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Jewish group slams Polish religious rite as anti-Semitic
Middle East Times ^ | April 27, 2006

Posted on 04/27/2006 11:21:15 AM PDT by lizol

Jewish group slams Polish religious rite as anti-Semitic

April 27, 2006

WARSAW -- A Jewish rights group on Wednesday protested to the Polish government over an Easter ritual held at a famous Roman Catholic sanctuary in southern Poland, claiming that the ceremony was tainted by anti-Semitism.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Polish foreign minister Stefan Meller to discipline organizers of the Stations of the Cross ceremony at Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a site to be visited by Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to Poland in May.

Shimon Samuels, director for International Relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which tracks down Nazi war criminals and fights anti-Semitism, urged Poland "to take measures to discipline the organizers in order to ensure that this anti-Semitic desecration is never repeated".

Samuels protested against costumes worn by people taking part in the ritual, which he said were "Jewish stereotypes in garb, beards and Stars of David".

The Kalwaria Zebrzydowska sanctuary hosted its annual Stations of the Cross ceremony on Good Friday, April 14, a ritual that involves scenes depicting the Passion of Christ.

The procession draws tens of thousands of the faithful. This year it was presided over by the Archbishop of Krakow, Stanislaw Dziwisz.

"This ceremony contravenes Polish responsibility to combat anti-Semitism under its obligation to the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE]," Samuels said in a statement.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska was a favorite site of Polish-born Pope John Paul II, where he came to pray as a child and that he visited during pilgrimages to his homeland.

John Paul's successor Pope Benedict XVI is to visit the sanctuary on May 27 during his four-day trip to Poland.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antipolonism; antisemitism; catholic; jewish; jews; kalwaria; passion; poland; religion
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To: SJackson

>>There's a long European tradition of associating Jews with the devil and Judiasm with devil worship, frequently allied with various blood libels. Horns on Jews in Passion Plays are nothing new, I believe Oberammergau kept the tradition up until the 1980s. IMO to think this represents some insight into the dress of the time rather than the millenia long canard of Jews as devil worshippers is naive.<<

I'm Polish and Catholic. From this picture, if I were in charge, I would tell Stash to lose the horns and Star of David on those charaters.


41 posted on 04/27/2006 2:04:21 PM PDT by netmilsmom (To attack one section of Christianity in this day and age, is to waste time.)
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To: tfecw

What, so Mel Gibson wouldn't back down, so now they are going to go after the Poles?


42 posted on 04/27/2006 2:06:40 PM PDT by SAMS (Nobody loves a soldier until the enemy is at the gate; Army Wife & Marine Mom)
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To: Cinnamon Girl

Looks like you discovered "antisemitism". Two guys with "horns"... Way to go.


43 posted on 04/27/2006 2:08:07 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: SJackson
>>>>>>IMO to think this represents some insight into the dress of the time rather than the millenia long canard of Jews as devil worshippers is naive.

To think that the complaint by the Simon Wiesenthal Center has anything to do with any legitimate concern, as opposed to exciting its donor base, is naive.

44 posted on 04/27/2006 2:08:48 PM PDT by Thorin ("I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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To: Thorin; Grzegorz 246
Yup, devil worshipping Jews. Not surprised to see some hop on board.

You can save the bandwidth of a reply to this blood drinking devil worshipper, you opinion is of little interest.

45 posted on 04/27/2006 2:10:10 PM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do!)
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To: Cinnamon Girl

"I don't think Jews with stars and horns on their heads were there"

How do you know that ?


46 posted on 04/27/2006 2:11:07 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: lizol

Actually, if you read literature by Jewish groups such as this, say by Ellie Wiessel, the gospels ARE called anti-Semitic.

When a group makes their very definition anything BUT following Jesus (as is a modern definition of being Jewish) it's their own history they have a problem with.


47 posted on 04/27/2006 2:13:12 PM PDT by AnalogReigns
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To: netmilsmom

Star of David didn't exist until about the 17th century. In the first century AD they would have been out of place simply because they didn't exist.


48 posted on 04/27/2006 2:15:00 PM PDT by PJ-Comix (Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List for the FUNNIEST Blog on the Web)
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To: SJackson

"Just a move back to traditional values."

Are you going to explain this one ? Or will you stay on the usual level of "stealth" anti-Christianity, xenophobia and anti-Polonism ?


49 posted on 04/27/2006 2:16:09 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: SJackson

Mel and Hutton would approve.


50 posted on 04/27/2006 2:19:56 PM PDT by veronica ("A person needs a sense of mission like the air he breathes...")
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To: SJackson; Grzegorz 246
>>>>>>You can save the bandwidth of a reply to this blood drinking devil worshipper, you opinion is of little interest.

And I have little interest in the opinion of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its hangers on with respect to Poland and Poles. Their Polonophobia is an tiresome as it is predictable.

And the hysteria over Passion Plays is thinly disguised Christophobia, nothing more. The documented history of violence stemming from Passion Plays is scanty, to say the least. There has never been any documented case of violence stemming from the Oberammergau Passion Play, for instance.

51 posted on 04/27/2006 2:20:30 PM PDT by Thorin ("I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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To: SJackson
"You can save the bandwidth of a reply to this blood drinking devil worshipper, you opinion is of little interest."

What's up Jackson ? Do your hateful posts really make you feel better ?

BTW I wonder what Mr Shimon Samuels, director for International Relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center think about Polish nuns in Jerusalem being attacked every day by Jewish fanatics.
52 posted on 04/27/2006 2:23:05 PM PDT by Grzegorz 246
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To: Grzegorz 246
"Just a move back to traditional values."...Are you going to explain this one ? Or will you stay on the usual level of "stealth" anti-Christianity, xenophobia and anti-Polonism ?

It's not stealth anything, it's right in front of your face in post 31 for anyone to read. The tradition of horns on Jews in Passion Plays is an old one, being droopped by Oberammergau only two decades ago. As is the tradition of Jews as devil worshippers and Jews as consumers of the blood of Christian Children.

In fact you seem to suggest that, in fact, Jews at the Crucifixion did have horns.

"I don't think Jews with stars and horns on their heads were there"

Grzegorz 246: How do you know that ?

If holding “Christians” who hold those beliefs is contempt, or anti-Christian, so be it.

53 posted on 04/27/2006 2:23:19 PM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do!)
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To: Grzegorz 246
BTW I wonder what Mr Shimon Samuels, director for International Relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center think about Polish nuns in Jerusalem being attacked every day by Jewish fanatics.

I sure he loves it. Wants to be there to smack a nun himself I suspcect.

Why not crawl back under your rock now.

54 posted on 04/27/2006 2:24:25 PM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do!)
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To: Thorin
And the hysteria over Passion Plays is thinly disguised Christophobia, nothing more. The documented history of violence stemming from Passion Plays is scanty, to say the least. There has never been any documented case of violence stemming from the Oberammergau Passion Play, for instance.

A damn good reason to put the horns back on the Jews, I agree.

55 posted on 04/27/2006 2:25:43 PM PDT by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn’t do!)
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To: PJ-Comix
Star of David didn't exist until about the 17th century. In the first century AD they would have been out of place simply because they didn't exist.

Really? How do you explain the following?

From Star of David

The Shield of David is not mentioned in ancient rabbinic literature. Notably, not a single archeological proof exists as yet concerning the use of this symbol in the Holy Land in ancient times, even after King David. Scientists say, that it probably was not a widely recognized symbol in the Israel of the Second Temple era. A supposed David's shield however has recently been noted on a Jewish tombstone at Taranto, in Southern Italy, which may date as early as the third century CE.

The earliest Jewish literary source which mentions it, the Eshkol ha-Kofer of the Karaite Judah Hadassi (middle of the 12th century CE), says, in ch. 242: "Seven names of angels precede the mezuzah: Michael, Gabriel, etc. ... Tetragrammaton protect thee! And likewise the sign called 'David's shield' is placed beside the name of each angel." It was, therefore, at this time a sign on amulets.

56 posted on 04/27/2006 2:25:59 PM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sancte Joseph, terror daemonum, ora pro nobis!)
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To: SJackson

You argue like a liberal.


57 posted on 04/27/2006 2:27:36 PM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sancte Joseph, terror daemonum, ora pro nobis!)
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To: Grzegorz 246
CG: "I don't think Jews with stars and horns on their heads were there"

How do you know that ?

So you really think that it is incorrect to state with absolute certainty that Jews do not and have never had horns on their heads?

58 posted on 04/27/2006 2:28:08 PM PDT by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 140-144)
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To: Alouette; Grzegorz 246

Tim the Enchanter is portrayed wearing horns. I guess that means he is devilish as well.
59 posted on 04/27/2006 2:30:07 PM PDT by Pyro7480 (Sancte Joseph, terror daemonum, ora pro nobis!)
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To: ZULU
I agree with what you say. And something else: old rituals, from the days when "Passion Plays" in Europe were frequently followed by riots against Jews, could have (and I emphasize: only could) some residual anti-Semitic streak.

And so what?!

First of all, only spoiled brats expect everyone just to adore them. And infantile adults, of course...

Secondly, even if a ritual or some people beliefs are offensive to one, I strongly oppose any appeals to authorities for "disciplining" the culprits.

Politically correct totalitarianism is still totalitarianism.

Just for reference: I am a Jew and a believer in G-d.

60 posted on 04/27/2006 2:31:20 PM PDT by Neophyte (Nazis, Communists, Islamists... what the heck is the difference?)
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