Thank you for another excellent response. In short, you state that there is a liberal media bias which is distorting the reality on the ground in Israel. This may be true as Haaretz in English is probably more widely read than your newspaper/ website. However your answer speaks to a widening rift between American Jews who are mostly Reform or unaffiliated secular Jews (atheists, agnostics, and New Ageists) with extremely liberal views that are antithetical to Torah teachings. I personally feel that their push for Same Sex Marriage and Transgenderism makes them Unitarian Universalists Neither Jewish nor Christian. As far as the Sexual Scandals of the Vatican are concerned, it appears that you are a victim of your own bias’. I am sure that the Orthodox, with their stricter separation between the sexes, do in fact produce the same high rates of sexual abuse as the Catholic Church. However, the mainstream media, which is disproportionately owned by Jewish people, see no reason to report on that. But also, they are smart enough to know that stories like that would cause antisemitism. Further, Rabbinic Judaism goes hand in hand with the Catholic Church. They are twin brothers. If one falls, so will the other.

The problem you mention, of the drifting away and assimilation of most American Jews into a liberal mindset far from Judaism, is a very painful point. Nevertheless, Judaism is a nationality, and even if a brother is confused, he is still as Jewish as all of us (only if his wife isn’t Jewish, then his children are not Jewish). On the other hand, saying Catholicism and orthodox Judaism “are twins”, is a simple ignorance of the facts, where we are statistically growing stronger every day in quality and quantity, and the Catholics are getting weaker all the time. Even in America, despite assimilation, the orthodox used to comprise only 6% of the Jews, but the recent PEW survey shows they have grown to 10%. Regarding sexual scandals, there is also no comparison, for as opposed to the Catholic clergy, orthodox Jews and rabbis are all obligated (!) to marry and have a healthy and above-average family life (almost no divorces, compared to the national average). The norm is even to get married relatively young (usually around 20), and this is encouraged. Believe me, when there is that rare occasional case, the liberal anti-religious press in Israel and America will write about it for a long time to suit their agenda, but it is far (!) less common compared to the national average, and thank God (for giving us a Living and practical Torah!) there’s no comparison whatsoever with the unfortunate common abuse in the Catholic church (although it’s their own fault for having an impractical and “un-liveable” religion, veering significantly from the original Bible where everyone was married)!