attend the event, said halakha and the Torah govern his life.
As written, he said the proposal is 'overly broad' and 'basically includes all Jews and all their practices as being illegal.' "
Source.
Crow's Eye: Maintaining a commitment to Pointless Acrimony™ and Hate Filled Invective™! Also available in corvid mischief and traditional sly dog's mistrust.
Reaction to Israel.
ReplyDeleteEnd of story.
Wait. That's not fair. Not end of story.
ReplyDeleteEconomic collapse has people circling their wagons. South has always been a very thinly-veiled home of bigotry. To some the veil isn't there at all.
Many (but not all) Jews in America take great pains to remind us that Israel is "the Jewish homeland," and there isn't a much bloodier, more vengeful, more hateful nation on earth than Israel. It's possible to see transference of the distaste for Israel onto distaste for Jews.
My first comment above isn't a sanction for the legislation -- no, not in the least. I don't approve at all. I'm just doing a little figuring, that's all. I think it's an ironic reversal of the hallowed status of Israel among American Jews.
And of course I could be wrong and very likely I open myself to claims of anti-Semitism here. So be it. I know the difference between an abhorrence of Israel's national attitudes, and my feelings toward the many people I've known in my life who identify as Jews, either by religion, by culture, or by both.
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ReplyDeleteAs the collapse hits harder here at home, more of this sort of thing will arise, as more wagon-circling and blamecasting occurs. Easy targets will receive fusillades of blame and hate.
As If?
ReplyDeleteThat's my cue, right? Song of the South, right here.
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Oxy, you might want to read the source article. Jack's being a sly boots.
ReplyDeleteI thought the summary didn't pass the the smell test.
Well hang me by my toenails 'til my face is beet-red. Gomer Pyle's famous 3-word chant rings in my ears.
ReplyDeletePretty clever.
ReplyDelete