Thursday, January 15, 2009

Plagiarism...or a Meeting of the Minds?

I was inspired to see Rabbi Emanuel Feldman'a op-ed piece entitled Real Money that was published in the Jerusalem Post and was subsequently picked up by Cross Currents. I was a bit taken aback by the timeliness and lack of originality of his message.

The message was first broached by Carmi Wisemon in her piece entitled A Matter of Trust which ran in the Jerusalem Post on Dec. 23, more than 3 weeks ago. I picked up on Ms. Wisemon's piece to offer a more "Talmudic" perspective of the same sentiment with a post entitled The Richest Man in the Cemetery 2 days later (Dec. 25). What tickles my fancy is that I also incorporated the famous statement of Sen. Everett Dirkson of Illinois even though I didn't name him. And, just like Rabbi Feldman, I discuss that money is meant to be both an opportunity and a test.

Despite the title of this post, I do not for a minute suspect an act of plagiarism, chas v'shalom. There is no doubt in my mind that Rabbi Feldman has never seen my blog post (why should he?) and so, I am more than happy to attribute this "coincidence" to a meeting of the minds. Of course, the question stands that, as a frequent contributor to the Jerusalem Post, was he not aware of Carmi Wisemon's editorial?

As for me, to the contrary. I am rather honored that such a distinguished personality as Rabbi Feldman mirrors my viewpoint (and remembers Senator Dirkson). I am quite fond of the Feldmans and, though I am sure Rabbi Feldman doesn't know it, I am actually a second cousin to his sister-in-law (there's Jewish Geography for you).

All told, I am putting a stamp of approval on Rabbi Feldman's article. I am certainly not condemning it. The main purpose of this post is to point out that not only is his point about "Real Money" vs. a "Real Jew" a valid one...

...it's what a lot of people are thinking.

2 comments:

G said...

To sum up:

Why do for ourselves, or figure out the reasons why we are having a hard time doing for ourselves and try to fix said problems, when someone else can do for us instead.

Does that about cover it?

Freelance Kiruv Maniac (Mr. Hyde) said...

More "plagiarism" afoot at Cross-Currents!:
http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2009/01/22/new-hope-for-out-of-town-singles/

Printfriendly

Print Friendly and PDF

Translate