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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:REBBETZIN ELLEN SAYS:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
Dear Editor:
The manner in which Senator McCain -Governor Palin refer to Senator Obama is becoming hate speech. As the wife of a rabbi who is a member of www.RabbisForObama.Com , I am well aware of the dangers of using inflammatory political language to marginalize individuals and groups. The McCain campaign has been demonizing Obama as not being ''like us.''
They used a uniformed sheriff to warm up the crowd at a rally by emphasize the senator's middle name. McCain feigned shock when one of his supporters stated that Obama was an "Arab."
Governor Palin's assertion that Obama pals around with terrorists is false. In twenty first century America, no word is more emotionally loaded than "terrorist."
Anti-Obama hate speech is not limited to McCain. The Republican Jewish Coalition falsely labels Obama as "reckless on Israel." They know that in the Jewish community this is the moral equivalent of crying fire in a crowded theater. The RJC approach harkens back to the classic Republican red baiting tactics of McCarthy and Nixon from the fifties.
562 rabbis would not endorse a candidate who is hostile to Israel. Never before in the USA has a group of rabbis, www.RabbisForObama.Com, come together on this scale to work on behalf on a candidate for president.
Jewish tradition teaches us that we should respect those with whom we disagree. The Mishna reads, "Despise no person." We call upon McCain-Palin to return to a respectful conversation on the issues confronting our society.
Rebbetzin Ellen Segal
Hilton Head Island, SC
Wife of Rabbi Arthur Segal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC
Bluffton, SC
Savannah, GA
