By: Marion DS Dreyfus
Followed by a sober debunking of any possible unsavory charges made against Alan Dershowitz by Temple Emanu-El. I was convinced by his defense.
Alan Dershowitz, Professor Emeritus, Harvard, and an acknowledged stellar legal scholar for some five decades, was recently disinvited to be a debater on Biblical issues, despite a demonstrated vast audience, in the past, for such debates. A reputed 1,500 attendees filled the sanctuary when such debates on Bibical issues were held. Now, in a move evocative of the similar disinvitation to the legal guru by the prestigious [but evidently partisan, as befits a dominant Democrat city] 92nd Street Y, the board and perhaps the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El—largest Reform synagogue in the United States, founded back in 1868, have henceforth dropped the Professor from their lineup, despite his fame, oratorical skills, and undimmed drawing power.
The excuse they scramble for this summary barring from future debates or discussions?
Even if, as seems to be the case in this instance, any charges leveled against the famed litigator, such as some grifter female –name not given here to avoid lending her added legitimacy, to which she is not entitled –accusing him of having sex with her on the Jeffrey Epstein “Lolita Island” den of underage erotica helmed by now-deceased Jeffrey Epstein and groomed by the now-infamous Ghislaine Maxwell—currently on trial for her recruiting functions for Epstein—the synagogue does not care. Guilty or innocent, they told him, they do not want the taint associated with even an innocent party.
The losers will be, of course, the patrons and members of the Temple, and Biblical knowledge in general.
Dershowitz, for his part, loses income—not a large or important facet of the issue, of course—but the important opportunity to speak on behalf of Israel. And debased too with this muting of the Dershowitz voice is the general tenor of public debate.
For decades this Constitutionalist has been a known full-throated defender of Israel, having written a plethora of articles, spoken in Oxford debates and panels galore elsewhere, and scribed modest hillock of books justifying and clarifying Israel’s legitimacy and righteousness. Thus dismissing Dershowitz, even by a so-called “Temple” where Jews gather to pray, presumably in favor of Jewish statehood, rings a particularly regrettable and mournful dirge for the intestinal fortitude of American Jewry. Synagogue membership at Emanu-El does not come cheap. Its membership is a dependably elite tier of the crème de la etcetera of America’s tiny but visible minority.
Politicians court these members’ wadded pockets. Media is full of their pith and moment, their inventions and social platformia.
The departure from public podia of such an important voice marks a low-point in the high-profile cathedral of Jewish puissance.
That scholarly Dershowitz insists on his innocence of all and any public accusation of sexual hikinks with Epsteinian sublegal island belles ought to be creditable enough to vindicate his uninterrupted stage and bima presence.
Frankly, along with many proud Jewish Americans, I am saddened by reading this added account on us, on Zionists, on Jews of record, and empathize with Dershowitz, whose troubles echo the trajectory of many innocents now being pilloried over their pro-Israel views and public stances.
Tov Shem tov mishemen tov, a key pitgam/aphorism as we see the vile cancel culture destroy careers based on pitiably absent empirical evidence of any kind.
In English: A good reputation is far better than a precious oil.
Dershowitz is a noted legal scholar, and treating him this sordidly is disgraceful and unacceptable, frankly. Unwarranted. It’s hard not to feel outraged on one’s own behalf, because if he is so scourged, with his Olympian cred, one is forced to worry What can the average citizen of modest means hope for?
It is grievous for Temple Emanu-El to so behave. If I were a member, I would rescind my membership over this clearly self-loathing and perdurable position. We are as you know all already in a fragile situation now, with zero real support from this administration, Iran on the verge of actionable refined nuclear material brazenly threatening to destroy Israel again even in the face of the JCPOA being touted by a sorry and misled President–and a noted rise in random and specific anti-Semitic acts and attacks against Jews in this country.
I mourn for advocate Dershowitz. I reject Temple Emanu-El. And I mourn for us all while this narrative can be broadsided. We do not deserve this frivolous, unfair insult. Especially when anti-Semitic manifestations are at an all-time high, as acknowledged by those keeping track.
In year 2021, it is millennia past time when the globe owes us a galactic apology for its medieval mistreatment.
