Zionists Out of the Peace Movement

Bill Henry, Z"L, circa 1940

The 16th annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day begins at sunset on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, and ends at dusk on the 2nd. This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L, circa 1940

The 15th annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day begins at sunset on Friday, October 11, 2024, and ends at dusk on the 12th. This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L, circa 1940

The 14th annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day begins at sunset on Monday, September 25, 2023, and ends at dusk on the 26th. This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L, circa 1940

The 13th annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day begins at sunset on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, and ends at dusk on the 5th. This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Wednesday, September 15, 2021, is the 12th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 9/15 and ends at dusk on 9/16.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Sunday, September 27, 2020, is the 11th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 9/27 and ends at dusk on 9/28.

Labels: Bill Henry, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Tuesday, October 8, 2019, is the 10th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 10/8 and ends at dusk on 10/9.

Labels: Bill Henry, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Wednesday, September 19, 2018, is the 9th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 9/18 and ends at dusk on 9/19.

Labels: Bill Henry, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Saturday, September 30, 2017, is the 8th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 9/29 and ends at dusk on 9/30.

Labels: Bill Henry, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Wednesday, October 12, 2016, is the 7th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 10/11 and ends at dusk on 10/12.

Labels: Bill Henry, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Wednesday, September 23, 2015, is the 6th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day.* This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

*The holiday begins at sunset on 9/22 and ends at dusk on 9/23.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Bill Henry, Z"L,circa 1940

Saturday, October 4, 2014, is the 5th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger day. This day honors the memory of Bill Henry (né Herskovitz), Z"L, for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Saturday, September 14, 2013, is the 4th annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day. This day honors Bill Henry (né Herskovitz) for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see the 2011 post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Wednesday, September 26, 2012, is the 3rd annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day. This day honors Bill Henry (né Herskovitz) for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism". Since Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day follows the Jewish calendar, it actually starts at sunset on 9/25 and ends at sunset on 9/26.

For the full story behind Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day please see last year's post about this momentous day.

Labels: Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Saturday, October 8, 2011, is the 2nd annual Bill Henry international Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day. This day honors Bill Henry (né Herskovitz) for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of "Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism".

That boy grew up to be Henry Herskovitz and in 1954 young Henry was hungry from fasting on Yom Kippur. Eight-year-olds aren't required to fast and so the fact that his father Bill bought him something to eat is not remarkable, that he bought him a cheeseburger is.

Under Judaic religious law or halacha, cheeseburgers are treif, i.e. they're not kosher. Observant Jews aren't supposed to eat them and some Jews can get pretty worked-up about cheeseburgers. You see, keeping kosher is about Jewish self-segregation. But you don't have to believe me, you can believe Rabbi Yaakov Luban.

Rabbi Luban is a "specialist in communal [kosher] issues" and Executive Rabbinic Coordinator of the Orthodox Union's kosher certification division, the world's largest kosher certification agency. In "Playing with Fire", Rabbi Luban writes:

Thousands of years ago, the Rabbis of old recognized that Jewish identity is the key to the survival of Klal Yisrael ["the Jewish People, as a whole"]. To this end, they enacted three sets of food laws to limit socialization: bishul akum, pas akum and stam yainom (cooked food, bread and wine prepared by gentiles). This was based on the realization that bonds of friendship are established by eating together, and breaking bread with a stranger is the first step to developing a closer relationship. For thousands of years of exile, the biblical and rabbinic laws of kosher have formed a natural fortress that prevented the assimilation of the Jewish people into many different cultures of the world. Today, with spiraling assimilation wreaking havoc at a frightening rate, the prophetic vision of Chazal [an acronym, meaning "Our Sages of Blessed Memory" in ref. to the Talmud] is all the more apparent. It is significant that even for secularized Jews, a kosher kitchen often remains the last bastion against intermarriage and assimilation.

More than two thousand years ago, the Rabbis prohibited eating certain foods cooked by non-Jews in order to limit socialization which might lead to intermarriage between Jews and gentiles.

Okay, so maybe I've taken a little interpretive license with this otherwise true story but, still, I like to believe that Bill Henry's decision to buy his boy a cheeseburger on the "Sabbath of Sabbaths" wasn't an accident but a mitzvah that helped set his son on the path of becoming a mensch, a fighter for human rights, justice, and, peace for all. So, what the heck? If you're not fasting on Saturday 10/8 then join people across the globe in eating a cheeseburger (really, any non-kosher food or beverage will do) in honor of our shared humanity and in memory of Bill Henry, a dad who truly loved his son enough not to try to turn him into a bigot.

P.S. If you're going to buy that cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant (Yuck, don't do it!) then skip McDonald's. With 153 restaurants in Israel, they're big-time violators of the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Try Burger King instead, they pulled out of Israel last year.

See also:

• "Gems from 'Jewish Medical Law' " in ZionistsOut
• "A Light Unto the Butchers?" in ZionistsOut
• "McDonald's bans Arabic" in The Guardian (UK)
• "McDonald's changes its brand to suit kosher appetites" in The Guardian (UK)

Note: "Playing with Fire" no longer appears at the URL previously embedded above.  However, the article still appears, although uncredited to Rabbi Luban, on the OU site here (see also page 2 of this PDF).

Last revised: 27 September 2022

Labels: BDS, Bill Henry, halacha, Henry Herskovitz, Judaism, Talmud

Caught you looking. If the title of this post were true then it would be real news but it isn't true. The truth is that in yet another expression of Judaism's Culture of Death a West Bank rabbi on the payroll of the Jewish State and also bankrolled indirectly by US taxpayers has written "The complete guide to killing non-Jews". The book is entitled Torat ha-Melekh [The King's Teaching]. Why isn't that news?

Below is a translation of an article that first appeared in the Israeli newspaper Maariv. The translation is from an article by Didi Remez on the Coteret web site. I encourage readers to check out the article there as it has links to sources and others who have written about this story.

The complete guide to killing non-Jews

Roi Sharon, Maariv, November 9 2009 [page 2 with front page teaser]

When is it permissible to kill non-Jews? The book Torat ha-Melekh [The King’s Teaching], which was just published, was written by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, the dean of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in the community of Yitzhar near Nablus, together with another rabbi from the yeshiva, Yossi Elitzur. The book contains no fewer than 230 pages on the laws concerning the killing of non-Jews, a kind of guide for anyone who ponders the question of if and when it is permissible to take the life of a non-Jew.

Although the book is not being distributed by the leading book companies, it has already received warm recommendations from right-wing elements, including recommendations from important rabbis such as Yitzhak Ginsburg, Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef, that were printed at the beginning of the book. The book is being distributed via the Internet and through the yeshiva, and at this stage the introductory price is NIS 30 per copy. At the memorial ceremony that was held over the weekend in Jerusalem for Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was killed nineteen years ago, copies of the book were sold.

Throughout the book, the authors deal with in-depth theoretical questions in Jewish religious law regarding the killing of non-Jews. The words "Arabs" and "Palestinians" are not mentioned even indirectly, and the authors are careful to avoid making explicit statements in favor of an individual taking the law into his own hands. The book includes hundreds of sources from the Bible and religious law. The book includes quotes from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, one of the fathers of religious Zionism, and from Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli, one of the deans of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, the stronghold of national-religious Zionism that is located in Jerusalem.

The book opens with a prohibition against killing non-Jews and justifies it, among other things, on the grounds of preventing hostility and any desecration of God’s name. But very quickly, the authors move from prohibition to permission, to the various dispensations for harming non-Jews, with the central reason being their obligation to uphold the seven Noahide laws, which every human being on earth must follow. Among these commandments are prohibitions on theft, bloodshed and idolatry. [The seven Noahide laws prohibit idolatry, murder, theft, illicit sexual relations, blasphemy and eating the flesh of a live animal, and require societies to institute just laws and law courts]

"When we approach a non-Jew who has violated the seven Noahide laws and kill him out of concern for upholding these seven laws, no prohibition has been violated," states the book, which emphasizes that killing is forbidden unless it is done in obedience to a court ruling. But later on, the authors limit the prohibition, noting that it applies only to a "proper system that deals with non-Jews who violate the seven Noahide commandments."

The book includes another conclusion that explains when a non-Jew may be killed even if he is not an enemy of the Jews. "In any situation in which a non-Jew's presence endangers Jewish lives, the non-Jew may be killed even if he is a righteous Gentile and not at all guilty for the situation that has been created," the authors state. "When a non-Jew assists a murderer of Jews and causes the death of one, he may be killed, and in any case where a non-Jew's presence causes danger to Jews, the non-Jew may be killed."

One of the dispensations for killing non-Jews, according to religious law, applies in a case of din rodef [the law of the "pursuer," according to which one who is pursuing another with murderous intent may be killed extrajudicially] even when the pursuer is a civilian. "The dispensation applies even when the pursuer is not threatening to kill directly, but only indirectly," the book states. "Even a civilian who assists combat fighters is considered a pursuer and may be killed. Anyone who assists the army of the wicked in any way is strengthening murderers and is considered a pursuer. A civilian who encourages the war gives the king and his soldiers the strength to continue. Therefore, any citizen of the state that opposes us who encourages the combat soldiers or expresses satisfaction over their actions is considered a pursuer and may be killed. Also, anyone who weakens our own state by word or similar action is considered a pursuer."

Rabbis Shapira and Elitzur determine that children may also be harmed because they are "hindrances." The rabbis write as follows: "Hindrances—babies are found many times in this situation. They block the way to rescue by their presence and do so completely by force. Nevertheless, they may be killed because their presence aids murder. There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults."

In addition, the children of the leader may be harmed in order to apply pressure to him. If attacking the children of a wicked ruler will influence him not to behave wickedly, they may be harmed. "It is better to kill the pursuers than to kill others," the authors state.

In a chapter entitled "Deliberate harm to innocents," the book explains that war is directly mainly against the pursuers, but those who belong to the enemy nation are also considered the enemy because they are assisting murderers.

Retaliation also has a place and purpose in this book by Rabbis Shapira and Elitzur. "In order to defeat the enemy, we must behave toward them in a spirit of retaliation and measure for measure," they state. "Retaliation is absolutely necessary in order to render such wickedness not worthwhile. Therefore, sometimes we do cruel deeds in order to create the proper balance of terror."

In one of the footnotes, the two rabbis write in such a way that appears to permit individuals to act on their own, outside of any decision by the government or the army.

"A decision by the nation is not necessary to permit shedding the blood of the evil kingdom," the rabbis write. "Even individuals from the nation being attacked may harm them."

Unlike books of religious law that are published by yeshivas, this time the rabbis added a chapter containing the book's conclusions. Each of the six chapters is summarized into main points of several lines, which state, among other things: "In religious law, we have found that non-Jews are generally suspected of shedding Jewish blood, and in war, this suspicion becomes a great deal stronger. One must consider killing even babies, who have not violated the seven Noahide laws, because of the future danger that will be caused if they are allowed to grow up to be as wicked as their parents."

Even though the authors are careful, as stated, to use the term "non-Jews," there are certainly those who could interpret the nationality of the "non-Jews" who are liable to endanger the Jewish people. This is strengthened by the leaflet "The Jewish Voice," which is published on the Internet from Yitzhar, which comments on the book: "It is superfluous to note that nowhere in the book is it written that the statements are directly only to the ancient non-Jews." The leaflet's editors did not omit a stinging remark directed at the GSS, who will certainly take the trouble to get themselves a copy. "The editors suggest to the GSS that they award the prize for Israel's security to the authors," the leaflet states, "who gave the detectives the option of reading the summarized conclusions without any need for in-depth study of the entire book."

One student of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar explained, from his point of view, where Rabbis Shapira and Elitzur got the courage to speak so freely on a subject such as the killing of non-Jews. "The rabbis aren’t afraid of prosecution because in that case, Maimonides [Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, 1135–1204] and Nahmanides [Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, 1194–1270] would have to stand trial too, and anyway, this is research on religious law," the yeshiva student said. "In a Jewish state, nobody sits in jail for studying Torah."

See also:

• Wars of Choice in Judaism
• Rabbi Dobrusin Tortures the Truth
• worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs
• until they scream, 'Enough!'
• Chief Rabbi-for-War Metzger in News Again

Labels: halacha, Jewish violence, Judaism, Talmud

I hadn't planned on writing another post on Passover until I came across the halachic (Jewish religious law) doctrine of milchemet reshut. A 2002 essay on the web site of a Reform synagogue in Sudbury, MA helpfully explains: "[Milchemet reshut is] an optional war" and "one the king may fight with other nations in order to expand the boundaries of Israel and add to his greatness and reputation." Jacob Chinitz, a Masorti (Conservative) rabbi, calls milchemet reshut a "discretionary war" and "a war of aggression". Chinitz says, "The Torah permits such a war to expand the borders of Eretz Yisrael, to capture captives, or because the King of Israel decides [that] a war is good for the country and for God."

It is the latter aspect of the doctrine--the idea of going to war for "greatness and reputation" or because it "is good for the country and for God"--that called to mind Passover. You see, as pointed out in an earlier post:

The book of Exodus, just before the first passover occurs, records that Pharaoh was ready to let the Israelites leave Egypt "But the Lord stiffened Pharaoh's heart and he would not agree to let them go" (Exod. 10:27). The idea that it is God and not Pharaoh who is hardening Pharaoh's heart is repeated several times throughout the account, including at the beginning (Exod. 7:3). ... It is important to note that God is not perpetrating this mass killing in order to free the Israelites. No, according to scripture, it is merely an opportunity to show off the "marvels" of God as he frees the Israelites (Exod. 11:9).

I don't know if there is any Talmudic commentary that links the massacre in Exodus for the glory of God with the Talmudic concept of milchemet reshut. The modern texts I've read link the concept to Deuteronomy 20, 21:10-14, which is post-Exodus in the narrative. In any case, there seems to be a real congruence between the two. Further, both stand in contrast to the much abused medieval ecclesial "just war" doctrine, which is in turn a departure from the earlier nonviolent resistance of Jesus and the early church.

I'll close with an interesting excerpt from Rabbi Chinitz's article:

How could the Torah permit a discretionary war, how could we entertain such a notion in modern Israel? We have trumpeted the ideal of ein bererah – no choice. All of our wars were forced on us by our enemies, including the current struggle against suicide bombers.

Let me offer some qualifications to this posture of purity. With respect to the war in Lebanon – Operation Peace for Galillee - Menachem Begin said that sometimes a war of yesh bereirah – a war of choice - is better than a war of ein bereirah – a war of no choice. Ein bereira means your back is to the wall, as "And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him" (Genesis 32:24). In a war of yesh bereirah, you take the initiative, limit your casualties and decide when to stop.

Ezer Weizman stated that the Six Day War was not really a matter of saving the nation, but rather an opportunity. Egypt did not attack first. It only closed the Straits of Tiran.

This excerpt suggests, if not demonstrates, the relevance of examining Judaism when considering Zionist foreign and domestic policy. This scrutiny is, of course, unwelcome for those who insist, despite the evidence to the contrary, on the disconnect between Judaism and Zionism, see e.g. "Response to M.", "Readers Respond to 'Israel's Hanukkah Massacre & Judaism's Culture of Death'", and "Will IJAN Challenge Jewish Power?".

Labels: halacha, history, Israel, Jewish violence, Judaism, Passover, Talmud

On Friday, the Ann Arbor News ran a prostitution story with a twist or two. First, the prostitute was a student at the University of Michigan Law School who came to police after her customer allegedly physically assaulted her. As the News reports, "The student told police she reluctantly agreed to allow Eliav to strike her buttocks with a belt, but got upset when he slapped her in the face twice, reports said. She said she suffered vision problems afterward, but did not have any lasting injuries."

The "John" was Yaron Z. Eliav (pictured at right), Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, specifically, Eliav is the Jean and Samuel Frankel Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature & Jewish History of Late Antiquity. For his part, Eliav "admitted to slapping her face, but said it was 'like a game.' "

The Ann Arbor police have also taken a playful attitude toward the assault allegation with Ann Arbor Detective Sgt. Richard Kinsey saying, "Perhaps she should have cracked a legal textbook before coming in to the police station to talk about this." I guess the police's attitude is if you engage in prostitution then don't expect any help if your John hurts you.

The unnamed victim, like her assailant, was charged with "using a computer to commit a crime"--a misdemeanor. Charging the victim and ignoring her assault is the exactly the wrong thing to do to someone who has already been victimized by prostitution, which in progressive countries is regarded as a form of exploitation and violence against the prostitute. In Sweden, prostitution has been greatly reduced by a) criminalizing the buying of sex, b) decriminalizing the selling of sex, and c) providing ample and comprehensive social services for "any prostitute who wants to get out, and additional funds to educate the public."

This story was brought to my attention by someone who identified Eliav as an Israeli and judging from his c.v. there seems little doubt about that. At a minimum, he's lived in the Jewish state for several years. This got me thinking about sexual mores and practices in Israel--the "blight unto the nations" backed by the full diplomatic, military, and financial force of the United States.

As for the male and female slaves whom you may have, it is from the nations around you that you may acquire male and female slaves. You may also acquire them from among the aliens residing with you, and from their families that are with you, who have been born in your land; and they may be your property. You may keep them as a possession for your children after you, for them to inherit as property. These you may treat as slaves, but as for your fellow Israelites, no one shall rule over the other with harshness. -Leviticus 25:44-46.

The Halakhah [Judaic law] presumes all Gentiles to be utterly promiscuous ... Whether a Gentile woman is married or not makes no difference, since as far as Jews are concerned the very concept of matrimony does not apply to Gentiles ... Therefore, the concept of adultery also does not apply to intercourse between a Jewish man and a Gentile woman; rather, the Talmud equates such intercourse to the sin of bestiality. ...

This does not imply that sexual intercourse between a Jewish man and a Gentile woman is permitted - quite the contrary. But the main punishment is inflicted on the Gentile woman; she must be executed, even if she was raped by the Jew '... because through her a Jew got into trouble' ... and all Gentile women are presumed to be prostitutes. -Israel Shahak, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years.

The 2008 US State Department "Trafficking in Persons Report" (p. 146) shows Israel has never been a "Tier 1" state in the seven years that the US has been monitoring human trafficking (Tier 1 countries are those "whose governments fully comply with the [US] Trafficking Victims Protection Act's minimum standards").

Here's an outtake from the 2006 report, as you read the figures bear in mind that Israel has a total population of about 7.1 million:

Israel is a destination country for low-skilled workers from the P.R.C., Romania, Jordan, Turkey, Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India who migrate voluntarily for contract labor in the construction, agriculture and health care industries. Some are subsequently subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude. Many labor recruitment agencies in source countries and in Israel require workers to pay up-front fees ranging from $1,000-10,000 – a practice that often leads to debt bondage and makes these workers highly vulnerable to forced labor once in Israel. Israel is also a destination country for women trafficked from Eastern Europe – primarily Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Belarus, and Russia – for the purpose of sexual exploitation. NGOs estimate that in 2005 between 1,000-3,000 women were trafficked into Israel for sexual servitude and 16,000-20,000 foreign workers faced involuntary servitude, though NGOs do not provide evidence to support their claim.

The Government of Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Israel is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking, namely the conditions of involuntary servitude allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers. The government did not pass a much-needed law criminalizing all forms of trafficking, including labor trafficking, drafted in 2003, though it took more steps than in previous years to criminally investigate and prosecute employers allegedly keeping foreign workers in conditions of involuntary servitude.

Did you notice the contradiction at the beginning of the second paragraph? Here it is again with key portions in bold: "The Government of Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Israel is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking ..."The Tier 2 Watch List is the second lowest category and placed Israel on a par with countries such as Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, Kenya, Kuwait, and Russia. Oh, and "involuntary servitude" and "forced labor"--those are just fancy ways of saying slavery without coming right out and saying it.

By the 2008 report not that much had changed although Israel did finally pass a law after the 2006 report outlawing all forms of human trafficking. Here's an excerpt from the 2008 report:

... NGOs note an increase in the internal trafficking of Israeli women for commercial sexual exploitation, and report new instances of trafficking of Israeli women abroad to Canada, Ireland, and England. African asylum seekers entering Israel illegally are also vulnerable to trafficking for forced labor or prostitution.

The Government of Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking ... though the government prepared some indictments for forced labor, it did not criminally prosecute or convict any employer or recruitment agent for labor trafficking.

According to the report, "This year, the government convicted 38 individuals for sex trafficking ..." Bear in mind that thousands of women are victims of sex trafficking in Israel every year.

Now, that we've looked at parts of official reports prepared under the watchful eye of State Dept.'s very own 'anti-Semitism' thought police let's look at a few other accounts of trafficking in the Jewish state. In 2006, the Jewish Tribune of Montreal quoted Victor Malarek, author of the 2003 book The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade: "Newspaper ads from modelling and employment agencies promise exciting jobs, but the women are duped. They must submit, or they are raped, beaten and tortured. There are between 5,000 and 10,000 trafficked women in Israel and more than 280 brothels in Tel Aviv alone" (metro Tel Aviv has a population of 3.1 million).

In his book, Malarek quotes Leah Gruenpeter-Gold: "Israeli men have simply grown used to the idea that women can be bought. Both married and single men no longer want to work at relationships. For them it is easier to purchase sex when they want it." In the same interview, he spoke with Nissan Ben-Ami, who describes how young Israeli men flock to brothels on Rosh Hashanah and how "the haredim (orthodox Jews) ... crowd the Tel Aviv brothels on Friday mornings and afternoons for a pre-Shabbat tumble." He continues that the haredim consider masturbation to be a sin and they won't use condoms and so they end up paying the pimps more money and "sacrific[ing] these women." To which Gruenpeter-Gold adds, "Because these women are not human beings. They are foreign women. The religious prefer it to be with foreign women because then they don't wrong Jewish women" (emphasis added).

In 2005, Ynet, the online version of the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, reported:

Thousands of women are being smuggled into Israel, creating a booming sex trade industry that rakes more than USD one billion a year, a parliamentary committee said on Wednesday.

The Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, headed by Knesset member Zehava Galon of the left-wing Yahad party, commissioned the report in an effort to combat the sex trade in Israel. Findings showed that some 3,000 and 5,000 women are smuggled to Israel annually and sold into the prostitution industry, where they are constantly subjected to violence and abuse.

The report, issued annually, said some 10,000 such women currently reside in about 300 to 400 brothels throughout the country.

A 2007 BBC report illuminated the personal price that the victims pay:

Marina rarely leaves her two-room home in northern Israel these days.

She is in hiding - wanted by the Israeli authorities for being an illegal immigrant, and by the criminal gangs who brought her here to sell her into prostitution.

Marina - not her real name - was lured to Israel by human traffickers. ...

"When I was in the Ukraine, I had a difficult life," said Marina, who came to Israel in 1999 at the age of 33 after answering a newspaper advertisement offering the opportunity to study abroad.

"I was taken to an apartment in Ashkelon, and other women there told me I was now in prostitution. I became hysterical, but a guy starting hitting me and then others there raped me.

"I was then taken to a place where they sold me - just sold me!" she said, recalling how she was locked in a windowless basement for a month, drank water from a toilet and was deprived of food. ...

Prostitution in Israel is legal, but pimping and maintaining a brothel are not.

The law however is not widely enforced and few brothels are closed down.

In Tel Aviv's Neve Shaanan district for instance, just a short walk from the city's five-star tourist hotels, brothels masquerading as massage parlours, saunas and even internet cafes, fill the side streets.

One such place even operates opposite the local police station.

There are bars on windows and heavily-built men guard the doors, which are only opened to let customers in and out.

Inside, groups of sullen-looking women sit in dimly-lit rooms, waiting for their next client.

Foreign women fetch the highest prices, with trafficked women forced to work up to 18 hours a day. ...

Campaigners say things began to change for the better in 2004, when the government opened a shelter in north Tel Aviv for women who had been trafficked for sex.

It marked a change in the way the state perceived them - as victims of a crime rather than accomplices.

There are some 30 women at the Maggan shelter - most from former Soviet states, but also five from China.

For years, Israel treated trafficked women as criminals "When they come here they are in a bad condition," said Rinat Davidovich, the shelter's director.

"Most have sexual diseases and some have hepatitis and even tuberculosis. They also have problems going to sleep because they remember what used to happen to them at night," she said. ...

See also: "Human rights abuses of women trafficked from countries of the former Soviet Union into Israel's sex industry" by Amnesty International (2000)

Labels: Israel, Jewish violence, Judaism, Talmud, University of Michigan

The acorn, it is said, does not fall from the tree. This would help explain the father-son duo of the killer-enabler rabbis Eliyahu. Wednesday, I quoted the remarks of the Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu. Today, comes the remarks of Papa--former Sephardi chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu:

Former Sephardi chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu called on the government to decree that for every life lost in the attack [on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva] another yeshiva and township will be formed.

"Even when we seek revenge, it is important to make one thing clear – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs.

"The Talmud states that if gentiles rob Israel of silver they will pay it back in gold, and all that is taken will be paid back in folds, but in cases like these there is nothing to pay back, since as I said – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs," added Rabbi Eliyahu.

Less than a year ago, the Jerusalem Post reported of this mainstream Judaic man o' god: "Eliyahu advocates carpet bombing Gaza."

All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings.

The letter, published in Olam Katan [Small World], a weekly pamphlet to be distributed in synagogues nationwide this Friday, cited the biblical story of the Shechem massacre (Genesis 34) and Maimonides' commentary (Laws of Kings 9, 14) on the story as proof texts for his legal decision.

According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals. In Gaza, the entire populace is responsible because they do nothing to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.

The former chief rabbi also said it was forbidden to risk the lives of Jews in Sderot or the lives of IDF soldiers for fear of injuring or killing Palestinian noncombatants living in Gaza.

The same article from last May also quoted the son:

Eliyahu's son, Shmuel Eliyahu, who is chief rabbi of Safed, said his father opposed a ground troop incursion into Gaza that would endanger IDF soldiers. Rather, he advocated carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life.

"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."

In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."

Eliyahu wrote that "This is a message to all leaders of the Jewish people not to be compassionate with those who shoot [rockets] at civilians in their houses."

Returning to the more recent article, we are treated to a "more moderate" message of another rabbi who shared the platform with the elder Eliyahu:

Ramat Gan's chief rabbi, Yaacov Ariel, chose to deliver a more moderate message: "We do not seek vengeance, we seek retaliation. The terrorist's house should have been demolished immediately, regardless of the law. It should have been done because it was a matter of life and death – the deterrence could help save future lives."

"We are against killing innocent people or harming children," he added, "but once terrorists hide behind children, we have to strike back. The blood of those living in Sderot is worth just as much as the blood of those the terrorists hide behind."

Stick your heads in the sand if you like but this is mainstream Judaism, folks. These guys are prominent orthodox religious leaders in a country where the government finances religion and orthodoxy is the only state-sanctioned form of Judaism. And they've been saying this kind of stuff for months, if not years.

No Judaism, No Zionism
Know Judaism, Know Zionism

Here's another Jewish Israeli description of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva.

How to describe the fact that the ideas and actions emanating from Mercaz Harav have fashioned the Israel of today? From promoting the thought of Rav Kook to the philosophy of settling Judaea and Samaria to ... sending the best students to serve in the top IDF combat units---all this, and more, may be attributed to Mercaz Harav.

See also:

• "Top Israeli rabbis advocate genocide" by Ali Abunimah
• "Mercaz HaRav - a training centre for illegal occupation, murder and 'Arabs to the Gas Chambers' " by Mick Napier
• "Zionism: An Affirmation of Judaism"
• "Chief Rabbi-for-War Metzger in News Again"

Labels: Israel, Jewish violence, Judaism, Palestine, Talmud, Zionism

At the end of my post, "We killed Jesus, we'll kill you too!", I wrote about an Ha'aretz article entitled "What happened to Jesus' haftarah?" by Hananel Mack, lecturer in the Naftal-Yaffe Department of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University. Mack writes about how Jewish hostility toward Jesus and Christianity has affected haftarah, the "custom of reading a chapter from the Prophets section of the Bible in public in the synagogue." The haftarah, according to Mack, is "an integral part of the Jewish liturgy on Sabbaths and holidays ..."

Mack claims, "The heads of Jewish communities, who had some familiarity with Christian faith and literature, preferred to refrain from reading the same chapter Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth ..." and "Generally speaking, Jews excluded from the haftarot those verses on which Christians based the principles of their religious faith."

What I did not know when I wrote the earlier post, and what Mack does not mention, is that the entire book of Daniel is excluded from the haftarah. The facile explanation for this is that Jews do not consider Daniel part of the Nevi'im/Prophets. How did this come to be? Here's what the Jewish Study Bible (1999 ed.; p, 1642) says:

Daniel was evidently considered a prophet at Qumran and elsewhere in early Judaism [sic] (Josephus, Antiquities 10.266-68 [see 10.10.4-7]), but because prefigurations of Christ and Christian resurrection were seen in Daniel by the early church, the rabbinic tradition hesitated to embrace the visions of Daniel. The Rabbis denied that Daniel was predicting events after the Maccabean revolt, and especially not the end of time, and assigned him a role as a seer, not a prophet (b. Meg. 3a, b. Sanh. 94a) [emphasis added].

Although not mentioned in the Jewish Study Bible, Daniel was also classified as a prophetic book in the Septuagint (abbr. LXX), an important ancient (3rd cent. BC) Koine Greek-language translation of the Old Testament. The significance of Daniel to the church is underscored by a passage from Four Strange Books of the Bible by the Jewish scholar Elias Bickerman (New York: Schocken, 1967). On page 128, he writes:

Of all messianic prophecies, the most important was the testimony of Daniel. Daniel, as Josephus says, "not only prophesied of future events, but also determined the time of their fulfillment." In the Gospels, Jesus applies to himself the words of Daniel that the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven. Daniel, says Augustine in the City of God, even defined the exact date of the coming and suffering of Christ. Jerome said that none of the prophets spoke so clearly concerning Christ: Daniel sets forth the very time at which Jesus would come and announces beforehand the clearest signs of events to come. Thirteen centuries later, Isaac Newton stated that to disbelieve Daniel's predictions "is to reject the Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his prophecy concerning the Messiah."

The "Son of Man" is indeed a key phrase. It comes from Daniel 7:13 (KJV) and is rendered υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου in the LXX. It appears 82 times in the Gospels and Acts (KJV) together. Daniel 12 is also notable but, make no mistake, the entire book is important in Christian theology.

To sum up, Mack has identified several prophetic texts (see table below) removed by "the Rabbis" from the Jewish liturgy because of their Christological implications. But "the Rabbis" also demoted an entire book of the Bible--Daniel--to prevent Jewish lay people from drawing the prophetic lines to Jesus the Messiah.

Passage Excluded from the Haftarah Readings	Corresponding New Testament Text
Isaiah 7:14. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman* is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. *As Mack points out, "The term 'virgin' is translated as such in the Septuagint and that is how Christians explicate the verse to this very day." The NRSV, quoted here, uses the Masoretic text.	Matthew 1:22,23. All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."
Isaiah 42:1-4. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.	Matthew 12:18-21. "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope."
Isaiah 52:13. See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.	Same as above.
Isaiah 61:1. The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;	Luke 4:16-19. When [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Jeremiah 31:30-33. But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.	*Luke 22:20. And [Jesus] did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Hebrews 8:6-10. But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one. God finds fault with them when he says: "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I had no concern for them, says the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. *Mack does not provide any corresponding New Testament verses. See text above table.
Hosea 11:1. When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.	Matthew 2:14,15. Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."
Micah 5:2. But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.	Matthew 2:3-6. When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'" John 7:41, 42. Others said, "This is the Messiah." But some asked, "Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"
Zechariah 9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.	Matthew 21:3-6. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately. " This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; John 12:14,15. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"
*Zechariah 11:12,13. I then said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver. Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it into the treasury"-- this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD. *Mack's article cites Zech. 12:13 but this is clearly a typographical error.	Matthew 26:14,15. Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me if I betray him to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver. Mark 14:10,11. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.
Malachi 3:1. See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight--indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.	Matthew 11:10. This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' Mark 2:2. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Luke 7:27. This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' John 3:28. You yourselves are my witnesses that I [John] said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.'
All text is from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible via The Unbound Bible

Revised: 1/11/2008

Labels: Christianity, Jesus, Judaism, Talmud