A few rabbis have plans to get themselves arrested at the United Nations on Tuesday during a protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has questioned the Holocaust and said Israel should be “wiped off the map.”
The North Jersey Rabbis, including Rabbi Neal Borovitz of Temple Sholom in River Edge and others will demonstrate outside the Iranian Consulate before walking to the U.N. headquarters and blocking the entrance for delegates.
The demonstration, organized by Rabbi Avi Weiss, will be held two days after Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday and is expected to draw about 50 rabbis from the metropolitan area.
The North Jersey contingent includes clergy from across the Jewish spectrum. Borovitz, a Reform rabbi, will be joined at the demonstration by Conservative Rabbi Benjamin Shull of Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley and Orthodox Rabbi Jeffrey Fox of Kehillat Kesher in Englewood.
(Source: North Jersey)
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33 Responses
The time has arrived to change our persona from passivity to activism, as requested by Torah organizations
Huh?
if the reform and conservative rabbis are against the war in iraq why do they care about him
Protests are a thing of the past. 1 million people protested against the war in Iraq before it started and it had no effect on U.S. policy. Protests are just for politicians and the like to hear their own voices and have a photo-op.
Calling these conservative and reform leaders, “rabbis” is disgusting and a chilul hashem. The orthodox avi weiss also should not be called rabbi due to his very questionable shitas. I submit that these degenerates be afforded the same treatment as the netura karta/
z is correct. Protests are largely useless.
And this “Rabbi” Weiss, aside from collaborating with reform and conservative “clergy”, does not exactly take the Torah position on many issues himself.
which ortodox rabbis involed please
Illini07
V’Nosi B’omcho lo so’or
B’oseh Maaseh Omcho!
illini07: “Do you think for one second that Hashem would want you to speak of other Jews like that?”
Yes, under certain circumstances, Hashem REQUIRES us to speak of other Jews like that.
Thank you Y.W. for reporting all the GOOD news!!
This is one of the best headlines in a long time!! “RABBIS PLAN TO GET ARRESTED!!” This is great!! I just hope they KEEP Weiss locked up for a long time so he wont cause any more harm to Klal Yisroel!!
Thank You for brightening up our day!!
illini07
i am happy to see that although YOU dont get it, the other posters do. I guess you dont know our religion is NOT the religion of “turn the other cheek, and love all sinners”. We are required to hate wicked people. The talmud equates loving the wicked to hating the righteous. As soon as they repent, i will welcome them into my home with pleasure and treat them as kings. Untill then, we must show our disdain.
POSTERS
I think you should go alittle easier on ILLINI. From past debates, I realized that there is an element of unawareness on her/his part.
Its evident in the last line of her post.
Individuals like her/him require asofter approach!
lishemhashem&others
The halacha is to HATE the deeds of the wicked, not the WICKED themselves—-learnt primarily from Reb Meir and Bruria.
hmmm….good example of baseless hatred. Baseless in that the whole discussion revolves around going to a protest rally which is a baseless act. Getting arrested ? Are you even allowed to do that ? Isn’t that wasting tax payer money? Making a police officer fill out out all those forms .. just so you can make believe your some civil rights leader and get your picture in the paper. So wrong. Does anyone think that the cops who have to shlep these people are in favor of Iran. At best its stupid, at worst it’s a Chillul Hashem. Leave the NYPD alone.
Illini;
Reread your post! Unfortunatley, there is NO indication of Stan’s point at all. No mention of the fact that we must HATE the actions but not the individual itself……Lucky he pointed it out!
i guess avi and the rest of the boys and girls who get arrested with him will not be happy until they get a police record (and the press that goes with it) as long as al, jesse and their chevra
Nameless,
That’s a good point.
I don’t think we need to be concerned that (most) posters on this site would confuse “hate and disdain” with the Chilul Hashem of calling individuals who disgrace His Torah “Rabbis”.
Those who innocently advocate ‘tolerance for all’ can be addressed softly or their comments can go unaddressed. That is certainly how I behave in person, and your point is very well taken that appropriate reactions apply online as well. Thank you.
stan the man
Your words are correct but you are misunderstanding the substance. What is meant hate the deeds but not the person, means we should daven that these rishaim repent and return to god, and not die in their wickedness, but in their current state they must be hated. The pasuk calls them a sonei, someone we are supposed to hate. Look in the chafetz chayim klal ches siif hei. This is ESPECIALLY true to apikorsim, and even all the more so for chotei umachti es harabim.
Two things should be clear to all Jews: 1. it doen’t matter to the world if you are secular or Charedi and 2. we can,t stand by passively and be lead like sheep to the slaughter like we were during the holocaust. I’m not sure of the exact plan of action but I know that as a nation we have to plan for our survival. As Jews we always have to know what we are doing and always be proactive about our mission here.
stan illi nameless etc. this concept of hating the sin but not the sinner is not a halacha anywhere. It comes from those who claim to be a religion of love to cover for their persecution of our people throughout history. The gemoro about Bruria is not discussing hating them, only davening for them to die as opposed to them doing teshuva. The Shulchan Aruch C”M 272:11 states this clearly and says that it is a mitzva to hate someone who did an aveira and did not do teshuva after it was pointed out to him but to rate him from death even so. The Minchas Chinuch 243 says that this is even if he is mamin bi’ikrei hadas and is considered a brother it is still a mitzva to hate him.
thats crazy
Baki
Please dont lump me into the same category as those concerned wiith whether or not its ok to hate people who misrepresent our religion. Sarah’s post was the perfect summation of my feelings. My last comment to ILLINI WAS just an indication that she was jumping on the bandwagon instead of realizing that unfortunatley shehad the wrong idea.
But thanks to the comments of others, the issue has been clarrified
I apologize for my misunderstanding of your comment. Please note though, that this mitzva is not only regarding those who misrepresent us, but also for anyone who does an avera and doesn’t do teshuva.
btw, at least the reform/conservative, understand how dangerous ahmadinejad is and are willing to take a stand against him while neturi karta who claim to be frum are “allies” with him soo we have both extremes
theRebbitzen, I dunno which Rebbe you belong to, but the Reform/Conservative/Reconstrcutionist “clergy” are far worse than the n.k.
To “understand how dangerous ahmadinejad is”, is no big chiddush.
stan illi, baki, nameless etc. the concept of hating the sin but not the sinner comes from Tehillim “Yitamu chata’im min ha’aretz” and chazal said yitamu chata’im and not chot’im, ie the sins but not the sinners.
EDITOR: Its really nice to see correspondence like this with so many knowledgeable quotes from shulchan aruch and poskim etc (even if the comments are not directly on the subject matter). It turns news items into true Yeshiva World items.
Without espousing disparaging remarks about any other Jew, and disregarding the debate in re hating Rashaim themselves or their evil deeds – Achmanutjob of Iran needs to be stopped. The Agudas Yisroel Rabbonim previously okayed joining a rally at the U.N. in opposition to this present-day nazi, and I’m sure if the Gedolim see fit, they can issue a Kol Koreh this time as well.
Perhaps we should save our pent-up hate for the Arab jew killers, and the Achmanutjobs of the world, and show some Ma Hu Channun, Ma Hu Rachum when it comes to discussing B’nei Avraham.
I am in no way, C”V, saying anything positive about Reform or Conservative Judaism – but this very public hatefest seems somehow very unJewish.
I don’t see the shtick in repeating what has already been discussed. The pasuk of yitamu chatoim velo chotim is exactly what Bruria said to R’ Meir. As previously mentioned, that is saying that we shouldn’t be mispalel for them to be harmed in any way.
I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT that MD LEVINE wrote a stunning essay on a previous blog about the Arab Tsunaami posted at the end of March.Since his post was published later , many readers havent seen it. ITS AMUST READ…moving, beautifully written and it gives a lot of chizuk. Its at the bottom of the page.
Eliezer;
Unfortunately there are many, even some bloggers on this site who manifest a certain degree of sympathy for Arabs as well!
Its imperative to be zealous for the almighty and those who ARE aware that they are disgracing his Torah do NOT deserve our sympathy until they repent.
So your theory about this public hatefest being very unjewish, is just a result of our resentment towards people who are disloyal and uncommitted to Hashem Yisborach.
I would probably feel the same hate towards someone who harmed a member of my family and so would you!
Nameless,
I agree with your every word. My Bar Mitzvah Parsha is Pinchas, and I’ve always considered myself something of a Kanoi. I just disagree with the PUBLIC showing of hate and resentment in this forum, because I don’t think it accomplishes anything at all except allowing people to vent their inner hate. If something truely L’Maiseh would result I would feel differently, but I don’t see that happening from this blogsite.
Instead, might I propose that you draw a picture (of your “favorite” person) on a punching bag, and give it a couple of good whacks instead of venting publicly.
But when it comes to publicly venting against Nazis and Arab murderers, give me a pen!
Eliezer first and second comments were heartfelt and sincere. Thanks
Eiezer,
Although im sure you mean well, you are wrong. It is more important to vent against a koifer who we see has some sympothy even in “our circles”, then it is to vent against people who ALL know are animals. We must work against the arab and nazi haters, but when it comes to venting, it is our duty to show our utter contempt against these lowlife’s. In this way, they are their sympathizers know our feelings towards them.
all of them can jump in a lake and all of their shusim too
I think that the Gedolim taught us what and how to fight our opressers in 2 words “Ko’ach Ha’Thorah” [Tifelah would’t hurt הקול קול יעקב והידים ידי עשיו]