Shas Big Protects People of Israel: Burns Hundreds of Christian Bibles
In case you didn’t hear, Christian Bibles were burned in Or Yehuda, Israel by ultra-Orthodox fanatics. Why? Because people missionized. And Israel ain’t no U.S. A., that’s for damn sure. This is the Middle East, baby.
The IHT reports,
Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.
Who directed this retro-style communal-identity building effort?
Just the DEPUTY MAYOR of Or Yehuda, Uzi Aharon. Shockingly, Aharon is not connected to either the Labor party nor even Likud or the National Religious Party. Rather, he is a member of Shas, the Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox party.
Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.
The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue, he said.
Well, isn’t that special.
A silver lining in this black cloud was that it proved an opportunity to teach Or Yehuda youth the importance of respecting those of different faith.
The Israeli Maariv daily reported Tuesday that hundreds of Jewish religious school students took part in the book-burning.
Needless to say, Christians are angry. Actually, Christians are very angry. And understandably hurt.
You might think that at least for the sake of PR, Aharon would not only be condemned, but he would lose his job. Instead, he gave a half-assed apology (see, it’s not his fault since it wasn’t planned), and that’s it – case closed.
Haaretz notes,
If the deputy mayor of Or Yehuda remains in his post, it will only strengthen the perception that the persecution of minorities has not been discontinued due to its revolting nature. As long as Shas produces the likes of Uzi Aharon, the lighter of the bonfire, it must be viewed as a full participant in this act.
No. As long as Uzi Aharon remains in his post, the State of Israel must be viewed as a full participant in this act.
14 comments
http://londoner1.wordpress.com/
mohammed, are those pictures of the Or Yehuda burning?
“Where they burn books, they also burn people.” (Heinrich Heine)
They didn’t seem angry (first two links). Even the comments after the article at World Net Daily weren’t angry, so much as, “Those foolish Jews, they’ll see the light if it’s God’s will… .” And they’re always angry.
The Christian Post quoted the Deputy Mayor as saying that (Christian) proselytizing is illegal. I thought that was the case - isn’t it?
And they were Messianics (and you know how I feel about them), preying on Ethiopian immigrants, who don’t know enough to discern, especially if the Messianics are telling them (as they always do), “This is the complete form of Judaism.”
Even in terms of PR - American pro-Israel evangelicals, even wing nuts like Hagee, know not to proselytize; they agree to it before hand. These guys just ignored the rules.
I don’t know, DK - I’m more concerned that the Messianics are proselytizing with impunity. Book burning is an act of ignorance, of course, but - meh.
BTW, I attended a fascinating seminar at Harvard a few weeks ago about the Ethiopian Jews. There’s a professor in Israel who’s recognized as the authority (can’t remember his name at the moment) who came in to give it. Turns out the govt. and the academics made a colossal gaff; they weren’t really Jews, in terms of heredity or religion. Email me if you’re interested, and I’ll tell you about it.
Okay, I read the comments after the Christian Post article. Some of the are angry. But they’re morons.
Sarah
What’s wrong with burning people?
Dk
No, That’s a book of Steinmans. Some of my friends in London happen to dislike him so they took his book out of one of the local synagogues and burnt it.
Here’s a link to the nazi book burning march
http://www.36thid.com/download.....20March%20(Konigratze)%20-%20Indiana%20Jones%20and%20The%20Last%20Crusade(1).mp3
Pretty catchy music.
Mohammed, taking all ethical, eschatological, moral, philosophical, and environmental concerns out of the equation and thus limiting ourselves to plain self-centred existences, what is wrong with burning people is that it stinks.
Happy?
The IHT was wrong to described the burning of these materials as an act of violence against Christian missionaries. The missionaries were not prevented from distributing their materials by intimidation and nor were these materials seized through intimidation from Jews who had been given those materials. The destruction of the materials was therefor a legitimate act of protest however distasteful. If a Kiruvnik hands me some material and asks me to treat it with respect, then whilst I cannot shove it up his arse, I can legitimately shove up it up my arse because it is now my property by reason of the Kiruvnik having chosen to given it to me by his own free will.
This is no worse than burning a flag, or putting a crucifix in a jar of urine or writing verses of the Koran across a naked Dutch actress’ breasts (with her consent!) all which are acts the state should not be concerned in. It is not the same as vandalizing a reform synagogue or church or enforcing bus segregation by beating women since these acts are violent.
Reb Leibish, I agree this should not be termed viewed as violence. I would also say that burning important symbols of your allies is not the way to keep friends happy. Imagine if haredim started burning American flags like our Muslim cousins. It would not go over very well. I know I get angry when I see that, and I wouldn’t outlaw flag burning either.
I think we should ban israel from every country. that they must live only in the state of israel. There religion forbids then to mingle with non-jews anyway and are told to kill them in the talmud. they don’t even follow the torah as the talmud is the ultimate law. Burning the new testament is an out right act of war on religion. And under the law of nations is a crime against humanity. who ever burnt the books should be persecuted to the fullest of the law. no one no matter what immunities they think they have religiously or governmently can still be punished. by mass deportation is the best way to get ride of the jewish problems in the world.if they are all in one place then you can truely see what they are doing and their real agenda. why is it that the jews cause all the problems in the world and then cry when they get caught and say they are getting persecuted when they are the ones commiting the crimes. by the way I love america and am willing to protect it from the zionist occupied government with all cost even my life.
ban israel, if you love America (by which, I suppose, you mean the United States of America), try to master its official language.
Fuck jews, fuck israel. We must stop protecting this shity country
Given the sorry history of Christian and Muslim evangelism to conversion at the point of a sword, I am not surprised there is a strong reaction nor should anyone else be.
I am not saying this as a former Christian and convert to Judaism, but as someone possessed of a little common sense. You do not go to a nation built by a people who were nearly exterminated in Europe for their religion/ethnicity, who have been fighting enemies on all sides ever since, who have been by your religious predecessors repeatedly brutalized and slaughtered, and then exhort them to convert and expect quiet kind “thanks but no thanks” reactions.
That being said, that would have been the correct non-violent Ghandi thing, but I completely understand the fiery response and am completely unfazed by it. No one should be.
As far as Christianity goes, if you strip away all the post-execution write-ins by those who never knew Jesus, all the creative couching of terms to make the Romans look innocent, all the mistakes in linguistics, etc. you get a picture of a Jew preaching a message that was right out of Bet Hillel and no more metaphysical than anything in Chasidism. Actually, much of Chasidism reads much like Jesus’ preaching and is full of the same metaphysical and transcendental methods of implying meaning for those ready to grasp it, and going right over the heads of those not.
Sadly, some of the staunchest supporters of clever metaphorical speakers are those whose heads it goes right over. If Jesus wasn’t a prophet, I’d tag him as an early maggid and somewhat the itinerant rabbi, somewhat in the same style as the yamabushi of Japan whose preaching against the feudal society’s mistreatment of the poor gave way to social upheaval from the poor, which then resulted in persecution and some long years later in the ninja.
In the case of the followers of Jesus, the persecution led to the Holy Roman Empire and Jim and Tammy Bakker.
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