6 Jan

Beyond Perfidy: The Banalization of the Holocaust


Categories: in Anti-Semitism, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Hassidic Theology, Israel, Jewish History, The Future of Judaism


Haredi boy yellow star demo arms up mea shearim 12-31-2011
A haredi child wearing yellow star during an anti-government demonstration by haredim in Jerusalem Saturday night. The child was posed for the cameras with his arms raised to match a famous picture of a Jewish child surrendering to the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto.

People in my community ask me, “Who is Rabbi Dovid Weiss?” Well, he represents the baby-boom leadership of the infamous Neturei Karta (hence I shall refer to them as “NK”). When I was growing up, I remember reading stories about how the NK proclaimed, “We do not recognize the State of Israel.” As a thirteen year-old boy, I thought they were pretty weird.

Some things never change and in this case, the NK are now worse than ever!

His home is in Monsey, NY. Weiss has joined forces with some of the world’s worse anti-Semites. Palestinian and other sundry hate groups love bringing him as a speaker, where he condemns the “Zionist” State of Israel.

As Iran stands at the threshold of becoming a nuclear state, Weiss praises the thugocracy of Iran:

  • The only reason the Zionists are able to hold the Jewish people in their grasp is because their propaganda machines are busy explaining to the Jews that it’s too late, even if you’re not a Zionist, the Arabs hate you so much today that if you return the land they will, God forbid, slaughter you, and that today is the strongest argument that they have to convince Jews to support their Zionist state. This is the trap the Zionists want people to fall into so it is important for the Muslim people to get out there and make it understood that it is not the danger that is being portrayed by the Zionists . . [1]

Weiss admits that his grandparents died in the Holocaust; he is proud of the fact his father escaped and that he is “ . . . a living remnant of the people who died in the holocaust and I am here, I believe sent by God, to humbly say, simply to speak to the people here and say, ‘You should know that the Jewish people died, and do not try to say that it did not happen. They did die!’ There are people throughout the Jewish communities, still alive in their seventies and eighties and every one of them will tell you their stories. It is something which you cannot refute, but that being said, it doesn’t mean that the holocaust is a tool to use to oppress other people . . .”

Actually, Weiss is a living mockery to all the victims of the Holocaust.

Weiss’s hatred of Zionism and Israel derives in part from a Hassidic theology that blames the Holocaust on the Jews, for rejecting the Messiah and endorsing Zionism!

After WWII, the late Satmar leader Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum defined the position that has since been echoed by the Neturei Karta for over 60 years:

  • Because of our sinfulness we have suffered greatly, suffering as bitter as wormwood, worse than any Israel has know since it became a people…In former times, whenever troubles befell Jacob, the matter was pondered and reasons sought–which sin had brought the troubles about–so that we could make amends and return to the Lord, may He be blessed…But in our generation one need not look far for the sin responsible for our calamity…The heretics have made all kinds of efforts to violate these oaths, to go up by force and to seize sovereignty and freedom by themselves, before the appointed time…[They] have lured the majority of the Jewish people into awful heresy, the like of which as not been seen since the world was created…And so it is no wonder that the Lord has lashed out in anger…And there were also righteous people who perished because of the iniquity of the sinners and corrupters, so great was the [divine] wrath . . .[2]

There are many scriptural statements about not associating with wicked men; yet, it never occurs to him that the Palestinians and the Iranian mullahs still celebrate Hitler’s birthday! The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Europe sent on Jan. 5, 2012, a very important letter to the newly elected Spanish government’s Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, points to Spain’s continued funding of the Palestinian children’s magazine, Zayzafuna, which glorifies Hitler. Weiss is so driven by his ego, he cannot see what he is supporting.

About two weeks ago, the NK celebrated a wedding and a Shabbat with Hamas in Gaza-of all places! The Palestinians were probably salivating at the hope Rabbi Weiss would convert to Islam. Actually, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea; at least he’d stop embarrassing the Jewish people, who want nothing to do with him. (Eye witnesses say that after he returned from Iran, none of his Monsey friends wanted to be seen even near him.)

Although the late Satmar Rebbe was no friend of Israel, he at least knew about the importance of ahavat Yisrael—and he showed a love for his people. Many years ago, the Satmar and Neturei Karta were about to start an anti-Israel demonstration in Manhattan on the eve of the Six Day War. Then, the war broke out. The Satmar Rebbe immediately cancelled the gathering. When asked why, he replied, “We oppose the State of Israel on Halachic grounds; we oppose it with all our might. However, at this time when the lives of Jews are all at stake, we must not let anti-Semites see disunity in our ranks . . .”

Spoken like a real mentsch.

And now, Weiss makes an international mockery of the Holocaust by having small children dress up with the yellow Star of David, while their Haredi and fellow Hassidic buddies laugh at the cameras.

What can be more banal than desecrating the memories of the six million? Continue Reading

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6 Jan

What would Maimonides say to the Haredim today?


Categories: in American Jewish Issues, Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, good and evil, Israel, Jewish History, Maimonidean Wisdom, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

Rabbinical salaries are a relatively late innovation.

From the year 50 CE, to the early medieval period, rabbis did not receive financial remuneration for their Torah study or teaching. However, elementary teachers were paid. As a whole, the working class people literally combined Torah study with a worldly occupation and the Mishnaic literature makes numerous hints about this arrangement.

Here are some examples:

Rabban Yohanan b. Zakkai said, “Do not take credit for the amount of Torah study you have studied, for that is the purpose you were created” (Avoth 2:8). R. Eleazar b. Azariah says, “If there is no study of Torah, there is no derech erertz (job). If there is no derech eretz, there can be no study in Torah” (Avoth 3:17); Rabbi Zadok said, “Every one that makes a profit from words of Torah removes his life from the world.” R. Ishmael, his son, says, “He who learns so as to teach —they give him a chance to learn and to teach. He who learns so as to carry out his teachings— they give him a chance to learn, to teach, to keep, and to do.” R. Sadoq says, “Do not make [Torah teachings] a crown with which to glorify yourself or a spade with which to dig. (So did Hillel say [M. 1:13], “He who uses the crown perishes.”) Thus have you learned, “Whoever derives worldly benefit from teachings of Torah takes his life out of this world”’ (Avoth 4:6).

In his youth, Abaye was a farmer and watered his fields at night so he could study in the day time (BT Gittin 60b). If someone asked a question while he was working, he told the questioner: “Work on this irrigation canal for me, while I ponder your question.” Later he became a wine merchant (BT Berachoth 56b). He was not the only sage to work at a worldly occupation; there were many others rabbis who engaged in ordinary livelihoods to survive.

Maimonides takes a pretty strong position on this question and argues:

  • Anyone thinking that he should involve himself in Torah study and not engage work (thus deriving his livelihood from charity), desecrates God’s name, dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith. He also brings evil upon himself, and forfeits his chance to enter Paradise. It is forbidden to derive pecuniary benefit from the words of Torah in this world. Our Sages declare: “Whoever who makes profit from the words of Torah forfeits his life in the world.” Also, the Sages further added, “Do not make them a crown to magnify oneself, nor an axe to chop with.” The Sages also prescribed, “Love work and despise the rabbinate.” All Torah that is not accompanied by work will eventually be negated and lead to sin. Ultimately, such a person will steal from others (MT Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10).

If Maimonides were observing the Haredi parties in Israel today receiving State welfare while everyone else is working, what do you think he would say?

Of course, one might also ask, “What would he say about professional rabbis receiving a salary?” This is a fair question, but the job of the rabbinate is much more nuanced than it was in Maimonides’ time. Today, the modern rabbi functions in a variety of capacities. Sometimes (s)he works as a counselor, social worker, works in crisis intervention, public relations, and so forth.

It is safe to presume Maimonides would have been horrified about the Haredim remaining in their yeshivas studying, while the rest of the Israeli youth serve in the army and defend their country from enemies poised to destroy her.

6 But Moses said to the Gadites and to the Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? 7 Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? 8 Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. 9 When they went up to the Wadi Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger was kindled on that day and he swore, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the people who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not unreservedly followed me— (Num 32:6-11).

In all likelihood, Maimonides probably would regard the Haredi rabbis as thieves who are robbing the public—a view that is shared by most Israelis across the religious divide. Maimonides most likely would be among those condemning the Haredi welfare state in Israel.

In addition, Maimonides’ disdain of the Kabbalah and its anthropomorphic theology was something that troubled him mightily; the idea of a Rebbe standing as an intermediary between God and man probably would have seemed a lot like idolatry. Today’s legions of Kabbalistic psychics and hucksters probably would get an earful from Maimonides, who hated all forms of superstition.

Maimonides would certainly find the internecine battles between Jews very troubling. I think Maimonides would have been very proud to see Jews reclaim and resettle their homeland after nearly 2000 years; he would have heralded 1948 as a great miraculous event in the history of our nation-perhaps on par with King Cyrus’s momentous decision to let the Jews of Persia return to their ancestral and spiritual homeland. Continue Reading

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