Posted on 10/23/2010 7:00:47 PM PDT by BlackVeil
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli Sephardic leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in his weekly Saturday night sermon said that non-Jews exist to serve Jews.
“Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world; only to serve the People of Israel,” he said during a public discussion of what kind of work non-Jews are allowed to perform on Shabbat.
"Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat," he said to some laughter.
Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas Party and the former chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel, also said that the lives of non-Jews are protected in order to prevent financial loss to Jews.
"With gentiles, it will be like any person: They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant. That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew,” said the rabbi, who recently turned 90.
An audio recording of some of the rabbi's remarks was broadcast on Israel's Channel 10.
The American Jewish Committee condemned the rabbi's remarks in a statement issued Monday.
"Rabbi Yosef’s remarks -- suggesting outrageously that Jewish scripture asserts non-Jews exist to serve Jews -- are abhorrent and an offense to human dignity and human equality,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "Judaism first taught the world that all individuals are created in the divine image, which helped form the basis of our moral code. A rabbi should be the first, not the last, to reflect that bedrock teaching of our tradition."
“Frankly, I really don’t think they do all that well on the “study Torah” front either”
No, they don’t. They major in the minors, all hat and no cattle, all flash and no dance, to use my book of American idioms.
Care to give a citation for this?
As a Molecular Biologists I am interested in knowing how it would be “impossible”.
According to modern biology all human beings are related through common descent. Moreover, we are, as a species, not very diverse. Two humans on opposite sides of the world are more similar in DNA to each other than two monkeys of the same species are to similar to each other that live on opposite sides of a river.
As an occasional resident of the nutty margins, I have had reason to wonder if we might be better off with other than the present two-party system. A glance at other countries (usually the UK) is enough to put a hold on such thoughts.
Thank you so much for your helpful “inside information.” Airing dirty laundry in public is humbling, but such honesty enhances the overall reputation of your community.
Maybe my knowledge of the Shas party is weak, but (and correct me if I’m wrong) is not the Shas party dominated by Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel, the same Orthodox groups who think all their sons should become Rabbis, or at least study religion like Rabbis and that they should be exempt from military service in the IDF?
If that is correct, maybe Rabbi Ovadia Yosef also believes that some Jews are born for no other purpose - in G-d’s will and design - than to serve other Jews.
“Shas party dominated by Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel”
More narrowly, dominated by Orthodox Mizrahi Jewish groups (Sephardi Jews from muslim countries.)
“the same Orthodox groups who think all their sons should become Rabbis, or at least study religion like Rabbis”
Pretty much. Big into subsidized yeshivas.
“and that they should be exempt from military service in the IDF?”
Yes (although there are moves to have Haredi in IDF, and they make great troops).
“maybe Rabbi Ovadia Yosef also believes that some Jews are born for no other purpose - in G-d’s will and design - than to serve other Jews.”
That is his exact point. The Shas folks are unrepentant Israeli welfare queens, and proud of it.
Thank you for posting this. Yours is without a doubt the most constructive post in the thread.
Regarding your individual points:
1) I think I read about this group a couple of years ago, specifically with reference to their pacifism within an embattled nation, at the very time some of their words and actions were quite inflammatory towards their government, other Israelis, and the Arabs. They put me in mind of the American Westboro Baptist Church, if it is the same outfit.
2) My extra energy goes into the back and forth struggle to not hate certain elements of the American populace. So this is not my watch, fortunately. I have more than I can competently handle, as it is.
3) Yet another tail wagging the dog then? A common feature in American politics too.
4) Gotcha. The rejection by other organizations was noted, btw.
5) Ugh. One of those. Somewhat cult like then?
6) I am not familiar with the details of this doctrine, but certainly do see the analogy with Levites. A large number of Evangelicals certainly accept the idea that there is a continuing, unique covenant relationship between God and the seed of Abraham. The substance and continuity of this covenant is subject to debate within the broad Christian community, of course.
Ah.....*Liberals*! ;)
“Ah.....*Liberals*! ;)”
More like big government welfare social conservatives.
Mike Huckabee on steroids.
They want to force down on the country the Jewish equivalent of Blue Laws, down to dress code. Funny, I follow their dress code, but do so voluntarily, out of respect and desire to follow the Torah. If G-d’s law becomes civil law, suddenly I’d have a huge desire to buck it, like a seat belt law or something.
“That is his exact point. The Shas folks are unrepentant Israeli welfare queens, and proud of it.”
I sort of expected that was the case (my instinct), but I leave the truth of it to those who know all the facts better than I.
“That is his exact point. The Shas folks are unrepentant Israeli welfare queens, and proud of it.”
Does SOME of that sentiment also come to the Shas members, because they are predominately Sephardic and they (maybe??) think the Ashkenazim have “taken over” the economy (or at least gained the most economically), since Israel became an independent state??
You don’t live in the U.S., do you? Because your description fits the far Left in the U.S. to a tee.
“4. This shmuck is NOT a respected rabbi in Israel. Citing him for authority would be like citing the Reverand Jesse Jackson or Reverand Jerimiah Wright for views on Protestant Christianity.”
I kind of got that impression, but still, anti-semites don’t tend to be very scrupulous in mentioning facts like that when they seize upon these kind of quotes to demonize all Jews. The hardcore nazis are already set in their beliefs of course, but they can use stuff like this to try and convince gullible people to come around to their way of thinking. That’s why it’s so unfortunate that there are schmucks like this guy willing to give them the ammo they’re looking for.
” How anti-Semites think Cain’s line survived the Flood without being universal is left unexplained by them.”
One way I’ve seen them try to explain it is by saying that the Cainites were considered just another set of animals that were stowed on the Ark, two by two. Go figure!
“Does SOME of that sentiment also come to the Shas members, because they are predominately Sephardic and they (maybe??) think the Ashkenazim have “taken over” the economy (or at least gained the most economically), since Israel became an independent state??”
There is some of that. The Shas actually broke from a Haredi political party largely because it was dominated by Ashkenazi, and they (the Shas) wanted a “more authentic” Middle Eastern culture for Israel. A lot of Druze, interestintly enough, vote for the Shas, for this reason.
“You don’t live in the U.S., do you? Because your description fits the far Left in the U.S. to a tee.”
The one contrast is the Shas are welfare queens but also extreme social conservatives, and wish the civil authority to impose Torah standards on the citizenry. I think a more apt comparison would be Mike Huckabee on steroids.
Regarding myself, I am an accidental American citizen. I was born and raised in Israel, but both of my parents are US citizens. I consider myself Israeli, except when people pick on the USA, and then I am a US citizen.
I do temporaily live in the USA for reasons related to my inlaws.
But the fact is, that the Left in the U.S. wants to impose an ideology every bit as totalitarian, and putting themselves at the top of the pyramid, as sole arbiters of what is “right and moral”, and demanding that others support their pharoitic lifestyles. Of course, what they decide as what is “right and moral” is whatever they decide by fiat, and only applies to others, and not to themselves.
A perfect example of it, is the “New Rules” repeating Skit on Mahers ‘Real Time’ show, These typr of scum, always think they have the right to make rules for everyone else, while trying to claim that they are the ones protecting othet peoples rights.
The Left if the I.S. is infested with intolerant fascist anal retentive control freaks and wanna-be Stalins.
Yeah, they claim non-"Aryans" aren't even human beings. Then they get mad at the Jews for believing "goyim are animals" (which they don't)! I believe that's called "projection."
Again, that too was just my instinct, and it brings up a point that an author has made in a recent book “A World Without Islam” by Graham Fuller.
Given his political bias (he seems to be an entrenched Marxist, in spite of over 25 years as a CIA intelligence analyst), in his book HE DOES present a lot of details about Middle East history in the modern era, and earlier.
(His political worldview comes through in his analysis if the history he reports on and that insures I am not trying to promote his book - he often sounds like an unreformed Pravda political operative).
However, his primary thesis is that even if Islam had never arisen, culture alone would have presented points of tension and even possible conflict, between “the west” and the Middle East. I think there are SOME threads of truth in that idea. Whether or not that idea has the primacy of importance today, that he gives it today, I am not well informed enough to comment on.
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