The Silent Holocaust in Israel ({Israeli} Abortionists kill more children than terrorists)

I recently took a walk in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and noticed posters prominently displayed all over the streets: "STOP The Silent Holocaust — 2,000,000 children destroyed by abortion in Israel." The signs were posted by EFRAT-C.R.I.B, an Israeli-based group that works to prevent Jewish families in Israel from aborting their children. The poster listed major Rabbis as sponsors.

I was shocked by the enormity of this number—two million Jews over the last 55 years, murdered by their own parents—could such a thing really be true, could so many Jewish mothers have murdered so many of their own children? A little research confirmed the horrible statistic.

At the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, Dr. Baruch Levy, the official representative of the State of Israel, stated: "…according to a law of the Knesset, passed in 1977, abortions are legal when performed in authorized medical institutions and approved by special abortion committees. The overwhelming majority of requests for legal abortions are, in fact, approved for health and CERTAIN SOCIAL REASONS [emphasis mine]."

How does this work out in practice? Well, to take a fairly typical example, in 1999, 20,581 women submitted applications to the abortion committees. Of this number 18,785 (96%) were approved. The committees approved almost every application that was submitted. The only reason that all 100% of the applications were not approved is that the religious parties in Israel managed to forbid abortions based on economic reasons alone.

Commenting on a videotape that was sent to 350,000 homes in Israel by EFRAT-C.R.I.B. in 2001, Health Minister Nissim Dahan (Shas) stated: "I received the impression that…the abortion committees approve terminations of pregnancy without sufficient thought."

In his worldwide survey of abortion rates, William Robert Johnson gives the incredible statistic that total REPORTED abortions in Israel, from 1979 thru 2002 (23 years) were 411,000. This figure means that about 13% of Israeli children are murdered in the womb each year. Additionally, he cautions that these are only the official figures—the unreported figures may be double the reported amount (or 822,000). In the 55 years since the founding of the State of Israel, we could project a figure of about two million abortions.

Should we be surprised that the sword has been unleashed against our people in the Holy Land?

Our continued silence on this issue makes us vulnerable, chas vesholom, to the punishments of hunger, plague, and the sword prophesized in the Zohar Hakodosh.

Now that Rosh Hashana (the New Year) is here, it is time for us to do Teshuva (repent) on this horrible crime in G-D’s Holy Land. If we truly want to end the sacrifice of Jewish blood of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land of Israel, we must cry out to the heavens, loudly and clearly, against this shedding of innocent blood.

Only then will we be entitled to say "Yodeinu lo shofchu es hadam hazeh" (Our hands have not shed this innocent blood).

For reference:

Abortion in Israel: Terms of Termination

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A 1977 law ensures a low-cost, and in some cases free, legal abortion to any woman who fills one of four criteria:

She is under 18 or over 40 (cost to those in between: 1,500 shekels [$370]).

She is carrying a fetus with a serious mental or physical defect (free).

She claims that the fetus results from forbidden relations such as rape or incest (free) or, in the case of a married woman, that the baby is not her husband's (not free). Single women also fall under this clause, and they too must pay.

She shows that by continuing the pregnancy, her physical or mental health would be damaged (free).

In 1980, a fifth criterion that allowed abortions for women living in economic hardship was abolished due to pressure from religious political parties.

A woman who seeks to terminate a pregnancy must appear before one of the 41 abortion committees operating in public and private hospitals around the country. These committees include a physician whose field of expertise is obstetrics and gynecology; another physician who is either a family doctor, psychiatrist, internist or gynecologist and a social worker. At least one woman must be present on each committee.

Six separate committees consider requests for termination when a fetus is beyond 24 weeks old. No hospitals in Jerusalem, however, will perform these abortions.

In 1999, 19,674 applications out of 20,581 were approved (96%) and 18,785 pregnancies were terminated. In addition, 16,000 abortions were illegally performed in private doctors' clinics.

"... and not ONE Orthodox rabbi threatening to perform a second circumcision on him for saying that.."

You are wrong.

Jewish Court Excommunicates Lieberman
CNSNews.com
Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2000
A rabbinical court in Brooklyn, N.Y., has taken the unusual step of excommunicating Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat vice presidential nominee.

The New York Torah Court stated that he caused grave scandal for the Jewish religion because "while claiming to be an observant Jew, Lieberman has been misrepresenting and falsifying to the American people the teachings of the Torah against partial birth infanticide, against special privileges and preferential treatment for flaunting homosexuals, and against religious intermarriage of Jews."

Rabbi Joseph Friedman, a spokesman for the rabbinical court, said in a statement that Lieberman has "flagrantly violated our sacred Torah by his Senate votes upholding partial birth infanticide and legitimizing homosexuality, which abnormal and unhealthy behavior the Torah strongly condemns as sinful and immoral."

"Mr. Lieberman, moreover, has, in violation of the Torah, supported harmful gender integration in the U.S. Armed Forces ? in the barracks, on naval warships, and in combat training ? all of which weakens and demoralizes our armed forces," he added.

Friedman stated that there were historical precedents for rabbinical excommunication of public figures as well as private individuals. However, those precedents have been few and far between. In 1945, Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan was excommunicated for grave violations of the Torah. That excommunication was reported in the New York Times and other newspapers and publications.

Friedman was traveling abroad Monday and not available for comment.

A beth din is composed of three Talmudists who may convene to consider sanctions when there is a question about how a person has conducted himself in regard to Jewish teachings.

Decisions from a beth din are not based on secular law, but rather the interpretation of Jewish teachings. A beth din, which means "house of judgment,'' may consider matters including divorce, financial disputes and other questions of Jewish law.

"In former times, when there was more of an organized hierarchy, there were different cities that would have their own beth din," said Rabbi Yehuda Levin of New York, who estimated the beth din''s ruling represents "tens of thousands of Jews in Brooklyn and other parts of the country," and perhaps as many as 150,000 Orthodox Jews.

"There are special issues where rabbis get together and convene a beth din," said Levin, who was not one of the three rabbis convening the New York beth din. "This would be more of the kind that was convened for this purpose."

Levin is a spokesman for the group Jews for Morality, which has been critical of Lieberman and some of his policies as they relate to Orthodox Judaism.

The Gore-Lieberman 2000 Campaign Headquarters' press office in Nashville had no immediate response to the excommunication.

'Very Uncommon'

"Excommunication is very uncommon," said Levin. "While it's not an everyday occurrence, it certainly does happen that a beth din will find that a person is in a state of disfavor in the Jewish community."

Although the decision represents the opinion of the rabbis who convened the beth din and the Jews they speak for, it does not necessarily mean Lieberman will be unwelcome in other Orthodox Jewish synagogues.

Not all Orthodox Jews concur with the ruling by the New York beth din. Rabbi Gavriel Cohen, who serves on the rabbinical court in Los Angeles, said he felt the decision was too harsh.

"It''s overdoing it a little bit," said Cohen, who suggested Lieberman stick to politics and not delve into matters of faith.

"He''s a nice person, but he should not answer religious questions."

Cohen agreed that excommunication was rare among Jews, citing a recent action by a beth din in Israel as something that may have provided some of the impetus for the New York beth din's move.

"It''s not common, it's something that just happened in Israel about three or four weeks ago, and it's still in the air," said Cohen.

But others thought the New York beth din decision was appropriate.

"Joe Lieberman has brought this excommunication upon himself by flatly trying to say that orthodoxy is one way when orthodoxy is the opposite direction of what he said it was," said the Rev. Lou Sheldon with the Christian lobbying group Traditional Values Coalition.

"The partial-birth abortion issue is a bread-and-butter, life-or-death issue to Orthodox Jews," said Sheldon. "Creation and procreation are vital to the Orthodox Jewish belief system."

There is an article about the Jewish view of Abortion at the Orthodox Union website, http://www.ou.org/torah/haber/abortion.htm

The Orthodox Union is the normative Orthodox organization in the US.

The article begins by stating that it is merely a compendium of information and that any personal questions should be discussed with a qualified rabbi.

The article seems to say the following:

(a)The Torah itself states that causing a miscarriage is not the equivalent of murder.

(b)According to the Mishnah, an "embryotomy" can be performed if a woman's life is going to be endangered by the birth process.

(c) The fetus becomes a human being once most of it, or its head, has emerged (because it is then considered to be another person). Until then, it is considered to be part of the mother (like a limb).

(d) According to all authorities, if the mother's life is at stake because of childbearing, then "there is no question that an abortion must take place". This apparently stems from the Jewish law that if someone is coming to kill you, then you are supposed to kill them first.

(e) The future welfare of the child (i.e., how hard its life will be because of disease, birth defects, etc.) is not a consideration in the Jewish view of abortion, because humans can't determine the type of life that an unborn child may have. The exception is a fetus without a brain.

(f) However, the welfare of the mother may be considered, and if she will be destroyed psychologically by having a severely malformed child then the issue becomes more complicated.

(g) Some authorities believe that an abortion may be permitted in cases of "extreme hardship" to the mother. There is a lot of discussion of what constitutes "extreme hardship". In particular, if the mother's psychological welfare is a concern but is treatable with therapy or drugs, then this may be a better option than abortion. In addition, if extreme abnormalities and birth defects of the child will severely affect the quality of life of the parents then abortion may be permitted.

(h) There is rabbinical acceptance of the idea of terminating a pregnancy within 72 hours of conception by using a drug.

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