re: #13 Bob Levin

It’s not the Israelis I’m worried about. Even if the Chief Rabbi isn’t effectively influential inside Israel, and even if his move is mostly political, most non-Jews in America won’t know that.

His title sounds impressive, and by blessing Beck’s event in a religious capacity he lends him a moral legitimacy that he doesn’t deserve. Not legitimacy to Jews in Israel, but amongst a certain subset of the religious right in America.

Those people are already making a grab for the White House, and (IMO) the Chief Rabbi isn’t doing Israel any favors by further legitimizing their efforts, for the reasons I mentioned in my page. If he really did it just for money/politics—which, BTW, would sound terribly anti-Semitic if a non-Jew had said it—such cynicism is very disappointing to hear.