Shortly after the rabbis of the Reform movement took it upon themselves last month to advise President Bush on the war in Iraq, the rabbis of the Conservative movement decided to advise Senator Arlen Specter on the proper standards for confirming President Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
The Reform letter, with its citations to the purported necessity of an “exit strategy” under Jewish law, was close to self-parody (see "What Would Maimonides Do?"). The Conservative letter was more amusing in a straightforward way: you have to have a sense of humor to be famously hazy on the role of halacha but think it appropriate to lecture the Senate Judiciary Committee on the sanctity of “settled law” (Roe v. Wade).
When did American rabbis become experts in foreign policy and constitutional law?
(Hat tip: Pillage Idiot, whose own “follow-up letter” is also funny).