← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Rudel
Thread ID: 9352 | Posts: 14 | Started: 2003-08-28
2003-08-28 05:10 | User Profile
[url=http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.08.15/news2.html]Dr. Laura Loses Her Religion [/url] Radio Host Drops Judaism, 'Envies' Christian Friends By LISA KEYS FORWARD STAFF
With 12 million Americans tuning in daily, controversial syndicated radio-show host Laura Schlessinger ââ¬â known to all as "Dr. Laura" ââ¬â is arguably the best-known Orthodox Jew in the United States.
Rather, she was.
In a shocking if little-noticed revelation, Schlessinger ââ¬â who very publicly converted to Judaism five years ago ââ¬â opened "The Dr. Laura Schlessinger Program" on August 5 with the confession that she will no longer practice Judaism. Although Schlessinger said she still "considers" herself Jewish, "My identifying with this entity and my fulfilling the rituals, etc., of the entity ââ¬â that has ended."
And with that, Orthodox Judaism lost its loudest mouthpiece and its most prominent "rabbi," as it were, with the largest American pulpit ââ¬â with the exception of, perhaps, presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman.
Syndicated nationally since 1994, Schlessinger has won over listeners with her hard-edged advice and razor-sharp tongue. Yet her brash style, not to mention her espousal of a strict "moral health" code ââ¬â including controversial condemnations of homosexuality as "a biological error" ââ¬â put her at odds with wide swaths of the Jewish community. Many found her moralist, black-and-white, you're-with-me-or- against-me stance to be more representative of Evangelical Christians than of Jews, who were often among her most outspoken critics.
Nonetheless, even Schlessinger's detractors were shocked by the news. "I can't tell you how significant this is," said fellow Jewish media star and "Kosher Sex" author Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who has sparred with Schlessinger over her comments on homosexuality. "Dr. Laura always equated her morals and ethics with Jewish morals and ethics. That placed the American Jewish community in a real fix; on the one hand, she made Judaism very popular, on the other, she made it vilified and hated by many people."
"I think Judaism is better off not being saddled and directly associated with Dr. Laura's means," he said, adding, "although she is still a Jew."
Schlessinger's office said she was unavailable for comment.
Schlessinger began her August 5 program by noting that, prior to each broadcast, she spends an hour reading faxes from fans and listeners. "By and large the faxes from Christians have been very loving, very supportive," she said. "From my own religion, I have either gotten nothing, which is 99% of it, or two of the nastiest letters I have gotten in a long time. I guess that's my point ââ¬â I don't get much back. Not much warmth coming back."
Schlessinger even hinted at a possible turn to Christianity ââ¬â a move that, radio insiders say, would elevate her career far beyond the 300 stations that currently syndicate her show. "I have envied all my Christian friends who really, universally, deeply feel loved by God," she said. "They use the name Jesus when they refer to God... that was a mystery, being connected to God."
In her 25 years on radio, Schlessinger said she was moved "time and time again" by listeners who wrote and described that they had "joined a church, felt loved by God and that was my anchor."
Michael Medved, a conservative, nationally syndicated, radio talk-show host, celebrated the Sabbath with Schlessinger about a year ago. "We had talked about having Shabbat again," he said. When he heard of Schlessinger's defection, "My first response was to pick up the phone and try and expedite [the visit]."
"I think it's a shame," he said. "Though, of course, she was controversial in some eyes, she is one of the most admired women in America. Having the most admired woman in America speak joyously about Passover, Shabbat and Jewish lifestyle events ââ¬â all of that was quite wonderful."
Of her conversion to Judaism, Schlessinger said, "I felt that I was putting out a tremendous amount toward that mission, that end, and not feeling return, not feeling connected, not feeling that inspired. Trust me, I've talked to rabbis, I've read, I've prayed, I've agonized and I came to this place anyway ââ¬â which is not exactly back to the beginning, but more in that direction than not."
"Was Laura naive to think, 'gosh, I'll be the queen of the Jews'? Yes, she was naive," said Medved. "Part of that comes from not growing up in the Jewish community. It's so rare to find a celebrity embrace of Jewish religiosity of any kind, I can see why Laura would think her very public embrace would have led to a more enthusiastic reaction. But given all the crosscurrents and controversies that divide our community, I can see why that expectation was wrong."
In 2001, despite the controversy surrounding her, the National Council of Young Israel honored Schlessinger for her "traditional American values." Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the executive director of Young Israel, was surprised by Schlessinger's defection but declined to comment on it.
Born to a Jewish father and an Italian Catholic mother, Schlessinger was raised in Brooklyn in a home that was without religion. Approximately 10 years ago, prompted by a question from her son during a viewing of a Holocaust documentary, Schlessinger, 56, began exploring her Jewish roots.
Yet last week's revelation was far from the first time Schlessinger has been wracked with religious doubts. Lacking a religious background, she has spent a lifetime searching for that missing something, and "each thing I tried left me feeling empty," she told Philadelphia's Inside magazine in 1998. Having already undergone a Conservative conversion in 1997, after a debacle with the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas ââ¬â a now-legendary affair in which she allegedly rejected three hotel suites, wouldn't ride in taxis and offended the entire audience at a $500 plate fundraiser ââ¬â Schlessinger was tempted to give up on Judaism completely, but decided to undergo an Orthodox conversion instead.
"A large part of me wanted to make a statement after that experience, to stand even taller about Jewish values," she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2001. "Besides, if you don't have an Orthodox conversion, you can't get buried in Israel. I want to be close to ground zero."
Rabbi Reuven Bulka, a fellow radio host who presided over Schlessinger's Orthodox conversion, said he was "stunned" by his friend's 180-degree turn. "It didn't make my day, shall we say."
"She obviously has a tremendous impact," said Bulka, a congregational rabbi from Ottawa, Ont. "When she went through the evolutionary stage of her journey, a lot of people were inspired by her own excitement about it. I can't tell you I know 100 people who became Sabbath observant because of it, but certainly it was a feel-good message for a lot of people. That these feel-good messages won't be coming anymore is certainly a loss."
Other Jews within earshot are far from sad to see her go. "I don't think this is any great loss to the Jewish universe," said Susan Weidman Schneider, the executive editor of Lilith magazine. "I don't think she was a particularly effective or useful spokesperson. She doubtless alienated more people than she drew toward Judaism."
"So, let her say she's no longer a practicing Jew," she added. "Let her be just a garden variety, anti-choice conservative."
"I still see myself as a Jew," Schlessinger said on the air last week. "But the spiritual journey and that direction, as hardcore as I was at it, just didn't fulfill something in me that I needed."
"All I know is, in my experiences with her ââ¬â which have been considerable ââ¬â I haven't known her to do anything less than 100%," Bulka said. "Anything she did, she did fully. The scary thing is if she said she's leaving, it's very forboding."
"I thought she was a tough little lady ââ¬â I didn't think she'd chicken out so easily," said Rabbi Isaac Levy, the chairman of Jews for Morality, who has staunchly supported Schlessinger's conservative agenda. "She's gotten a couple of kicks in the chin and she's succumbed to it."
"It seems incredible that an ethicist and moralist of her standing would invoke such shallow arguments," said Boteach, who was en route to an appearance on the titillating syndicated television show "Blind Date." "I never got great applause for my work from the Jewish community ââ¬â but my people are my people, whether they love or hate me."
2003-08-28 11:31 | User Profile
I regard events such as these as maneouvers more than changes in beliefs/values. Jews are constantly claiming to have converted to Christianity and claim to be atheists. These actions too often turn out to be infiltration-subversion tactics.
They have ostensibly become members of your church but if one examines them closely one finds out their true loyalty. They have taken over the largest Atheist organization, The American Atheists. Their site has a link to expose the horrors of Christianity and a link to expose the horrors of Islam, but where is the link to enlighten us about the Talmud? The only Talmud info on the site is buried and uninformative. Take a look at a Jewish singles website, you'll see that Jews who claim to be atheists have a strong racial identity and are largely accepted by the Jewish community.
The bottom line on Dr. Laura is who she is racially. There is a common denominator between most people who have influence in the western world..they're Jews.
2003-08-28 14:27 | User Profile
I regard events such as these as maneouvers more than changes in beliefs/values.
Not me!
Personally, I am breathless with excitement: Will Dr. Laura find Jesus? Will she be able to Save the Morals of White Folks? Questions, questions and more questions!
By God, there is a mighty Cosmic Drama being played out before my very eyes. An Epic Struggle worthy of the attention of all honest and earnest white folks.
Probably I won't be able to get anything done today----these jewish folks surely know how to fill the time. Jewish lads and ladies are expert, very expert, at giving us High Drama and lots of things to think about.
I have, on one hand, the pictures I saw of her posing in the nude, and on the other, a mental picture of her, clad in a pure white robe, leading white folks to the land of true morality and mental health. Many things here to ponder: "who can knoweth the way of the Jew? " etc., etc., etc.
2003-08-29 13:37 | User Profile
Does this mean her advise to callers will be less vengeful?
I'll be happy if she's no longer selling "Judaism" to her white, Christian listners.
Will she get a backbone and stand up to the sodomite lobby and call homosexuality a sin rather than mildly call it a biological error and then apologize?
Will she now regret abandoning her mother?
2003-08-29 23:37 | User Profile
I regard events such as these as maneouvers more than changes in beliefs/values.
Not me!
Personally, I am breathless with excitement: Will Dr. Laura find Jesus? Will she be able to Save the Morals of White Folks? Questions, questions and more questions!
By God, there is a mighty Cosmic Drama being played out before my very eyes. An Epic Struggle worthy of the attention of all honest and earnest white folks.
Probably I won't be able to get anything done today----these jewish folks surely know how to fill the time. Jewish lads and ladies are expert, very expert, at giving us High Drama and lots of things to think about.
I have, on one hand, the pictures I saw of her posing in the nude, and on the other, a mental picture of her, clad in a pure white robe, leading white folks to the land of true morality and mental health. Many things here to ponder: "who can knoweth the way of the Jew? " etc., etc., etc. **
People like you scare me away from a better understanding of Christians and Christianity. You are crazy, IMHO.
2003-08-30 02:21 | User Profile
** Approximately 10 years ago, prompted by a question from her son during a viewing of a Holocaust documentary, Schlessinger, 56, began exploring her Jewish roots. ** THIS is what I found so interesting -- she was obviously traumatized by the propaganda (as it is intended to do) and became swayed into "expiation" of a "sin" she hadn't committed (except she probably considered herself white, and thus guilty of the holocaust ). She doesn't strike me as a particularly INTELLIGENT woman (I mean, come on, really, she has a doctorate in GYM?! :D ) and so was easily turned into a self-flagellating "criminal" whose self-imposed punishment and rehabilitation was to TURN INTO the "thing" "she" "harmed."
She (probably unconsciously) expected that by her very visible "expiation" she would be loved and accepted as a "good" girl by the Jews. When they did NOT fete her and love her and make her feel she had 'paid back' the crime of the holyhoax, she was baffled and had to look for love in some OTHER place (as she says about Christians).
I find when I watch holyhoax propaganda, I am horrified and upset and disturbed and the horror is NOT balanced or ameliorated by the fact that I KNOW the truth, that I know it is an attempt to manipulate me (and all-y'all too). There is still the fact that war IS hell, and women should not be exposed to pictures and movies of hell! (Nor should girl children, and maybe not even young male children!)
I have had enough education and awakening to know how to balance the horror of unintended deaths carefully presented in the propaganda with the intellectual knowledge of the horrors that were ACTUALLY true -- the starvation, rapes, tortures, and murders of honorable German soldiers and women and children...
What could silly little Laura balance the horrible propaganda with?
2003-08-30 02:21 | User Profile
travis wrote:
I regard events such as these as maneouvers more than changes in beliefs/values.
Agreed this is the well-documented Mendelssohn-Heine manoeuvre.
2003-08-30 13:28 | User Profile
**"I thought she was a tough little lady ââ¬â I didn't think she'd chicken out so easily," said Rabbi Isaac Levy, the chairman of Jews for Morality, who has staunchly supported Schlessinger's conservative agenda. "She's gotten a couple of kicks in the chin and she's succumbed to it." **
What a passive way of needling someone - provoking them through passive actions that disguise aggressive intent. Passive aggression is what Judeo-Christians excel at, and it's why periodically someone wakes up and starts the oven.
2003-08-30 13:30 | User Profile
**Personally, I am breathless with excitement: Will Dr. Laura find Jesus? **
Jesus is a Jewish god, too.
2003-08-30 14:05 | User Profile
**People like you scare me away from a better understanding of Christians and Christianity. You are crazy, IMHO. **
My post was (an attempt) to be sarcastic and to use, or try to, irony to point out that Dr Laura is not for real and that Jews will use these types of soap operas to keep white people busy. A guess would be that Jews use this type of "drama" to distract us from more important matters.
I would suppose that she is attempting to fool more Christians and increase her ratings.
2003-08-31 02:46 | User Profile
....way, way more than "generalizations" from my personal experience, but I digress.
2003-08-31 05:05 | User Profile
**People like you scare me away from a better understanding of Christians and Christianity. You are crazy, IMHO. **
No offence meant but considering your avatar and the inscription beneath it I wouldn't think crazy is something that would bother you.
2003-08-31 23:50 | User Profile
**People like you scare me away from a better understanding of Christians and Christianity. You are crazy, IMHO. **
**No offence meant but considering your avatar and the inscription beneath it I wouldn't think crazy is something that would bother you. **
Very observant, how...eh...jewish of me. It was merely an invitation to join the ward...I'm not crazy.
2003-09-03 01:51 | User Profile
Her mother wasn't a Jew, therefore she couldn't be a "racial Jew". I have a feeling that played a part in how she was viewed by the Jewish community. Jews don't have a problem defending J. Pollard but they find Schlesinger's values and morals offensive.