"Racism Originated In The Torah," Haredi Rabbi Says

"Racism originated in the Torah," said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. "The land of Israel is designated for the people of Israel. This is what the Holy One Blessed Be He intended and that is what the [sage] Rashi interpreted."

Top rabbis move to forbid renting homes to Arabs, say 'Israel belongs to Jews'
Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to the ruling, which comes just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews.
By Chaim Levinson • Ha’aretz

A number of leading rabbis who signed on to a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles – a move particularly aimed against Arabs – defended their decision on Tuesday with the declaration that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews.

Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to the ruling, which comes just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews.

Signatories include the chief rabbis of Ramat Hasharon, Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Rishon Letzion, Carmiel, Gadera, Afula, Nahariya, Herzliya, Nahariya and Pardes Hannah, among a number of other cities.

"We don't need to help Arabs set down roots in Israel," Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of the Beit El settlement, said on Tuesday. Aviner explained that he supported the move for two reasons: one, a Jew looking for an apartment should get preference over a gentile; and two, to keep the growing Arab population from settling too deeply.

"Racism originated in the Torah," said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. "The land of Israel is designated for the people of Israel. This is what the Holy One Blessed Be He intended and that is what the [sage] Rashi interpreted."

He added that he did not see the move as racist so much as segregationist. "The world is so big and the State of Israel is small, that God intended it for the people of Israel and the whole world covets it. That is the injustice."

Upon news of the religious ruling, Meretz faction whip Ilan Ghilon immediately asked the attorney general to dismiss each of the rabbis who had signed their names.

"We are witnessing an epidemic of racism and xenophobia and we must act firmly," he said.

Deputy Knesset chairman MK Ahmed Tibi decried the letter as a "mass crime [committed] by a group of racist rabbis who should be given intensive course in Jewish history."

The entire group should be tried for "incitement to racism," added Tibi, "Muslim clerics have recently been tried or fired from their jobs for much less but the rabbis are able to pursue their unruly behavior without concern.

Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav termed the ruling the "real desecration of God's name. It is bringing hatred against those with whom we have chosen to live our lives."

Nazareth Mayor Ramiz Jaraisy also decried the moving, declaring that "whoever thinks it damages one side is mistaken. We are all children of the land. Both nations must search for common ground and not bring about escalation."

In their ruling, the rabbis called on the religious community to voice support Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who could face trial for incitement against Arabs for initiating the move against renting to gentiles.

Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman has also asked Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to begin the process of suspending Eliyahu immediately from his post as municipal rabbi.

Politicos from the national religious sector believe that the mass of prominent figures who signed on to the ruling – all of whose salaries are paid by public funds - will send a message to the attorney general to take Eliyahu's position seriously.

The rabbis' letter prompted by Eliyahu, which was first published months ago and reprinted in October, urges Jewish owners of apartments to reconsider renting their properties to Arabs since it would deflate the value of their homes as well as those in the neighborhood.

"Their way of life is different than that of Jews," the letter stated. "Among [the gentiles] are those who are bitter and hateful toward us and who meddle into our lives to the point where they are a danger."

The rabbis also urge neighbors of anyone renting or selling property to Arabs to caution that person. After delivering the warning, the neighbor is then encouraged to issue notices to the general public and inform the community.

"The neighbors and acquaintances [of a Jew who sells or rents to an Arab] must distance themselves from the Jew, refrain from doing business with him, deny him the right to read from the Torah, and similarly [ostracize] him until he goes back on this harmful deed," the letter reads.

 

Comments

[MIkal W. Grass]

Oh Boy!!!!!! Not again. Can't these morons keep their mouths shut?

[effie]

The Torah says you can do all sorts of things that you can't do now because it is against the law. Do these people just pick and choose? Why not go whole hog? Oops! You know what I mean.

[Teddy]

What? The truth is that Israel covets our aerial fire fighting capabilities. He is correct about the ancient origins, if you ask me, but that is a good defense for the good old fashioned pogrom too.

"Not making Hitler seem to be a nice guy" should be added to the mitzvot, in my opinion.

[corn popper]

I would agree that it's dangerous to rent apartments to Arabs in Jewish neighborhoods - not to other gentiles.

[Aleksandr Sigalov]

I think its just about time to make a law in Israel, that would prevent renting or selling appartments to crazy, racist, deranged and self-righteous rabbis.

To evict them would be a good idea too...

If this signed statement is true, this is indeed the most unprecedented desecration of God's Name!!!

[Teddy]

Corn Popper, I do not see what the problem would be with a budhist from Qatar...

[ah-pee-chorus]

the statement continued:

we, the undersigned rabbis also demand an end to the discrimination that jews face around the world. we have become aware that some anti-semites are refusing to rent or sell housing to jews in certain areas.

[Menachem Mendel lll]

THIS FUCKER'S LASHON HARA KNOWS NO LIMITS

The Christians used the bible to justify the Inquisitions.

The Arabs use the Koran to justify Jihads.

The Chosen People, The Children Of Pogroms & Blood Libel, The Descendants Of The Holocaust have decided it is time to use the Torah justify their seething hate, prejudice, racist and bigotry of others.

[Alter Kocker]

MM III:
Bravo!
Are the memories of these so-called religious leaders so limited that they fail on all fronts to remember the Holocaust and the Pogroms and use Torah to justify re-creation of those affronts to humanity only this time as the perpetrator rather than the victim. Is this turn-about justified? The hunted now become the hunter?

Racists, Bigots is this the legacy that these rabbis want levelled on the Jewish people. What will happen when it turns in on ourselves? What will happen when the oppressors come back and use our actions to justify a new round to anti-semitism. Should we not lead by example rather than repeat the mistakes of the past? What will these rabbis say when their actions breed the Hitlers and Goebbels of the future?

[Aleksandr Sigalov]

Are the memories of these so-called religious leaders so limited ...
They are tzadiks, man! They are flawless and righteous in every wich way! Even their shit smells like flowers !!!
Everything they say is the word of GOD Himself!!! How dare you to question their magical powers !!!

lol

[OMG]

This is outrages; there is not enough words to deject these evil views. It is astonishing that after the Holocaust we have Jews who would be as racist as the average Nazi, where would it stop, ghettos, concentration camps, gas chambers. With the multiplication of rightwing Jewish religious views like flies on feces, I didn’t see anything good emanating from theses lowlifes.

[Zalman Alpert]

Hey are you people crazy - The Arabs in Israel have by and large shown themselves by their actions in times of stress and their words to hate Israel and its Jewish people. Jews or anyone else are under no obligation to support these people or live with them.Frankly they are a 5th column in Isreal and a danger to the lives of all Jews in Isreal.
If liberal israeli Jews wish to live in Arab neighborhoods fine the can move to Gaza or Nablus or repopulate the Jewish sections in Beirut and Damascus.
Israel was created as a Jewish state a place of refugee for the Jewish people.
Fascinating how all you people would probably jusstify not renting homes to charedim and Chassidim , but Arabs wow. Of course if you guys lived in Israel you would not live with them either.
As in the US all the Liberal Jews do not live in racially mixed areas like Crown heights or Washington Hts but prefer to preach racial equality from Lily white areas in Long Island, New Jersy and Westchester.

[Robert Wisler]

These Jews should not then bitch about the oppression and expulsion of Jews in the Arab lands such as Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran etc.

[ah-pee-chorus]

zalman- there is a huge difference between an individual deciding to live in an area he finds demographically pleasing, or deciding not to rent to a specific type of person as opposed to a group of rabbis who are state sponsored saying that it is assur al pi halacha to do so.
as far as your statement that israel was created as a jewish state, what relevance does that have to whether it is permissible to rent to non-jews? these non-jews are already in israel and some cases are citizens. your point would only be applicable if the discussion was related to who should be permitted entry to israel.

[ML]

I thought the land of Israel was given to the Israelites. The Jews? Not now, not never.

[Aleksandr Sigalov]

Hey are you people crazy - The Arabs in Israel have by and large shown themselves by their actions in times of stress and their words to hate Israel and its Jewish people.

There are "jews" and there are the Jews.
If you do not understand the difference between the two - its your problem.

Besides, I don't think anyone here talked about supporting Arabs.

[YbM]

"Racism Originated In The Torah," Haredi Rabbi Says

oh, yes. it was also consolidated in the tanya.
but tanya aside, it seems most if not all hareidis, lithuanians and chasidic take the commandment "lo tachonem" to be directed at all man kind except for most yids. but it is not the whole world that is our enemy.
I see them here in chevron north, walking around in the kosher super, and even in the shul frowning.
morning, afternoon and evening.
what do they teach them in school? i don't kow.
what about "heve meqabel et kol haadam besever panim yafot?" of course, they think "ein hem niqroeem adam"
what is it? are they aveilim on the churban? what is the frowning about?
to scare jews into doing tshuva? -'hocheackh tokhiach' me?
or are they out to scare the gentiles into leaving their place of work? or into accepting 7 mitzvos benei noyech?
savages, that's what they all are.

[A. Nuran]

As I said before, the Torah has been "corrected" and "clarified". The New Improved version reads:

Therefore oppress and persecute the stranger who dwells amongst you. For remember you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You lost precious time being the fuckee instead of the fucker and need to catch up. The Jew who dresses like a 17th Century anti-Semite shalt thou cherish. The rest of the world can be treated as spare parts.

[Menachem Mendel lll]

A. Nuran

Me likey :)

[nobody]

The most relevant point is: "The world is so big and the State of Israel is small,"

That point cannot possibly resonate with someone sitting on the sidelines in any other country who has no stake in the consequences of that fact, but it is the most relevant point to this discussion and "racism" has nothing to do with it.

Of course the 'clowns from afar' will cry out and beat their breasts over it because they would prefer that people living in Israel take up the same positions as if they were comfortably living on the western frontier of the united states with room for hundreds of millions of people and the native americans (those few remaining) safely ushered away onto plantations where national fervor is stifled and no threat at all. Under such circumstances, all the piety to western civilized liberal notions is quite easy to espouse loudly and proudly. But those conditions don't exist in Israel.

Maybe you don't believe in God so you think it's not the result of any divine plan, but the fact is still true that that reality exists whether you think it originates from God or not.

It's a national conflict and it doesn't end magically because you want the arabs to like you.

[Mr. Apikoros]

You know, "Nobody," I used to believe that it was the Palestinians who really didn't want peace, and that the conflict was entirely one-sided, with the Jews entirely in the right, and the Arabs entirely in the wrong.

After reading the vile crap posted by you and others who think just like you, I'm not so sure anymore.

[Bilaam's Ass]

What Torah are they muttering about? Silly me, the Lakewood, Telz, NIR, Berlin, Mir, Ponevez Kool-Aid, where we say what the Torah says, never mind what the Torah actually says...

Jeremiah 5:2 Although they say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,' still they are swearing falsely."

Exodus 23:9 "Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.

Leviticus 19:13 "'Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. "'Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.

Leviticus 19:33 "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.

Proverbs 28:22 A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him.

Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.

Leviticus 19:34 The alien living with you must be treated as one
of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 25:35 "'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.

Deuteronomy 1:16 And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien.

Deuteronomy 10:19 And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Deuteronomy 27:19 "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

Deuteronomy 23:7 Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country.

Deuteronomy 23:16 Let him live among you wherever he likes and in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.

Deuteronomy 27:19 "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

Psalm 146:9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he Frustrates the ways of the wicked.

Jeremiah 7:6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place..

Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Ezekiel 22:7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

Zechariah 7:10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'

Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.

Zechariah 7:10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'

Malachi 3:5 "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.

Proverbs 22:22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court,

Ezekiel 22:7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

[Gladys]

I have no problem with the rabbi. Hashem established two castes: (1) the upper caste (Jews) and (2) everyone else (goyim). Jews are to remain race pure and apart from the goyim and follow the mitzvot. Goyim are only expected to follow the Noachide laws. Goyim are not to study Torah on pain of death. Goyim are to go to the Jews for all interpretation regarding Hashem's will. This is why a San Hedrin for the Noachide has been created in Israel.

Jews are supposed to care for the goyim, yes, but there is a lesser standard of care: if the Jew would violate halacha by saving a goy on shabbos he is supposed to let the goy die, (unless he would be caught by the goyim, which would, of course put the Jewish people at risk).

This is all boilerplate Halacha. Law from the second temple almost. Law from way, way before Hitler. Why act like it something new?

[Eliezer]

Judaism IS racism and the difference between normative halacha (as mentioned by Gladys) and the Nuremburg Laws (as promulgated by the Nazis) is really only a matter of who it gets applied to.

[Philip Brett]

You can skip the article and just read the comments to see for yourself if Judaism is racist today.