June 25, 2009 | 8:43 pm

Shmuley Boteach: Jackson’s death ‘an American tragedy’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Jackson with Shmuley Boteach

I just got off the phone with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the rockstar rabbi who was a close friend of the, as of a few hours ago, late Michael Jackson when the two worked together on Heal the Kids,

“It is an American tragedy,” Boteach said. “This guy could sing and dance—he lived the American dream and this is the end of the story. This is not what our values are supposed to be about.”

“It was obvious what Michael always needed,” the rabbi continued. “He needed connection with God, spirituality and family. Michael was a Jehovah’s Witness and when he was a Jehovah’s Witness he was doing quite well, but then he had a falling out with the church and that is when all these problems began.”

If you think it’s surprising for a rabbi to say that someone’s problems began after they were kicked out of a church, then you don’t know Shmuley Boteach, an Orthodox rabbi in his one category.

Boteach hadn’t spoken with Jackson in five years, having severed their relationship when he no longer felt that he could help the troubled King of Pop. But speaking by phone from Iceland, Boteach sounded heartbroken talking about his old friend.

“To be honest,” he told me. “I miss him. I know people saw him as a bad person. But that wasn’t true. he was a person with a lot of issues and sadly he never addressed those issues. But he had a lot of good in him. He just never overcame this toxic celebrity culture.

“The real tragedy is we all are envious of these big superstars, and they often are the ones who get the least help because they have so many enablers.”

The rabbi added that he had long feared this day was coming.

“When they announced these new concerts, I thought that was an omen. that was a bad thing. Michael was going to have to train extensively for these concerts, and from what I new of him, he was not in any mental frame of mind to be doing concert,” Boteach said.

“Michael didn’t need more concerts; he didn’t need more album sales. He needed to rescue his life.”

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June 25, 2009 | 7:14 pm

Michael Jackson a Jew?

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

No, but Michael Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, considered herself Jewish. I’m not sure if she would be recognized by a beit din, but if so, that would make her kids with Jacko, Paris and Prince, Jewish.

Jackson, though not Jewish, once considered rockstar Rabbi Shmuley Boteach a close friend, though in recent years Jackson got in trouble for saying things like about Jews like “They suck…they’re like leeches. It’s a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose.”

Boteach, whose office has been getting overwhelmed with calls since news of Jackson’s collapse broke less than an hour ago, is in Iceland and couldn’t be reached on his cell. But here is an excerpt from a rare interview Boteach did with the SomethingJewish message board about his friendship with Jackson:

MJboard.com- What happened to Heal The Kids?

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach- The initiative was only for one year. It did very good work and it had completed its mission of trying to get parents to prioritize their children. When Michael no longer had time for it there was no way it could continue so we were happy with the year it functioned and we left it at that.

MJboard.com- How do you feel about Michael right now?

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach- I feel fine about him. He is a flawed man, like all of us. And he has a lot of good points, like all of us. I am, however, very disturbed at what he revealed in the Martin Bashir interview that he allows boys to sleep in his bed. That is immoral and unacceptable. I take him at his word that nothing is happening between him and the boys. But that doesn’t make a difference. It is utterly unacceptable for a grown man to sleep in a bed with a boy that is not his son. Period.

MJboard.com- Are you aware of the fact that some Michael Jackson fans feel as if you’ve let Michael down.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach- What an absurd statement. If anything, the reverse is true. But I’m not going to get into that. I have not been critical of Michael, aside from condemning his admission that he takes boys into his bed. So I’m not going to be critical of him now. Judaism commands me never to gossip, and I don’t. Many magazines offered me interviews to say bad things about Michael which I would of course never consider. Indeed, I rarely do any interviews about him at all. I am a Rabbi who believes in G-d. Hence, I stay away from the celebrity culture which makes men and women – celebrities – into gods, and that is misguided and unacceptable.

Hence, I never really comment about Michael at all because my involvement with him was not about him as a celebrity, but about the work we did together to help kids. When that ended, our relationship essentially did as well. I have no interest in having superstar friends. My interest is pleasing G-d, working to help people, being a decent husband, and raising my seven children.

But our friendship is over because I only want to be involved with Michael when we are both involved in helping children.

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June 25, 2009 | 6:53 pm

TMZ: Michael Jackson dead at 50

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

According to TMZ, Michael Jackson has died. He was 50:

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.

This is an update to the developing story I just mentioned, and probably the last time I’ll blog about this unless I can find a religion angle.

The Twitterverse and blogosphere are buzzing, but no other major outlet is reporting Jackson’s death yet. Still, say what you will about TMZ but they often are the first to confirm big celebrity news. And there was nary a bigger celebrity during the past three decades than the King of Pop.

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June 25, 2009 | 6:24 pm

Michael Jackson found not breathing, rushed to hospital

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Michael Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center today after Los Angeles paramedics responded to his home and found the King of Pop not breathing. At least one report claims Jackson died as a result of overdosing on sleeping pills. Other reports say he suffered a heart attack and, according to a family member who spoke with TMZ, is “not doing well.”

Jackson’s exact condition appears unknown. The Los Angeles Times reports:

Capt. Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a call at Jackson’s home around 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived. The parademics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told The Times.

The news comes as Jackson was attempting a comeback after years of tabloid headlines, most notably his trial and acquittal on child molestation charges.

In May, The Times reported that Jackson was living in a Bel-Air mansion and rehearsing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London’s O2 Arena. Jackson had won the backing of two billionaires to get the so-called “King of Pop” back on stage.

Jackson last appeared on this blog in November after he reportedly converted to Islam and changed his name to Mikaeel.

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June 25, 2009 | 5:41 pm

Israeli hooper first round bound in NBA Draft

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This evening Omri Casspi, a sabra who starred last year for Maccabi Tel Aviv, the only Israeli basketball team to play in the Euroleague, is expected to be taken in the first round of the NBA draft. If so, Casspi will become the first Israeli ever taken in the NBA’s first round and would join Jordan Farmar as one of only two Jews in the league.

“It’s like a dream come true. It’s huge for me to accomplish one of my biggest goals of my career — to play in the NBA, to be the first one from my country and to feel like I am representing something,” Casspi, 21, told USA Today.

More on his NBA potential here.

Casspi may have only averaged 8.8 points per game, which is, coincidentally, exactly what I averaged in my just-ended rec season with Four Gs and a Jew, but he looks like a leaper with a bit of NBA upside.

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June 25, 2009 | 3:39 pm

Ralph Reed building a new Christian coalition

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ralph Reed, the conservative visionary who helped build the Christian Coalition into a formidable political force, is at it again. This time he’s building momentum for his Faith and Freedom Coalition, which will attempt to reach values voters with the tools that helped land Barack Obama in the White House.

“This is not your daddy’s Christian Coalition,” Reed told U.S. News and World Report’s Dan Gilgoff. “It’s got to be more brown, more black, more female, and younger. It’s critical that we open the door wide and let them know if they share our values and believe in the principles of faith and marriage and family, they’re welcome.”

“There’s a whole rising generation of young leaders in the faith community, and rather than nab the publicity I did at Christian Coalition, I want to cultivate and train that rising generation,” Reed said. “One question is, who is our future Barack Obama, doing local organizing just like he was in the 1990s?”

In a fairly lengthy blog post about Reed’s new venture, Gilgoff writes that the idea for the coalition was borne in the wake of the 2008 presidential election, in which Obama grabbed 26 percent of the white evangelical vote.

Reed is serving as chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and says he has filed papers with the Internal Revenue Service to register it as a 501(c)(4), a tax-free designation that permits lobbying and certain political activities. Gary Marx, Reed’s deputy at the 2004 Bush campaign and Mitt Romney’s conservative outreach director in 2008, will help advise the group. Jack St. Martin, a former top Republican National Committee staffer, is running day-to-day operations.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition plans to launch state and local chapters, as the Christian Coalition did, but is exploring the idea of organizing as much via “virtual chapters” that would operate online with the help of social networking technology. “The Internet’s first wave was E-mail, and the next wave was social networking, which Obama perfected,” Reed said. “There’s going to be a third wave, which we’re still developing.”

I’m not sure how well Reed understands the social networking element either. He issued his first tweet in early March, and his Twitter account is promoted on the coalition’s homepage, but so far he’s only offered two additional updates and has neglected to add a profile pic. Someone who gets Twitter, on the other hand, is Holy Weblog! That’s who tipped me to this story.

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June 25, 2009 | 11:55 am

Nixon and the Jews, Billy Graham and the ‘Synagogue of Satan’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Nixon and Graham

No one ever accused President Richard Nixon of having lots of Jewish friends. His paranoia about Jewish influence and their drugs was, to say the least, disconcerting. And the release yesterday of 150 hours of additional Nixon tapes seems to have affirmed what many Jews already believed.

A segment of the tapes getting the most attention concerns a conversation between Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham.

From JTA’s Capital J blog:

Nixon seems to believe that if the Jews simply “behaved” themselves, there wouldn’t be any problems.

“Deep down in this country there is a lot of anti-Semitism. All this is going to do is stir it up,” said Nixon.

Graham agrees, responding that anti-Semitism in America is “right under the surface” and that this will bring it “right to the top.”

Nixon continues, “Anti-Semitism is stronger than we think. You know, it’s unfortunate. But this has happened to the Jews. It happened in Spain, it happened in Germany, it’s happening — and now it’s going to happen in America if these people don’t start behaving.”

A little later in the 20-minute conversation, Nixon says there’s nothing he wants to do more than to be a friend of both Israel and American Jews, but says that he will “have to turn back a terrible tide here if they don’t get a hold of it themselves.”

“They better understand it quick, because there are elements in this country, not just the Birchers, but a lot of reasonable people that are getting awfully sick of it.”

JTA’s writer, Eric Fingerhut, then goes on to mention Graham’s promotion of the efforts of Jews for Jesus, which are “frightening” young Jews into converting and he mentions Graham’s reference to the “Synagogue of Satan.” The latter comment is what really seems to have Billy Graham, the most influential Christian leader of the 20th century, in trouble.

To start with, Synagogue of Satan is a favored phrase of those trying to warn the world of Jewish plans for global domination. Here’s one book by that title and another web page from the conspiracy theorist Texe Marrs dedicated to exposing the Jew World Order. But is the phrase patently anti-Semitic or is it something that varies in its offensiveness depending on the context?

Billy Graham’s spokesman, A. Larry Ross, would argue the latter:

Ross, said in a press release Wednesday, that Revelation is referring to anyone “whose lives and work are not in keeping with traditional Jewish values. Throughout his ministry, Mr. Graham has consistently stood for purity of life and the sacredness of home and marriage, according to biblical precepts found in both the Old and New Testaments.”

This doesn’t answer the question of whether Graham harbored anti-Semitic beliefs. But it is a reasonable explanation for why he would use such an expression. And it certainly is the kind of expression that a preacher, as opposed to a lay person, would be more likely to use in conversation.

Regardless of what Graham, who is 90, truly felt about Jews, he may have a hard time now convincing people that he was any different than Nixon in his suspicion of “God’s timepiece.”

“While never expressing these views in public,” ADL director Abe Foxman said, “Rev. Graham unabashedly held forth with the president with age-old classical anti-Semitic canard

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June 25, 2009 | 11:42 am

Professor Robinson gets a passing grade in Israeli-Nazi comparison

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Remember the recent controversy surrounding a UC Santa Barbara sociology professor who in January sent students in one of his classes an email containing 42 “parallel images of Nazis and Israelis?”

The uproar from prominent Jewish organizations led to the university launching an academic investigation into William I. Robinson’s conduct. Some of these organizations were, in turn, criticized for trying to intimidate the Jewish sociology professor.

Well, yesterday Robinson’s case drew to a close.

In a letter to Robinson, Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas wrote:

I have received the report of the Charges Committee regarding charges brought against you. The Committee did not find probable cause to undertake disciplinary action in this matter.

I have accepted the findings of the Charges Committee. Accordingly, this matter is now terminated.

It will be interesting to see if that last sentence is accurate.

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June 25, 2009 | 3:32 am

Southern Baptist Convention praises Obama’s election, criticizes his policies

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Southern Baptist Convention, which represents some 16 million Americans and is the denomination most strongly identified with conservative Christian social values, passed a resolution today praising the election of Barack Obama, the United States’ first black president, while criticizing Obama’s policies.

From the Associated Baptist Press:

The resolution said Southern Baptists “share our nation’s pride in our continuing progress toward racial reconciliation” signaled by Obama’s election. It commended the president for his demonstrated commitment to his family and efforts to keep America safe from terrorism.

At the same time it deplored many policies supported by Obama contrary to positions the convention has stated in the past. It faulted Obama’s support for federal funding of stem-cell research, federal funding of “pro-abortion groups,” stripping conscience protections for health-care providers and a recent proclamation recognizing gay pride month.

“In light of some recent statements that at least I would think are irresponsible by some Southern Baptists, we wanted to make it clear that we believe that the Scriptures direct us to pray for those in authority and that we will indeed pray for God to grant to our president godly wisdom and direction as he leads our country,” Daniel Akin, chairman of this year’s resolutions committee, said.

Richard Land, head of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the resolution “has its hand on the pulse beat of where Southern Baptists really are.”

“Most Southern Baptists didn’t vote for him, and they didn’t vote for him because of their very strong disagreement with him on the life issue and some other issues,” Land said. “But at the same time they are very gratified that we have had enough racial reconciliation in America that we’ve come to the place that we can elect an African-American president.”

Read the rest here.

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June 24, 2009 | 5:19 pm

The Mark Sanford sex scandal

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo: AP

I used to think it was only a scandal when conservatives sin. After all, hypocrites make the best villains. But the downfalls of John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer, not to mention the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, proved otherwise.

Today we have South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Not only is a Sanford a Republican, but he was the leader of the Republican Governors Association. And not only did he have an affair, but he initially tried to cover it up by going AWOL for a week. He had been in Argentina, not on the Appalachian Trail, having a little sexual rendezvous:

“I’ve let down a lot of people, that’s the bottom line,” the 49-year-old governor said at a news conference where he choked up as he ruminated with remarkable frankness on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart. His family did not attend.

The woman, who lives in Argentina, has been a “dear, dear friend” for about eight years but, Sanford said, the relationship didn’t become romantic until a little over a year ago. He’s seen her three times since then, and his wife found out about it five months ago.

He told reporters he spent “the last five days of my life crying in Argentina” and the affair is now over. Sanford, a rumored 2012 presidential candidate, refused to say whether he’ll leave office.

“What I did was wrong. Period,” he said.

Is Sanford really sorry? That’s for God, and his wife, to decide. But Michael Muskal at Top of the Ticket nails the heart of Sanford’s story:

Today’s news out of South Carolina is a reminder of three important rules in politics: It isn’t the incident, it is the attempted coverup. It isn’t about sex, it’s about hypocrisy. Schadenfreude always wins in the end.

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June 24, 2009 | 4:55 pm

The Ark, Ethiopia and Jesus’ return

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Indiana Jones went looking for the lost Ark of the Covenant in Egypt. But for millenia, the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia has laid claim to official ownership.

This is, obviously, a point of debate. No one outside the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has ever what the church claims are the remnants of the holy ark that carried within it the tablets God delivered to Moses at Sinai.

But the argument follows:

According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon’s reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond.

Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.

But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country’s northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.

Now, I’m having trouble reading this article translated from Italian to English, but sounds like the Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch is going to reveal on Friday, in some way, the secret that his country has kept for 2,700 years.

And this has the New Wineskins blogger a bit giddy. Because, obviously, this means Jesus is coming home:

The wood has likely deteriorated. The Ark’s function of holding the tablets of the Mosaic Law was no longer necessary after Jesus came to fulfill the law. The Mercy Seat however, (made of gold) has remained and is central to the coming Millennial Kingdom — the fulfillment of the irrevocable Davidic covenant which God made with David (in Psalm 89 among other places) that his progeny (Jesus) will reign physically on the earth for a thousand years… shortly after his return and triumph at Armageddon, that is. (Kinda funny that my Bible just happened to flop open to Psalm 89 last night when God told me (rather clearly) to pick it up and I responded, ‘what should I read?’)

I refuse to believe that the timing of this news is random on the part of the Ethiopian religious authorities. If they’d wanted to corner the market in kitch and gawker-tourism they would have done so a long time ago. Why spend 2700 years caring for the Ark only to release news of it at a random time? It makes no sense… unless they received instructions from on high. The fact that the Pope is taking this seriously (further cementing ties between the Catholic and Orthodox churches) makes it doubly interesting.

The fact that it is being revealed now means… Jesus is coming back soon. Very soon.

I’m not so certain. I mean, the Rapture Index isn’t even currently at its high for 2009. As for the Ark still being in Ethiopia, I’m skeptical about that too.

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June 23, 2009 | 8:45 pm

‘Jane Roe’ talks about the murder of Dr. George Tiller

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I once interviewed Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, who has become a fierce pro-life activist. In the above video, she speaks with On Faith’s Sally Quinn, who’s gotten some time on this blog. Quinn transitions seamlessly from McCorvey’s beautiful hair to her not wanting that baby that had been inside of her; McCorvey, who like most pro-life activists condemns the murder of that “executioner of children” Dr. George Tiller, talks about her religious background and offers to pray with her interviewer.

No real new ground here, but it’s worth the eight minutes to hear the reflections of Jane Roe.

I can’t see I agree with her perspective on feminists—“They don’t believe in God. They believe in killing children.”—but I can appreciate that her experiences have narrowed her understanding of the word to pro-choice activists.

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