Politics

And how proud we are of all of them

Fresh from the inbox:

Dear Friends,
I hope you will join me in congratulating Hillel Senior Communications Associate Suzanne Kurtz on her appointment as spokesperson for the Republican Jewish Coalition starting July 16. You may be familiar with the many articles Suzanne has written and syndicated as editor of our Hillel Campus Report online newsletter. Our loss is the RJC’s gain.
[…] Thank you,
Jeff Rubin
Associate Vice President for Communications
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life

Uh, sorry, but getting a job at the Republican Jewish Coalition is nothing to brag about. These guys buy recess-appointment ambassadorships by financing propaganda for the Bush administration.
Considering that Hillel’s mission as a purportedly apolitical and non-denominational organization is to connect Jews to Judaism and each other across a spectrum of beliefs and identities, you probably want to keep the whole “we’re egregiously Republican” thing under the rug…

20 thoughts on “And how proud we are of all of them

  1. This is sooo not a big deal and you know it. How is it political to congratulate a former colleague for getting a prestigious job? Just because we might not be fans of the republicans doesn’t mean we should lose our tact.

  2. I agree with Adam. If she had gotten a job with the DNC instead, or any other liberal organization, would you have been prouder?
    For instance, what if she had been offered a position as a White House intern? It’s respected, coveted, and difficult to obtain, but definitely politically influenced. What you’re saying is that the “broad spectrum of beliefs” doesn’t include Republicans.

  3. It’s worth noting. After all, she was the editor of their (exceptionally boring) e-mail newsletter.

  4. How is it political to congratulate a former colleague for getting a prestigious job?
    I didn’t say it was “political” to congratulate her. I said that taking a job specifically for the RJC is nothing to be proud of. The RJC is in effect a criminal entity that has engaged in subverting the political appointments process and that further has committed numerous acts of libel against some of Israel’s best friends in the House and Senate.
    If she had gotten a job with the DNC instead, or any other liberal organization, would you have been prouder? […] What you’re saying is that the “broad spectrum of beliefs” doesn’t include Republicans.
    This specifically has to do with my contempt for the RJC as an organization that uses “Jewish” in its title, but consistently violates Jewish ethics for the sake of the personal gain of its leadership.
    As per getting a job at the White House — highly coveted, sure. I’m sure working for John Gotti was once a highly coveted position as well. That’s a great opportunity, working for the most corrupt administration in the history of the American presidency. It’ll open a lot of doors to more opportunities to help more corrupt politicians, lobbies and corporations exploit the American political process for their own private gains.
    Why am I alone in this thinking?
    What if she got a great job offer from Jimmy Carter? I bet you Hillel wouldn’t brag about that…
    Regardless, I think that proudly publicizing that type of information — that one of your senior staff members has moved on to being minister of propaganda for one of the most unethical political organizations in America — is destructive to the mission of Hillel as an organization, because it will alienate prospective Hillel attendees who happen to find the RJC’s tactics as disgusting as I do.

  5. any organization that kisses that much AIPAC ass yet purports to be apolitical clearly thinks that its constituants are dumb or deluded. as one of its consituants, this is rather insulting.

  6. “Why am I alone in this thinking?”
    You’re not literally alone, but if it seems that way it’s because your position is extreme. As noted above once you call a mainstream political group “a criminal entity” there’s no room left for dialogue.

  7. there’s no room left for dialogue
    sure there is–dispute my points factually and coherently
    it’s not like i’m casting about insults without reason

  8. But you are casting out insults without any good reason. The organization is bad, but to some the NDJC is bad. Good for this Suzanne Kurtz who believes getting a job making the Kool Aid for the evil org is a good thing. Why hate on her or Jeff for that matter. This is just busting on an individual who’s politics you disagree with. It may be reason, but it isn’t that good.

  9. nonsense — my post was about why the rjc sucks and why getting a job with them is nothing to brag about, especially if you’re not trying to alienate people. i didn’t attack any individual. i attacked a stupid PR move that hillel made (by blasting this information to the world at large) that was supposed to be impressive. well i’m unimpressed.

  10. Mobius, I want to chime in that I think yo’ure wrong too. Yeah, the RJC might be criminal and reprehensible, and blah blah blah. And this woman might be selling herself to the devil, but that’s not the point. When a professional leaves the organization, especially a large, public one like Hillel, it’s the organizations responsibility to issue a short statement, and when that individual is proud of her new job, even if you might disagree with her, then he polite, nice, menthschlich thing to do is write a little press release and congratulations letter like Hillel did. Even if the RJC is made up of shmendriks, Hillel did the right thing to do by saying thank you and good luck.

  11. hmmm…
    i have to agree with the one mr frankel on this one. i may find it a little shmediculous and all…i certainly would rather do a hell of a lot of other things before working for a repucblican organization. But it just seems like the professional thing to do.
    I just wish the lady luck in not ending up looking like a ‘shmendrik’ herself.
    now that will be a task.
    but i will admit it that the post gave me a little chuckle…and i will thank dear Mobius for that:)

  12. I was once put on military trial where I was given the option to plead guilty, not guilty, or to “admit to the facts”. So how about we all admit the facts – that Hillel would never congratulate someone who was going to work for Carter (or even B’Tzelem) – and the the RJC are evil people who are selling out their Jewishness, and then agree with Josh that its the professional thing to do for Hillel – and note that dissing them is the professional thing to do for Mobius.
    Now we can all be happy.

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