[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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!

[Pylon]

Ping

[HiTech RedNeck]

Sister Mary Boys, a professor at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, who was part of an ad hoc group that was asked to read an early screenplay, publicly warned that it could inflame anti-Semitism. The result? Sister Boys said that not only was Gibson furious

If Gibson is "furious" about such remarks, he must be blowing his stack off 24/7. Methinks Boys exaggerates....

[Cicero]

It ought to be possible for a Jew to understand the Passion, even if he didn't agree that Jesus is the Messiah.

Isaiah's Suffering Servant is very much in line with it. And so is Psalm 22. One theory is that Jesus was reciting Psalm 22 on the Cross, and that two of his Last Words were quoted from it:


1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
8 "He trusts in the LORD ;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.
10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

19 But you, O LORD , be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
23 You who fear the LORD , praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him-
may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD ,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn-
for he has done it.

[ultima ratio]

This is sheer paranoia. The Jewish outcry began a year ago--with the help of a handful of far left Catholic scholars--and it has not abated. To expect that Christians would not feel put upon, would not object, would not feel outrage at the arrogance of this bunch, is beyond belief. This rabbi really thinks HE'S the persecuted one--he takes no responsibility whatsoever for the contempt he shows for Gibson's right to make whatever kind of film he wanted to make, nor for the audience who appreciates what Gibson has done. Nor does he see anything anti-Christian in his perspective whatsoever--he only sees an imagined hostility toward himself that, if it exists at all, was initiated in the first place by those he admires.

[Outraged]

"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.

I guess this guy is a "reformed" Jew. He must ignore Psalm 53 that fortells a Messiah who very much suffers like an everyman.

But the real truth is people like this are anti-Gentile and still holding fast to their "we are the chosen people" (and you are not) superiority...Yes, they are the anti-Christ and often tend to vote for liberalism at every satanic opportunity.

[sarasmom]

Pardon my pseudo-Pagan take on Judeao/Christian theologic differences...
The Christians are the descendants or adherrants of former "Jews" who believe Jesus Christ was the promised messiah, and current Jews, are those who still await his first coming, while Christians await his second coming, to prove to the current Jews that the first coming was really the promised messiah, but untill those still faithfully Jewish recognise the messiah, in the first or second coming of the messiah, God is going to allow evil to reign free over all of mankind.
Ask the Rabbi if I have the gist of the theological arguments down pat.
Now lets add in what Buddha, Kali, Vishtu, and the Sacred Spirit of the Buffalo believers add to the conversation, and debate in earnest the fight of good versus evil.
The "Passion" is a beautifull and powerfull film about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.If you can watch the film, and not cry or be deeply moved, you need serious professional mental help.
God blessed Mel Gibson.
Believe or not, this movie portrays Jesus Christ in a way that is truly holy.

[Fenris6]

"What makes the dispute so unnerving, though, is the surfacing hatred that threatens to overwhelm any dialogue"

Exactly. So please shut up and quit whining. No one blames the Jews except a handful of loonies. I guess when Gibson does "The fall of rome" the Italians will bitch for any blame associated with Christians being fed to the lions? Hardly. The more Jews moan and rant about themselves, the more I lean toward contempt. Its frickin history - set in a Jewish community. BTW - the Preists had influence over Pilate and Rome, as evidenced by their petitions and appeals to Rome later on. So knock off of the PCBS about Jews not being responsible for the crucufixion of their own kind. One would think you are *inviting* more persecution... cause it makes you feel victimized and special. Get over it, move on, everyone else has.

[goodnesswins]

Here's what I say to his ramblings.....BLECH