Posted on 02/25/2007 3:17:21 PM PST by Alouette
Chabad rabbi argues that visit intended to garner political gains
Chaim Levinson Published: 02.25.07, 21:58 / Israel Culture
A recent request by socialist Venezuelean President Hugo Chávez to pay an official visit to a Chabad synagogue in Caracas was rejected.
The Chabad official news site posted an article saying that Rabbi Moshe Ferman, the chief Chabad envoy to Venezuela, had rejected the president's request arguing that it was aimed at garnering political gains in light of the West's revulsion of him.
Chavez who has been in office since 1999, allied with Saddam Hussein at the time, befriended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad , and has even paid them personal visits.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has accused him of anti-Semitism after in one of his speeches he accused the Jews of crucifying Jesus and of holding the entire world's capital.
Since 2002, when he accused the Israeli Mossad of an attempted coup in his country, the Jewish community is fearful of his conduct.
The Jewish community in Venezuela, one of the oldest in Latin America, comprises a population of 25,300 (some 60 percent are from Ashkenazi descent, and the remainder is Sephardic.) The large Jewish communities reside in the cities of Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia and Maracay.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Rejection is better than accomodation as the end result will sadly be the same.
When's he going to nationalize the Churchs?
Good!
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noch einmal - GOOD!
Indeed. They're brave people. I live in Florida, and it's filling up with Venezuelans getting out while the time is right.
Way to Go, Rabbi!!!
Backbone.
If the Rabbi isn't lucky then he and his family might have a most unfortunate accident
He'll be really REALLY lucky if that is all Chavez does to him! Somehow, I anticipate a lot worse than that from Hugo, considering the company he keeps. (Jimmy Carter, the Iranian anti-semite whose name I will not even attempt to misspell, etc.)
He will be deported quietly when the publicity dies down.
The last time I heard about this kind of backbone against tyranny and anti-Semitism was when Rudy Guiliani alone refused to meet with Arafat when the latter visited New York City, when other socalled leaders were wining and dining the modern day Hitler. Kudos to this rabbi refusing to receive one who would kill him and his people. What an appropriate story as Jews approach Purim and the reading of the book of Esther and its story of Mordechai, who likewise would now bow to one bent upon killing him and his people.
Typo - would NOT bow down.
What an appropriate story as Jews approach Purim and the reading of the book of Esther and its story of Mordechai, who likewise would NOT bow to one bent upon killing him and his people.
Well done Chabad!
Yasher koach! Well done!
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