Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: Why Katrina? Blacks Have No God

Miriam Shaviv reports:

“There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn’t enough Torah study… black people reside there (in New Orleans). Blacks will study the Torah? (God said) let’s bring a tsunami and drown them.”

“Hundreds of thousands remained homeless. Tens of thousands have been killed. All of this because they have no God.”

Orthodox Judaism is broken, perhaps beyond repair. May God save us.

Comments

[AE]

I can no longer defend him .
My prince of torah turns out to be a total idiot . No different than the others .
Gd knows I tried , against all odds . A very sad piece of news !

[rebeljew]

You are all so quick to judge. How else do you explain how Orthodox Jews never have tragedies befall them? Others are constantly punished because of having no god. But Orthodox Jews are protected, because they have a G-d. That is why they live in piece and harmony with no calamities befalling them.

[dayenu]

a religious response to Noach: team b--

"Here Comes The Flood"
by Peter Gabriel (available on Greatest Hits album)

When the night shows
the signals grow on radios
All the strange things
they come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
still waiting for the swollen Easter tide
There's no point in direction we cannot
even choose a side.

I took the old track
the hollow shoulder, across the waters
On the tall cliffs
they were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
and as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain
was warm and soaked the crowd.

Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds (miles), within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they'll
use up what we used to be.

Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

[Repeat chorus once]

[dayenu]

OK, too goyischer: how about:

"Highway 61 Revisted"
Bobbie Zimmerman

Oh God said to abraham ’kill me a son’
Abe said ’man you must be puttin me on’
God said ’no’, abe said ’what’
God say ’you can do what you wanna but
The next time you see me comin you better run’
Well abe said ’where d’you want this killin done’
God said ’out on highway 61’
Well georgia sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare department wouldn’t give him no clothes
They asked poor howard where can I go
Howard said ’there’s only one place I know’
Sam said ’tell me quick man I got to run’
Oh howard just pointed with his gun
And said ’that way down highway 61’...

[Neo-Conservaguy]

It's a sad thing when the brown-skinned Jews are slagging the Black American population. What, did they run out of things to say about the lily-white Askenazim?

Besides, I believe there are two "Black Hebrew" congregations in my town - OK, so they're not exactly what one might call "Jewish", but hey, let's not get picky. For another thing, leave the racist comments to those of us who live among bizarre minority communities (including Chassidim and Misnagdim) and fear them for valid reasons, not silly pre-conceived notions.

Oh my, time for more sensitivity training for me.

[Jack]

Read my words: BULL SHIT!!!

Why on earth do you believe anything that is posted on this website. The Talmud tells us "Pesi maamin l'chol davar" - only a folo, believes everything. Espeecially, all the crap that this bloger ever poss, zero percent is ever unfabricated. Every article ever posted on this site, since its inception is pure bull shit fabrication just to slander pious jews. Ever heard of hitler\??? Ever heard of scott??? They have the very same agendas, all in the name of humanity... Read my wods BULL SHIT!!!!

[Yoss'l]

BULL SHIT!!!!

was that your signature @ the bottom of your message , jack ?
if so , which is your first and which is your last name ?

[j]

About their not being any tragedies that involved Orthodox Jews. Ever heard of a little event called the Holocaust?

[rebeljew]

j

Ever heard of Fyodor Dostoevsky?

"Sarcasm: the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded."

[j]

As a matter of fact I have heard of Dostoevsky and I own several of his books. I dont remember my soul being invaded though. And sarcastic or not my point still stands acting like nothing ever happens to orthodox Jews or Jews in general for that matter is wrong. By the way did he have anything to say about people who use other people's quotes because they have nothing to say?

[rebeljew]

Let's spell this out, j!

I - a-g-r-e-e w-i-t-h y-o-u. When I said that nothing ever happens to the Orthodox, I was being s-a-r-c-a-s-t-i-c.

[Isa]

This is what happens when one becomes old AND senile -junk starts spouting from one's mouth.
IF the Rebbe had died 10 years earlier then there would be none of this messiah junk either.
Just imagine if R. Kahane lived to be old ,Why he might have even married a Moslem.

[menelik]

When Hacham Obadya Yosef, said "they have no God..", he was not refering to 'blacks'...That's completely absurd. He was refering to the idiotic level of American society in general.That's what caused the tragedy of thousands of deaths, sheer idiocy and mismanagement. And i think, judging the level of the debate here in this very site, he was not far from the truth. You guys seem to thrive on divisive half truths, and sensationalist discourse. You love bad news, and shallow scandalous claims.Very American. As an African Hebrew man, i must say that you are disapointing. In the begining, i kind of liked your approach, but after a while, i got tired of your Mickey Mouse Disney Land Burger King mentality. New Orleans is a tragedy for us all. To change it into another opportunity for American sensationalist propaganda just shows that you are not coming from the heart, but are just trying to get attention to your site by any means necessary. You are just like the ones you accuse.

[rebeljew]

When he said "Blacks will learn Torah?" and implies that flooding them is a good thing, he is most definitely referring to blacks.

It is rather face drainingly shocking, considering how the Ashkenazim treated his constituents for 50+ years for their dark skin color.

[Rowan Berkeley]

an african hebrew man called menelik, sounds like one of those pseudo reggae songs they keep playing on galei zahal.

[Yoss'l]

"It is rather face drainingly shocking, considering how the Ashkenazim treated his constituents for 50+ years for their dark skin color. "

oh , they have ?! how come nobody admitted that before ? if that was the only thing he achieved -an admission- I guess he would be right to say Dayenu !

[no name]

Anyone who speaks negatively about the Rabbi, without ever having read any of his books, really cannot be taken seriously because they do not know his mind. Suffice to say, he is probably the greatest thinker in the world today. Go challenge his remarks by searching for his proofs,see what he means and try to understand his words before jumping to conclusions.

[jack]

Read my words: BULL SHIT!!!

Why on earth do you believe anything that is posted on this website. The Talmud tells us "Pesi maamin l'chol davar" - only a folo, believes everything. Espeecially, all the crap that this bloger ever poss, zero percent is ever unfabricated. Every article ever posted on this site, since its inception is pure bull shit fabrication just to slander pious jews. Ever heard of hitler\??? Ever heard of scott??? They have the very same agendas, all in the name of humanity... Read my words BULL SHIT!!!!

The only things you v=can ever see on this website is bull shit. Might as well look inside youyr toilet bowl. This fucker named shmarya is full of shit, i'd love to meet him ain a dark alley in minnesota some day. Anyway, enjoy it...... or just go to the toilet.

[Herman Douchebag]

Well that's not exactly true Jack-Rabbid Youseff did say what has been reported here-and I don't see any what in interret his remarks that read them word for word-he blames the hurricane on Americans an Blacks. who deserve it. Sounds like Jerry Fallwell-As a matter of fact there is not much diffeence between the two-the both believe in a mythical god living in the sky who loves us all but does terrible things to us for not following his rules. If there really is a God why did he design the Girrafe and hippotamous and why is there aids?

[Kiara Jackson]

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef suffers from an ailment called growing old and parinoid. This happens to people of the old ways. They cannot adapt to the new age.

[MoDo]

This is a bunch of bull. It is not the Jewish people who think the blacks have no God, but the Moslem people who believe that the blacks cannot go to heaven. Moslems believe they are the only ones who can go to heaven & a few Jews who were before Jesus came. Also, it is the Moslems so have enslaved blacks since the creation of their religion. The word for blacks in Arabic means slave.