Jerusalem — The marble-patterned, hardcover book embossed with gold Hebrew letters looks like any other religious commentary you’d find in an Orthodox Judaica bookstore — but reads like a rabbinic instruction manual outlining acceptable scenarios for killing non-Jewish babies, children and adults.
“The prohibition ‘Thou Shalt Not Murder’” applies only “to a Jew who kills a Jew,” write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are “uncompassionate by nature” and attacks on them “curb their evil inclination,” while babies and children of Israel’s enemies may be killed since “it is clear that they will grow to harm us.”
“The King’s Torah (Torat Hamelech), Part One: Laws of Life and Death between Israel and the Nations,” a 230-page compendium of Halacha, or Jewish religious law, published by the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in Yitzhar, garnered a front-page exposé in the Israeli tabloid Ma’ariv, which called it the stuff of “Jewish terror.”
Now, the yeshiva is in the news again, with a January 18 raid on Yitzhar by more than 100 Israeli security officials who forcibly entered Od Yosef Chai and arrested 10 Jewish settlers. The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, suspects five of those arrested were involved in the torching and vandalizing of a Palestinian mosque last month in the neighboring Palestinian village of Yasuf. The arson provoked an international outcry and condemnation by Israeli religious figures, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who visited the village to personally voice his regret.
Yet, both Metzger and his Sephardic counterpart, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, have declined to comment on the book, which debuted in November, while other prominent rabbis have endorsed it — among them, the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic Jewry’s preeminent leader. Also, despite the precedent set by previous Israeli attorneys general in the last decade and a half to file criminal charges against settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting violence against non-Jews, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has so far remained mum about “The King’s Torah.”
“Sometimes the public arena deals with the phenomenon and things become settled by themselves,” Justice Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen told the Forward.
A coalition of religious Zionist groups, the “Twelfth of Heshvan,”—– named after the Hebrew date of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, has asked Israel’s Supreme Court to order Mazuz to confiscate the books and arrest its authors.
“You open the book, and you feel that you read a halachic book. And it’s a trap,” said Gadi Gvaryahu, a religious Jewish educator who heads the coalition. It was, in fact, “a guidebook [on] how to kill,” he charged.
Family members who answered phone calls placed to the homes of both authors said they did not wish to comment.
In 2008, author Shapira was suspected of involvement in a crude rocket attack directed at a Palestinian village. Israeli police investigated but made no arrests.
Co-author Elitzur wrote an article in a religious bulletin a month after the book’s release saying that “the Jews will win with violence against the Arabs.”
In 2003, the head of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, was charged by then-Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein with incitement to racism for authoring a book calling Arabs a “cancer.”
In 2006-2007, the Israeli Ministry of Education gave about a quarter of a million dollars to the yeshiva, and in 2007-2008 the yeshiva received about $28,000 from the American nonprofit Central Fund of Israel.
“The King’s Torah” reflects a fringe viewpoint held by a minority of rabbis in the West Bank, said Avinoam Rosenak, a Hebrew University professor specializing in settler theology. Asher Cohen, a Bar Ilan University political science professor, thought its influence would be “zero” because it appeals only to extreme ideologues.
But the book’s wide dissemination and the enthusiastic endorsements of prominent rabbis have spotlighted what might have otherwise remained an isolated commentary.
At the entrance to Moriah, a large Jewish bookstore steps from the Western Wall, copies of “The King’s Torah” were displayed with children’s books and other halachic commentaries. The store manager, who identified himself only as Motti, said the tome has sold “excellently.”
Other stores carrying the book include Robinson Books, a well-known, mostly secular bookshop in a hip Tel Aviv shopping district; Pomeranz Bookseller, a major Jewish book emporium near the Ben Yehuda mall in downtown Jerusalem; and Felhendler, a Judaica store on the main artery of secular Rehovot, home of the Weizmann Institute.
The yeshiva declined to comment on publication statistics. But Itzik, a Tel Aviv-area book distributor hired by the yeshiva who declined to give his last name because of the book’s nature, said the yeshiva had sold 1,000 copies to individuals and bookstores countrywide. He said an additional 1,000 copies were now being printed.
Mendy Feldheim, owner of Feldheim Publishers, Israel’s largest Judaica publishing house, said he considered this a “nice” sales figure for a tome of rabbinic Halacha in Israel. He said his own company, which distributes to 200 bookstores nationwide, is not distributing “The King’s Torah” because the book’s publishers did not approach the company.
Prominent religious figures wrote letters of endorsement that preface the book. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, blessed the authors and wrote that many “disciples of Torah are unfamiliar with these laws.” The elder Yosef has not commented on his son’s statement.
Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba and a respected figure among many mainstream religious Zionists, noted that the book is “very relevant especially in this time.”
Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, one of the country’s most respected rabbinic commentators, initially endorsed the book, but rescinded his approval a month after its release, saying that the book includes statements that “have no place in human intelligence.”
A handful of settler rabbis echoed Goldberg’s censure, including Shlomo Aviner, chief rabbi of Beit El and head of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, who said he had “no patience” to read the book, and spoke out against it to his students.
Previously, Israel has arrested settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting the killing of non-Jews. In addition to Ginsburgh, the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva head, in 1994, the government jailed Rabbi Ido Elba of Hebron for writing a 26-page article proclaiming it a “mitzva to kill every non-Jew from the nation that is fighting the Jew, even women and children.”
“The atmosphere has changed,” said Yair Sheleg, senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, who specializes in issues of religion and state. Previous governments took a tougher stance against such publications, he said, but “paradoxically, because the tension between the general settler population and the Israeli judicial system…is high now, the attorney general is careful not to heighten the tension.”
It is not uncommon for some settler rabbis, in the unique conditions of West Bank settlement life, to issue religious decrees, or psakim, that diverge from normative Jewish practice. In 2008, Avi Gisser, considered a moderate rabbi from the settlement of Ofra, ruled that Jews may violate Sabbath laws and hire non-Jews to build hilltop settlements. And In 2002, Yediot Aharanot reported that former Israeli Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu sanctioned Jewish harvesting of Palestinian-owned olive trees.
Contact Daniel Estrin at feedback@forward.com
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Oh Lord.
Gee, maybe Torat HaMelech should be burnt? After all, the tone of the article seems not to be simple reportage but, to quote someone quoted therein, "a guidebook on what books need be burnt".
And that last reference to Rav Eliyahu's suggestion about harvesting. Do you really think that Ynet is the proper source for such an item? Daniel is reaching for plums on that one.
I suggest the author Daniel go through the Koran. There are a lot of juicy quotes there.
Rabbi Eliyahu's ruling (quoted by Haaretz on October 25 2002):
Since the land is the inheritance of the People of Israel, planting on this land by gentiles is planting on land that does not belong to them. If someone plants a tree on my land, both the tree and the fruit it yields belong to me.
[For a detailed examination of the general topic of see: "Foreseen But Not Prevented, The Israeli Law Enforcement Authorities Handling of Settler Attacks on Olive Harvesters," B'Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), November, 2002. Rabbi Eliyahu's ruling is cited on p. 9][PDF download: www.btselem.org/Download/200211_Olive_Harvest_Eng.pdf ]
This ruling is also referred to in the recent op-ed by Ben-Dror Yemini [a senior editor of Maariv], Maariv, December 15 2009
Other statements by Rabbi Eliyahu include his explanation that the Tsunami in 2004 was "divine punishment" for the support by Asian governments for Israel's unilateral disengagement plan.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1180527966693&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
and his observation that
"Reform and Conservative synagogues reek of hell [Gehinom] and a Jew should not even come near their entrance, former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu said last week." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195127546264&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
Correction -- the correct link for a JPost reference to Rabbi Eliyahu speaking of the 2005 Tsunami as "divine punishment" is http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632387065&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull [The original article in JPost, "Rabbi: Disengagement caused Tsunami," January 27, 2005, seems to be unavailable on the JPost site.] (The link in the previous comment takes one to a JPost article which notes that "Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings."
Interesting that Yisrael Medad defends advocating the murder of non-Jews, as does Fred L. Seems incomprehensible to me. Why not condemn that piece and move on?
I heartily endorse this book.
James, did I actually defend "advocating the murder of non-Jews" or did I attempt to defend a great liberal principle of first, not believing everything you hear but attempt to investigate and check and second, defend free speech and expression. I suggest to you that the story was shallow, misrepresenative of the book's content and not unprejudicial. Interesting that you couldn't grasp that.
I have not read this sefer, but I suspect there may be some confusion between ancient idolators and present day monotheists. Laws that would apply to Amalekites and similar tribes would not apply to iconoclastic monotheistic Muslims. As for why more leading Rabbis have not condemned the book, possibly they realise the more you condemn something the more copies it will sell. 'Thou shalt not murder' is one of the seven universal Noahide Laws, and Ezekiel's declaration in chapter 18, 'Sons will not die for the sins of their fathers nor fathers for the sins of their sons' appears to also be universal.
Joe, indeed, most Rabbis I know have distanced themselves from the book including my Rav here in Shiloh and if Estrin has done a little more research, he could have listed many, some even calling it almost idiotic like Rabbi Rosen, here: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2009/11/rabbi-yisrael-rosens-response-to-torat.html
and here are the summary pages: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2009/11/that-new-lets-kill-goy-book.html
But why have some information spoil a good story?
Shabbat Shalom
Really! Definitely call to terror. Jeannadine
When Jewish Rabbis start to sound like radical Muslim clerics, there is something very, very wrong.
IF you article is correct, I disagree with the OPINIONS expressed in the book.
The HUGE difference between this and almost EVERY book about islam, AND the works of muhammid and the koran is that we DO NOT FOLLOW these angry words.
HOW MANY JEWS ARE TERRORISTS? ANSWER: virtually NONE HOW MANY JEWS CELEBRATE WHEN JEWS KILL IN THE NAME OF G-D? ANSWER: Virtually NONE.
Not the case with islam.
This is another testimony to the elevated Neshama of the Jewish people. As a result of the publishing of this sefer there will be no Jewish riots, no Jewish atrocities committed against non Jews, and no call for Non-Jewish blood. We are a peace loving people. I don't know the rabbis' intent on publishing the sefer, but perhaps they felt that Jews who are forced into the position of defending themselves against attackers need to see the halachic basis for protecting themselves, and know that they are spiritually exonerated from harm they might do to their attackers in the process. If it is intended as an incitement to aggressive pursuit of innocent people, it is shameful. Let us continue to merit God's blessing of peace through our love of each other, and good will toward those who value life and peace.
This is another testimony to the elevated Neshama of the Jewish people. As a result of the publishing of this sefer there will be no Jewish riots, no Jewish atrocities committed against non Jews, and no call for Non-Jewish blood. We are a peace loving people. I don't know the rabbis' intent on publishing the sefer, but perhaps they felt that Jews who are forced into the position of defending themselves against attackers need to see the halachic basis for protecting themselves, and know that they are spiritually exonerated from harm they might do to their attackers in the process. If it is intended as an incitement to aggressive pursuit of innocent people, it is shameful. Let us continue to merit God's blessing of peace through our love of each other, and good will toward those who value life and peace.
With books like this, who needs to cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? I'm no Rabbi, but even I know that killing civilians is a sin. Killing children is more of a sin. And citing the Koran as some have here? Even if the Koran did condone killing of innocent civilians (and it does not), two wrongs do not make a right. Ever.
A cherem on these apikorsim!
I am a Jew, and there are NOT my people. These so-called rabbis and their supporters are the scum of the earth. A peace-loving Jew who eats scallops wrapped in bacon for breakfast and who bakes homemade challah to make ham and cheese sandwiches on Pesah is 100 times a better Jew than these mamzerim.
Most real Muslims are peace-loving too, though there are extremists who profit from hate and violence. We do not need "Jews" to join a Hebrew-nationalist version of "The Base" (al-Qa'eda). We need to renounce them clearly, and withdraw all support from their violent settlements. Give the P.A. the big bulldozers and let them take care of them.
Sadly it comes from the Medieval Talmud. Only chosen Jews are people. Everyone else is an animal. Hitler couldn't have said it better.
With books like this, who needs to cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? I'm no Rabbi, but even I know that killing civilians is a sin. Killing children is more of a sin. And citing the Koran as some have here? Even if the Koran did condone killing of innocent civilians (and it does not), two wrongs do not make a right. Ever.
The continued distribution of the book is the alarming result of the harassment of settlers by the authorities, as they seem to admit. Their fighting of respectable settlers makes them neglect taking strong measures against extremists. Their political agenda reveals itself to be devoid of ethical concerns.
It is forbidden to kill innocent people. The people of Gaza, though, are not innocent but complicit in aiding Hamas combatants. Israel is commanded to destroy its enemies, including all combatants and their allies, even if they are disguised in civilian clothes. Same with the tactics of the Taliban and the Viet Cong -- the USA had to wipe them out.
I suppose I should not be surprised at some of the responses posted here. In stead of outright condemnation, which would have been expected and demanded if the offender had been a Christian or Muslim cleric speaking of Jews, we see here instead apologetics, excuses, and even open support, as in the post of Abe Hayeem, who claims the right to determine who is innocent and who is not and then advocates the slaughter of those he condemns, not just combatants but all who may sympathize with them as well.
As to the issue of whether Jews ever become terrorists as raised by Hymie Zoltsveis. The answer is clearly yes, of course they do! Have you been raised in a barn?! Have you ever heard of the Irgun? The Stern Gang? Did you not notice that Israel just recently slaughtered more than 1,000 civilians in Gaza, the largest single act of state terror since the last time Israel slaughtered more than 1,000 Lebanese a few years back, which in turn was eclipsed by Israel's slaughter of some 20,000 Lebanese in the first three months of her 1982 invasion alone. Israel has a long history of engaging in terror. This book is merely a religious excuse for what has been a readily used instrument of State policy since before the founding.
Your silly rubbish must not stand unchallenged, dear Grif. Inflicting "terror" upon the populations who yearn for Israel's destruction has NEVER been an Israeli government policy. Only Jew haters and leftist loons believe that. However, fighting with maximum force to devastate the enemy is both wise and legitimate, especially when the enemy outnumbers you about 300 to 1, and functions with genocidal cultish intent.
Mind you, I dislike and disdain the book in question. However, please remember that Islam itself is considered to be a political cult--akin to Nazism and Communism--and not a religion. For the Ummah, Islam is collectivist totalitarian. For the rest of humanity, it is fascist supremacist. Mohammed was not a prophet or proper model of behavior--he was a killing, raping, looting, lying, cheating, stealing pirate. The Koran is not a Bible--it is foremost a political manifesto that declares the right of the Muslim collective to conquer the entire earth, to pursue that result by any and all means, including direct force and treacherous deception, to rule that empire by imperial decree and brutal punishments, and to completely demolish all competing nations and cultures through a physical purification process--persecution, purges, pogroms, and death camps.
Israel has every moral right and duty to defend itself against such wickedness.
With books like this, who needs to cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? I'm no Rabbi, but even I know that killing civilians is a sin. Killing children is more of a sin. And citing the Koran as some have here? Even if the Koran did condone killing of innocent civilians (and it does not), two wrongs do not make a right. Ever.
Oops. Sorry for the repeated post. Browser malfunction. Several commenters here apparently think it is justifiable to not only kill civilians but also to kill civilian children -- the most innocent of innocents. I just don't remember any of that in the Bible. That the other side deliberately targets children does not make it right for Israel to do so, either, as two wrongs do not make a right. But quite aside from that, there is great detail in international law: Civilians are carefully defined and are not to be targeted.
The Talmud does not sanction the killing of non-Jews who do not pose an immediate threat to the life of a Jew or non-Jew.The only reference to the killing of a non-Jew by a Jew is in Exodus 14.7.This sanction is limited to the Jews fleeing the Pharoah's army. Self defense is a universal right.
Dear Mick,
I cannot let your lunatic assertions go unchallenged. Islam is "considered" a political cult akin to Nazism and Communism? Considered so by whom, may I ask? For anyone who does so is an idiot.
Terror has been an Israeli policy right from the get-go. Just as one example I quote the future Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Shamir writing in 1943 in the Lehi publication Hehazit: "Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish traditions can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. We are very far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have before us the command of the Torah, whose morality surpasses that of any other body of laws in the world: "Ye shall blot them out to the last man."
Both Shamir and Begin were open advocates of terrorism, and both were followers of Revisionist Zionism and its philosopher V. Jabotinksy (as was Sharon and the entire Likud party), whose Iron Wall theory remains Israel's today.
But then why waste my breath on you? Rereading your post I see you are clearly insane. It is your exact logic that has lead to Israel's terror.
The book is an embarrassment to all Jews. It sucks to have any association with these crazy ultras. This kind of story is what makes me anxious about the future of Israel with the growth of the nut population. Anti-semites have been trying to associate our literature and laws to hate so they could find excuse to kill us and these religious fanatics are doing their best to help the Jew haters out there. The chillul HaShem from the ultra-orthodox with their hate hurts the rest of us because the entire community pays the price.
Tanach (the Bible) mentions animal sacrifices...we don't do that anymore...Look to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, people who respond to violence with acts of kindness, people who help ALL no matter their color or creed...Watch how humanely IDF soldiers treat our enemies, with respect. Our history is GIVING to the world, not destruction...a tiny number of fanatics can't even be counted.
"Co-author Elitzur wrote an article in a religious bulletin a month after the book’s release saying that 'the Jews will win with violence against the Arabs.'
In 2003, the head of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, was charged by then-Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein with incitement to racism for authoring a book calling Arabs a 'cancer.' ...
"At the entrance to Moriah, a large Jewish bookstore steps from the Western Wall, copies of 'The King’s Torah' were displayed with children’s books and other halachic commentaries. The store manager, who identified himself only as Motti, said the tome has sold 'excellently.'"
Excuse me, but I'm a whole lot confused. A bit, as it were, fails to describe my level of confusion after reading this story.
I thought the Palestinians, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Muslims are/were the ones who believe(d) violence is the only means of behavior? The ones who refuse(d) to recognize Israel? The ones who taught/teach their children to hate and kill?
Now, these gentlemen, rabbis both, have written this book? One of these men, Rabbi Elitzur and his associate, Rabbi Ginsburgh, have taken the actions described above. The bookstore owner in the story proudly talks of displaying the rabbis' Torah with books for children?
I don't doubt that conservative Palestinians, Muslims, and members of Hamas and Hezbollah have done and are doing some or all of these things. Probably all. Probably much more.
I just have to wonder how Neoconservatives, who clearly do not represent all Israelis, Americans, or members of the Jewish faith, can continue to claim that all the hatred can be found on the "other" side?
With all due respect, and much is due to all of you, will someone please explain this logical inconsistency to me? And, if I may beg your indulgence, please offer an explanation without the underlying message "they started it first." No offense, but I expect that kind of defense from my nephews when I break up one of their playground scraps. The boys are seven and four years of age, respectively. They don't known any better. They're not all that mature just yet.
Have to imagine that they are plenty of mature, intelligent, decent people here who can offer up a reason(s) for this situation. So, please, if you would, I'd really like to know the motivation(s) and/or basis for such activities.
Thanks for your time. Have a nice weekend.
Talk about hate!
Do decent English historians, even when noting the massacres of Englishmen by rebellious Irish peasant rising against their enslavement, condemn the latter as 'anti-English racists' ? What is the attitude of progressive French historians towards the great slave revolution in Santo Domingo, where many French women and children were butchered ? To ask the question is to answer it.
READ: Jewish History, Jewish Religion. The Weight of Three Thousand Years by Israel Shahak:
Dr. Shahak is full of startling revelations about hate in Judaism towards Gentiles, in his book Jewish history and the Jewish religion.
He says (pp. 23-4) that "Jewish children are actually taught" to utter a ritual curse when passing a non-Jewish cemetery. He also tells us (p. 34) that "both before and after a meal, a pious Jew ritually washes his hands....On one of these two occasions he is worshiping God... but on the other he is worshiping Satan..."
Orthodox Jews, according to Shahak, sometimes kill other Jews whose views they do not like. "For example, in the late 1830's a 'Holy Rabbi' (Tzadik) in a small Jewish town in the Ukraine ordered the murder of a heretic by throwing him into the boiling water of the town baths..."
In another story referenced in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, a liberal rabbi and his family were poisoned in Lemberg (now Lvov) in 1848. According to the EJ, some orthodox fanatics were suspected of the crime.
Some thirty years ago Shahak reported to the press that he had personally witnessed the following incident: an orthodox Jew saw an injured non-Jew on the Sabbath. To save the man's life, it was necessary to call an ambulance. The Jew had the phone handy but would not allow a violation of the sabbath, i.e. use of the phone, because the injured was a non-Jew. In Shahak's version, with which he begins this book, the Jew here followed the ruling of the orthodox rabbinate. The story was taken up by Ha-Arets in Israel, then by the Jewish Chronicle in London and other publications, all joining in a clamor against the barbaric orthodox.
Get this book on Amazon here's the LINK:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=debating+the+holocaust&sprefix=DEBATING
Every day I pray for this worlds' inhabitants. Jesus commanded us to love one another, which seems an impossibile lesson for some to understand. When I fail sometimes at this I get back on the bike and keep trying.
I know God is watching and approves.
Nationalism is a dangerous and disgusting perversion of the Jewish tradition. Orthodox Jewish anti-Zionists such as Satmar Hasidim are 100% right in this case. Right-wingers had created a new fascist religion that rejects the traditional Jewish values and should not be considered Judaism at all.
To Michael Santomauro:
Shahak is a liar. Most Orthodox Rabbis call to respect everyone and reject all or at least most of those racist ideas. In his book, Shahak systematically rejected well known humanist and pluralist ideas, which exist in Orthodox Judaism since the Middle Ages. He selectively collected the most oppressive and racist hypothetical opinions, many of which were never put into practice (as far as we know).
Similar controversial ideas can be easily found in Islam, Christianity or even Buddhism, if someone would selectively collect the opinions of the crusaders, inquisitors or Tibetan feudals. There are a few islamophobic books that portray the Muslim tradition in the same unbalanced fashion. What Shahak did, and what those Islam-haters do, is stupid and dishonest.
But it's actually worse than that. Shahak also made quite a few things, including that story about Shabbat, which has been proven to be a lie.
Judaism is a very diverse religion. Sure, you can find a few outright fascists, but you can also find Orthodox Jewish peace activists and even pro-Palestinian anti-Zionists. In the previous century some well known Rabbis even supported radical left movements and were vehemently opposed to all forms of nationalism.
P.S. Sorry, I meant "Shahak also made up quite a few things"
Hamas with a kipah
A good rule of thumb: Think long and hard about trusting anyone who spells God without the"o".
To be a Jew is to live under the imperative to acknowledge the humanity of others, even as some have denied our own humanity. To deny the humanity of others is not our way.
I'm not Jewish so my perspective is going to be different from a Jewish perspective. Even more so, not only am I not Jewish but I am of Palestinian ethnicity living in the United States. That being said, let me say this. One thing I have always had MUCH respect for the Israelis and their defense of themselves is they have fought with integrity and a high moral standard. As I have watched the recent wars, I cannot say that I took exception to anything she has done. I cannot say the same for the group of people who I come from. They (Palestinians) fight like cowards and even set their own people up as human shields -- I was deeply ashamed when I read that they hid in their own maternity wards using their own newborns as human shields. COWARDS.
Despite everything the Jewish people have endured, they have remained a beacon of light to the world -- they have, for the most part, acted with integrity.
Now I read that a Jewish book is out advocating a change. Instead of the beacon of light, it is suggested that you change and act like your enemies -- that is with depravity. Don't do it.
When I was in Israel a few years ago, I stayed in the Jewish area of Jerusalem as I felt safer than staying in the Arab area (my ethnicity). Please tell me this won't change and that when I return for another visit, I won't have to look over my shoulder when it becomes acceptable to a "kill a gentile." Like it or not, all of mankind are made in the image of God, even us Arabs.
Defend yourselves. But don't stoop to the depraved and wicked ways of your enemies and start popping little ones.
BLG, my friend , it was all good....
BLG, Thank you for your respect; you honor our people by sharing your goodwill. Please know the vast, vast majority of Jews agree with you and appreciate your wisdom.
Thanks Rina. I'm happy to hear that the vast majority of Jews are not taking the position as outlined in the article. I would like everybody to see that all people have a right to life -- all people of all ethnic backgrounds. Then we'd all have a pretty awesome world to live in :)
Remember your consciousness is of what you draw into your life.
Proverbs..10..Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
This is Chillul HaShem - a desecration of the Name of God.
It is one thing to bemoan this crap in your synagogue newsletter. It is another to take back Judaism.
WE NEED TO EXCOMMUNICATE THESE PERSUERS. NOW!
So - which Orthodox rabbi will be the first to stand up? The second? The 20th?
(I say Orthodox so that the people we throw out will not be able to argue about the authority of the court to act.)
STAND UP!
Don't hold your breath on orthodox leadership denouncing this book. Very few will. The book is mostly disliked in some orthodox circles for saying these things out loud. Even those who publicly criticize it will continue to treat the author respectfully
There is some confusion when it comes to Rabbinic approbations. Often a Rabbi will say that he knows the author and considers him to be a reputable scholar -- without having read the book in question. This is why one rabbi rescinded his approbation when he finally did read the book. Other approbations can be comments on a previous work by the author, just as English books may include reviews of the author's previous works. Approbations can be confusing.
The true Jewish vision for the New Jerusalem is expressed best by Isaiah, 'And My House [Jerusalem] will be called a House of Prayer for ALL peoples.' Muslims, Christians and Jews will co-exist in peace and brotherhood in the renewed Kingdom of David and in the Eternal Temple on Zion's height..
Oh, by the way, not only has Rabbi Shapira been released from police custody but all, yes, all the students of his Yeshiva arrested earlier for torching the Mosque as well. Now, I do not know if they or anyone else from that Yeshiva committed a crime, but the reporting on the case has been atrocious - ideologically and politically generated and thereby causing, for example, all the Judeaphobic comments here. Thanks Estrin.
http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2010/01/mountains-molehill.html
This book is chilul haShem, but it is also an opportunity. If the U.S. department of State finds the charges credible, the yeshiva must be designated a "terrorist organization" The force of US federal law will then be brought to bear on anyone--including the Israeli state--funding it. So what will it take to get the U.S. Department of State to make such a ruling? Ask Elijah. Barry
This book is chilul haShem, but it is also an opportunity. If the U.S. department of State finds the charges credible, the yeshiva must be designated a "terrorist organization" The force of US federal law will then be brought to bear on anyone--including the Israeli state--funding it. So what will it take to get the U.S. Department of State to make such a ruling? Ask Elijah. Barry
This book is chilul haShem, but it is also an opportunity. If the U.S. department of State finds the charges credible, the yeshiva must be designated a "terrorist organization" The force of US federal law will then be brought to bear on anyone--including the Israeli state--funding it. So what will it take to get the U.S. Department of State to make such a ruling? Ask Elijah. Barry