Iraq War: Profiles in timidity

While the Union for Reform Judaism’s leadership is proposing to take a stand against the Iraq war (see the post below), the rest of American Jewry’s mainstream organizations are having a hard time finding their tongues — much less their nether parts.

The Jewish Council on Public Affairs [JCPA] held its annual policymaking plenary session in Washington, D.C. from Feb. 24–27, and managed to discuss Iran and Syria. But somehow the delegates — who represent the major synagogue movements, the major “defense” organizations, and 122 local Jewish federation community-relations councils — never got around to addressing the war in Iraq.

Oh, wait. We take that back.

The Forward’s Nathan Gutman, reporting in the March 2 edition (click {here} to read his article), noted that there was a debate on Iraq — a rump session that began after midnight, in the early hours of Feb. 27:

Of the hundreds of delegates that filled the room Monday for the lengthy debates and votes on resolutions earlier in the evening, fewer than 20 remained to discuss the Iraq War. Sitting around empty tables with half-full coffee cups and leftover doughnuts scattered on them, the few delegates with an interest in the issue attempted to conduct a late-night debate.

“This room was filled with people voting on nonsense, and then they all walked out,” yelled 79-year-old Robert Zweiman of the Jewish War Veterans organization when he stepped up to the microphone. Looking around at the empty hall, Zweiman asked: “Does that give you an indication of how important this is?”

The JCPA's executive director, Rabbi Steve Gutow, perplexed: “It is very odd that the organizations have not taken stands on Iraq.”

Where is Maimonides when you really need him?

— Barnett Axelrad