The Passion done Crown Heights style

So I saw this play. (NB: I know Yankel Rosenbaum is not a Chasid. Blame The Man, or my editors. On second thought, don't blame my editors. They were very kind to the piece.)

What I wanted to say about Lenora Fulani is that she has called Jews "mass murderers." Either the Forward didn't want to be inflammatory, which I understand, or they don't consider the Anti-Defamation League a reliable source. Sez the ADL:

Despite its self-proclaimed multicultural vision and its avowed dedication to fighting racism and anti-Semitism, NAP has repeatedly bombarded its members with anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist rhetoric. Taking the podium in 1985 at NAP’s regional convention in Harlem, Newman announced his views on the behavior of Jews after the Holocaust:

"As a people we [Jews] responded to that genocide by selling our souls to the devil.... The contract with the Jewish people, with the Jewish leadership, has been: 'We’re going to let you live. We’re going to let you survive. We’re going to make sure it never happens to you again as long as you function as the stormtroopers of decadent capitalism against people of color the world over!….' Jewish people, my people, profoundly oppressed for thousands of years, capitulated — not all Jews, but the Jews as a people."

Newman’s "deal with the devil" theory appears to have achieved the status of NAP gospel in the years since that initial speech. Variations on the theme have cropped up on numerous occasions. In 1989, Lenora Fulani told the National Alliance that Jews "had to sell their souls to acquire Israel and are required to do the dirtiest work of capitalism—to function as mass murderers of people of color—in order to keep it."