I try to ignore Beck, really I do. Moreover, while a Jew, I'm not the most devout one ever. Still though, this gets to me:
But, this weekend, I put out a tweet on Twitter that September 28th is the Day of Atonement for the Jewish faith, and I thought it would be a good day for all of us to fast and pray, you know.
Yom Kippur is the most holy day in the Jewish calendar. It's a way of getting a fresh start on the new year by spending 10 days dwelling on one's actions, seeing where one might have hurt someone, trying to set right what you did, and then fasting from sunset to sunset in order to be able to forgive yourself. It's an incredibly powerful ritual, one designed to make sure that we don't cut ourselves slack in ignoring our transgressions, but also allowing us to forgive ourselves lest we get mired in thinking about them forever.
To take this and make it into more of Beck's world, to make it out as though all of us who will be fasting are doing so because we hate Obama and want to further his twisted goal, well that's beyond offensive.
I don't know if Beck has many advertisers left, but this is something that should be used to pressure them. I know I would have a hard time supporting a company that thinks it's OK to co-opt Yom Kippur, and I doubt I'm alone.