Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Back to Opinion

Sheldon Whiffs on Gordis, Loves Shwarma

There are few people who have given more money to the right-leaning Jerusalem think tank the Shalem Center than Sheldon Adelson. In 2007, his family foundation bestowed $4.5 million on it.

But Adelson didn’t have much to say about one of its best-known scholars.

Several journalists awaited Adelson as he emerged from today’s fundraiser for Mitt Romney, and we escorted him to the elevator. What does he think about the alienation of young American Jews from their community? He answers: “It’s not alienation, it’s the absence of understanding.”

What about Daniel Gordis’ writings on this subject? Gordis is a rabbi, the Shalem Center’s Senior Vice President and one of the most respected Israel analysts around.

Adelson gave several different disjointed responses. “I don’t care about who, I don’t even know (that) I’ve heard the name Gordis,” he said. “It’s his opinion. There are 7 million people in the world and he’s only got one opinion.”

Adelson also joked that his reason for coming to Israel was to eat shwarma.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version