Books in Brief: Jerry Falwell and the Jews

Jerry Falwell and the Jews, by Merrill Simon (Jonathan David, 172 pp., $12.50)

Merrill Simon, national political editor of Israel Today, is a dyed-in-the-wool Zionist. Jerry Falwell is well, Jerry Falwell. Your average man in the street (not to mention your average Jewish liberal) is likely to wonder what in the world caused these two gentlemen to write a book together which just goes to show you how thoroughly your average man in the street (not to mention your average Jewish liberal) has been brainwashed by the elite media on the subject of Jerry Falwell. Mr. Simon sums it up neatly in his introduction to Jerry Falwell and the Jews: “There has emerged one man who has become an outspoken supporter of Israel’s policies and political positions, a person whose public support of the state of Israel has been tendered consistently, without apology, and without Jewish solicitation, no matter how controversial the issue. This man is Jerry Falwell.” We knew that, of course, but Mr. Simon, recognizing the extent to which America’s Jewish liberals have misinterpreted the Falwell phenomenon, has decided to do something concrete about it. Hence this book, a lengthy question- and-answer session on three topics: Judaism, the state of Israel, and the social issues. Mr. Simon’s questions are by turns ingenuous (“Is there, in your opinion, a better religion for Jews than Judaism?”) and direct (“Could you define Christianity for us?”). Mr. Falwell’s answers are consistently intelligent and unapologetic, with more than a few flashes of genuine political sophistication. (“I do not want to see government invading the bedrooms of the American people. But I do want to see America symbolically, at least, positioned against moral perversion. I want the United States to clearly take its legislative position on the side of the traditional family. I am not in favor of jailing or harassing persons because of their sexual orientation.”) Despite the occasional hint of when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife hostility, Mr. Simon has made a major contribution to what Dinesh D’Souza has called the “detoxification” of Jerry Falwell and, one suspects, an equally important contribution to the gradual con servatizing of American Jews. More power to him. terry teachout

About the Author

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout is the drama critic of the Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. Satchmo at the Waldorf, his 2011 play about Louis Armstrong, has been produced off Broadway and throughout America.

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Jerry Falwell and the Jews, by Merrill Simon (Jonathan David, 172 pp., $12.50)

Merrill Simon, national political editor of Israel Today, is a dyed-in-the-wool Zionist. Jerry Falwell is well, Jerry Falwell. Your average man in the street (not to mention your average Jewish liberal) is likely to wonder what in the world caused these two gentlemen to write a book together which just goes to show you how thoroughly your average man in the street (not to mention your average Jewish liberal) has been brainwashed by the elite media on the subject of Jerry Falwell. Mr. Simon sums it up neatly in his introduction to Jerry Falwell and the Jews: “There has emerged one man who has become an outspoken supporter of Israel’s policies and political positions, a person whose public support of the state of Israel has been tendered consistently, without apology, and without Jewish solicitation, no matter how controversial the issue. This man is Jerry Falwell.” We knew that, of course, but Mr. Simon, recognizing the extent to which America’s Jewish liberals have misinterpreted the Falwell phenomenon, has decided to do something concrete about it. Hence this book, a lengthy question- and-answer session on three topics: Judaism, the state of Israel, and the social issues. Mr. Simon’s questions are by turns ingenuous (“Is there, in your opinion, a better religion for Jews than Judaism?”) and direct (“Could you define Christianity for us?”). Mr. Falwell’s answers are consistently intelligent and unapologetic, with more than a few flashes of genuine political sophistication. (“I do not want to see government invading the bedrooms of the American people. But I do want to see America symbolically, at least, positioned against moral perversion. I want the United States to clearly take its legislative position on the side of the traditional family. I am not in favor of jailing or harassing persons because of their sexual orientation.”) Despite the occasional hint of when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife hostility, Mr. Simon has made a major contribution to what Dinesh D’Souza has called the “detoxification” of Jerry Falwell and, one suspects, an equally important contribution to the gradual con servatizing of American Jews. More power to him. terry teachout

About the Author

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout is the drama critic of the Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. Satchmo at the Waldorf, his 2011 play about Louis Armstrong, has been produced off Broadway and throughout America.