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Rabbi uses National Menorah lighting to trash Obama UN move



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Mevater




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 25 2016, 9:01 pm
Obama showed his true colors. There are some who suspect he was actively involved in getting countries to vote as he wished.

Thank the One Above that hes out. Who knows what hed have done next.

Why is there no Youtube link for the Washington Candle lighting, with Rabbi Shemtov's words?

http://www.washingtonexaminer......10369

The rabbi in charge of the National Hanukkah Menorah lighting used the ceremony, held Sunday just steps from the White House, to criticize the Obama administration's decision to allow the United Nations to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and portions of Jerusalem as illegal.

Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch, turned an Obama administration official's speech about "fighting darkness with light" on its head, evoking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who has had an antagonistic relationship with President Obama — and urging Jews not to despair about the "darkness" cast by the United Nations vote.

Shemtov spoke after remarks by Adam Szubin, acting treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, and the Obama administration's representative Sunday at the event.

Szubin delivered a short speech focusing mainly on the significance and symbology of candles and light as they pertain to Hanukkah and later helped to light a 30-foot menorah.

"Secretary Szubin spoke before of fighting darkness with light," Shemtov said. "I remember those words being spoken to a particular man by the rabbi many many years ago on Simchat Torah," an annual Jewish holiday which marks the conclusion of one reading of the Torah and beginning of another.

"The rabbi told him you are working in a place where there is great grief and darkness, but remember that in that place of darkness, you can only counter it by lighting a candle. By creating light," Shemtov continued. "That man was Benjamin Netanyahu, and he was at the time the ambassador to the United Nations."

Shemtov then went on to bring up Friday's 14-0 U.N. Security Council vote. The Obama administration abstained from voting, allowing the measure to pass and marking a significant shift in U.S. policy.

"So as I know that some of us are so sad at what happened there with regard to Israel," Shemtov said. "We must remember that the way to counter any darkness, any disappointment is not with harsh rhetoric, not with anger, but when we create light, the darkness dissipates."

Sunday was the first full day of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, and the American Friends of Lubavitch celebrates by holding its annual event to light the National Hanukkah Menorah. The event included the lighting of the 30-foot menorah, as well as songs, men dressed as Maccabees standing as ceremonial guards, and a "Dreidleman" dancing to the Dreidle Song.
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DrMom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 11:02 am
I think Rabbi Levi Shemtov was very mild in his criticism, all things considered.

I can't wait to hear the administration's spin on this move. I'm sure they will tell us about how this is *fantastic* for Israel and for Jews and how Obama is the country's very very best friend.
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MiracleMama




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 11:08 am
DrMom wrote:
I think Rabbi Levi Shemtov was very mild in his criticism, all things considered.



Agreed. To say he "trashed" Obama is absurd. (Though he'd be justified to if he did).
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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 11:36 am
MiracleMama wrote:
Agreed. To say he "trashed" Obama is absurd. (Though he'd be justified to if he did).


Hardly "trashing" I totally agree. Very courteously worded criticism/encouragement to those who are concerned. I'd love to know who characterized this as "trashing."
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 11:59 am
There is a delicious rumor afloat that Russia might veto the resolution as sort of a parting "gift" from Putin to Obama.

Highly unlikely, of course, but if I were Putin, I'd find it hard to resist such blatant trolling.
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 12:04 pm
Fox wrote:
There is a delicious rumor afloat that Russia might veto the resolution as sort of a parting "gift" from Putin to Obama.

Highly unlikely, of course, but if I were Putin, I'd find it hard to resist such blatant trolling.


If you were Putin, I hope you'd stop slaughtering, murdering, kidnapping, torturing, and bombing people first, and then everything else.
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 12:17 pm
sequoia wrote:
If you were Putin, I hope you'd stop slaughtering, murdering, kidnapping, torturing, and bombing people first, and then everything else.


I guess I found the prospect of vetoing the resolution more likely than his abandoning his KGB roots.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 12:23 pm
sequoia wrote:
If you were Putin, I hope you'd stop slaughtering, murdering, kidnapping, torturing, and bombing people first, and then everything else.


By allowing this resolution to pass, Obama is giving props to people who approve of the use of slaughter, murder, kidnap, torture, and bombs (aka Hamas and Co).

He's no innocent. He knows exactly what he's doing.
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DrMom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 12:34 pm
sequoia wrote:
If you were Putin, I hope you'd stop slaughtering, murdering, kidnapping, torturing, and bombing people first, and then everything else.

Well for that matter, if I were Venezuela (a sponsor of the resolution), I'd worry about my own starving citizens in my own failed communist dictatorship before criticizing someone for living in his ancestral homeland.

But logic does not always prevail here.
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DrMom




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 12:44 pm
The Israeli ambassador to Israel, Ron Dermer, purports to possess evidence that Obama not only broadcast his intention to abstain from voting on this resolution, but that he actively worked with Venezuela and Senegal to re-submit the resolution after Egypt agreed to withdraw it.
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ectomorph




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 1:06 pm
I personally think Rabbi shemtov should not have politicized the religious ritual. It sets a bad precedent.
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etky




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 1:10 pm
DrMom wrote:
Well for that matter, if I were Venezuela (a sponsor of the resolution), I'd worry about my own starving citizens in my own failed communist dictatorship before criticizing someone for living in his ancestral homeland.

But logic does not always prevail here.


In the same vein, here is a salient excerpt from Alan Dershowitz's OP Ed piece in the Jerusalem Post this morning:

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/D.....76402

As predicted, the United States allowed the anti-Israel resolution to be approved by the United Nations Security Council. Votes in favor were cast by Russia, which has occupied Kornengsberg since 1945, after capturing that ancient German city, ethnically cleansing its population and bringing in hundreds of thousands of Russian settlers; China, which has occupied Tibet and brought in thousands of Chinese settlers; France who occupied and settled Algeria for many years; Great Britain which has occupied and colonized a significant portion of the globe; and assorted other countries, several of which have horrendous human rights records.

Israel on the other hand, offered to end the occupation and settlements in 2000-2001 and again in 2008 only to be rebuffed by the Palestinian leadership. But Israel is the only country to have been condemned by the Security Council for an occupation and settlement. This hypocrisy is typical of the United Nations as even our representative acknowledged when she explained why the United States abstained.
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MiracleMama




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 1:17 pm
ectomorph wrote:
I personally think Rabbi shemtov should not have politicized the religious ritual. It sets a bad precedent.


Actually I think a holiday where the very survival (albeit spiritual, not physical) of the Jewish people was at stake is quite an appropriate time to speak out and be political. And he was so very diplomatic and mild that I can't even imagine anyone could criticize this.
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 1:19 pm
gold21 wrote:
By allowing this resolution to pass, Obama is giving props to people who approve of the use of slaughter, murder, kidnap, torture, and bombs (aka Hamas and Co).

He's no innocent. He knows exactly what he's doing.


I literally did not mention Obama ever so not sure what you're arguing with.
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 2:44 pm
While I don't think the U.N. resolution is harmless, I'm thankful the U.N. doesn't have any more influence, power, or authority than it does.

I always smile when I think of how libertarian writer P. J. O'Rourke described the U.N.

Quote:
"One widely-posted warning reads, SMOKING DISCOURAGED/VEUILLEZ EVITER DE FUMER, and that says it all about the United Nations, its power and its might."
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 4:08 pm
sequoia wrote:
I literally did not mention Obama ever so not sure what you're arguing with.


I wasn't arguing.
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ally




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 4:09 pm
Fox wrote:
There is a delicious rumor afloat that Russia might veto the resolution as sort of a parting "gift" from Putin to Obama.

Highly unlikely, of course, but if I were Putin, I'd find it hard to resist such blatant trolling.


But that would also upset his new bff Iran.
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ally




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 4:11 pm
ectomorph wrote:
I personally think Rabbi shemtov should not have politicized the religious ritual. It sets a bad precedent.


Well according to the resolution, having a bar mitzvah at the kotel is now a political statement.
Do you object to that as well?
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ally




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Dec 26 2016, 4:12 pm
DrMom wrote:
The Israeli ambassador to Israel, Ron Dermer, purports to possess evidence that Obama not only broadcast his intention to abstain from voting on this resolution, but that he actively worked with Venezuela and Senegal to re-submit the resolution after Egypt agreed to withdraw it.


Does anyone think otherwise?
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