The Passion Aftermath (Leftist Rabbi SLAMS Mel and His Passion - [interesting read though])

AISH.COM ^ | March 1, 2004 | Rabbi Benjamin Blech

[gobucks]

At the end of the day, "The Passion" doesn't connect with Jews because we reject the very notion that God can be tortured, can scream out in pain and can die.

Now, this outlook sounds very, very familiar. Anyone take a guess about who else 'rejects' a God willing to suffer for his children?

... a film that has already achieved not only unparalleled press but also a veritable cult following ...

Well, I guess I belong to a cult now. Didn't think I did, but the Rabbi thinks so. Oh yes, I exposed my 3 teens to 'pornography', as he puts it, as well. Ok, guilty. Mel, thanks for the chance to break 'the rules'.

In 1988, the Vatican published Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion, with a list of nine points that any future depictions of Passion Plays are to use as guides. Gibson's movie ignores every one of them.

Well, to Mel I say, good move. Otherwise it would have ended up being a movie about a Catholic Church's holiday that only leftists would approve of. Mel, of course, is guilty all right. Guilty of not obeying 'the rules'.

This Rabbi is looney, but its the first purely Rabbi review I know of. Figured Freepers everywhere would be interested.

Time to go say bed time prayers....and this protestant evangelical will say thank you God again for Mel's artwork.

[HiTech RedNeck]

In 1988, the Vatican published Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion, with a list of nine points that any future depictions of Passion Plays are to use as guides. Gibson's movie ignores every one of them.

Because it isn't a Roman Catholic Church sponsored work. It's Mel Gibson's personal testimony about the Passion.

[HiTech RedNeck]

"From my understanding," [Ernest Hemingway] told me, "Judaism, unlike the Christianity in which I was raised, is a religion of life, not a religion of death."

Guess good old Ernie never pondered the blood sacrifice portions of the Old Testament, about which a similar complaint could be lodged.

[gaspar]

Blech, the author of "If God Is Good Why Is the World So Bad", viusalizes the Author of the universe as a sort of basketball referee who often gets things wrong. This hipster approach to theology I'm sure meets with the approval of his left wing buddies and suspect theologians like Sister Mary Boys (the obligatory lefty trotted out by equally left rabbis). Surely, he could have treated the movie honestly by saying he was a prejudiced individual and prepared to dislike it from the moment he entered the theater.

[jwalburg]

There does seem to be a stark contrast in reactions to the film. Those who see Jesus as God suffering for His creation, see all the ironies throughout the film, and those who see Jesus only as a man, see it as a cruel film, God being cruel to humans, and that seems wrong. It is a rich, moving film when you see Jesus as divine.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I simply said I was appalled by the violence.

I wonder what this self-important, smarmy, blathering dolt thought about the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan".

[BobS]

"Many years ago I met with Ernest Hemingway. In a remarkably frank conversation, the Pulitzer Prize winner confessed to me that there was something about Judaism that he admired more than any other religion. "From my understanding," he told me, "Judaism, unlike the Christianity in which I was raised, is a religion of life, not a religion of death."

Then he should go somewhere Hemingway stayed for a while. Go to Pamplona, Spain for the Running of the Bulls. It was a rural town at the time. The folks were as pleasant then as they are now. His novel was called "The Sun Also Rises". Since Hemingway respected their festival, they built a statue of him and planted a tree behind him. The tree is very tall now and people cross the large street to still place flowers in front of him and children sit on him. An island of peace in the middle of a busy street.

If this conversation is accurate, both Hemingway and the Jewish guy missed the message respect has over time.

[jwalsh07]

Very good. You put into a very few words what many have failed miserably to explain using thousands of words.

[Warlord David]

This Jew and Ernest Hemingway did not understand Christianity. As Jesus clearly pointed out to save your life, will cost you your life. And to lose your life is to save it. So now the Jews say their religion is about life but in saying this they loose it. They say christianity is about death. And as a christian I embrace death(in Christ) that I might keep my life. To bad the Jews never figure that one out.

[gusopol3]

When he ran into a woman at the theater who said exactly what he wanted her to say, I began to smell a little Jason Blair in the story; not surprising, then, that he has run into Ernest Hemingway somewhere along the way, who also confirmed his wisdom in a most succinct way. BTW, I thought Hemingway would never use subordinate clauses.

[CalifornianConservative]

Christianity IS Jewish.

God just "moved on" from the archaic ways of worshiping Him in the Old Testament.

God "moved on" by sending His Son, the promised Messiah, to once and for all take unto Himself all of our sins by dying in our place on the cross.

This is why Yom Kippor is, today, a meaningless ritual to God. (Because the Temple curtain in the Holiest of Holies ripped when Jesus died -- as Mel Gibson portrayed.)

From a purely pragmatic point of view, Christianity is more inclusive form of Judaism because you don't have to live in proximity to Jerusalem to properly sacrifice each year your first born lamb or goat.

God provided a sacrifice once and for all in Jesus, the "lamb of God".

THE PASSION isn't a celebration of death, this movie is a celebration of seeing the price paid for us -- so we all can live the abundant life God promises.

[narses]

How can an American society that becomes frantic at the momentary sight of a breast at the Super Bowl be so indifferent to the 90-minute display of unimaginable cruelty?

[HiTech RedNeck]

And it paints Jesus as divine, so why do the secular viewers miss the plot of the film even if they don't personally agree with real life Christian doctrine. If they think it's fiction why don't they at least follow how the character is developed?
There is a resurrection - he's whole again. What kind of mere mortal character would ever be portrayed doing that? They sound like they have flunked Classic Literature Appreciation 101.

[jwalburg]

Thanks. AFter reading about 30 reviews on FR, and some so totally opposite to others, I decided I'd go see the thing after all and try to figure out why the reviews were so divergent. That's all I can come up with.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Blech, the author of "If God Is Good Why Is the World So Bad",

I had to go back and look at the author to realize that "Blech" isn't an expletive here :-]

[GulliverSwift]

You're correct. His post is virtually perfect as a summation of why liberals and non-Christians hate the movie.

[Snuffington]

Jewish critics of "The Passion" have to be careful, as some have correctly pointed out, not to edit Christian doctrine.

"Not to edit" is too mildly phrased. How about not to ridicule? That is perhaps wiser.

I think we know why that's not Rabbi Blech's advice. Because he seems to relish his ridicule of Christian doctrine. Both in his attempts to marginalize Mr. Gibson's view of his faith (news for you Rabbi - Mel is far from alone in his views, and by mocking those views you're not exactly building bridges), and in his crude statements like,

"...it is violence in the misplaced service of veneration and love; it is the message of Jesus summarized not by the teachings of his life but by the horrors of his death."

That's pretty core Christian stuff, and has been so for a couple of millenia now. The fact that the Rabbi sneers at it and lectures us that this is not actually our faith is false, condescending, and bigoted all at once.

Let me venture to say the world would respond a lot less positively to a movie based on an artistic vision that sprang from this mocking, sneering little man's mind than they have to that of Mr. Gibson.

Like many if not most of the negative reaction to this film, Rabbi Blech's problem is that he rejects Christianity on such a fundamental level that he is almost blind to his visceral hatred. But believe me Rabbi, it shows.

[freebilly]

Many years ago I met with Ernest Hemingway. In a remarkably frank conversation, the Pulitzer Prize winner confessed to me that there was something about Judaism that he admired more than any other religion. "From my understanding," he told me, "Judaism, unlike the Christianity in which I was raised, is a religion of life, not a religion of death."

Did he say this before or after he blew his brains out...?

[Sabertooth]

And then I understood. How is it possible for so many to witness graphic images that ensure nightmares -- and happily bring their children along with them? How can an American society that becomes frantic at the momentary sight of a breast at the Super Bowl be so indifferent to the 90-minute display of unimaginable cruelty?

When Rabbi Blech presumes that Christians, who don't react as he did to the scourging Jesus underwent in our stead, are indifferent to His suffering, he is fooling himself to say "And then I understood."

[VOA]

...not only was Gibson furious but since the group made those criticisms, she and other
members have been attacked by supporters of the movie as "anti-Christ, the arrogant
gang of so-called scholars, dupes of Satan, forces of Satan and other terms that
I cannot use in polite company."

LOL! As this involves Union Theological...I'd say, if the appellations fit, these
weasels should wear 'em!