Long ago, and still in some ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, the Rabbinic leaders had the ability to place someone in “cherem”, excommunication.  Similar to the Catholic practice of vitandus, it was the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community.  No other Jew could work, socialize, or even speak with the offender.  They were no longer considered a Jew in any way until, if, and when they redeemed their actions by making amends and repairing the damage they had done.  If they did not fully make reparations, they could not even be buried in a Jewish cemetery.  This was a punishment placed on those who did significant damage to the Jewish community as a whole, and was considered the most powerful of censures.

If we could get every Rabbi in the United Stated to have the courage to do it, I would suggest that the Jewish community place this extreme censure of cherem on both Anthony Blinken and Jonathan Finer.  These men have betrayed this country and it’s greatest ally of Israel; have pandered to extremist Muslims who seek the destruction of all Jews; have empowered anti-Semites; and have gone out of their way to destroy the Jewish people.  At this point, they are Jews in name only, and that too should now be removed from them.

Anthony Blinken has been busy in the last days and weeks with doing everything he can to destroy Israel. He has pushed for a cease fire that would insure the ultimate destruction of Israel.  He has tried to circumvent the elected government of Israel. He has worked to create a coup against the elected government, having conversations with politicians and promising them U.S. support if they would oust Prime Minister Netanyahu.  Blinken even attempted to have private meetings with Israel’s Chiefs of Staff without the presence of Israel’s leadership.

Blinken’s primary job is to serve the United States, but to abandon the only true American ally in the region doesn’t serve us. To capitulate to the terrorism of Hamas, which is clear that it wants to “obliterate all infidels” worldwide (which includes Americans) does not serve the United States. To pressure for a two-state solution that is a guarantee of future attacks on Israel is not helpful for any American, except those in the Democratic party who want to take any controversy of war out of the dialogue as we approach the Presidential election so that the puppet President of Joe Biden can continue to inhabit the Oval Office.  This is all a dereliction of Blinken’s duties of serving the nation.  And to attack Israel as “dehumanizing” an enemy that committed the depraved atrocities of October 7 is not only disgusting, it is a tacit approval of the evils that happened on October 7.

And he is a Jew… at least in name.

Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer is equally as repugnant.  Again, Finer is a Jew by virtue of his parents.  But he is no more a Jew than Osama Bin-Laden, and instead has chosen to be a sacrificial lamb who offers himself up to anti-Semites in the hope of attaining more personal power in the Democratic machine.

After last week’s horrific speech of Joe Biden, where he demonstrated his mental incompetence and said that Israel’s reaction to October 7 is “over the top” (is there an over the top reaction to the beheading of babies, the raping of young women, the kidnapping of the elderly, and the murder of civilians?), Biden realized that his support among the powerful Muslim community in Michigan is waning.  So he sent one of his “token Jews”, Finer, to go assuage the Muslim voting bloc.  And Finer did exactly what his master wanted, and betrayed not only America and Israel in an attempt to secure votes, he betrayed his own Jewish soul.

In Finer’s speech to these Muslim activists, he didn’t just betray Israel, he specifically said that the needs of Saudi Arabia are more important than even America.  “We will have to do things for Saudi Arabia that will be very unpopular in this country and in our Congress.”  

Think about that statement. The number two official in national security blatantly said that the Biden administration will do things that neither Congress nor the American people want.  After abandoning his own country, he went on to castigate Israel.  “I do not have any confidence in this current government of Israel.”

This “current government of Israel”?  The Israeli government is duly elected by the Israeli people, and despite multiple attempts to oust Netanyahu (and what is reported in western media outlets), he continues to have the vast majority of Israelis supporting him and this government.  Netanyahu was apparently intimately involved in the recent rescue of the hostages from Rafah, despite being told by Biden to back down.  But none of that matters to Finer. In his words to Muslin activists, Finer is actually suggesting: that the Biden administration should be able to determine a foreign government’s electoral process.

Finer has abandoned Israel, his duties as an American official, the American people, and even Congress in an attempt to secure the Moslem vote in the swing state of Michigan for Biden.  His betrayal of both Israel and more importantly, of the United States itself, is astounding.  Given that it is a Jewish value to not only support Israel, but to make your home country a primary priority; Finer too should be excommunicated not only from Judaism, but from America.

I encourage both Blinken and Finer to examine their own souls, and stop prostituting themselves for power and the Biden administration.  And even more importantly, every Rabbi in this country should put them in cherem, and totally reject them from the Jewish community until their actions show that they are more committed to Judaism, Israel, and the United States than they are to their own pursuit of personal power.

It is profoundly sad for me to say this, and it is the first time I have ever felt this way about any Jew.  But for now, neither Anthony Blinken nor Jonathan Finer are welcome at any of our synagogue’s services.  They are prohibited from being called to the Torah in our community.  And we will not say Kaddish, the memorial prayer for the dead, when they pass from this world.

If every other American Rabbi acts in this way, maybe these two men will choose to redeem their souls.  

Source - Rabbi Michael Barclay

Rabbi Michael Barclay is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Ner Simcha (www.NerSimcha.org); the author of “Sacred Relationships:  Biblical Wisdom for Deepening Our Lives Together”; and a columnist for PJ Media.  Follow him on X/Twitter @Rabbi_Barclay