Eighth Commandment: Palestine shall not steal

Submitted to the Cumberland Times-News December 13, 2010; published December 20.

...there are many places where Palestinians could establish a homeland "that would be consistent with their roots. But there is only one place on earth where the Jewish people could have a homeland that is consistent with their roots." -- former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee

As we watched Alan Dershowitz attack Mike Huckabee in a taped three-year-old argument on Huckabee’s FOX program Dec. 4, the governor, in real time, most likely rehearsed his remarks for his role the next evening as keynote speaker at the 28th annual dinner of the American Friends of the Beit El Yeshiva Center in Manhattan.

With 1,400 to attend, this dinner “is one of the largest and most prestigious functions of any Jewish organization,” according to Eugen Gluck, board chair, as reported by Arutz Sheva, the Israeli media network based in the West Bank that hosts the event.

The dinner honors 5,500 or so residents of Beit El (Bethel), first settled in 1977, who forego the cushy life to stay put in the conflict and clamor for the rights of Israel.

Bethel is the Biblical site where Jacob slept and dreamt of angels descending and ascending a ladder (Genesis 28:10-19); and God spoke to him. Therefore, Jacob called this place “the gate of heaven.” This is where Jacob delivered the blessing of his father Isaac into Israel, and it is where he would manifest God’s promise to make of his grandfather Abraham a nation.

Huckabee is “outspoken,” reports Arutz Sheva, “in his support for Israel's rights to sovereignty over the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, where Beit El is located.”

A visitor to Israel 12 times, Arutz Sheva reports, Huckabee said last year there are many places where Palestinians could establish a homeland “that would be consistent with their roots. But there is only one place on earth where the Jewish people could have a homeland that is consistent with their roots."

As a Christian, Huckabee understands his shared inheritance in God’s promise for salvation, first granted to our spiritual elders, the Jews. We believe that Jesus, a descendant of Abraham (Mt. 1:1-17), is the manifestation of that promise.

During Advent, we wait, with Jesus’ mother Mary, and prepare for the Messiah’s birth. We look inward, and we reach out to others in charity, as we aim to re-order our lives, and to open our hearts to God’s redemption. During this holy time, Christians also anticipate Christ’s second coming.

Sadly, the secular crush to buy expensive gifts defines Christmas, and charity, for many today. Surely, for children, visits from St. Nicholas, and fulfillments of hearts’ desires for material expressions of affection are important, to build treasured memories.

As St. Paul writes, though, a time arrives when adults give up childish attachments to things, memories and desires (1 Cor. 13:11). Advent is the time to mature, through personal discipline, to acquire the ability to cast off inordinate lifestyles, and to explore our spiritual destiny, instead -- and to advance on the path of St. Paul toward self-sufficiency (Phil 4:11b-13). One day, with Paul, we may say, “In him who is the source of my strength, I have strength for everything.”

In their disagreement, Dershowitz lambastes Huckabee for saying the Ten Commandments are unalterable; and he claims that Jesus rewrote them to shift the Sabbath and to redefine adultery.

As a Jew, and reportedly a supporter of Israel, perhaps Dershowitz might agree, finally, with Huckabee and others who believe that the eighth commandment stands unchanged: Palestine shall not steal land from Israel bequeathed by God to the Jews.

Furthermore, in the course of three years, since he apparently first tore into Huckabee, Dershowitz could choose to re-order his view, and let go of inordinate tendencies to confound the foundational tenets shared by the Jewish and Christian faiths, and seek authentic peace by making peace with God.

Christian thinking fundamental to forming Constitution

"Davis proposes a monument to secularism, in opposition to the
Judeo-Christian principles that are displayed on the Ten Commandments monument -- which he has said publicly he would prefer to see removed from the courthouse lawn."

Glenn Riffey (“Constitution a product of Christian influence,” April 14) presents an informed argument for honoring Christian influence in the construction of the U.S. Constitution, in response to Jeffrey Davis (“Why shouldn’t we honor the Constitution,” April 8).

Surely, your savvy readers appreciate historical facts; and they desire to understand the reality of Christianity’s essence and the impact of the Judeo-Christian experience in our forebears’ formation of the Constitution; and they believe in the Constitution’s purpose to protect and guide a civil society.

We may add to Mr. Riffey’s list of founding fathers John Witherspoon, the only active clergyman and college president (College of New Jersey, now Princeton University) to help form the Declaration of Independence and to sign it.

A native of Scotland and a minister of the national Presbyterian Church, Witherspoon, like others involved in forming our nation, was wary of the power of the British crown.

In 1774, Witherspoon joined the American Revolution as a member of the Committee of Correspondence, which interpreted British actions among the colonies and disseminated information. This committee brought the colonies into political union, and many of its members were daring Sons of Liberty.

In June 1776, Witherspoon was elected to the Continental Congress as a member of the New Jersey delegation. He became one of the Congress’s most influential members, serving on more than 100 committees, among them the board of war and the committee on secret correspondence.

Witherspoon helped draft the Articles of Confederation, and he argued to adopt the Constitution during the New Jersey ratification debates. (Source: Wikipedia.)

Presbyterian pastor and evangelical Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer writes in his 1981 book, A Christian Manifesto, that the “linkage of (Witherspoon’s) Christian thinking and the concepts of government were not incidental but fundamental” to form and establish the American civil society.

Now, what is disconcerting about Jeffrey Davis’ indignation in pressuring the county to put up a monument to the Constitution is that what he really wants is not a monument to the Constitution at all.

Davis proposes a monument to secularism, in opposition to the Judeo-Christian principles that are displayed on the Ten Commandments monument -- which he has said publicly he would prefer to see removed from the courthouse lawn. In fact, Davis has had limited success in attempts to do just that.

Davis wants a monument to his viewpoint, which he believes is the only one possible. This attitude misses the mark.

“The meaning conveyed by a monument is generally not a simple one like ‘Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner,’” writes Justice Samuel Alito in the unanimous Supreme Court opinion in Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum.

“Even when a monument features the written word,” writes Justice Alito, “the monument…may in fact be interpreted by different observers, in a variety of ways.”

A monument is a sort of fine art object. It inspires us and brings us to pause and reflect, in a personal and communal way, on matters that have individual and social significance.

A monument to the Constitution, especially if it includes words, should represent the Constitution, not Jeffrey Davis.

We should see, on a monument to the Constitution, the Preamble, which sums up the Constitution’s reason for being. Then let us pray that the document, so carefully crafted by our courageous and faithful forefathers, remains up to the task to “secure the Blessings of Liberty” for all.

by Nancy E. Thoerig 05.13.09

Love God, honor His name, keep holy His day

"The law of the Sabbath day is in the life of the spirit what the law of gravitation is in nature." -- Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath -- Its Meaning for Modern Man

The sixth semester morning meetings of the four-year Why Catholic program (that meets twice a year) began February 26. Father Ty Hullinger taught on the Ten Commandments overall and particularly the first three -- all having to do with our love for God: Serve no other God; keep His name holy; keep His Sabbath holy.

Father Ty presented a wealth of information -- in a hurry and a flurry -- that boiled down to 1) be aware of material possessions or social priorities that may (and must not) take precedence in our lives over our love, attention and obedience to God; 2) cherish His name and honor it in thought and speech; 3) avoid secular pursuits and prefer to desire a deepening understanding of faith and service to others on Sunday.

Father Ty sent us home with a couple of handouts, one containting excerpts from Abrahan Joshua Heschel's The Sabbath -- Its Meaning for Modern Man, in which Heschel states: "What we are depends on what the Sabbath is to us. The law of the Sabbath day is in the life of the spirit what the law of gravitation is in nature."