Comments on: Michael Jackson and God’s Gifts to the World http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/08/michael-jackson-and-gods-gifts-to-the-world/ Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:16:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Abdul-Malik Ryan http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/08/michael-jackson-and-gods-gifts-to-the-world/#comment-257 Abdul-Malik Ryan Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:46:20 +0000 http://morethodoxy.org/?p=159#comment-257 Rabbi Schmuley Boteach on his relationship with Michael Jackson: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/30/jackson.rabbi/index.html To simply say he was an anti-semite is at the very least a bizarrely misleading oversimplification of a very complicated and very troubled individual. Rabbi Schmuley Boteach on his relationship with Michael Jackson:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/30/jackson.rabbi/index.html

To simply say he was an anti-semite is at the very least a bizarrely misleading oversimplification of a very complicated and very troubled individual.

]]> By: Avraham http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/08/michael-jackson-and-gods-gifts-to-the-world/#comment-256 Avraham Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:39:31 +0000 http://morethodoxy.org/?p=159#comment-256 Dear Rabbi Kanefsky, Michael Jackson was an entertainer. If he was just an entertainer and nothing else, I would still object to the way people are treating his death. Yet, he was more than an entertainer, he actively involved in spreading a culture that is antithetical to Torah. To be mild, I am sure that you do not want your kids to be learning from Michael Jackson anything other than "what not to do." There are many great people who die and we say nothing. On the same day that Michael Jackson died an American soldier died in Afghanistan, yet the talk is about Michael Jackson who, when you think about, did what for society? How come we do not focus on the great lessons that we can learn from the family and parents of Israel's missing soldiers? How about an article on what we can learn from Zachary Baumel's father who recently passed away? Why not learn from people who actively do good in the world instead of finding convoluted ways to find good from people who are on the fringe of society (at best)? There are many people who are talented, but it is up to us to discriminate between people who use their talents for good and those for bad. Michael Jackson clearly did not use his talents for good. Being a good dancer and being creative does not make a role model. One final thought, and I do not mean this to be disrespectful: Perhaps before you invoke the name and the Torah of Rav Kook, zt'l, perhaps you should consider if Rav Kook himself would have ever attributed to Michael Jackson what you have. I do not think so and I think it is an embarrassment to Rav Kook that his Divrei Torah are even associated with this. Dear Rabbi Kanefsky,

Michael Jackson was an entertainer. If he was just an entertainer and nothing else, I would still object to the way people are treating his death. Yet, he was more than an entertainer, he actively involved in spreading a culture that is antithetical to Torah. To be mild, I am sure that you do not want your kids to be learning from Michael Jackson anything other than “what not to do.”

There are many great people who die and we say nothing. On the same day that Michael Jackson died an American soldier died in Afghanistan, yet the talk is about Michael Jackson who, when you think about, did what for society?

How come we do not focus on the great lessons that we can learn from the family and parents of Israel’s missing soldiers? How about an article on what we can learn from Zachary Baumel’s father who recently passed away? Why not learn from people who actively do good in the world instead of finding convoluted ways to find good from people who are on the fringe of society (at best)?

There are many people who are talented, but it is up to us to discriminate between people who use their talents for good and those for bad. Michael Jackson clearly did not use his talents for good. Being a good dancer and being creative does not make a role model.

One final thought, and I do not mean this to be disrespectful: Perhaps before you invoke the name and the Torah of Rav Kook, zt’l, perhaps you should consider if Rav Kook himself would have ever attributed to Michael Jackson what you have. I do not think so and I think it is an embarrassment to Rav Kook that his Divrei Torah are even associated with this.

]]> By: Aryeh http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/08/michael-jackson-and-gods-gifts-to-the-world/#comment-254 Aryeh Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:45:00 +0000 http://morethodoxy.org/?p=159#comment-254 Rabbi: I based my comment on the following link which I do not feel is contradicted by the link you sent. Acharey Mot Kedoshim http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/2662_12.asp In addition, I cannot find the link, but there was also a reference he made to Jews as leeches which was caught on a tape that wound up airing on ABC some years ago. These incidents caused him to seek the purifying waters of the Wiesenthal Center. Rabbi:

I based my comment on the following link which I
do not feel is contradicted by the link you sent.
Acharey Mot Kedoshim

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/2662_12.asp

In addition, I cannot find the link, but there was also a reference he made to Jews as leeches which was caught on a tape that wound up airing on ABC some years ago. These incidents caused him to seek the purifying waters of the Wiesenthal Center.

]]> By: Yosef Kanefsky http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/08/michael-jackson-and-gods-gifts-to-the-world/#comment-253 Yosef Kanefsky Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:06:37 +0000 http://morethodoxy.org/?p=159#comment-253 Please check the following link to the Simon Wiesenthal Center's newsletter. Again, I've never been a Michael Jackson fan, but I can't stand idly by when someone is falsely accused of a terrible charge. http://www.wiesenthal.com:80/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441467&ct=7167457 Please check the following link to the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s newsletter.
Again, I’ve never been a Michael Jackson fan, but I can’t stand idly by when
someone is falsely accused of a terrible charge.

http://www.wiesenthal.com:80/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441467&ct=7167457

]]> By: Aryeh http://morethodoxy.org/2009/07/08/michael-jackson-and-gods-gifts-to-the-world/#comment-249 Aryeh Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:20:30 +0000 http://morethodoxy.org/?p=159#comment-249 Rabbi Kanefksy: He was an anti-semite. One need only look to the lyrics of one of his songs..."Jew me, sue me...Kick me, Kike me." He did not change the lyrics in the video which was released many weeks after the song, nor in concert performances in the years that followed. To mention the holy and revered Rav Kook in the same essay as Michael Jackson....I wonder. In general, I must say while there have been a few excellent essays on the site since its launch, I am disturbed by a number of the articles. I say this as someone who is Modern Orthodox, and would certainly be considered on the left of most Orthodox shuls. I hope the website, which is a needed voice for Moern Orthodoxy, raises its level of discourse, and does not veer to becoming Orthodox lite or Halachic Conservatism. I say this with the utmost respect for each of the rabbinic (I use that term purposefully) leaders on this site. Each of you can be satisfied leading your shuls, your local communities who mostly sympathize with your philosophy. However, if you want to affect the greater number of Modern Orthodox Jews, if you want to save Modern Orthodoxy from its terrible slide to the right, then you may rethink some of the ideas posted here. Is it better to affect the few in your local community with the "pure" views you may hold, or it better to affect Modern Orthodoxy as a whole while adjusted your views slightly. Modern Orthodoxy needs leaders like each of you. Many of the views represented here so far are not just on the left, but I would suggest outside the pale of Modern Orthodoxy. If your positions are viewed as outside of Modern Orthodoxy, then Modern Orthodoxy will label you and disregard your views. As a result, the rest of Modern Orthodoxy will move further to the right. This would be an unfortunate result. Rabbi Kanefksy:

He was an anti-semite. One need only look to the lyrics of one of his songs…”Jew me, sue me…Kick me, Kike me.” He did not change the lyrics in the video which was released many weeks after the song, nor in concert performances in the years that followed. To mention the holy and revered Rav Kook in the same essay as Michael Jackson….I wonder.

In general, I must say while there have been a few excellent essays on the site since its launch, I am disturbed by a number of the articles. I say this as someone who is Modern Orthodox, and would certainly be considered on the left of most Orthodox shuls. I hope the website, which is a needed voice for Moern Orthodoxy, raises its level of discourse, and does not veer to becoming Orthodox lite or Halachic Conservatism.

I say this with the utmost respect for each of the rabbinic (I use that term purposefully) leaders on this site. Each of you can be satisfied leading your shuls, your local communities who mostly sympathize with your philosophy. However, if you want to affect the greater number of Modern Orthodox Jews, if you want to save Modern Orthodoxy from its terrible slide to the right, then you may rethink some of the ideas posted here. Is it better to affect the few in your local community with the “pure” views you may hold, or it better to affect Modern Orthodoxy as a whole while adjusted your views slightly. Modern Orthodoxy needs leaders like each of you. Many of the views represented here so far are not just on the left, but I would suggest outside the pale of Modern Orthodoxy. If your positions are viewed as outside of Modern Orthodoxy, then Modern Orthodoxy will label you and disregard your views. As a result, the rest of Modern Orthodoxy will move further to the right. This would be an unfortunate result.

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