Posted on 08/05/2006 2:06:47 PM PDT by Hal1950
The Talmud famously says that a man is known in three ways. What he says when he is drunk, what he says when he is angry, and what he spends his money on. On all three counts, it appears that Mel Gibson has sadly shown his true colours.
Upon getting arrested for drunk driving, in his inebriated state, he allegedly said something to the effect that "f---ing Jews are responsible for all the world's wars." In his anger, he asked the arresting deputy if he himself was Jewish. And, of course, he spent $25 million (U.S.) of his own money arguing that the Jews killed Jesus. Well, there you have it. Drink, anger, and money all lead Gibson to alleged acts of anti-Semitism.
Those of us who strongly opposed The Passion of the Christ as defamatory of Jews should feel no sense of vindication now that Gibson has shown what he really thinks of Jews. On the contrary, this story is a tragedy all around. Who would have thought that in Hollywood of all places there could be personalities so filled with Jew-hatred? The tragedy is compounded by the fact that Gibson largely established his career in the role of a white detective who has the warmest possible relationship with his black partner in the Lethal Weapon movies. Turns out that all along good ol' Mel was a bigot.
Not that we should have been all that surprised, given the Holocaust-denying remarks Mel's father has always made publicly, with Mel saying in his defence, "My father never lied to me."
Still, there are a number of things to be learned from this sad event. First, all those who defended The Passion of the Christ as a benign movie about the death of Jesus ought to do some real soul-searching. This defamatory movie repeated the oldest and most destructive lie ever told, that the Jews killed god. Millions of Jews throughout history have been murdered over this lie. And yet, when a modern movie appeared portraying the Jews as bloodthirsty and desperate to see a dead Jesus, it became one of the biggest box office successes of all time.
Worse, so many of our evangelical brothers and sisters promoted the movie as a modern Christian triumph. Churches that normally love and support Israel rushed to show the movie to their flocks, as if doing so were a sacrament. They defended Gibson especially as having made a film that promoted Christianity rather than defamed Jews.
I hope that they will now reconsider their attitude toward the film and stop showing it at churches, as it perpetuates the stereotype of Jews as perfidious Judases.
Likewise, I especially hope that the many Jewish conservatives who defended Gibson and even heavily promoted the movie will rethink their support.
I debated many of my colleagues on television, including my friends Michael Medved and Rabbi Daniel Lapin. I hope they, too, will now reconsider their inexplicable action of highlighting a film that was a grotesque distortion of the true historical record of how Jesus died. I do not write these lines to gloat or say "I told you so."
I have deep respect for both Medved and Lapin and have probably been wrong about far more things than they. Rather, I write this because the idea that committed Jews could have become defenders of Gibson's big-screen hate fest was always a shock and caused a deep and unnecessary division in the Jewish community.
However, Mel Gibson has now twice apologized, and I am a great believer in apologies. So his apologies ought to be accepted, even though he was not courageous enough to apologize to the Jewish community directly. For those who would say that his apology was not even sincere, I would answer that apologies should not be examined as to their sincerity. Rather, if a man apologizes, he should be taken at his word.
I honestly hope that Gibson will find the healing that his body needs from alcoholism and that his soul needs from bigotry. I honestly hold no ill will toward him. He is clearly a troubled man. Why someone that successful would need to hate a whole group for no reason is something that we will probably never understand. And I pity him, just as I pity any man whose inexplicable hatred compromises his humanity.
Having said this, it is proper that Gibson's apology be coupled with action. He should make it up to the Jewish community by re-releasing The Passion of the Christ with an important disclaimer at the very beginning of the film detailing the undisputed historical fact that the Romans killed Jesus, and that any of the Jewish leadership, like Caiaphas the High Priest, who called for Jesus' death were all in the employ of Rome, and indeed served as the Roman police enforcers in Judea.
Because claiming to love Jesus and simultaneously hating Jews are deeply contradictory, since Jesus was not a Catholic or a Christian, but a Jew.
Finally, a word to Gibson: I have long been impressed by your devotion to your father, especially since he appears to have a screw loose. Even so, you stuck by him. But the Commandment that instructs us to honour our parents does not mean that we ought to honour their bigotry. On the contrary, we honour our parents by becoming better people than they and righting their wrongs.
Rabbi Boteach is a talk show host, the author of 15 books and a syndicated columnist.
Maybe I'm a little slow or something. But how or why, would Jesus not be considered a Christian, when he claimed to be the Christ, which is where todays Christianity comes from?????
Wouldn't that be like saying L.Ron Hubbard isn't a scientologist? Or MOhammed isn't a muslim? Or Bill Clinton isn't a sexual predator?
"At worst, he'll sit in the cooler for a couple of months"
LOL! What planet are you from? A Hollywood elite spending months in jail? For this? The time that he spent having his mug shot taken is going to be the limit for him.....just wait & watch. Even a DUI conviction won't matter. I am sure whatever Atty. I.M Weasel he gets will find someway for him to be in jail with any commmon riff-raff.
Because he did not come to found a religion, but fufill Gods promise to man. It became a religion when the Jews outrightly rejected him as the Messiah.
The bottom line is that there's nothing Gibson can so or do to make some people change their mind now about him. That's just life. I hope to God he doesn't start making Jewish movies. But wasn't he going to make a movie about MASADA?
I didn't see your answer for this, the third thing. Does that mean he has to pay?
Certainly not Planet Hollywood.
Rabbi Boteach, can you understand this?
______________________________________________
Mar 15:1 And straightway in the morning the chief priests (Jews)held a consultation with the elders and scribes (Jews)and the whole council(Jews), and bound Jesus, and carried [him] away, and delivered [him] to Pilate.
Mar 15:2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest [it].
Mar 15:3 And the chief priests (Jews)accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
Mar 15:4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.
Mar 15:5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
Mar 15:6 ¶ Now at [that] feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
Mar 15:7 And there was [one] named Barabbas, [which lay] bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
Mar 15:8 And the multitude (Jews) crying aloud began to desire [him to do] as he had ever done unto them.
Mar 15:9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:10 For he knew that the chief priests (Jews) had delivered him for envy.
Mar 15:11 But the chief priests (Jews) moved the people (Jews), that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
Mar 15:12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do [unto him] whom ye call the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:13 And they (Jews) cried out again, Crucify him.
Mar 15:14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they (Jews) cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
Mar 15:15 And [so] Pilate, willing to content the people (Jews), released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged [him], to be crucified )by Roman soldiers.
But since prophesy not only heralded his coming as Messiah, it also foretold his being rejected and his death. It also tells of his triumphant return. Which to me says he foreknew the outcome, which would mean he actually did come to found "a religion".
God, I am so tired of this crap.
MEGA Dittos!
That is starting to make two of us.
Right here on FR, one can find folks calling cultural conservatives Christian Taliban.
I'm offended. I want apologies.
I want sensitivity training.
What Gibson said was wrong and offensive to anyone reasonable but enough is enough.
Especially the hypocrisy.
Hmmmmm?? How come nobody is demanding the same retribution from Hillary for her, "F'ing Jew Bastard" comment ..??
This always there....this little rub. Damned shame.
Because Hitlery did not make a flick that drove secular Jewish (and otherwise) libs mad as hornets.....including some moderate FReepers too....Goyim as well.
I think it's more simple than that. The drive-by wanted an opportunity to pay Gibson back for having such a successful movie.
Yes the Hypocripsy is astounding isn't it?
Actually, what is today known as the CFR was born in England in 1868 as the Royal Colonial Institute to preserve the longevity of the ruling class. In l891
Englishman multi-millionaire Cecil Rhodes formed a semisecret society under a trust to further the holdings of the British Empire. Earlier he used his money to federate the English speaking and inhabitable countries under their control. In 1909-1913 they had established Round Table Groups in England and in the United States. These continue today in eight countries. In 1919 they founded the Royal Institute for International Affairs, today called the Council on Foreign Relations, which, as you say, was organized in New York on July 29, 1921. The CFR is the evolved body peopled with the globalist elite, which began 1868, and is still in full power today.
I think this is more information than most people required, so shortened it to just the CFR.
It's as plain as the nose on his face .. to me.
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