Mel and Me

Our good friend Michael Morrison passed this along in response to my post Glass Houses. Toward Tradition is a website dedicated to Jewish-Christian understanding, and Rabbi Daniel Lapin makes a case for Mel Gibson:


By now the whole world knows that the L.A. County Sheriff's Department reports that after being stopped for drunk driving early Friday morning, Mel Gibson, began yelling about the "blanking" Jews who start all the wars in the world.

Within a few hours Gibson publicly admitted that he had "...said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said, and I apologize to anyone who I have offended."

Immediately thereafter, one of the self-anointed Jewish "leaders" proclaimed with breathtaking chutzpah, that Mel Gibson's apology is unremorseful and insufficient. "It's not a proper apology because it does not go to the essence of his bigotry and his anti-Semitism," he said. "We would hope that Hollywood now would realize the bigot in their midst and that they will distance themselves from this anti-Semite."

It is all too easy to join the circling hyenas and denounce Gibson while he is down. On the other hand, though he has provided some financial support to Toward Tradition, I don't feel obliged to leap to his defense. That is not the purpose behind my writing this column. The purpose of my writing this account is to respond to the question of how recent events have impacted my views of the man and his work. It is also to place a gentle restraining hand upon the shoulder of those in the Jewish community making yet another mistake.

There really are anti-Semites in this world of ours right now who not only wish to destroy all Jews but are doing all within their powers to bring that about. Does the name Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggest anything? Does it really make a lot of sense to treat Mel Gibson as a threat to Jews anywhere?

Please read this entire piece; it makes a great deal of sense.