Yeshiva head calls for intervention in Syria to 'save Ishmaelites'
Yeshiva head calls for intervention in Syria to 'save Ishmaelites'
Rabbi Eliezer Berland, founder of Shuvu Banim yeshiva in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter, calls for solidarity with Syria's children, 'even if some grow up to be terrorists.'
By Yair Ettinger
| Jul.02, 2012 | 2:07 PM
A leading rabbi in the Breslav
Hassidic community has publicly called on the Israeli government to intervene
in Syria, or at least demand that other countries intervene, to prevent the
slaughter of children, “even if some of them will grow up to be terrorists.”
Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who heads
the Shuvu Banim yeshiva for newly observant Jews, made this call at a revival
gathering held last Thursday at the Ramat Gan Stadium that attracted between
6,000-7,000 people, who paid between NIS 100 and
NIS 500 per
ticket.
Men and women were seated
separately, but that didn’t keep numerous traditional and secular people from
attending the event, which was officially titled “There are no secular people.”
While half the world was watching
the Euro soccer semifinals, they came solely to hear the rabbi speak. There
were no other performances or gimmicks, or even an emcee.
During his address, Berland
discussed his radical religious vision, in which there are no boundaries or
inhibitions. All people are created in the image of God, and all have a Godly
spark; therefore solidarity between people was essential whether they are Jew,
non-Jew or even “Ishmaelite.
Blogger Comment: WOW...non-Jews...I do not hear the word "gentile or goyim"
Indeed, Berland devoted much of his
speech to the situation in Syria.
Palestinians
killed in Gaza during
operation "cast Lead"
“They are butchering people there
every day under our noses,” Berland said, after a brief review of the
bloodbaths that had taken place there during the previous few days. “The
nations of the world are silent, and we, the Jewish people, the people of
justice, the people of conscience and integrity, are the conscience of the
entire world."
Blogger comment: The nations of the world were also silent when the Israelis flattened to the ground 500 Palestinian village.
Palestinian
children killed
“We must stand before the entire
world and demand immediate intervention in Syria, to stop the terrible
massacre, to stop the terrible oppression by the ruling cult and the army and
stand up for these miserable, desperate people. It doesn’t matter that they are
Ishmaelites and it doesn’t matter even if some of them grow up to be
terrorists; the first thing is to save the unfortunate children, babies, women –
that’s the first mission.”
Palestinian
children burried alive
Blogger Comment: What a hypocrisy! The end justifies the means. Now the Ishmaelites, who are often called the "amaleks" are being defended by the Jews! Also, what about the children of Gaza who were buried alive under the rappels by the Israeli army? Aren't the Palestinians Ishmaelites, too?! Watch Video...
Palestinian
children killed
Blogger comment: Why are they so desperate?!
No other ultra-Orthodox rabbi has
publicly expressed an opinion on the upheavals in Syria, certainly not to demand that
Jews take responsibility for non-Jewish victims across the border.
Blogger comment: What borders? Are the occupied Golan heights part of the (Israeli) borders?!
It isn’t clear why Berland has done
so, but it is known that this particular rabbi relates to breaking boundaries
in general as a religious principle.
For example, his yeshiva is located
in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old
City. For another, his
followers are among those who regularly make unauthorized forays to Joseph’s
Tomb in Nablus,
against Israel Defense Forces regulations. Last year one of his students,
Ben-Yosef Livnat, was shot dead while doing so.
Blogger comment: So thank you very much rabbi for loving the Syrian Ismaelites' children. And of course I am being synical.
Berland’s public appearance last
week also constituted a breaking of boundaries or sorts – those of his own
Shuvu Banim community. Though he is considered an Israeli pioneer in bringing
secular Jews to observance, over the past 12 years he has not appeared at any
event not related to the community, which numbers some 700 families.
Blogger comment: Ya, the end justifies the means. And drastic events require drastic measure even one has to lie, cheat and become a hypocrite.
The community underwent an upheaval
around two years ago when the rabbi came out against his son and grandson, who
he claimed had seized control over his court.
In his address, Berland raised some
other ideas that from a Haredi perspective would be considered revolutionary,
such as “there’s no such thing as secular people,” and “essentially, there are
no ‘goyim’ in the world; everyone is essentially a Jew, all of them have a
Jewish spark; beloved is man, who was created in the image [of God].”
According to Dr. Zvi Mark, an
expert on the Breslav community, these ideas are reminiscent of those espoused
by Chabad, another popular Hassidic movement that reaches beyond the boundaries
of its own community. He noted that Berland had ended his speech with the
Chabad slogan, “We want the Messiah now.”
Blogger comment: Is that the one they crucified? I am confused.
In his Ramat
Gan speech, Berland was clear about crossing the boundaries posed
by the roadblocks outside Nablus,
along the route to Joseph’s Tomb, which is of supreme importance to Berland.
“When I come to Joseph the
Righteous, and I see how [IDF soldiers] are standing there with M-16s [rifles],
I say to them, ‘Aren’t you ashamed? This is Joseph the Righteous, why are you
standing there with M-16s?’”
He decried the fact that
coordinated visits to the tomb are permitted only at night.
“People should be able to go there
in the middle of the day – there’s nothing to be afraid of at all. The
Ishmaelites are our cousins, we’re all children of [forefathers] Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, we all have the same father and the same God; we all come from the
same roots.”
Blogger comment: I hope he's telling the truth! And I'm not being cynical but skeptical. Rabbi, if I am wrong, I hereby offer my apology.
Even as the crowd applauded, one
man, sitting in a place of honor near the VIP section, was sitting quietly in a
wheelchair. One of the hassidim whispered that the man had been seriously
wounded in a Palestinian attack on a group of Shuvu Banim people who snuck into
Joseph’s Tomb in December 2003.
Blogger Comment: Why there is no mention of the Israeli army snipers who kill gazan almost everyday?!
The truth being said by them,
but meant for
evil purpose







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