Jesse Zimmerman is an embarrassment

According to the Jerusalem Post, this past February Jewish students at York University in Toronto were attacked by an anti-Israel mob, which included aspiring self-hater Jesse Zimmerman. This reminds me of the movie The Believer, based on the true story of Dan Burros, a Jew who joined the American Nazi Party and the United Klans of America. I think difference is that Burros didn't pretend to be our savior.

Caught With His Pants Down: Silverstein's "Tikun Olam"

The ironically titled blog “Tikun Olam” (taken from Rabbinical writings, meaning “fixing the world”) has produced yet another contradictory, anti-Torah message. In an article “Bibi: Two-State Solution ‘Kid’s Stuff’,” anti-Israel crusader Richard Silverstein writes:

Richard Silverstein says:
May 23, 2009 at 9:57 PM
I’ll be back in one year or less to point out that I was right about Obama and Richard wrong.
Sometime in the next 8 yrs there will be peace bet. Israelis & Palestinians & two viable states. And all this will be partly or largely due to Barack Obama’s intercession. When that happens, I’ll expect you to come back here so that I can point out that I was right–all because truth is important. And I won’t do this gleefully either.
What is the point of freezing them?

A step comes before dismantling settlements. That’s freezing them. I’m patient enough to take it one step at a time. Your judgment is clouded by a demand for perfection and immediate justice.

Here is the ultimate in contradictions-a Jew quoting חז”ל-”Hazal”-the Rabbis who have written down the Pharisaic tradition of the past 2,000 years-as the title of his blog, yet who insists on advocating policies that are absolutely contradictory to Judaism. Here, the Rambam (Maimonides) writes in the Mishnah Torah:

רמב”ם יד החזקה-הלכות חובל ומזיק פרק ח

(ט) אסור למסור ישראל ביד גוים בין בגופו בין בממונו ואפילו היה רשע ובעל עבירות ואפילו היה מיצר לו ומצערו וכל המוסר ישראל ביד גוים בין בגופו בין בממונו אין לו חלק לעולם הבא:

(י) מותר להרוג המוסר בכל מקום ואפילו בזמן הזה שאין דנין דיני נפשות ומותר להרגו קודם שימסור אלא כשאמר הריני מוסר פלוני בגופו או בממונו ואפילו ממון קל הרי התיר עצמו למיתה ומתרין בו ואומרין לו אל תמסור אם העיז פניו ואמר לא כי אלא אמסרנו מצוה להרגו וכל הקודם להרגו זכה

It is forbidden to handover to gentiles the Land of Israel, a Jew, or Jewish property. Whoever does this does not have a share in The World To Come. It is permitted to kill the one does the handing over-even before he does it.
Well, Richard, looks like your “non-Orthodox” education has failed you again-too bad you are to ignorant to recognize that. Unfortunately those Jews living in Israel are forced to pay the price for the one who leads the mass against the Jewish tradition.
______________________________________________________________________________________
In the comments section, things got heated!

Richard Silverstein says:
May 23, 2009 at 9:57 PM

I’ll be back in one year or less to point out that I was right about Obama and Richard wrong.
Sometime in the next 8 yrs there will be peace bet. Israelis & Palestinians & two viable states. And all this will be partly or largely due to Barack Obama’s intercession. When that happens, I’ll expect you to come back here so that I can point out that I was right–all because truth is important. And I won’t do this gleefully either.
What is the point of freezing them?
A step comes before dismantling settlements. That’s freezing them. I’m patient enough to take it one step at a time. Your judgment is clouded by a demand for perfection and immediate justice.

Amos says:
May 24, 2009 at 8:28 AM

A step comes before dismantling settlements.
Isn’t it forbidden to dismantle settlements according to Jewish law?

DICKERSON3870 says:
May 24, 2009 at 3:49 PM

RE: “Isn’t it forbidden to dismantle settlements according to Jewish law?”
SEE THE ARTICLE: “Moses was stoned when he set Ten Commandments, researcher claims” – the “Guardian” (U.K.), 03/05/08
(EXCERPT)”…An Israeli researcher is claiming in a study published this week the prophet may have been stoned when he set the Ten Commandments in stone.
According to Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.
Writing in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy, he says concoctions based on the bark of the acacia tree, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, contain the same molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared….”
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/05/religion.israelandthepalestinians

Richard Silverstein says:
May 24, 2009 at 4:53 PM

Of course not, unless you follow Rabbi Meir Kahane and his ilk.

Amos says:
May 27, 2009 at 7:30 AM

Kahanism has nothing to do with my comments. Here, the Rambam (Maimonides) writes in the Mishnah Torah: It is forbidden to handover to gentiles the Land of Israel, a Jew, or Jewish property. Whoever does this does not have a share in The World To Come. It is permitted to kill the one does the handing over-even before he does it.

Richard Silverstein says:
May 27, 2009 at 3:45 PM

This comment is a gross violation of my comment rules. READ THEM CAREFULLY. If you violate them again you will lose yr comment privileges.

Richard Silverstein says:
May 31, 2009 at 11:30 PM

Rambam, were he alive today, would be disgusted by anyone claiming that Israel must hold on to every inch of territory it conquered in 1967 even at the cost of thousands of Jewish lives. He was an infinitely most flexible thinker than any settler or settler rabbi.
Your claim above makes Rambam out to be an acolyte of Meir Kahane, which is ludicrous.

Amos says:
May 27, 2009 at 7:33 AM

@DICKERSON3870
Yes-I read that moronic article when it was first published. It goes to show what academics in Israel will do in order to escape from their religion. Retrofitting Judaism with a baby-boomer/hippie outlook? What idiot would fall for nonsense like that?

Margaret says:
May 28, 2009 at 10:01 AM

Amos – Look up sociopath when you have a free moment.

Amos says:
May 31, 2009 at 5:55 AM

@Margaret
I don’t know DICKERSON3870 personally, but I think the term “sociopath” is a bit strong. I think it’s just that many people, Jews among them, have misconceptions about Judaism and it leads to outrageous statements/behavior. I think that it’s critical to check out everything on a particular subject before coming to conclusions. However, since the Torah establishes Jewish society, perhaps one who mocks its origins may, perhaps, be considered a sociopath.

Richard Silverstein says:
May 31, 2009 at 11:32 PM

Buddy, I think she meant YOU’RE the sociopath, not Dickerson. Advocating the killing of your fellow Jews even under the guise of paraphrasing the Rambam is some pretty wingnutty behavior.

Margaret says:
May 31, 2009 at 11:47 PM

Amos, I am sorry for your problems. You didn’t ask for them, but here we are, and you have them.

Amos says:
June 1, 2009

Referring to someone as a sociopath is a violation of your “comment rules:”
1. insults, baiting, vulgarity, harassment or abuse directed toward the blog owner or other commenters are not tolerated.
I see, however, that Margaret didn’t get “reprimanded.” You even acknowledge her antagonism: “Buddy, I think she meant YOU’RE the sociopath,..”
Advocating the killing of your fellow Jews even under the guise of paraphrasing the Rambam is some pretty wingnutty behavior.
You have an article “Obama Tightens Noose Around Settlements.” This can only mean only thing-you advocate the wholesale strangulation of your fellow Jews. In my case, I was quoting one of the most influential Rabbis in Jewish history.
I am sure you are familiar with the Kamsa-Bar Kamsa story in the Talmud:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamsa_%26_Bar_Kamsa
The Talmud says specifically that because Bar Kamsa was not executed for having betrayed the Jews to the Romans, we have been exiled from our Land. The Rabbis of the Talmud (Amoraim) are many orders more significant than those of the Rambam’s generation.
He was an infinitely most flexible thinker than any settler or settler rabbi.
I’d like to remind you that Rav Ovadya, who is the current leader of Sephardic Jewry, like the Rambam was 1,000 years ago, emphatically forbade the uprooting of Gush Katif. Haredim (”ultra-orthodox”) are FAR from “settler.” Most observant Jews here hold by this outlook-not just those in the territories.
I am certainly not trying to provoke the anger of the other commentators or the moderator, but I think the rules should be applied equally.

Richard Silverstein says:
June 2, 2009 at 7:49 PM

If I’m not mistaken this comment is Justin White a longtime troll & advocate of all manner of disgusting violence against me & some of my fellow Jews.
Don’t quote me, Justin, Amos or whoever you are, my comment rules. I know what they are. Do something like that again and all yr subsequent comments will be moderated. My comment rules are primiarily meant for people who engage in reasonable discourse. People like you who advocate killing Jews are treated more harshly as you deserve. I could call you a Jewish advocate of murder. But I don’t have any problem w. “sociopath” though it wouldn’t be the word I’d choose for you.
You have an article “Obama Tightens Noose Around Settlements.” This can only mean only thing-you advocate the wholesale strangulation of your fellow Jews
You’re an utter moron. He’s strangling the settlements you idiot, not the Jews who live in them. Did Sharon literally strangle the settlers removed from Gaza?? Are they still among us living & breathing??
Rav Ovadya…like the Rambam
You dare to compare Rav Ovadya with the Rambam? What a laugh! Wasn’t he the one who said that New Orleans shvartas suffered Hurricane Katrina because they were goyim who didn’t study Torah??

Peter D says:
June 2, 2009 at 8:38 PM

And let’s not forget that Rambam was a yored.

Margaret says:
June 2, 2009 at 7:05 PM

Amos, I didn’t refer to you as a sociopath; I suggested you read about sociopathy. I did so because I consider a religious imprimatur to kill others to be contrary to the social good, and, in our time, to be based on education that possibly can be challenged by further education.
My second comment relates to your apparent circumstances, and wasn’t meant to be insulting, but was a further rejection of what you advocate. The anger you express does provoke emotion in return. My emotional response led to the written one, which while a rejection of your advocacy was written in sorrow about the situation.
I see your anger as arising, at least in part, from fear because of your situation. I think killing continues the problematic nature of the situation and that the belief that killing is the answer is a problem for the person who holds it.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Loyal reader Amos wrote a response to the above comment that was censored by the anti-Jewish coward, Richard. Here is Amos’s uncensored response:
I did a search on “Justin White” and I found that he was prominent on your site. I have profound respect for someone who would go out of their way to become part of the Jewish Nation. Kol ha-kvod!
In any case I am Amos and I am no troll. According to the Urban Dictionary:
One who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self-amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers.
I am not trying to get a rise out of anyone-rather the opposite.
People like you who advocate killing Jews are treated more harshly as you deserve. I could call you a Jewish advocate of murder.
I don’t advocate anything other than an accurate understanding of Judaism. One example is that there is a difference between killing and murder in Judaism. If someone were to attack another intending to kill, is it murder for the defender to protect himself, even if he kills the attacker? Even secular law recognizes this. In a place with its share of conflict, it’s absolutely necessary to examine these points. Making false accusations is slanderous-both immoral and illegal.
Strangling the settlements is the same as strangling the settlers. When the Romans surrounded Masada, they did so for a reason and it was a malicious one. If someone forced you to abandon your home, you would feel violated, right? Imagine if it was another Jew who did it. Can you find me a place in Judaism that allows for this?
You dare to compare Rav Ovadya with the Rambam?
Rav Ovadya is the finest student who came from the most prestigious Sefardic yeshiva in Israel-Porat Yosef. He is the undisputed gadol ha-dor (greatest Torah leader of his generation). If you lived here you would know this. It’s not so much a comparison rather an order of succession. No Sefardic Jews follow (poskin) by the Rambam-only some Yeminite Jews do. Most Sefardic Jews do follow Rav Ovadya. The world suffers because people don’t have Torah values which come from studying!
And let’s not forget that Rambam was a yored.
There was no Jewish government at that time-no protection from Arabs aggressors. In fact, the Rabbi Judah Halevi was killed in 1140 by an Arab at the Western Wall, shortly after having come to Israel.
@Margaret
I don’t really understand most of what you tried to convey. In any case, Webster’s says:
: a sociopathic individual : psychopath
: a mentally ill or unstable person ; especially : a person affected with antisocial personality disorder
I am not antisocial by any measure. I know two languages fluently and have studied another 3 at least. Language was meant to bridge gaps between people and I strive to do so daily. Being that the remainder of your comment was incoherent, I’ll just say best wishes to you!

Richard Silverstein: Just Another Confused Jew In Exile

The Self-Hate Fuhrer has published a new tirade in the Guardian: American Jewish groups must speak up over Gaza. The Anti-Self Defamation League was initially establish to respond to the malicious lies of people like Silverstein, who pretend to be open “liberals,” but who in fact live by censorship and viciously attack anyone who doesn’t hold by their views. Here is a prime opportunity to make use of real freedom!
Silverstein writes:

While Israel’s savage assault against Hezbollah in Lebanon during the 2006 war generated an uproar, one wonders whether the massacres that occurred in Gaza crossed a moral threshhold. Can an effort to end Israeli impunity have real impact, both in terms of influencing world opinion and of impacting on Israeli behaviour? Israel has become an expert at wearing down its opponents, honing such skills during 40 years of occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The question is: what, if anything, can the peace community do differently this time?

Nonsense-the “Palestinians” have become experts in wearing down Israel-a War of Attrition which, unfortunately, has “Jewish” participants-namely the author. The Land Of Israel has been occupied by non-Jews for almost two thousand years, and the world has not cried out. The occupation here is that of the Jewish spirit-the occupation of the Nation of Israel not being loyal to its vow “We Will Do And Obey” (Exodus 24:7). People like Richard Silverstein only worsen this crime-the origin of occupation. Perhaps the peace community can reconsider it’s sinister hypocrisy and reevaluate it’s condemnation of Judaism and it’s precepts-especially Mr. Silverstein, who has made a career out of misrepresenting the Jewish tradition and Jews living outside of Israel.
He asserts lastly:

Israel’s policy has verged on madness. Nor has it achieved its objective of pacifying Gaza or toppling Hamas. And isn’t one of the definitions of madness to repeat a behaviour even after it has failed, with the conviction that it will succeed the next time? When you see a loved one or family member descending into self-destruction, you reach out and help. My goal is to turn Israel away from the path of madness.

Madness? When Arabs launch attacks against Israeli civilians-collective punishment-you have nothing to say. But, when Israel asserts its right to retaliate and protect Israelis-including Arab Israelis-you scream “justice!” Why? Also, it is obviously galut Jews (Jews of the exile) who are descending into oblivion. Here is the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01: Strength, Challenge and Diversity in the American Jewish Population. The facts speak for themselves: Israel’s Jewish population is growing at a steady rate and America’s Jewish population is declining. It seems that Mr. Silverstein is using his misguided views as a vehicle to blur the real issues that are devastating the Jewish community today-assimilation, apathy, and liturgical ignorance. Perhaps “tikkun atzmi” (fixing oneself) should be his new approach.

Leave Your Baggage Behind

Secular commentator Gideon Levy has a new article online and it is ripe with new ideas about the religion of Abraham in the State Of Israel. Let’s get started:
Levy writes:

and millions of Israelis joyfully read out praise in the Passover Hagaddah for genocide-jihad by means of horrific plagues and drowning infants-it’s time to admit it: We live in a religious country.

Well, it says in the Israeli Declaration Of Independence that Israel must be a democracy and Jewish. That is why you see a religious country. There were horrific plagues because the Egyptians were drowning Jewish babies. Is everything clear now?
He continues:

We must admit that this society has rather dark religious aspects. Foreigners landing in Israel might ask themselves what country they’re in: Iran, Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia? In any case, it’s not the liberal, secular and enlightened society it purports to be.

The Torah is called “light”(דאורייתא). Foreigners that I know who bother to come here usually try to look at Judaism with an open mind-perhaps herein lies your problem! It purports to be because it gets funded by a powerful Western democratic country (USA). The countries you named are Muslim countries-so let them be Muslims. This is a Jewish country-so why can’t you let us be Jews? Because you have to Enlighten us to death? Secular Zionists like you will hypocritically go after Jews in the exile for being assimilated and not “Israeli” enough! This is the occupation you speak of accusingly-the occupation of self-appointed intellectuals like yourself who refuse to let Jews be Jews in their Land. Furthermore, Israel cannot, you correctly state, call itself liberal. This is part of the multiple personality syndrome that Jews have brought with them from 2,000 in exile-just like the extra piece of baggage that new immigrants are allowed to bring when they come to Israel.
Occasionally Mr. Levy is correct:

In no other country are there streets without buses and tracks without trains on the Sabbath.

This is a tribute to the Jews living in Israel.
Finally Levy’s article reaches it’s hateful peak:

Just as with the tyranny of another minority, the settlers, who terrorize the majority, so it is with the tyranny of the ultra-Orthodox: The tyranny exists because the secular majority has chosen to obey it.

Yes Gideon-it is you-the branja-the minority of hateful European mixed multitudes who grinds against us every year like sandpaper. You will never admit that Tel Aviv University, the bastion of anti-Jewish sentiment in Israel, was built upon an Arab village. You forget, conveniently that secular Zionists from the beginning sought to displace Arabs living in Israel so that Jews could reclaim their ancient Homeland. Now when world sentiment is against you, the settlers are your scapegoat? You don’t blame the world for having mistreated the Jews for so long? You don’t blame the Arabs for having made the Western Wall into a trash heap before Jews reasserted control over the Old City (which is very much shared today, actually)? Only religious Jews who have consistently prayed for 2,000 years for their return to Zion are singled out? This is the sickness of the spiritual occupation which those of you in the fifth column advocate.
Thank G-d for the settlers. Thank G-d for the persistence of the minority. You write:

If the majority were to stand up and not surrender to the minority, buses would run every day and bread would be sold on Passover.

No, sir. The Nations stood up to the Jews and the Jews didn’t surrender. That is why we didn’t all become Christians (or Muslims). That is why you are able to live in this Land and attack us so comfortably from the artificial mound aptly called “Tel Aviv.”

Roseanne On Jesus and Kabbalah

Roseanne Barr has once again given us insight into the inner workings of Judaism in this reflection posted on her blog:

CONNECTION TO JESUS...

Part of the story of "jesus" is actually about his friend, shimon bar yochai...both men and their wives were erased from european jewish history, in its drive to become german/enlightened...ARYANIZED.. and yet it has been kept alive in sephardic/aramaic communities for two thousand years. (in another post I talked about this holy racial war of jewish thought - the talmudic and the zoharistic)

Outside the cave (in P'q'uin) where rabbi shimon hid for thirteen years from the romans...

In an instant, my mind raced ahead of itself, forward, and yet into the past... it smelled things and saw things and heard things unseen.

I saw the voice! I heard the smell! All senses synthesized...like at sinai.. I felt energy of life pulsing up from the earth and down from the trees. I flew at the speed of light, my eyebeam! The men I was with told me that in those days, they walked one inch off the ground and could teleport.

They were the temple monks, running for their lives, like now in tibet. The scorpion walked across the ari's tomb and we called the rav and karen on the phone (teleportation..to speak with those thousands of miles away) and karen said the scorpion is the only animal you can kill and incur no karma. Removing them changes nothing. Leaving them changes nothing.

I am a scorpio. I leave no mark, but I vow to supply the small link missing in the story of the temple, the end of the six thousand year old jews.

rabbi shimon bar yochai channelled the zohar. it contains all of the meditations that jesus practiced. The zohar says that in the age of acquarius, everyone will know these meditations. I have vowed to help that along.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
ASDL Response:

Aryanized? Sephardic Jews are saving Judaism...wow! This is from the same Roseanne who called Israel a Nazi state? Doesn't she understand that Jews of Arab countries are the core of the right-wing in Israel? "Jesus" rejected his teacher's ways and formed a cult-the one you were raised in, Roseanne. How about some actual Torah learning? You too, Larry!

Gideon Levy And The Crime Of Minority Worship

Gideon Levy, in his article Has anyone in Israel asked why the Swedes hate us? continues his case against the State of Israel. His rant is primarily driven by an unwavering minority complex:

The world is always against us, period.

Here he attacks his own liberal European branja (a Yiddish term meaning the "experts" or the "guild"), as if he were not one of them:

thanks to the gung-ho Israeli press

Levy goes on to say:

the pointless killing and destruction wrought by Israel

Gideon you don't mention that Gaza was firing missiles into "Israel proper" for years! What about that death and destruction? Here your self-hate hasbara (Hebrew for a one-sided explanation or propaganda) is uncovered.
He continues:

these sorts of moments that made me feel ashamed to be an Israeli,...

We are also ashamed that you are an "Israeli!"
Levy asserts that Israeli leaders are:

warmongers versus seekers of negotiation...

You are the warmonger-you strive for some kind of one-sided false "peace" that is simple a mirage. The Arabs will never give up violence as an option. Only secular Jews like yourself-people who have spent their entire lives distancing themselves from Judaism-go on to quote, time after time the Jewish prophecies talking about abandoning of war. You quote Judaism when it is convenient for you to do so.
Below Levy never mentions the Arabs' behavior-never once. He never points out that is was the unrelenting pursuit of violence perpetrated by Hamas that led to Israel's long awaited retaliate-as if to say that Jews are not permitted to defend themselves.

Lieberman's belligerent statements and the Israel Defense Forces' violent actions in the territories

He states about the US and George Bush:

who gave it such a blank check for all its settlements, targeted assassinations and occupation activities

Since when do Jews, who are the true owners of the Land Of Israel, need approval from the nations of the world-or from Gideon Levy and his band of lost Israelites? Furthermore, in total ignorance to Judaism you say that Israel cannot target those in the process of killing Jews! What a despicable immoral policy-this is in total contradiction to the Torah:

if one comes to kill you, kill him first

אם בא להרגך-השכם להרגו

ברכות נ"ח-א

If a thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall no blood be shed for him.

Exodus 22:1

It was secular Jews who insisted on having their own state, and then created a movement called Zionism. Now, more than one-hundred years later, it's offspring, Bnei Hertzl, are having a Ashka-tantrum in the face of world pressure:

For decades now, the world has been buying the Zionist narrative almost in full.

He incorrectly states:

The occupation and settlements have been going on for more than 40 years with no serious impediment.

Sorry Gideon-you can't fool everyone. The occupation is within you. The fact that you spend all of your time and energy pandering to the West-your new savior-and not sharpening your expertise in your own religion, Judaism is the mother-of-all-occupations. Forty-years? Try two hundred years! The occupation of the Jewish Enlightenment, the Haskalah, has leveled world Jewry with assimilation and confusion. Many Jews have no idea what their own religion means. You are only contributing to this occupation.

Know How To Respond To Heretics

A friend commented to me, “Are you sure it’s alright what you are doing?” His question was intended to ask if there was a justification, in Judaism, for creating a blog that holds accountable those Jews who attack Judaism and Israel without any Torah justification. Well, here is his answer. Here is a collection of statements from Jewish scriptures regarding such issues.