Op-ed: The Real Incitement
In recent days, in response to the as-yet unproven accusation that a Jew committed an arson attack that led to the death of an Arab child (which evidence is increasingly showing was in fact a blood libel), Jews on social media have taken to posting a long list of names of Jewish children slain in terror attacks.
The very long list of Jewish victims expresses tangibly the Muslim culture of death, and this comes from the pervasive incitement in the Muslim culture that glorifies killing Jews, which includes such vile practices as distributing candy to children when Jews are slain, awarding large payouts to families of suicide bombers, and then naming streets and plazas after them.
In contrast, among Jews, incidents of murdering Arabs in cold blood are so rare that they can’t even be counted on one hand. Jews have no culture of death at all. (What is quite prevalent, scandalously, is the opposite—a culture of self-inflicted suffering and victimhood: Jews not defending themselves from Arabs and fellow Jews, Jews neglecting to defend fellow Jews from Arabs and fellow Jews, and Jews preventing other Jews from defending themselves from Arabs and fellow Jews.)
As for the claim that it was radical right-wing “settler” rhetoric that led directly to these attacks, this is a false libel.
Yes, Jewish leaders discuss how to solve the problem of the hostile Muslims living next door to us, and continue to remind us of the extent of the natural brutality of Arabs even to one another. Leaders must repeat this message time and again, because the leftist-dominated media covers it up. Informing the public of these facts and discussing solutions is not incitement to violence, but encouraging self-preservation. The very same leaders, even the most “extreme” ones, such as Dr. Michael Ben Ari, Baruch Marzel, and Bentzi Gopshtein have condemned such attacks unequivocally.
The only world in which “settlers” and their leaders today serially incite such attacks is the fictitious, slanderous world of BBC, Al Jazeera, Ha’Aretz, and Shabak agent provocateurs such as Avishai Raviv.
Even if there are a very small handful of people with this mentality, this proves nothing about everyone else, as every large group will naturally contain a tiny number of radical elements as unrepresentative outliers. Moreover, these individuals often prove to be clinically psychopathic (as was the case with the murderer of Mohamed Abu Khdir).
Yet no matter how much it conflicts with reality, leftists persist in promulgating this libel and repeating it ad nauseam.
This is one of the main “arguments” of left-wingers: Discussing the danger posed by the Muslim populace and culture is racist incitement. Thus, the Jew who blows the whistle on Arab incitement and terror activities in fact promotes wantonly inflicting harm. An act of courage is turned into a hate crime and a hero into a scoundrel. All with the goal of intimidating those who would sound the alarm of the grave danger from Arab terror into silence.
And of course, this is done by naming one or two cases and implying that they are typical, most often Yigal Rabin and Baruch Goldstein. (Never mind that both of these events are very highly suspect of involving government coverups.) These two men are constantly held up as proof that all right-wingers are frothing-at-the-mouth crazies, conveniently exempting leftists from honoring right-wing arguments with an intelligent response.
Moreover, in fact it is the leftists themselves who are guilty of endangerment and incitement (no, this is not incitement against leftists!):
Since the reality is that the presence of Arabs who identify with Hamas, the PLO, and other terrorist groups in our Land poses grave danger, hushing it up through the accusation of incitement—which unfortunately still intimidates many people—has the upshot of making Jews less aware and alert and therefore less motivated to do what must be done to restore safety to the Jewish people (such as only voting for political candidates with a proven record of opposing land surrenders, such as Dr. Micha’el Ben Ari). And when the enemy sees how the leftists are minimizing and covering up their crimes, they feel emboldened to attack time and again—may G-d save us.
Great Dane
Y.O. Nice piece.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
The message is clear: The appearance of the divisive Yechi slogan in this terrorist attack, whether or not the attack is proven to actually have been perpetrated by deranged Meshichistim, is an absolute disgrace and Chilul Hashem, and once again points to the extremely pressing need to immediately remove all such slogans from all Lubavitch institutions, and to completely ostracize those who continue in the path of that misguided and failed theology.
Milhouse
If the graffitist had chosen a slogan you agree with, would you say the same thing? What if he’d written “Am Yisrael Chai” or “Shma Yisrael” or some such thing? If this was done by an Arab, we can’t let his choice of slogans affect us.. Don’t forget that the Rebbe endorsed “Yechi Hamelech” (without the controversial “Hamashiach”).
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse, the clear difference, which should be obvious to all, and shame on you for not perceiving it, is that the Yechi slogan is absolutely not a universal slogan, and thus it is completely different from the examples you brought of “Am Yisrael Chai” or “Shma Yisrael,” which are entirely inclusive of all Jews. In contrast, the Yechi slogan is inherently very divisive (or, as you sanitizingly expressed it, “controversial”), and it is directly identified with only one specific small group of Jews, i.e., Lubavitchers, and within Lubavitch itself, with incontrovertibly the most vociferous extremists, whom everyone recognizes as including among their ranks a high percentage of extremely mentally imbalanced individuals, who are infamous for their dastardly track record of inflicting terrorist-like repercussions against those who disagree with them.
Further, your attempt to bring the Rebbe zt”l into this, suggesting that he at least partially endorsed the Yechi slogan, is as vacuous as can be. Let us not forget that the Rebbe zt”l in his lifetime never endorsed the “Yechi Hamelech Hamashiach” slogans, and on the contrary he was visibly outraged and upset by such things, and he certainly never endorsed such after slogans his death more than 21 years ago, and certainly not after it was left scrawled at the scene of a horrendous act of terror and murder.
A few weeks ago when a deranged and hate-filled individual killed nine people in a black church and it came out that he had wrapped himself in confederate flag and used it as inspiration for his attack, it spurred a movement to limit and curtail the flying of that flag due to the taint of racial bigotry associated with it. Come on now. The time is clearly overdue to step up and prevent any further flying of the divisive and terrorist-tainted Meshichist flags and slogans, and everyone should realize how extremely urgent it is to focus on this is now, to correct past failures and especially to prevent any further spread of terrorist activities and the causing of even more disgrace and Chilul Hashem. Enough is enough.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
In addition to what I’ve already written here on this post, in CHI’s related post, http://crownheights.info/jewish-news/494957/mashichist-graffiti-scrawled-on-home-of-killed-palestinian-baby/, commenter “31. Chabad in line of fire” expressed an extremely important realization, that “The graffiti found in this incident puts Chabad directly in [the] line of fire. All Chabad’s committees and Shluchim must take a security enhancement initiative…,” and went on to provide a list of steps to be taken to increase our security situation.
That sobering comment should not be overlooked or ignored by anyone, however clearly it was not a complete list of security enhancements that can and should be taken. Certainly another obvious and very important security related enhancement that can and should be taken is to completely disassociate Lubavitch and its institutions from the extremist Meshichistim, and the best and most obvious way to do that is by completely removing all of their inciting and provocative slogans, signs and symbols, from our midst.
Milhouse
Are you seriously denying that the Rebbe endorsed and encouraged people to say “Yechi Hamelech”?!
Your invoking the ridiculous campaign against the confederate flag, which had nothing to do with the Charleston shooting, discredits everything else you wrote.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse: Why are you perverting my words and trying to divert the topic that is under discussion here? I wrote, “Let us not forget that the Rebbe zt”l in his lifetime never endorsed the “Yechi Hamelech *Hamashiach*” slogans, and on the contrary he was visibly outraged and upset by such things….” Are you seriously denying that?! What does the divisive Yechi slogan that we are discussing have to do with a different phrase that the Rebbe zt”l endorsed as appropriate for other specific times and situations, and was never intended for super-saturation to the point that it takes precedence over virtually everything else?!
Further, it is obvious that you are not able to invalidate even one thing I wrote in my previous three relatively long comments, and your flippant attempt to discredit everything I wrote based on your declaration that the confederate flag had nothing to do with the Charleston shooting is absolutely transparent and blatantly bogus. Are you seriously denying the factual truth of my statement that this incident “spurred a movement to limit and curtail the flying of that flag due to the taint of racial bigotry associated with it.”?! It is totally irrelevant to this discussion the degree to which there really was a connection between the confederate flag and the murders, the indisputable point however is that there indeed was a very tumultuous storm and tsunami of such connections that were made, and in the realm of facts on the ground, it had the practical impact the display of the “controversial” and “divisive” symbol was curtailed in numerous places.
Come on now. Why don’t you attempt to look at the situation from a rational point of view. Why are you writing in support of a continuation of the “controversy” and in support of a continuation of the fighting and the terrorist-like acts. Why don’t you admit that you are wrong, and that the Meshichistim are wrong, and that after more than 21 years of insanity and failures there is a dire need for the situation to change.
Milhouse
Yes, there was a “very tumultuous storm and tsunami” against the confederate flag, and it was completely RIDICULOUS, DISHONEST AND UNJUSTIFIED. The fact that you invoke it in support of your proposed jihad is enough to discredit everything you say. It shows that you don’t care about the truth, and are cynically proposing to make hay out of this incident regardless of what really happened.
The Rebbe endorsed “Yechi Hamelech”. That some people add the word “hamashiach” is controversial, but it doesn’t justify your attack. To this day there is still NO evidence that a Jew committed this crime, let alone a “meshichist”.
There is nothing wrong with someone believing that when Moshiach comes he will turn out to be the Rebbe. I don’t expect that to happen, but if it does I’ll be pleasantly surprised. You, however, have created a false religion out of your insistence that it can’t happen, and have made that a 14th ikkar in your emunah, to the point where if it does happen you will probably reject him.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse, for the record you are the one being ridiculous, dishonest and unjustified, and I could add a few other choice adjectives as well, including foolish, intolerant and bigoted. Who are you to say that blacks are unjustified in having negative feelings about the confederate flag? The fact of the matter is that the confederate flag has indeed often been used as symbol of hatred and bigotry, and while it is not exclusively that, this reality is nevertheless non-trivial and good people everywhere recognize this undeniable truth and consent that it is a good idea to limit the flying of that flag.
Regarding the terrorist attack in Israel, from the start I said that this incident raises serious issues even if there is no proof regarding who perpetrated it, and you still haven’t replied in any significant way whatsoever to my comments, which you now nastily refer to as being my “jihad.” On the contrary, as everyone knows, the “jihad” practicing fanatic elements in the Lubavitch camp, who regularly are “Matil Aimor Al HaTzibur,” are exclusively from the Meshichist ranks.
With regard to the Rebbe zt”l’s endorsement, in your latest non-comment you again merely repeat your previous evasions, and you still cannot bring yourself to acknowledge that the clear fact of the matter is as I wrote, that the Rebbe zt”l never endorsed the Meshichist slogans, especially in the way they have been presented and publicized after his death, and you persist in downgrading and whitewashing how repugnant it is that the Meshichistim distort and pervert the Rebbe’s words and everything he stood for.
The Meshichist slogans and methods are not merely “controversial,” they are divisive, scandalous, abusive, and they clearly and indisputably distance people from Chassidus in general and Chabad in particular. To add injury to insult, the Meshichistim, whom you are happy to be an apologist for, are the ones with a long history of attacking others, and not just with words. I personally have been physically attacked several times by these fanatics, and I know others who have been physically attacked as well. But when it comes to the Meshichistim, you, Milhouse, are like the monkeys who “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil,” and you viciously lash out at anyone who points out their faults and that their evil reign of terror needs to be brought to an end.
When it comes to creating false religions, I cannot say that they have no precedents, because the Christians, Shabati Tzinicks, and others all came before them, but the Meshichistim and their supporters, including you Milhouse, are not far behind the other falsifiers. Meanwhile it is indisputable that the Moshiach whom Jews are waiting for will not first die and then need a ‘second coming’ to finish the job. That is the only real traditional Torah approach that has been clear for thousands of years.
To conclude on a positive note: It is now the month of Elul, the time of Teshuva, and you and all of Lubavitch would be well advised to do some serious Teshuva, and in particular to rectify the abhorrent situation in Lubavitch that has gotten completely out of control for way too long.
Milhouse
I did not write that blacks are not entitled to have negative feelings about the confederate flag. They can have all the negative feelings about it they like, but they do not rule the country. The recent jihad against that flag was ridiculous and unjust, It was also fundamentally dishonest, since it was based on the lie that the flag somehow caused the Charleston shooting. Anyone who participated in that jihad against the flag is automatically discredited as a serious participant in any discussion.
Until we know who set the house fire in Israel, it raises no issues. If Arabs set it, then it’s completely irrelevant.
I wrote that the Rebbe endorsed “Yechi Hamelech” (without the controversial “Hamashiach”), and you attacked me for writing that. The only possible explanation for your attack is that you deny that he endorsed it. Otherwise what objection could you have to my pointing it out? The fact is that we all know he did endorse it, and thus (without the extra word) it is not controversial. In any case it’s irrelevant, since the graffitist could just as easily have written something you agree with. Whoever he is, lo mipiv onu chayim; his use of a slogan does not invalidate it.
It is certainly disputable that Moshiach will not die and then come back. That’s not what Jews have traditionally expected, but the one thing we do know is that we don’t know exactly what will happen, and it is possible that it won’t happen the way we’ve been imagining it for 2000 years. Until he comes we just don’t know. Like 2000 years of my ancestors I expect Moshiach to be someone now alive; but I leave room for other possibilities. To rule something out without clear proof is to create a false religion. We must that Moshiach will come; we do not have to believe that he will be the Rebbe, but nor do we have to believe that he won’t.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse, your flailing and spin doctoring only digs you in deeper. Regarding the blacks, your reply, “they do not rule the country,” continues to prominently display your insensitivity, intolerance and bigotry that I referred to before.
I’m sorry to have to break this to you, but you don’t rule the country either. Apparently your intolerance is so great that you haven’t yet been able to digest the plain facts in the news, that in the fallout from the Charleston murders, it was those who do rule in this country – i.e., the governing bodies in states, counties and cities, even in places where whites are majorities – who agreed by decisive democratic vote to curtail the flying of the confederate flag.
Clearly it is not just blacks who object to the confederate flag. There are very many in this country, of all races and creeds, who are equally happy about the taking down of that flag – and especially among us Jews, who know well and fully understand what it is to be persecuted, and who have also been victims of confederate affiliated prejudice and brutality.
Compounding your unreasonableness and offensiveness, you refer to these recent events as a “jihad” against that flag, just as you previously accused me of engaging in “jihad” for my words against the Meshichistim. Meanwhile, while you callously fling terrorist labels at other responsible people who disagree with you, you have not even one slight negative comment against those Meshichistim who for all intents and purposes genuinely do deserve to have their actions labeled with such a word. Any reasonable person can see right through you.
Thus your screaming that the downgrading of the confederate flag is “completely ridiculous, dishonest and unjustified,” and your insistence that anyone even citing these current events “is automatically discredited as a serious participant in any discussion,” only serve as proof to the contrary, the extent to which you yourself deserve those disparaging epithets, and how completely discredited you and your vile self-righteous opinions can be.
By the way, a little history lesson for you, with everlasting meaning for our present time: It was, by the grace of G-d, the Union that won the civil war, and it is the one and only glorious American flag with stars and stripes that proudly proclaims liberty and justice for all throughout the land and most honorably protects the rights of all its citizens to live in peace and without fear. All of us are obligated to say Boruch Hashem for that!
[To be continued. Thank you CHI for posting.]
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse argues again that “Until we know who set the house fire in Israel, it raises no issues,” however the sobering issues are already raised, since the scrawled Yechi slogan in any event focuses the attention of the public, the Israeli authorities, and potential revenge seeking Arab terrorists (Hashem Yismor) on Lubavitch and its Meshichist sect.
The whole world is concerned and feverously investigating the connection, but Milhouse assures us that we Lubavitchers ourselves must not be concerned, and we should just pretend that we do not see it, or hear it, and we certainly should not discuss it – that we should follow his example and be like proverbial monkeys. Sorry Milhouse, you are just not credible on this no matter how many times you repeat your asserion.
Similarly Milhouse tries yet another time to divert the discussion from the Meshichist slogans to a different slogan that the Rebbe zt”l once endorsed, and this time he cries foul, claiming that I attacked him for that only because I deny that the Rebbe endorsed that other slogan. However anyone who can read can see that the only reason I objected was because this was his attempt to steer the conversation away from the topic under discussion.
Certainly I did not deny the Rebbe’s words, in a printed Sicha, about that other expression, but I do object, and so should every reader, to Milhouse’s conflating what the Rebbe said with these other expressions that the Rebbe certainly never endorsed. Quite the contrary, regarding these other expressions we know very clearly that the Rebbe repeatedly completely rejected them, and he spoke very angrily against them, in many printed Sichos, as being extremely offensive to him personally, and as amounting to waging “war” against Chassidus and Chabad.
[To be continued.]
Milhouse
Blacks do not rule the country, and their being upset at something should not affect anyone else. The recent jihad against the confederate flag was just that, and no other word suffices: it was irrational, unjust, unprincipled, and imposed on an unwilling population by Stalinist means. There was no genuine change in popular opinion; those who had always opposed the flag continued to oppose it, those who had always supported it continued to do so, and those who were always indifferent remained so. But the race hustlers saw an opportunity and took it; the media elite, which are suffused with hatred of Southerners, ran with it; and a few corporations, fearing what a campaign against them might do, panicked.
The fact that Amazon refuses to sell anything with a confederate flag, but has no problem with Che T-shirts, shows the moral bankruptcy of this campaign. It was sheer blackmail, and your support for it shows what a moral degenerate you are.
As far as the civil war is concerned, remember that the only genuine talmid chochom in America at the time, R Bernard Ilowy z”l, supported the confederacy, and that it would have been inconceivable for the Union at the time to have a Jewish secretary of state. Jews have no reason to object to displays of General Lee’s battle flag, and every reason to oppose the jihad against it, since the race hustlers behind it hate us too, and the exact same tactics will next be used against us. When Amazon and Walmart decide that the Israeli flag is too controversial to be allowed on any item they sell, where will you turn for support?
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Above in this exchange Milhouse accused me of having “created a false religion” out of my insistence that the Rebbe zt”l cannot return in a ‘second coming’ to be Moshiach, and that “you have made that a 14th ikkar in your emunah.” This accusation is patently absurd. Milhouse blemishes with his own blemish. Doesn’t he realize that in his very own words he unabashedly admits that it is he and the Meshichistim who are breaking away from our religion:
Milhouse himself just wrote about the Meshichist belief, “That’s not what Jews have traditionally expected” – so right there, in his own words, the break from Klal Yisroel is crystal clear. He writes, “Like 2000 years of my ancestors I expect Moshiach to be someone now alive; but I leave room for other possibilities.” Who are you Milhouse to leave room for other possibilities when our Sages o.b.m. and Rabbeim throughout the generation absolutely ruled out those same other possibilities?! Who are you Milhouse to disagree?! Not only are you “without clear proof,” as you accused me, but essentially you are “without any proof.”
We had this phenomenon already several times in our history, and let me give you another history lesson, also very applicable for today and for all time:
That other belief – the belief that Moshiach would come, then would die, and then would return in a ‘second coming’ – was totally rejected with absolute finality by the Jewish religion. Indeed this is one of the 13 Ikrim of Emunah, and indeed you and your Meshichist friends are indisputably the ones who are very clearly and very improperly tampering with this Tradition, and you have zero evidence to support you, and you have even minus zero authority to do so.
But the wrongfulness of your rejected belief is magnified many fold by the way that your strange and rejected religion is being evangelized and forced on others, fine upstanding Jews and Chassidim, who would rather continue on the path that our ancestors taught us, and we would appreciate it very much if we could have back our religious freedom in this matter to preserve and persevere in our holy heritage. We are very opposed to creating a divergent religion yet a wild and vocal minority backed up with fists is forcing all of their silly and offensive signs and slogans upon us, totally against our will, and then we get attacked for complaining about it.
Milhouse though has not one word to say about that embarrassment and scandal. He lobbies against any attempt by Chassidim to seek relief from the abusive Meshichistim, who say we do not have the right to believe differently from them, and who even as a minority have no aversion to violently asserting themselves to force their views and slogans on everyone.
Milhouse, recently, in another CHI article about Posul Tefillin straps, you first posted one comment, and then after being alerted to different facts by another commenter you admitted you were wrong and that you stood corrected. Lets please start to see from you in this matter too the beginning of at least a minimum amount of honesty and truthfulness from now on.
[I will B”N also reply briefly to Milhouse’s other comments below.]
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Regarding the taking down of the confederate flag, in what is presently comment number 13 above, Milhouse doubles down on his insensitivity, intolerance, and bigotry, doubles down on his preference for pejorative expressions derived from another violent religion, and doubles down on his density and ignorance, and since the facts that I related are still too hard for him to digest, he again tries to divert attention from the points that were made, and now he even adds another false libel, that “Stalinist means” were used to take down the flag. Hey Milhouse, please pay attention, the facts are as I wrote, that the democratically elected governments discussed the matter and freely voted in favor of the changes, and this was in no conceivable way comparable to jihad or Stalinist means.
As for what Milhouse wrote, “There was no genuine change in popular opinion; those who had always opposed the flag continued to oppose it, those who had always supported it continued to do so, and those who were always indifferent remained so” – again Milhouse is flat out wrong.
Everyone here knows how to use the internet and is capable of Googling “poll” and “confederate flag,” and finding past and current figures of the popular opinion. Over the years disapproval for the flag has been increasing, and after the Charleston murders, public opinion even in the South, dramatically surpassed the halfway point and swung decisively to disapproval and in favor of taking the flag down from most public buildings. Milhouse tries to ignore all of this and barges on with an off-topic rant about race hustlers, the media elite, corporate panicking, and attacks on Amazon and Walmart which is not relevant here.
[To be continued.]
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse, please cite a source for what you said that “the only genuine talmid chochom in America at the time, R Bernard Ilowy z”l, supported the confederacy.” Why do you say he was the only genuine talmid chochom in America then, and why are you so sure that any support for the confederacy he may have voiced at the time was genuine?
I quickly looked him up and found that In 1861, the year the Civil War broke out, R’ Illowy accepted a pulpit in New Orleans, deep in the South, and therefore it is not surprising that you can find statements attributed to him in favor of the confederacy. However please see for example what it says about him in “We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a Documentary History,” edited by Gary Phillip Zola, p. 145, http://www.amazon.com/Called-Him-Rabbi-Abraham-Documentary/dp/0809332922#reader_0809332922:
Another noteworthy Lincoln memorial was delivered by Rabbi Bernard Illowy (1814-71) of Congregation Shangarai Chasset (Shaarei Chesed), also in New Orleans. Although Illowy lived in New Orleans during the Civil War, he was never ideologically aligned with the southerners he served. To begin with, Illowy had been culturally oriented o the North; prior to his more to New Orleans, he held pulpits in New York, Philadelphia, Syracuse, and Baltimore, where he was serving when the Civil War began…
Since he was about to leave New Orleans anyway, Illowy was able to speak his mind without fear of reprisal by his southern congregants. He eulogized Lincoln as “the dearly beloved father of our country” and emphasized the spiritual connection between Lincoln and the Jews by addressing his listeners with the double entendre “sons of Abraham.” The Jews, Illowy preached, were sons of the biblical Abraham as well as of the American Abraham, who “with paternal love and a brave and courageous heart… walk[ed] before [the] people, to save their honor, to guard their rights and to restore peace and harmony to their gates.” Illowy also reminded his congregation that even though Lincoln conquered New Orleans, he had not subjugated his enemies or “trodden [them] down with rigor.” It was Lincoln’s desire to transform his enemies into friends, and he largely achieved this goal because so many of his former enemies “now bow down with deference and sincere repentance before our glorious banner of liberty and equality”…
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
— Incidentally, see http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lorenfamily&id=I66283 – that by coincidence R’ Illowy’s yahrzeit was 3 Tamuz:
“Illowy died in an accident on his farm in Cincinnati. His yahrzeit, 3 Tamuz is noted in certain Orthodox circles, by adherents that say prayers to elevate the memories of righteous individuals.”
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse writes that “Jews have no reason to object to displays of General Lee’s battle flag, and every reason to oppose the jihad against it, since the race hustlers behind it hate us too, and the exact same tactics will next be used against us.”
Milhouse is being pathetic and ignoring reality. While there are anti-Semites to be found everywhere, they are unquestionably even more prevalent among those who wrap themselves in confederate flags, for example David Duke, who contends that the attack on the confederate flag is “actually part of an overall Jewish-led attack on European Americans.” Milhouse though is oblivious to the reality and seems to have an affinity for rhetoric similar to the kind associated with that and other anti-Semites.
Ma Rabbi
The leftist Jewish websites are having a field day blaming this on the Settlers. In truth, there is no proof as to who did this crime.
Milhouse
One shouldn’t compare Yigal Amir to Boruch Goldstein HYD. Even without going into speculation about what Dr Goldstein intended (let alone into bizarre conspiracy theories), the almost certain fact is that he prevented a pogrom and saved dozens of Jewish lives, and was brutally murdered for it.
Puleeze
There are plenty of moshiach-its who are not violent at all. We simply believe that there has been no successor to our Rebbe and we believe in his teachings about how to best serve Hashem.
Just because they use our slogan doesn’t make it bad anymore than a terrorist wearing chassidic garb means we should do without it.
No true follower of our Rebbe would firebomb innocents. That is completely contrary to our Rebbe’s teachings!
to number 1
SICK PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!! MAKE SURE U ASK THE REBBE MECHILA
Duh moment
i am convinced it was sick arabs that did it
absolutely NOT!
To the terrorist slogan must go: just like the christians have their “god” and we jews know who the real Hashem is so too here they want to use the slogan for their purpose bbut we know what the purpose is really for! and as for your comment that the Rebbe was “outraged by such things…” really?! who made the song yechi adoneinu etc…? its unreal how the pple want to customize the Rebbe when its not comfortable for them to accept the truth!
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Dear “absolutely NOT!” — It is unclear why you are conflating this issue with ‘the christians and their “god”,’ unless it is out of a guilty conscience, and your at least subconscious recognition that the rejected Christian second coming theology is virtually identical to that adopted by the Meshichistim, which is in hypocritical contradiction to all previous Jewish and Chabad theology throughout the generations. Meanwhile it is clear that the Yechi slogans truly serve absolutely no good or positive purposes whatsoever, and that you have been taught numerous blatant lies, including lies about “who made the song yechi adoneinu etc…” Please get some help and try to straighten yourself out.
to 1
if any one pushes peple away from chabad it is those which publicize anything that a few israili bochurim do wrong for example the gun found in 749 who took the pictures in the first place but then someone decided to publicize it and make it look like everyone sleeping in 749 is crazy we all were in yeshiva and know that out of 200 bochurim there are a few which will tend to enjoy playing with a bibi gun every so often
to 1
before you say the rebbe never endorsed yechi i have a few questions 1 when was the last time you learnt a sicha of the rebbe 2 jem doesn’t publish videos of the rebbe endorsing yechi since they are meant for those which are new to chabad but you a chabad chossid can watch them- 15 iyar 51 and almost every i time the rebbe came out on the balcony in 53
Grammar and punctuation
Major run on sentences, you guys need to pay attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation!
Citizen Berel
‘Major run on sentences,’ a noun clause that modifies what, precisely?
Pedant
He means noun phrase, I promise ;)
Anonymous
For more then a year,the rebbe encouraged the singing of yechi. If the rebbe was against it he would have made it clear. And if you think he was ‘deranged’
then your not a lubavitcher and have no say in this matter.
Milhouse
Nobody wrote that the Rebbe was ch”v deranged, so you can get off your high horse.
And while he was alive, there was nothing strange about supposing that he might be Moshiach. Yechi was a tefillah that he should recover and be Moshiach. If he were able to speak, he might have given a more nuanced response, but in his incapacitated state his only choice was either to enocurage this tefillah or to discourage it, so it makes sense that he chose to encourage it, even if he wan’t 100% happy with it. Unfortunately the first part of the tefillah was not fulfilled, and now serves instead as a tefillah for techiyas hameisim; the second part looks very unlikely.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse writes that while the Rebbe zt”l was alive, “there was nothing strange about supposing that he might be Moshiach,” and that “Yechi was a tefillah that he should recover and be Moshiach.”
— I was there and participated, and I agree with that assessment, that for the majority it was only a tefillah, however Milhouse overlooks the fact that others went off the Derech and asserted it was not just a tefillah but a proclamation of Moshiach’s arrival, and that the Rebbe was indeed already being identified and coronated as being the Moshiach Va’dai.
Milhouse continues [I correct two misspellings], “If he were able to speak, he might have given a more nuanced response, but in his incapacitated state his only choice was either to encourage this tefillah or to discourage it, so it makes sense that he chose to encourage it, even if he wasn’t 100% happy with it.”
— Basically I agree with this assessment, however as I noted in another comment below, the Rebbe’s encouragement at that time at best can only be construed as a “Horoas Sho’oh,” for that specific time and place when the Rebbe was taking his physical departure from his Chassidim.
Milhouse continues, “Unfortunately the first part of the tefillah was not fulfilled…”
— It is indeed unfortunate for us that the tefillah was not fulfilled, however here Milhouse too falls off the Derech, for it is clear that the tefillah was not fulfilled not just in its first part, that the Rebbe did not recover, but it was not fulfilled also in its second part, for with his death it became evident that it was no longer possible for the Rebbe to be Moshiach.
Milhouse continues, “…and now serves instead as a tefillah for techiyas hameisim.”
— Milhouse might in his confused mind construe it that way, and try to excuse it away in that manner, but it is abundantly clear to everyone else that for the Meshichistim this slogan remains a proclamation that the Rebbe was/is/will be the Moshiach, which is an assertion that was always completely unfounded and which now is in direct contradiction to our tradition that only a live person can be Moshiach and the idea of needing a second coming is rejected.
Milhouse concludes, “the second part looks very unlikely.”
— Indeed, sometimes all people, even Jews, have to live with disappointment, but get over it already. Here’s another history lesson: This is not the first time in history that the Jewish people have had a qualified candidate for Moshiach come along and nevertheless our prayers and expectations failed to come to fruition. We know from our tradition that it is not just “very unlikely” for the deceased Rebbe to be Moshiach, but it is entirely impossible and outside the framework of our Jewish religion. We who follow in the ways of our predecessors will nevertheless persevere in our belief that Hashem will send another Tzadik in due time and bring the promised Geulah.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
The Rebbe zt”l was not “deranged,” however it is indisputable that he certainly was extremely incapacitated and critically ill, and probably very much aware that he was dying. It is true that after his stroke when he was brought out to a balcony in 770 at times he waived his one functioning arm to encourage singing, however he himself absolutely never called for the singing of the Yechi song, that was always merely initiated by the crowd. He also never took back any of all his very well known and officially publicized very harsh rebukes of Chassidim who on their own initiative went about proclaiming him to be Moshiach, and he never took back his words that the Yechi song was a personal affront to him and amounted to a fighting a war against the Torah and Chassidus. When was the last time you or your friends reviewed the Rebbe’s numerous Sichos about that?
It seems that if the Rebbe indeed realized that the Yechi song was being sung at those times, he allowed it only in the form of a Horoas Sho’o, limited specifically for those times in 770 when he was in the process of parting from his Chassidim, and with the understanding that the singing of such songs would automatically stop immediately upon his death. That he waived his arm at those specific times when the crowd sang Yechi is still a very far cry from indicating that he endorsed that the singing of such songs and the posting of such slogans should continue forever after his death and be publicly promulgated all over, including even after such a slogan was left scrawled at the scene of a horrendous act of terror and murder. If you and your ilk believe differently from this, and you believe that the Rebbe never died or that he will return in a ‘second coming’ to be Moshiach, then there is a good case to be made that you are the ones who are “deranged.”
Milhouse
You are reading things into the Rebbe’s actions, just as the meshichisten are. You simply don’t know that “he allowed it only in the form of a Horoas Sho’o, limited specifically for those times in 770 when he was in the process of parting from his Chassidim, and with the understanding that the singing of such songs would automatically stop immediately upon his death”. That is your own speculation, and it’s entirely possible that it’s false. Just as they can’t know that his actions mean they are right to continue singing that song in these very different circumstances, you can’t know that they don’t mean that. We will all have to wait for him to come back and explain what he meant.
What we do know is that he was limited to two choices: complete endorsement or complete rejection, and that of those two he chose the first. When we speculate about what he would have said if he were able, we must remember that it is only speculation.
The Terrorist Slogan Must Go
Milhouse, it would have been appropriate and nice if you would have replied here at least briefly to what I wrote in the first paragraph of my comment, about the Rebbe zt”l’s “very well known and officially publicized very harsh rebukes of Chassidim who on their own initiative went about proclaiming him to be Moshiach, and he never took back his words that the Yechi song was a personal affront to him and amounted to a fighting a war against the Torah and Chassidus. When was the last time you or your friends reviewed the Rebbe’s numerous Sichos about that?” It seems you have nothing to pounce on here, and Shtika K’hodo’ah, your silence indicates your acquiescence that I am correct about that.
As for what you do write in reply to my second paragraph that this was only a Horoas Sho’o that the Rebbe expected to automatically stop upon his death, “You simply don’t know that… That is your own speculation, and it’s entirely possible that it’s false…” – you are wrong about that, for unless you are prepared to say that the Rebbe indeed was deranged, there is no way he would endorse something that goes directly against the Jewish tradition and against what he himself repeatedly taught throughout his leadership. We do not have to wait for him to come back and explain what he meant in that regard.
At any rate, indeed it is true as you write here in reference to the Meshichistim, that “they can’t know that his actions mean they are right to continue singing that song in these very different circumstances.” Why then do you reserve all of your severe condemnations only for me while letting the Meshichisim completely off the hook and not sparing even one word of condemnation for them?! Where is your sense of balance and fairness?!