mordechaianiliewicz
Member
So, a few days ago was the Jewish festival of Purim. For those of you who don't know, it is the story of the book of Esther. In the Bible, it describes Esther becoming the Queen of Persia, keeping her religion and heritage secret. Having an attempted genocide against all the Jews, a man named Mordechai arming and getting a law passed that allowed the Jews to attack those who planned to kill them, and finally, executing the instigator of this attempt, an advisor to the king named Haman, and his ten sons. (well, that's the short of the story).
In our modern day, this story has inspired a Jewish "carnival" type holiday, relatively minor in the list of holidays we celebrate.
Anyway, I give you this info, because in talking to the Rabbi at my Synagogue he gave the opinion that the lesson to learn in this story is for Jews to be much more forgiving of those that try to hurt us. To him, executing Haman and his sons was overkill along with the preemptive strike the Jews made on those that tried to kill them.
This is not the first time I've heard incredibly stupid stuff come out of his mouth. My jaw dropped when he gave this opinion. I told him that this is the example that should have been followed when Hitler was getting in power.
When I said that Jews in Europe should have been armed to prevent the Holocaust, and that no Jew from now on should ever be without a weapon, we had a heated disagreement to say the least.
I know some of you here are Jewish, and frankly this is not only for you, but I want everyone's imput. What should I do?
To me, this man spit in the face of not only the victims of shoah, but of the victims of virtually every genocide attempt ever leveled against Jews. This would be like a black man advocating a return of black slavery.
Part of me wants to find a new Temple, and tell the Rabbi exactly what I think and that I'll never enter the Temple again. But, I also want to be nicer, if you will. Basically, should I chalk this up to high emotional content discussion, and try to present my beliefs again, and say to him, "Here is what I believe. You don't have to believe the same, but you're ancestors were in the Holocaust, I'm sure you can understand."
Or, do I send the nasty letter, and try to find a new Synagogue?
In our modern day, this story has inspired a Jewish "carnival" type holiday, relatively minor in the list of holidays we celebrate.
Anyway, I give you this info, because in talking to the Rabbi at my Synagogue he gave the opinion that the lesson to learn in this story is for Jews to be much more forgiving of those that try to hurt us. To him, executing Haman and his sons was overkill along with the preemptive strike the Jews made on those that tried to kill them.
This is not the first time I've heard incredibly stupid stuff come out of his mouth. My jaw dropped when he gave this opinion. I told him that this is the example that should have been followed when Hitler was getting in power.
When I said that Jews in Europe should have been armed to prevent the Holocaust, and that no Jew from now on should ever be without a weapon, we had a heated disagreement to say the least.
I know some of you here are Jewish, and frankly this is not only for you, but I want everyone's imput. What should I do?
To me, this man spit in the face of not only the victims of shoah, but of the victims of virtually every genocide attempt ever leveled against Jews. This would be like a black man advocating a return of black slavery.
Part of me wants to find a new Temple, and tell the Rabbi exactly what I think and that I'll never enter the Temple again. But, I also want to be nicer, if you will. Basically, should I chalk this up to high emotional content discussion, and try to present my beliefs again, and say to him, "Here is what I believe. You don't have to believe the same, but you're ancestors were in the Holocaust, I'm sure you can understand."
Or, do I send the nasty letter, and try to find a new Synagogue?
