Rabbi Dov Lior and the truth about Orthodox Judaism’s racism

Rabbi Lior's racism is not his fault

By Salman Masalha

Haaretz (Israeli newspaper) | July 4, 2011

(Michael Hoffman’s commentary follows this report)

First, let me say this: As a descendant of one of the Sons of Noah who has violated all manners of prohibitions, I am doomed to any number of odd and sundry deaths. The choice offered to those of my ilk is one of the following three: death by sword, death by stoning or death by strangulation. In his Law of Kings, Moses Maimonides (the Rambam) specifies that for violating the Noahide laws I am sentenced to death by the sword, unless I have sex with a Jewish maiden who is engaged to be married, in which case I shall be stoned to death; alternatively, if she is already married, then I am to be strangled to death.

I am addressing this matter in light of the tempest over the detention for police questioning of the recalcitrant Rabbi Dov Lior, who did not report for an interview despite repeated supplications from law enforcement authorities.

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. None of the racist things attributed to one rabbi or another...are new....The naked truth must be told.

There are some good-intentioned, if entirely naive, souls who are quick to quote verses such as "Love your neighbor as yourself." They seek to coat the bitter pill by presenting some positive side of religion. But they forget that "your neighbor" refers solely to another Jew.

Not to mention "Haviv adam shenivra b’tzelem" ("Beloved is man who is created in the image"), which is cited incessantly as supposed proof of humanity of any kind in humanism in general and in Judaism in particular. Here, too, the reference is to Jews only.

According to the sages, only Israel, Jews, are called "adam," "and not the nations of the world."

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook (“Haro’eh"), providing a persuasive explanation to his flock: "The difference between the Israeli soul, its independence, its inner yearning, its aspiration, its characteristics and disposition, and the soul of all the other nations, is greater and deeper than the difference between the soul of a human being and the soul of a beast."

What could we possibly add to these warm sentiments?

All the greatest experts in halakha (Jewish law) follow this concept. For the sake of example, here's the explanation of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the Maharal): "The perfection of creation, which relates to the human in particular, applies to Israel and not to the nations."

He added that the gradation of Israel in comparison to the other nations is comparable to the gradation of the human being in comparison to non-speaking animals.

If this is the situation, then why are so many politicians and self-declared defenders of the law picking on the respected rabbi of the national religious movement? The "enlightened" rabbi did not invent the wheel, after all. He only hung the...dirty laundry out in public. The populist politicians show off their dirty clothes in their media-blanketed appearances at every available opportunity (see under: Jewish democracy ), and in their eyes the rabbi is guilty of slander...

MICHAEL HOFFMAN'S AFTERWORD

The author of this article is beginning to refute in detail, line by line, the rabbinic propaganda about Judaism's alleged equality and love for all. Deconstructing rabbinic doubletalk, decoy texts and the complex hermeneutic of evasion and deception which undergirds it, is the main objective of this writer's book, Judaism Discovered.

The goyim are repeatedly told that the Pharisee Hillel was a decent fellow, on par with his contemporary, Jesus Christ. We are informed that Hillel taught, "That which is hateful to you, do not do unto another: This is the whole Torah."

The people regaling us with this warm fuzzy story "forgot" to mention that Hillel's golden rule only applied to Jews (though he supposedly related it to a gentile).

Orthodox Judaism's ferocious racism is at the core of all the canonical rabbinic texs, from alpha to omega, from the Mishnah to the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. In an Internet age, Rabbi Dov Lior is too honest in his expression of anti-goyism. Consequently, counterfeit "Israel" is embarrassed by his candor and in order to keep up appearances, must be seen to haul him into court. It's nothing more than a face-saving publicity stunt. Israeli rabbis who impart vicious Talmudic racism in a more sophisticated and covert manner are left alone to build more yeshivas, financed with American Zionist and Zionist-"Christian" cash.

Note on the text: we have printed only excerpts from Salman Masalha's essay, which also included a general rant against "monotheism," which seriously mars his otherwise laudable research. What does he desire as an alternative to monotheism, a return to paganism? Belief in the truth of one God and the Law proclaimed by Christ Jesus, does not lead to hatred. It is the foundation of an ethical civilization.

Hundreds in Jerusalem protest the arrest of senior rabbis

By Yair Ettinger
Haaretz (Israeli newspaper) | July 4, 2011

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Monday night for a mass protest against the arrests of senior rabbis who were briefly detained for incitement after they endorsed a religious tract justifying the killing of non-Jews.

Hundreds of police officers were stationed around the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Monday in preparation for potentially violent protests.

  

Two senior rabbis who had endorsed the book Torat Hamelech ("The King's Torah”) -- which among other things preaches in favor of killing Arab infants -- Rabbi Dov Lior and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the son of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, were shortly detained for questioning in recent days. The two spoke at the rally, along with some twenty senior leaders in religious Zionism at the event dubbed "In honor of the Torah."

"We need to thank those responsible for the arrests, otherwise we would still be sleeping," Rabbi Yaakov Yosef said during the rally, explaining that his arrest had awakened rightist activists.

The protesters are rabbis and yeshiva students, some of which stress they do not condone the book Torat Hamelech, but oppose the humiliation of rabbis and the Torah.

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