Opinion: When government leader sling around terms like pharisee, it feeds antisemitism
Micah Greenstein
Rabbi Micah Greenstein is senior rabbi of Temple Israel of Memphis.
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“Pharisee” seems to be one of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s new favorite words. It’s too bad he and others who use pharisee as an epithet do not know what it means or the freight it carries.
Wasn’t it cringey enough when Hegseth contended U.S. troops launching the war in Iran were fighting for Jesus? Now he wants to redefine words from a religion that’s not his own.
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