Israeli Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Cohen signs anti-mission petition

Beit Asaf Messianic Congregation in Netanya Israel had reported that “it has become increasingly clear that up-to-date information on the congregation has been received by the Orthodox anti-missionary organisations. With this information they have exerted pressure on the landlords of families that host our home groups, in an attempt to have them evicted.” This had already been successful in the case of one family when Beit Asaf made this report. This drip-drip-Chinese-water-torture form of persecution creates uncertainty and upset for hardworking citizens.

One of the leaders of Beit Asaf commented on the ‘warning posters’ that are a common tactic used by Yad L’Achim. “It is very unpleasant to be faced with your photograph being ‘plastered’ around with warnings against you as a danger and public menace. Please keep our children in prayer as often this makes them feel very insecure and fearful and the target of cruel comments from their peers.” It has also made children of Messianic Jews targets of Yad L’Achim as they have approached children without parental consent.

Yad L’Achim operatives seek to convert those they consider to be wayward Jews back to Haredi Orthodox Judaism. Describing Yad L’Achim as waging a “bloodless holy war with gentile missionaries” a Jerusalem Post article characterized the organisation as “extremely cunning and more than a little ruthless”. The organisation seems to believe its own anti-missionary hype to the point that when Rabbi Lifshitz was interviewed on Israeli TV his paranoia was plain: “If someone you don’t know comes to offer you help, ask them directly if they are a missionary. If they say no, ask them to defile the name of Jesus. If they don’t then they are a missionary for sure!” According to Rabbi Lifshitz, therefore, any fair-minded, generous Jewish person who is not willing defame another Faith must, by definition, be a missionary!

The Sheva weekly newspaper published an article on 22nd 2007  titled “The Rabbinate against the Messianics”. It stated. “The Chief Rabbinic Council for Israel decided in its meeting last Monday (20 February) to establish a special committee for “War against the Mission throughout the Country”.” The article explains further that, “the initiator of the matter, the Chief Rabbi of Beer Sheva and a member of the Council, Rabbi Yehuda Deri, notes that he, [along with] Rabbi Simcha Ha-Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Rehovot, and Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, the Chief Rabbi of Ra’anana and former Chairman of the Shas movement and Minister of the Interior, will work on the matter, within the framework of the Committee, by holding meetings with Members of Knesset [Parliament], acting to change the law regarding missionary work, cooperating with rabbis in the battle of this matter, and working with the police in enforcing the existing law, which forbids changing [of one’s] religion.” Interestingly there is no such law in Israel that forbids changing one’s religion. Sadly many religious leaders, government officials and those in law enforcement fail to distinguish between the law of the land and personal convictions. The criminal code does state it is illegal to (a) actively convince a minor (less than 18) to change his/her religion. And (b) grant money or benefits to someone in order to convince him/her to change his/her religion. Both of these are tactics that Orthodox groups like Chabad and their proxy Yad L’Achim routinely use in their own missionary efforts.

Yes, these are members of the same group who run Yad L’Achim, seen on camera worshipping their dead rebbe at “770″ – Schneerson’s residence in Crown Heights:

(Hat tip: Shmarya Rosenberg)

One argument I sometimes hear is that, whilst Christian missionaries are trying convert Jews to another religion, Chabad missionaries only try to convert Jews to their own religion. The Institute of Noahide Code website clearly shows otherwise.

The Chabad missionaries who run The Institute of Noahide Code have a clearly defined mission:

The Institute of Noahide Code is an educational and research division of Hafatzah/outreach. The Institute was established in April 1989 and is a direct result of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson’s teachings, which encourage the practice of The Seven Laws of Noah.

Now look at these missionary posters:

Can you see how the above poster is designed to appeal to American non-Jews?

Here’s another one:

Here’s one more, which is pretty explicit:

So it is clear that Jews just as much as Christians can be missionaries. We learn that these people are involved in running the project:

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Boaz Kali runs this website dedicated to proving to Gentiles that Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the Jewish Messiah who will bring Redemption to the world. Rabbi Cohen and Cowen are both prominent Lubavitchers – Cowen himself is a convert to Judaism.

Given the news that the Lubavitchers also run Yad L’Achim, should we take Yad L’Achim seriously when they say they oppose missionary activity in order to convert people to other religions?

And not only Yad L’Achim – the Institute of Noahide Code has also been promoted on the websites of the Temple Institute, a haredi-run Jewish nationalist organisation calling for the reconstruction of the Jewish Temple.

It’s only natural for haredi missionaries to want to get their message out to everyone – Jews and Gentiles alike – and the same applies to Christian missionaries and Messianic Jews.

A revelation from Chabad World:

Not too long ago, Yousef and his siblings, numbering eight in total, together with their mother, were living under extremely harsh conditions in the heart of the so-called Muslim Quarter in the Old City of Yerushalayim. They were Baruch Hashem among the fortunate, extricated from the abyss by the Chabad – led Yad L’Achim organization. Now, Yosef as he is called among Am Yisrael, is wearing tefillin, marking his bar mitzvah.

This is a stunning admission. Chabad is an organisation in which many members believe that a rabbi who died is the Messiah and promote “Moshiach” conferences in the heart of the Beit Menachem community in Stamford Hill where members believe that the deceased Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson is God incarnate.

Read the Hebrew at the front of the podium – Yechi adoneinu moreinu v’raveinu melech ha’moshiach le’olam va’ed – “Long live our Lord, teacher and rabbi, King Messiah, forever and ever”!

And Yad L’Achim accuses Messianic Jews of idolatry because we believe Yeshua rose from the dead! At least our Messiah was born in the right place!

Watch Chabad handing out flyers and proselytising Gentiles (especially from 3:30). You can even hear a Lubavitcher hasid cry out “Moshiach Wakba!” (2:13-2:17):

Chabad is a missionary organisation, and Yad L’Achim’s chief of operations Alex Artovsky provides inspiration to Chabad missionaries.

How much more clear can Chabad be that they are missionaries?

Do Yad L’Achim also persecute Chabad missionaries? Why not, if they go after Messianic Jews?

If missionary activity, and belief that God became a man and conquered death to fulfill his mission as the Messiah, is acceptable within Jewish communities, then why can’t Yad L’Achim simply reason and debate with Messianic Jews over who is really the Messiah?

And if it is only a faction of Chabad that hold to the idea that Schneerson is God, and Yad L’Achim consider this “idolatry”, then why aren’t Yad L’Achim focusing on purging this “idolatry” from within their own Lubavitch community before they focus on those outside it?

Whilst other Israeli anti-missionaries are genuinely concerned by Chabad, will they show similar concern for their Yad L’Achim employees?

Mrs. RD Wallen was the honoree for our 21st Anniversary Celebration. This is the third part of her talk that evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hBpgBA_-rg&hl=en

Thanks To : cornwallblog flintshire greatfree http://poliomblog.co.cc/ http://trula-becks.co.cc/

The much talked about Hanukkah celebration at the White House this year finally happened this evening at sunset. The event was in the late afternoon and included a public menorah lighting by Rahm Emanuel and traditionally kosher food as well. Not only was the food kosher, but the kitchen was made kosher for the meal as well. If you keep kosher in your home, you know the whole process. Boiling the utensils, cleaning and the steaming etc. This was under the Chabad supervision of Rabbi Levi Shemtov.

Photos Courtesy of: Flickr User (“Afagen”)

A most interesting post at Harry’s Place.

International Service Meeting at Marie Callendars in Ventura at 12:00 for Ventura East Rotary.

There’s a JWW Congo Watch dinner tonight but I opted to have fun…we’re going to a double feature of Christmas Evil/Black Christmas at the New Beverly!

Support the New Bev! From their site:
Christmas Evil
1980, USA, 100 minutes
written & directed by Lewis Jackson, starring Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Andy Fenwick
7:30pm

Christmas Evil director Lewis Jackson and star Brandon Maggart will appear IN PERSON, schedules permitting!

The greatest Christmas movie ever made. – John Waters

- plus on the same bill -

Black Christmas
1974, Canada, 98 minutes
dir. Bob Clark, starring Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon, Marian Waldman, Andrea Martin
10:00pm

Bob Clark’s seminal horror classic Black Christmas is a chilling tale that ranks up there with the best of the genre. – All Movie Guide

Admission $8

http://www.newbevcinema.com

Happy birthday to Chabad of Camarillo Rabbi Aryeh Lang and Red Cross volunteer Christina Hartman!

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Lights Chanukah Menorah in Front of White House on Sunday

Many of us  know that Chanukah is the Festival of Lights. One way that many communities have tried to spread the light of Chanukah is by holding public Menorah lighting displays in town and city centers throughout the United States and the world. 

This raises an interesting question of whether public Menorah lighting ceremonies and public Menorah displays on city property violate the First Amendment’s “Establishment Clause,” which prohibits the government from passing a law” respecting the establishment of religion.” The ACLU, among others, has litigated this issue in an attempt to stop people from holding public Menorah lighting ceremonies in public parks or on public property. 

When Rabbi Yossi Kaplan, of Chabad of Chester County, PA, applied to place a public Menorah on the property of the Allegheny County Courthouse, the ACLU sued the county to stop them. The two sides ultimately took the case all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States, which issued its decision in favor of Rabbi Kaplan and Allegheny County almost exactly twenty years ago. You can read the decision of County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573 (1989). 

The court held that given the context in which the Menorah was displayed, it did not appear to either endorse or prohibit a particular religion but, together with the Christmas tree that was also displayed, sent the message that both holidays held a place in the national culture, but fell short of actually endorsing a religion. 

Thus, one can find public Menorah lightings in most cities with Jewish communities today. 

Happy Chanukah!

Monday: Ventura-East Rotary is having its Club Service/Community Service meeting at Carrows in Ventura at 5:30. Stay for the company and pie, skip the actual food.

Toastmasters #24 is having its weekly meeting at Mandarin House in Ventura from 6:00-8:00.

Chabad of Ventura is lighting the beefy menorah (hanukkia, for all of you super frums) at the Pacific View Mall in Ventura at 7:00. Reminder: the only kosher food at Hot Dog on a Stick is the lemonade. (…if you happen to come across one of the HoaS uniform hats, let me know, I’ve wanted one for years.)

Happy birthday to the Imperial Mister Woo! May you slay all adversaries, foreign and domestic.

Let’s get over this “case of the Mondays” (eww) together with some Nina Simone:

Have a read of our post here about Alex Artovsky, a Yad L’Achim chief who persecutes Messianic Jews whilst also training and inspiring Chabad missionaries.

Read JewishIsrael’s response here, making the exact same point we make: if Chabad Jews can be missionaries, why can’t Messianic Jews?

And it’s painful that, on more than one occasion, when presenting the dismal missionary situation in Israel to the Israeli public, Jewish Israel has received the response, “You know this is all Chabad’s fault”. That claim, of course, isn’t true. But Chabad’s irresolution and inability to put their house in order is surely not helping those of us who are tirelessly working to counter the severe missionary challenge in Israel.

Chabad could technically continue to avoid this issue as long it remains an inner Jewish family matter, but with evangelizing Christian missionaries reveling in the Jewish community’s dirty laundry, Chabad has little choice but to turn this chillul Hashem into a kiddush Hashem.

JewishIsrael are proposing a response to Messianic posts about Chabad:

Indeed Jewish Israel has been in touch with Chabad –affiliated rabbis and Chabad leaders in the counter-missionary field. We’ve seen a very comprehensive draft statement which clearly draws the line between Christianity and Judaism and allays all misconceptions about Chabad’s beliefs. We are not at liberty to publish that document at this time, as it is being discussed and awaiting endorsements. We hope the parties involved in these courageous and vital efforts will do what they can to expedite matters.

Read the whole post, it’s just incredible!

It has been 20 years since the Supreme Court decision that allowed menorahs in public places. Chabad packaged itself as American civil religion with “no effort to proselytize”.  It is interesting to note how much of Chabad that we know was created in the twilight last years of the Rebbe’s life. It is also interesting how much they expanded American concepts of religion.  Chabad reports:

(lubavitch.com) When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that placing Chabad-owned menorahs in public spaces did not violate the establishment clause, it set a slab of precedent for Chabad centers to rest their menorah requests upon.
As the 21st anniversary of the Allegheny vs. ACLU ruling nears, the experiences of Chabad representatives across the United States reveal just how useful or not the landmark decision has been in bringing Chanukah’s light, message of peace and religious liberty to the public square. From Montana to Mumbai, from the Western Wall to the Great Wall of China, Chabad’s public menorah lightings number in the thousands.

Over the years, as calls from representatives lit up the switchboard at Lubavitch World Headquarters, Rabbi Krinsky’s office put them in touch with the well-known constitutional attorney Nathan Lewin of Washington, D.C. who has litigated many of the menorah cases. Lewin led Chabad’s case before the Supreme Court and created a packet of legal materials to help Chabad representatives present established precedents that consistently supported public menorah displays in a clear, concise manner. Attorney Charles Saul of Pittsburgh, PA saw Chabad’s landmark Allegheny vs. ACLU suit together with Mr. Lewin all the way through to the Supreme Court.

And here is the original Supreme Court decision

JUSTICE BLACKMUN concluded in Part VI that the menorah display does not have the prohibited effect of endorsing religion, given its “particular physical setting.” Its combined display with a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty does not impermissibly endorse both the Christian and Jewish faiths, but simply recognizes that both Christmas and Chanukah are part of the same winter holiday season, which has attained a secular status in our society. The widely accepted view of the Christmas tree as the preeminent secular symbol of the Christmas season emphasizes this point. The tree, moreover, by virtue of its size and central position in the display, is clearly the predominant element, and the placement of the menorah beside it is readily understood as simply a recognition that Christmas is not the only traditional way of celebrating the season. The absence of a more secular alternative to the menorah negates the inference of endorsement.

JUSTICE O’CONNOR also concluded that the city’s display of a menorah, together with a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty, does not violate the Establishment Clause. The Christmas tree, whatever its origins, is widely viewed today as a secular symbol of the Christmas holiday. Although there may be certain secular aspects to Chanukah, it is primarily a religious holiday, and the menorah its central religious symbol and ritual object. By including the menorah with the tree, however, and with the sign saluting liberty, the city conveyed a message of pluralism and freedom of belief during the holiday season, which, in this particular physical setting, could not be interpreted by a reasonable observer as an endorsement of Judaism or Christianity or disapproval of alternative beliefs

In permitting the displays of the menorah and the creche, the city and county sought merely to “celebrate the season,” and to acknowledge the historical background and the religious as well as secular nature of the Chanukah and Christmas holidays.There is no suggestion here that the government’s power to coerce has been used to further Christianity or Judaism, or that the city or the county contributed money to further any one faith or intended to use the creche or the menorah to proselytize. Thus, the creche and menorah are purely passive symbols of religious holidays, and their use is permissible

…a time to be silent and a time to speak… (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

 Criticisms of Jewish religious sects come from all quarters, especially from within Jewish communities themselves. The Neturei Karta sect, for example, is widely despised by religious Zionist and modern Orthodox Jews, as well as by the Chabad-Lubavitch, for its rabid anti-Zionism. For whatever reason, some sects seem nicer than others. I find the Breslov movement quite fun, and think Aish HaTorah are quite cool. However, my least favourite sect of Judaism is the Gur Hasidim. Whilst I am not commenting on individual members, the leadership of the movement surely shares some responsibility as to how its members behave, or should at least call them to order. Instead, Gur Hasidim have been running riot.

The Gur Hasidim don’t get on with Satmar Hasidim, and have made headlines in 2006 for attacking Satmar shuls, following a long period of antagonism between the two groups. Prominent Ger Hasidim were instrumental in setting up and now oversees a violent vigilante ‘modesty squad‘ in Jerusalem linked to violent attacks against a divorced woman. The Council for the Purtity of the Camp routinely publish wall posters containing their ‘warnings’ about immodest dress. And when it comes to sex within marriage, Gerrer Hasidim reportedly do not provide their wives with love, affection or foreplay.

Yet the Gerrer war is also against modernity itself. Thus Gerrers ban the use of computers for their followers (except for a select few at the top, naturally), and send men around to houses in their communities in order to enforce this. According to the Israeli government, Gur Hasidim protected the alleged paedophilic rabbi Abraham Mondrowitz. Accused paedophile Avraham M. Leizerowitz was apparently welcomed into the Gerrer community with open arms.

If this is how they treat other Jews, it is little wonder that they are violent towards Messianic Jews.

Here is a video of Gur Hasidim in Arad, racially abusing black pastor Eddie Beckford:

The Gur Hasidim have also set fire to a Messianic chess club in Arad. Larry Derfner reported in the Jerusalem Post:

Come here you stupid nigger!” another hassid calls out. “Nigger bastard!” yells another. They curse in English, usually accented. The police keep the crowd a short distance away from the club; otherwise they do nothing.

The term “bastard” is also popular with the Gur Hassidim seen in the videos, but it’s usually in reference to Jesus. “They took some bastard and they believe he rose from the grave,” says one haredi filmed last year taunting the Messianics who were giving away second-hand clothes outside the chess club. “Where is your bastard?” the man demands, laughing quietly.

About two months after the video was taken, the club, near the entrance to the town’s market, was burned down in the middle of the night. (Rebuilt, it now has bars over the rear entrance.) Some time later, dozens of liters of gasoline were poured around the club’s perimeter in the daytime, when several elderly Russian immigrants were playing chess inside, say local Messianics.

Gur Hasidim also have been harassing Israeli Messianic leader YoYakim Figueras in Arad:

 Though most of the resdidents of Arad have no problem with believers there, some of the Ultra Orthodox residents of Arad view the believers there with great contempt. The Ultra Orthodox (the Ger Hasidim) have continually harassed the Figueras family, as well as the other believers in town. They often show up at the congregation’s meeting place and shout obscenities and harassing slogans while the congregation meets. For a number of years, they have stood outside of the Figueras’ home and shouted obscenities and made disturbances in order to harass Yoyakim, his wife and five young children.

These same groups have harassed other believers in Arad, including Laura and Eddie Beckford, who run the soup kitchen and chess club in town. They have even put up posters throughout town with pictures of Messianic believers on them and writing such as “This is Yo-Yakim Figueras.  He is the most dangerous man in Arad.” The Hasidim can even make it difficult for believers to get and keep jobs by threatening and harassing business owners.

Given their tendency towards violent extremism, it is rather ironic that Gur Hasidim in Arad are accusing Messianic Jews of being dangerous.

Just look at the body language of these Gur Hasidim in Arad – sure, the real righteous ones!

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)–Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah says Chabad will be giving away menorahs and treating passersby to latkes  and sufganiyot during a pre-Chanukah party at San Diego State University from noon to 3 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 10. “It will be the whole nine yards,” said the rabbi.

*
Preceding based on material provided by Chabad at San Diego State University. Upcoming event press releases are also placed in the corresponding date of the San Diego Jewish Community calendar

I have decided to delete all my photos on all the stock websites.

I have started a place of my own where people can buy my images for

$3, $4,  and $5 depending on size.

Here is the link:

http://photographybyrafi.blogspot.com/

Spread the word.

Who Needs a Human Moshiach?

By Rabbi Yossi Braun, Mosiach.com

Our duty is to create a union between the world’s material substance and its spiritual reality, to marry Heaven and Earth. Call it arbitration, negotiation, brokerage or match-making. We have been entrusted with the sacred mission of perfecting this world by bringing spirituality and G‑dliness into an otherwise ungodly world. Our observance of the mitzvot all center on this ideal of bridging the chasm between G‑dliness and Worldliness. Every time we engage in the physical act of performing a mitzvah we speed up the process of “drawing down” the Divine into our environment.

No one else other than us can do the job. All others have a “conflict of interest” and represent one of the two parties. Who do you propose to use as the negotiator between both parties? G‑d? He, as it were, can’t do it on His own. He’s representing one of the parties…

We, on the other hand, possess a soul which is “part of G‑d above,” yet this G‑dly soul is garbed in a physical and corporeal body. We “understand the language” of both parties and are therefore the perfect candidate for the task of merging the two.

The consummation of this process will be realized in the Era of Redemption when every dimension of our worldly existence will be truly permeated by G‑dliness. In the words of our Sages: “Currently we are in a state of betrothal; in the World to Come—will be the Marriage.”

Moshiach, the one who will usher in the redemption, is a “man of this world,” a flesh-and-blood human being who undergoes physical challenges such as stress, opposition and health-considerations. Yet, his soul is as pure and pristine as they come. He will have nullified his ego and intellect to be consistent with the Divine will. He has a good take on both Heaven and Earth.

Indeed, an honest broker.

This is why these Pharisees killed Christ, and then boasted about it. That’s why they gloat in their Talmud over their deluded blasphemies about Jesus Christ boiling for eternity in shit and sperm. These Pharisees believe that God needs them. They believe that God can’t act without the superior Jew. In their Talmud they most that they can outvote God. They were offended that God took on the sufferings of the world for our salvation. What sad, sad, miserable, pathetic, evil, hateful creatures these are. There is nothing good in Judaism. Nothing. Really. Nothing. There is nothing good in any individual Jewish person that is there because they are a Jew. If one is kind, this is not from being a Jew, because Judaism is heartless and devoid of mercy for the any non-human non-Jew. The Talmud makes it clear that only Jewish men are human.

Judaism cannot make a society good. It cannot make a good society. It’snot possible, and it has never happened. The Jewish State in Palestine is another failure. It will only cause more and more suffering, for Jew and Armenian, and American, and Iranian, and Arab, and the whole world. It cannot exist in peace. Eventually it will disappear, and no sane person will shed a tear. Those Jews who haven’t figured out what the problem is, but know in their heart that the only possible end for Jewish nationalism is a real holocaust, will sigh in relief if “the Jewish state” reverts back to plain old Palestine one day.

When you realize the truth about the Holocaust Myth, then everything else comes into focus, and you realize we’re dealing with followers of a cult that has no moral boundaries. Winning is everything. The stakes are all or nothing. Decent Jews can’t figure out why Jewish life goes from crisis to crisis. “Everybody hates us!” “We always get the blame.” “It’s so unfair.” They can’t face the fact — the fact — that Judaism is evil, it’s racial supremacism on the grandest scale, combined with blasphemy, illogic on a cosmic scale, and a denial of Truth itself.

No offense to Jews, but everywhere you go, you bring shit. You destroy. And worse than other destroyers, you boast that you are bringing light when you bring darkness, and boast that you are a people that loves life when you bring death. No offense. It’s just the way things are. You are born into slavery and delusion, and you are driven to drag everyone else into the grave with you. Judaism is, inevitably, by its very nature, spiritual and social death.

This is why so many nations just reach the point when they say: “Get the fuck out of here!” It happens again, and again, and again; century after century. Why? The conclusion is obvious: Judaism is a bad thing.

Here’s an example of the “divine Jewish soul” in action:

Vivid to Produce Film based on the Life of Anne Frank

Los Angeles, CA – In an effort to wrest dollars away from the ever growing amateur adult [porn] market, Vivid Entertainment has announced plans to start a new line of films based on historical events and raising the bar on traditional film elements such as production values and screenwriting. The new division will be called Vivid Classics.

“We’ve learned many things from the rise of amateur pornography, but the most important lesson we’ve taken away from the shifting market is that there is a core group of viewers interested in a little more than then they have been given over the last twenty years or so and we want to service those viewers,” said Steven Hirsch, Founder and President of Vivid. “We realize that the internet has more or less taken over the under 18 market, but that those viewers are clamouring for a little more than two minute clips and webcams. Vivid Classics will respond to that need by giving viewers the chance to view adult entertainment in whole new way.”

Hirsch also announced that label’s first film will be based on the life of Holocaust refugee Anne Frank, though the age of the character will be altered in order to comply with Unite States law.

“The story of Anne Frank is one that I find particularly compelling,” continued Hirsch. “The script we have going is a really interesting and compelling blend of a young girls desire to survive in the midst of the horror of the Holocaust, and the innermost sexual desires of a young woman. We also plan to film an alt version of the film which will of course involve Nazi’s and lots of leather.”

Vivid is one the largest and most respected adult film producers in the United States and boasts the largest roster of adult film stars such as Jenna Jameson and Briana Banks. The company did not announce any casting for the Anne Frank film, only that they would be looking for a “fresh face” for the role.

In recent years traditional pornographic film producers have been under increasing threat not only from the same type of piracy that has hurt the music and mainstream film industry, but also as a result of the growth in independent and amateur websites which have sapped the dollar share. Many have seen major declines in profits and even stalwarts such as Playboy have begun suffering significant financial losses. This latest effort by Vivid is seen by many observers as potentially the traditional production company’s last grab at the billion dollar pornography industry.

“Porn is a much bigger business than most people realize and there is all kinds of money in it, but those dollars are so spread around that it’s difficult for any one producer to have major success,” said Scrape TV business analyst Ken Green. “Vivid is one of the few that have thrived but even they are starting to feel the pinch. The current economic in the country notwithstanding, the reality is the market is fundamentally changing in favour of independents and that is unlikely to change. No matter what kind of money and effort they throw at the screen, I don’t believe that they will be able to capture the newest generation of viewers. And the truth is not many guys need more than two or three minutes anyway. Try as they might, porn isn’t Shakespeare and people aren’t there for enlightenment, well not that cerebral enlightenment in any case. They may get a little press out of the new label but I doubt it’s going to lead to any long term shift in the business.”

Hirsch though is undaunted by the criticism and said the label will produce 5-6 movies in the next year, with stories such as the great potato famine and the life of Christ.

“Sure I’m a Jew, but there’s big money in Jesus. We’ll give a whole new meaning to Virgin Birth.”

To paraphrase St John Chrysostom:

The Jews really are pitiable and miserable. They sit in darkness. The Jews frighten you as if you were little children, and you do not see it. The Jews frighten the simpler-minded Christians with the bugbears and hobgoblins of their shrines.

The Jews are gathering choruses of effeminates and a great rubbish heap of harlots; they drag into the synagogue the whole theater, actors and all. For there is no difference between the theater and the synagogue. The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts. When God forsakes a place, that place becomes the dwelling of demons. The Jews say that they adore God. No Jew adores God! The synagogue is a dwelling of demons. God is not worshipped there. Heaven forbid!

The Jews live for their bellies, they gape for the things of this world, their condition is not better than that of pigs or goats. The synagogue is not merely a lodging place for robbers and cheats but also for demons. This is true not only of the synagogues but also of the souls of the Jews.

The greater portion of the city is Christian, yet some are sick with the Judaizing disease. I shall choose to risk my life rather than let my brother enter the doors of the synagogue, and be a slave with that earthly Jerusalem which is a slave together with her children. I shall risk my life before I would neglect any one who is sick with this disease. I hate the synagogue and abhor it. They have the prophets but not believe them; they read the sacred writings but reject their witness–and this is a mark of men guilty of the greatest outrage. I exhort you to flee and shun their gatherings. Demons inhabit the synagogue. Heaven forbid that I call these people faithful. If anyone charges me with boldness, I will in turn charge him with the utmost madness.

At the dwelling place of demons the slayers of Christ gather together, the cross is driven out, God is blasphemed, the Father is ignored, the Son is outraged, the grace of the Spirit is rejected. The Jews themselves are demons. In their synagogue stands an invisible altar of deceit on which they sacrifice not sheep and calves but the souls of men. Demons dwell in the synagogue, not only in the place itself but also in the souls of the Jews. Demons dwell in their souls and these demons are more dangerous than the ones of old. They are possessed. They have been reared amid slaughter and bloodshed. They are the common disgrace and infection of the whole world. They have come to every form of wickedness.

They sacrificed their own sons and daughters to demons. They refused to recognize nature, they forgot the pangs of birth, they trod underfoot the rearing of their children, they overturned from their foundations the laws of kingship, they became more savage than any wild beast. The Jews slew their own children with their own hands to pay honor to the avenging demons, the foes of our life. What deed of theirs should strike us with greater astonishment? Their ungodliness or their cruelty or their inhumanity? That they sacrificed their children or that they sacrificed them to demons?

Do you have the boldness to enter with them under the same roof? They slew God. The Jews are acting against God, they serve the demons. I wish they would not kill men’s bodies, that they would not plot against them. But they will. Will they cure their bodies? That is ridiculous, mere stories. The demons know how to plot and do harm, not to cure. They do not spare souls. Tell me, then, will they spare bodies?

What else do you wish me to tell you? Shall I tell you of their plundering, their covetousness, their abandonment of the poor, their thefts, their cheating in trade? The whole day long will not be enough to give you an account of these things.

A rabbi explains the distinction between the divine Jewish race and the bestial goyim races

Rabbi Yitzhak Shochet of Mill Hill Synagogue writes in the Jewish Chronicle regarding a recent anti-messianist resolution of the Rabbinical Council of America:

All that this resolution achieves is to sow confusion and divisiveness. People read it as a principled rejection of the idea of the Messiah being someone who will be resurrected before the redemption for being contrary to the Jewish faith. This, of course, is blatantly false, as many sources, starting with the Talmud, propose this as a legitimate possibility.

Acccording to Shochet, Jews should not be rejected because they believe that their Messiah will return to Earth to establish his kingdom:

The truly disturbing and sad part of this aberration is that the RCA turns a totally inconsequential matter into the most important criterion for Jewishness and a rabbi’s credentials.

These principles must be applied to messianic Jews who believe in Yeshua as soon as possible.

Thanksgiving– where to start? The cornbread and turkey, shopping at midnight, the Mayflower and the pilgrims, or terrorism in Mumbai?

Not getting into too much details about the historical aspects of Thanksgiving (isn’t that what wikipedia is for?) what are the reasons why today’s Americans still celebrate this holiday? Furthermore, why does my not-American family celebrate it? First there is what I like to call the “Hallmark Phenomenon”, which manifests itself when holidays become an economical celebration rather than simple occasions of joy. Then there is that pristine human condition which craves acceptance, and of course, the very obscure desire to completely surrender in the arms of idleness and laziness– skip work, school, and the daily routines that asphyxiate our lives. But when it comes to Thanksgiving my theories decompose and turn to dust, and perhaps even if the “Hallmark Phenomenon” and pristine human conditions have something to do with Thanksgiving– nothing would be wrong with that, right?

As far as I am aware a little turkey with cranberries never caused any pain or suffering– unless, of course, the turkey was passed its expiration date and your night was spent kneeling at your toilet– but otherwise turkey with cranberries is wonderful. In fact, being the big believer I am when it comes to cosmic energy and positivity, America and the world in general, needs a double doses of Thanksgiving vaccines. It certainly cannot bring any harm to gather around with family and friends to enjoy ourselves, to have a lovely evening, to crack a joke, to celebrate and for a few hours forget about our daily troubles– and yes, give thanks.

Why do Americans celebrate Thanksgiving? I don’t really know. Why does my not-American family celebrate Thanksgiving? Because we love America– and this might be the reason why Americans celebrate Thanksgiving as well. America stands for so many great ideals and it has always been a beacon of hope and a symbol of greatness, thus it pains me to see how so many other nations and cultures are still far behind in the evolution.

Why do certain people behave like cavemen in an era of skyscrapers and cultural richness? Instead of death and hatred, why not risk it all for hope and tolerance. Just last Thanksgiving I recall siting around with my family and reciting some Tehillim (Psalms) for the well being of the hostages at the Nariman Chabad House in India, as well as the other victims held at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Here we were– sitting around eating some turkey, reciting a prayer for their well being, giving thanks for our blessings– and there they were being massacre. What drives an individual to mourn the barbaric death of an unknown and distant individual? And what drives those others– the criminals, the terrorists, the cruel and heartless beasts– to dictate a pace of hatred and death? What separate they, us, and them is nothing more than the ability to hate and that to love. Last Thanksgiving I gave thanks for my life and ability to fight for the right I have to live, for my family and friends, for all the blessings. Last Thanksgiving I remembered how important it is to give thanks–constantly.

On the other hand, this Thanksgiving I enjoyed myself– I remained true to my theories of selfish happiness. It can be said that this Thanksgiving was happier than last year’s, but what is so important about this compelling fact? Do I feel guilty for enjoying myself, or do I reproach myself for only being able to sincerely give thanks amidst troubled times? Bingo. Humans have a bad reputation of realizing the truth about things only when things don’t go so well. Yes, we realize how truly we love someone when they are gone, or how amazing summer was when a harsh winter comes our way. The issue is not when, how, or why to give thanks– the aim should be to become more sincere, with ourselves and the world. To give thanks neither because we are intoxicated with selfish happiness, or because we mourn some terrible event. To give thanks because we simply breath. To give thanks because we simply are– and that’s it.

So, Thanksgiving– where to start? Just start.

- Lady of Press

Jews Commemorate One-Year Anniversary of Mumbai Terror Attacks | NJDC Blog.

Here are some responses to this pretty full-on mitnaged taunt of missionaries http://www.hashkafah.com/BrooklynnotQueensYouTube-t63244.html

Pay attention from 3:30 onwards!

Chabad-Labovitch rabbis in New York City. Their orthodox racist teachings have permeated every section of the Israeli government and has made Israel into a militaristic totalitarian state. Israel is a friend of India and the Chabad-Labovitch Movement has centers in India, but few Indians know anything about the modern Jewish state and the Zionist ideology that guides its policies. Jewish Halakha religious law is the source of Islamic Shariah law  – some historians believe Mohammad had a Jewish rabbi as a teacher – but Shariah law is almost humane compared to the rabid bigotry and racism of Jewish Halakha law. – IS

Chabad’s Lost Messiah: Did the Rebbe really believe he was the messiah? – Tomer Persico

Israel and Anti-Gentile Traditions – Ari Alexander

“Perhaps most disturbingly, Shahak cites a booklet published by the Central Regional Command of the Israeli Army which states that it is permissible, and even encouraged, to kill civilians encountered in war. “In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakhah to kill even good civilians, that is, civilians who are ostensibly good.” In a footnote, Shahak mentions that this booklet was withdrawn from circulation on the command of the Chief of Staff, but he nonetheless, believes that even the brief appearance of such a text can only be explained by an accurate assessment of the inequality in Jewish tradition between the lives of Jews and non-Jews.”

Despite its title, Israel Shahak’s Jewish History, Jewish Religion (1994) is not your average intro-to-Judaism book. It is more likely to be found in a Muslim day school in Damascus than a Jewish day school in New York, more likely to be cited on a neo-Nazi website, than your local synagogue’s.

Shahak’s book is an overview of Judaism and Zionism, which focuses on Jewish anti-Gentile traditions. Though he recognizes that many of these teachings are no longer authoritative, Shahak believes that they have, nonetheless, had a profound influence on the development of Jewish identity over the centuries. Most importantly, he believes that they have seeped into Zionist ideology and have affected the way Israel interacts with its non-Jewish citizens and neighbors.

Shahak, a Holocaust survivor who died in 2001, was for many years a professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also led the Israeli Civil Rights League from the mid-1970s until 1990. In Israel, he was a controversial figure, but he was revered by the international left as a tireless advocate for human rights.

Are Jewish Lives Worth More?

In Jewish History, Jewish Religion Shahak brings numerous texts and legal rulings to demonstrate Jewish antipathy to non-Jews. He mentions a passage from the Talmud that says that Jesus will be punished in hell by being immersed in boiling excrement. He relates that Jewish tradition teaches pious Jews to burn copies of the New Testament and curse the mothers of the dead when passing non-Jewish cemeteries. Shahak highlights the famous passage from Leviticus commanding Jews to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and mentions that, according to rabbinic interpretation, “thy neighbor” refers only to Jews.

Shahak further suggests that the Jewish tradition values Jewish life more than Gentile life. He cites Maimonides’ assertion that whereas one who murders a Jew is subject to the death penalty, one who murders a non-Jew is not (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murder 2:11). According to another leading commentator, indirectly causing the death of a non-Jew is no sin at all (Rabbi Yoel Sirkis, Bayit Hadash, commentary on Bet Yosef, Yoreh Deah 158).

Shahak reiterates the well-known Jewish teaching that the duty to save a life supersedes all other obligations and notes that the rabbis interpreted this to apply to Jews only. According to the Talmud, “Gentiles are neither to be lifted [out of a well] nor hauled down [into it]” (Tractate Avodah Zarah, 26b). Maimonides writes: “As for Gentiles with whom we are not at war…their death must not be caused, but it is forbidden to save them if they are at the point of death; if, for example, one of them is seen falling into the sea, he should not be rescued, for it is written: ‘neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy fellow’–but [a Gentile] is not thy fellow” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murder 4:11).

Indeed, Maimonides is the focus of much of Shahak’s analysis. Shahak believes that the 12th-century philosopher and talmudist was a Gentile-hater and racist. He quotes Maimonides’ statement that, “their [the Turks and the

blacks] nature is like the nature of mute animals, and according to my opinion they are not on the level of human beings” (Guide For the Perplexed, Book III, Chapter 51).

Practical Ramifications

Shahak recognizes that many of these traditions are not followed in practice, but he believes that, in general, they have been covered up, instead of confronted. In support of this claim, he refers to another a violent passage from Maimonides that is not translated in the bilingual addition of the Guide published in Jerusalem in 1962. He sees this as a deliberate deception on the part of the editors to soften classical Jewish militancy. His own English translation of the passage, which discusses the command to kill Jewish infidels reads: “It is a duty to exterminate them with one’s own hands. Such as Jesus of Nazareth and his pupils, and Tzadoq and Baitos [the founders of the

Sadducees] and their pupils, may the name of the wicked rot.”

According to Shahak, Jewish “traditions of contempt” infiltrated Zionism and have affected Israeli policy towards its Arab citizens and the Palestinians. He cites three main areas where he believes this has occurred: residency rights, employment rights, and equality before the law.

As an example, he mentions that 92% of Israel’s land is legally restricted to Jews. While in other countries it would be labeled anti-Semitic if a policy excluded Jews from living on or owning land, in the Israeli context Jews tolerate it. He adds that based on the distinction in classical Judaism between reverence for Jewish cemeteries and not for non-Jewish ones, the state of Israel has destroyed hundreds of Muslim cemeteries, including one in order to build the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv.

Perhaps most disturbingly, Shahak cites a booklet published by the Central Regional Command of the Israeli Army which states that it is permissible, and even encouraged, to kill civilians encountered in war. “In war, when our forces storm the enemy, they are allowed and even enjoined by the Halakhah to kill even good civilians, that is, civilians who are ostensibly good.” In a footnote, Shahak mentions that this booklet was withdrawn from circulation on the command of the Chief of Staff, but he nonetheless, believes that even the brief appearance of such a text can only be explained by an accurate assessment of the inequality in Jewish tradition between the lives of Jews and non-Jews.

Jews Have Ignored Shahak’s Work, Others Haven’t

Whatever your opinion of Shahak and his arguments, Jewish History, Jewish Religion should be taken seriously for a number of reasons.

For one, the texts that Shahak cites are real (though Shahak’s sporadic use of footnotes makes it difficult to check all of them). Oftentimes, the interpretation of these texts is debatable and their prominence in Judaism negligible, but nonetheless, they are part of Jewish tradition and, therefore, cannot be ignored. And, indeed, they are not ignored. As alluded to above, Shahak’s work is very popular in both Arab and Muslim circles (Radio Islam contains the full text of Shahak’s work) as well as groups that are often openly anti-Semitic (David Duke and Bradley Smith include Shahak’s book on their websites).

Others use Shahak’s work in their presentation of Judaism, and that fact alone should make it relevant to contemporary Jews.

Shahak was an ardent secularist and anti-Zionist, but he wrote his book as a challenge to Jews to engage the chauvinist, dehumanizing elements of Jewish tradition and to help create a self-critical and sensitive modern Judaism. It’s true that he combed the rabbinic tradition in search of hateful passages, often–though by no means always–misinterpreting them and taking them out of context, but this may be beside the point.

Jewish texts exist that can be–and are–understood to be vehemently xenophobic. These texts must be openly and honestly grappled with, explained, and if necessary, repudiated.

Ari Alexander studies the modern Middle East at Oxford University.

• Halakha: Jewish biblical, talmudic & rabbinic law.

A Palestinian boy has his arm severed for throwing stones, allegedly by Jewish West Bank settlers. These hate crimes are permitted under Jewish Halakha religious law. The Israeli “Ma’ariv” newspaper of Nov. 9, 2009 reports that a new book by two rabbis called “Torat ha-Melekh” (“The King’s Teaching”) contains 30 pages on these Halakha laws permitting Jews to kill and maim non-Jews. The book has received glowing endorsements from leading Israeli rabbis. The authors do not fear prosecution because Maimonides (1135-1204) and Nahmanides (1194-1270), Judaism’s traditional lawgivers after Moses, would also have to be put on trial. – IS

The Complete Guide to Killing Non-Jews

Updated Version of The Complete Guide to Killing Non-Jews

Coteret: What you can’t read in Haaretz

Israel Shahak 1933-2001 – Christopher Hitchens

Only the other day, I read some sanguinary proclamation from the rabbinical commander of the Shas party, Ovadia Yosef, himself much sought after by both Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. It was a vulgar demand for the holy extermination of non-Jews; the vilest effusions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad would have been hard-pressed to match it. The man wants a dictatorial theocracy for Jews and helotry or expulsion for the Palestinians, and he sees (as Shahak did in reverse) the connection. This is not a detail; Yosef’s government receives an enormous US subsidy, and his intended victims live (and die, every day) under a Pax Americana. Men like Shahak, who force us to face these responsibilities, are naturally rare. He was never interviewed by the New York Times, and its obituary pages have let pass the death of a great and serious man.

In early June I sat on a panel, in front of a large and mainly Arab audience, with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. Our hosts, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, had asked for a discussion of contrasting images of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The general tempo of the meeting was encouragingly nontribal; there were many criticisms of Arab regimes and societies, and one of our co-panelists, Raghida Dergham, had recently been indicted in her absence by a Lebanese military prosecutor for the offense of sharing a panel discussion with an Israeli. However, it’s safe to say that most of those attending were aching for a chance to question Friedman in person. He was accused directly at one point of writing in a lofty and condescending manner about the Palestinian people. To this he replied hotly and eloquently, saying that he had always believed that “the Jewish people will never be at home in Palestine until the Palestinian people are at home there.”

That was well said, and I hadn’t at the time read his then-most-recent column, so I didn’t think to reply. But in that article he wrote that Chairman Arafat, by his endless double-dealing, had emptied the well of international sympathy for his cause. This is a very Times-ish rhetoric, of course. You have to think about it for a second. It suggests that rights, for Palestinians, are not something innate or inalienable. They are, instead, a reward for good behavior, or for getting a good press. It’s hard to get more patronizing than that. During the first intifada, in the late 1980s, the Palestinians denied themselves the recourse to arms, mounted a civil resistance, produced voices like Hanan Ashrawi and greatly stirred world opinion. For this they were offered some noncontiguous enclaves within an Israeli-controlled and Israeli-settled condominium. Better than nothing, you might say. But it’s the very deal the Israeli settlers reject in their own case, and they do not even live in Israel “proper.” (They just have the support of the armed forces of Israel “proper.”) So now things are not so nice and many Palestinians have turned violent and even–whatever next?–religious and fanatical. Naughty, naughty. No self-determination for you. And this from those who achieved statehood not by making nice but as a consequence of some very ruthless behavior indeed.

I am writing these lines in memoriam for my dear friend and comrade Dr. Israel Shahak, who died on July 2. His home on Bartenura Street in Jerusalem was a library of information about the human rights of the oppressed. The families of prisoners, the staff of closed and censored publications, the victims of eviction and confiscation–none were ever turned away. I have met influential “civil society” Palestinians alive today who were protected as students when Israel was a professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University; from him they learned never to generalize about Jews. And they respected him not just for his consistent stand against discrimination but also because–he never condescended to them. He detested nationalism and religion and made no secret of his contempt for the grasping Arafat entourage. But, as he once put it to me, “I will now only meet with Palestinian spokesmen when we are out of the country. I have some severe criticisms to present to them. But I cannot do this while they are living under occupation and I can ‘visit’ them as a privileged citizen.” This apparently small point of ethical etiquette contains almost the whole dimension of what is missing from our present discourse: the element of elementary dignity and genuine mutual recognition.

Shahak’s childhood was spent in Nazified Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp; at the end of the war he was the only male left in his family. He reached Palestine before statehood, in 1945. In 1956 he heard David Ben-Gurion make a demagogic speech about the Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt, referring to this dirty war as a campaign for “the kingdom of David and Solomon.” That instilled in him the germinal feelings of opposition. By the end of his life, he had produced a scholarly body of work that showed the indissoluble connection between messianic delusions and racial and political ones. He had also, during his chairmanship of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, set a personal example that would be very difficult to emulate.

He had no heroes and no dogmas and no party allegiances. If he admitted to any intellectual model, it would have been Spinoza. For Shahak, the liberation of the Jewish people was an aspect of the Enlightenment, and involved their own self-emancipation from ghetto life and from clerical control, no less than from ancient “Gentile” prejudice. It therefore naturally ensued that Jews should never traffic in superstitions or racial myths; they stood to lose the most from the toleration of such rubbish. And it went almost without saying that there could be no defensible Jewish excuse for denying the human rights of others. He was a brilliant and devoted student of the archeology of Jerusalem and Palestine: I would give anything for a videotape of the conducted tours of the city that he gave me, and of the confrontation in which he vanquished one of the propagandist guides on the heights of Masada. For him, the built and the written record made it plain that Palestine had never been the exclusive possession of any one people, let alone any one “faith.”

Only the other day, I read some sanguinary proclamation from the rabbinical commander of the Shas party, Ovadia Yosef, himself much sought after by both Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. It was a vulgar demand for the holy extermination of non-Jews; the vilest effusions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad would have been hard-pressed to match it. The man wants a dictatorial theocracy for Jews and helotry or expulsion for the Palestinians, and he sees (as Shahak did in reverse) the connection. This is not a detail; Yosef’s government receives an enormous US subsidy, and his intended victims live (and die, every day) under a Pax Americana. Men like Shahak, who force us to face these responsibilities, are naturally rare. He was never interviewed by the New York Times, and its obituary pages have let pass the death of a great and serious man.