ISRAELI RABBI stirs uproar by saying
Holocaust victims were reincarnatedsinners
Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
August, 2000� (AP)
Web posted at: 1:12 PM EDT (1712 GMT)
JERUSALEM (AP) -- An eminent rabbi who heads Israel's third biggest political party sparked an uproar in Israel on Sunday for saying that 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust because they were reincarnations of sinners.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, leader of the Shas party, also declared that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has "no sense" because he is trying to make peace with the Palestinians, whom he called "snakes."
Yosef was speaking in his weekly Saturday night sermon that is broadcast over the party's radio stations and is beamed overseas by satellite.
He said the 6 million Holocaust victims "were reincarnations of the souls of sinners, people who transgressed and did all sorts of things that should not be done. They had been reincarnated in order to atone."
All sectors of the population -- from Barak to Holocaust survivors -- condemned the rabbi's remarks.
"His words are liable to harm the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and are liable to hurt the feelings of their families and the feelings of the entire nation," Barak said, according to a communique from his office.
Helen Kaminsky, whose relatives were buried alive at Babi Yar, a ravine outside Kiev where Nazis killed about 100,000 people in World War II, said she wanted a personal apology from the rabbi.
"This senile guy and lowlife, he should step down," said Kaminsky, 61, sobbing. "How could he say such a thing? You don't imagine how many people have been hurt today. They should silence him."
Kaminsky said Yosef's words made her feel like spitting in his face.
Legislator Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, a Holocaust survivor who heads the secularist Shinui party, said Rabbi Yosef "is in effect confirming what Hitler said, that the Jews are sinners."
Holocaust organizations and the two main Israeli radio stations said they were inundated with phone calls and fax messages, most of them criticizing Yosef's statement.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum labeled Yosef's remarks "miserable" and said they "seriously harm the memory of the victims."
"With all due respect to such a leader, it's hard to understand where Rabbi Yosef gets the courage to explain the intentions and ways of the supreme authority," the museum said in a release.
Shas chairman Eli Ishai said criticism of the rabbi is unjustified. "Rabbi Ovadia weeps for every Jew who is killed ... but nobody, not even a saint, has not sinned. Everyone dies in a state of sin."
Reincarnation is not a concept central to Jewish thinking, although it appears in the esoteric Zohar, the book that is the basis for Jewish mysticism, or "cabala."
Yosef, who ordered Shas to quit Barak's coalition when the prime minister was leaving for the Camp David summit with the Palestinians, described the Arabs as "snakes" interested mainly in murdering Jews, and said Barak has "no sense."
"What kind of peace is this?" Yosef said. "Will you put them beside us? You are bringing snakes beside us. ... Will we make peace with a snake?"
The Palestinian Information Ministry, in a press release, dismissed Yosef's statements about the Palestinians as "silly" and "fascist." The ministry, which is headed by the senior Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo, called on the Israeli government "to condemn such foolishness."
Shas was opposed to the concessions which Barak offered at Camp David, particularly his proposals to extend limited sovereignty to Palestinians in parts of Jerusalem.
2000 - TheAssociated Press.
Other Yosef Outrageous Interpretations of the Law
RABBIS take issue with presentation of Christian Thematics, Again!
By Dana Canedy
The New York Times
Saturday, February 2001
ORLANDO, Fla. -- In a city that has a theme park to satisfy just about every taste, the latest addition can truly be called an original, or an original sin, depending upon whom you ask.
Beginning Monday, tourists interested in Bible stories instead of Mickey Mouse can enter The Holy Land Experience, a $16 million, 15-acre park just down the road from Universal Studios. It is billed as "a living biblical museum."
There are no rides and no cotton candy, but the park already has created some fireworks. The Holy Land Experience has been criticized for its evangelical message, and its founder, the Rev. Marvin Rosenthal, has angered local Jewish leaders, who say he is distorting their history and attempting to convert Jews to Christianity.
The Jewish Defense League plans a protest of the theme park during its opening day.
Rosenthal, himself a Jewish convert to Christianity and the president of Zion's Hope of Orlando, is unapologetic. "My goal is to share the truth of the word of God to all people, including Jewish people," he said. "We don't believe anybody converts. God does that.
"We are very aboveboard that we are a Bible-believing, Christian ministry. We happen to believe that Jesus is the savior of the world," Rosenthal said. "Now, to suggest we target Jewish people -- and I want to make it very clear -- even if that were the case -- there's nothing inappropriate about that."
Visitors to The Holy Land step through the gates of a "walled city" to a Christian re-creation of ancient Jerusalem. Once inside, they can stroll a replica of a first-century street market complete with village craftsmen, Middle Eastern music and the sounds of camels, sheep and goats.
Throughout the park, guests can mingle with performers costumed as peasants and priests. Authentic Middle Eastern artifacts dating back 500 years and plants such as Jerusalem thorn trees help create an authentic atmosphere, Rosenthal said.
Building exteriors appear weathered, an effect purposely created by artists. There is a re-creation of the Qumran caves, where the Dead Sea scrolls were hidden. And "Seed of Promise," a multimedia presentation and film, was shot in Jerusalem.
"People can come here and visualize things they have read about, studied and heard sermons about, and all of a sudden it takes on a whole new dimension," Rosenthal said.
The attraction is an attempt to depict Israel's history from 1450 B.C. to A.D. 66, through the Old and New Testaments. The goal is to transport visitors "7,000 miles away and more than 3,000 years back," park literature says.
But it will be difficult for visitors to be completely transported, what with a 7-Eleven store and a gas station visible from the patio of the park's Arabian-themed Oasis Palms Cafe, which sells Goliath burgers.
The park was paid for by donations, by the sale to the city of four acres of land that Zion's Hope owned, and by grants from religious foundations.
The Holy Land Experience will need to attract 180,000 to 200,000 visitors annually to cover overhead, including a $3 million mortgage, Rosenthal estimates. Admission is $17 for adults and $12 for children.
Rosenthal said profits from operations would be used to reduce ticket prices, though several local rabbis say they think it is more likely that the money will be used to advance what they see as a mission to convert Jews to Christianity.
While local Christian leaders have praised the park for its attempt to spread the gospel, area rabbis are denouncing it and urging Jews not to support it. They say that the mix of Jewish and Christian themes and theology distorts Jewish history and that a theme-park setting trivializes it.
Jewish Defense League national chairman Irv Rubin said the group is weary of "people trying to destroy us spiritually."
"We do not mislead anybody. We do not bring them into our environment under false pretenses," Rosenthal said.
At the 20-minute Tabernacle show, three Hebrew prayers are chanted.
An actor portraying Aaron, the brother of Moses, shows rituals of ancient priests during a time when the Jews wandered the desert after receiving the Ten Commandments. A narrator says the wandering led to a better understanding of their faith.
Then a nativity-like scene of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus is projected on a screen.
"When they use our prayers in their exhibit, they're using a centuries-old device in proselytization, trying to show that Christianity is the legitimate evolution of Judaism," said Rabbi Dan Wolpe, chairman of the Greater Orlando Board of Rabbis.
In another scene simulating the Day of Atonement, puffs of smoke and strobing lasers portray God's essence emanating from the Ark of the Covenant.
"Shalom," Aaron says at the end of the show. "May the peace of the Lord go with you. . . Please exit to your left."
This article includes material from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
OXBOWS.COM COMMENTARY
LET US REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES
The duration of Israel's rejection (temporary), 11:25-32
25�"For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26� And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27� For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."
28� Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
29� For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30� For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
31� even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
32� For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all."
Ryrie Foot Note
Vs. 11:25-32� Israel's blindness is partial (Jews are being saved today) and temporary (until they acknowledge Jesus at His second coming). the fulness of the Gentiles. I.e., the full number of Gentiles who will be saved (Acts 15:14). After that, God will turn again to the Jews and will save "all Israel" at the Lord's return (v. 26).         [[Ryrie Kjv Note]] {QuickVerse Win Bible}
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