School apologizes for burning New Testament

BEIT SHEMESH (December 25) - The organization that administers Orot school in Beit Shemesh issued an apology yesterday for publicly burning a copy of the New Testament a student received from Christian missionaries.

"Everybody knows we made a mistake," said Jordana Klein, spokeswoman for Sha'alei Torah. "We wouldn't do it again. We don't think it's the right thing to do."

The book-burning took place in the school courtyard the week before Hanukka, after a teacher in the boys' school found that one of his sixth-grade students had brought in a Hebrew copy of the New Testament.

The student received it from local missionaries who, according to Klein, have been active in proselytizing Beit Shemesh children.

"The teacher said: 'God sent it and He gave us the privilege, and we'll be able to burn the New Testament," said Ariel Lesnick, 11, who is in the class.

The teacher consulted with the principal, Rabbi Yair Bachar, said Klein. After receiving approval, the teacher - whose name Klein refused to divulge - took his class outside.

Then, Lesnick said, "We took a few sticks and we burnt it." The teacher emphasized that the book-burning was an anti-missionary activity and not an anti-Christian one, Lesnick said.

After receiving calls from angry parents, Bachar reconsidered the decision, which Klein described as "too hasty." He consulted rabbinic authorities on the issue and decided to appoint Rabbi David Spector - rabbi of the Givat Sharet neighborhood of Beit Shemesh - as a permanent rabbinic decision-maker for the school.

Spector ruled that missionary material should be burned, but it is the sole responsibility of the owner to burn it and the burning should take place in private.

"It was appropriate to burn the New Testament in private," wrote Spector in his ruling. He cited traditional and modern rabbis, including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who wrote that he had burned missionary texts, which he called "books of incitement and brainwashing." Such burning is permissible even if the texts include the name of God, Spector said.

The teacher said that if missionary material were found in the school again, it would be thrown into the garbage rather than publicly burned, said Lesnick.

The Education Ministry was not aware of the incident, said spokeswoman Orit Reuveni.

"In principle, the ministry condemns book-burning as an educational act," she said. "We are not aware of this incident, but we will investigate the matter in depth."

Wayne Firestone, director of the Anti-Defamation League here, said the apology is a positive reaction to the school's "inappropriate" decision.

"The issue of conversion obviously is a sensitive one, and school officials are entitled to make requirements to try to protect their students from inappropriate materials entering the school," he said.

"At the same time, the symbolic and actual imagery of burning any books is really an inappropriate reaction to any offensive material. We're encouraged to hear that the school has issued an apology, and we hope that from the apology, they can send a better message to their own students about tolerance of other religions."

Since the burning, Bachar has addressed teachers, parents, and students - particularly the sixth-grade class - about the issue. He emphasized that the school is not against Christians but against Christian attempts to convert Jews, said Klein. The school is also planning programs to increase tolerance, she said.

The student who brought the New Testament in is not the only one missionaries have targeted. After the book-burning, one of the other students in the class said missionaries came to his home and hung a crucifix behind the mezuza, said Lesnick. The family told the missionary they didn't want the crucifix and returned it, he said.

"We obviously have a missionary problem," said Klein. "We weren't even aware of how big a problem it is in our school."

The students that missionaries approach are generally among the native Israelis and immigrants who make up about 40 percent of the student body and tend to live in old Beit Shemesh, said Klein. That section is poorer than the newer section populated mostly by Anglos, who comprise 60 percent of the student body.

The Anglo-Israeli divide may have contributed to a difference in the approach to burning the New Testament. Lesnick, whose family immigrated from New Jersey four years ago, saw that distinction among the boys in his class. "The Israelis thought it was the right thing to do, but for the Americans, you're used to seeing [non-Jews] every day, and you don't do that to somebody that's just a little different than you," he said.

His father, Marc, also noted the difference nationality may have made in the decision. The teacher, he said, is an Israeli who has never left the country. But as an American, he said, "This is not the type of education I want my kids to have. In America, they let you practice your religion, you let them practice their religion, and you kind of coexist."

Book-burning may also invoke different images for Anglos than for Israelis. "The idea of burning in general in our minds has to do with Kristallnacht and the KKK and so on," he said.

But once he brought the issue to the attention of the school, said Marc Lesnick, it "very quickly took the matter really seriously and dealt with it properly afterward."

Lesnick found out about the burning when Ariel came home from school. "My son got home from school that night, and he actually said to me, 'Dad, you know what we did today? Well, we burned the New Testament.' I said, 'You're joking,'" said Lesnick.

He discussed it with the teacher, and a few days later Bachar came to his home to talk about the incident. Lesnick is glad that they have told him they would "definitely not do this again."

Rev. Ray Lockhart, director of the Jerusalem-based Israel Trust of the Anglican Church, said burning the New Testament so publicly was "going over the top somewhat." Lockhart, whose organization focuses on ministry to the Jews, added that it's preferable to get a signed statement from parents before giving Christian scriptures to a minor.

"Clearly no Jewish person would want to see the Tanah being burnt, and would feel that whoever did it, it was an affront to their beliefs," he said.

But the school's apology, said Lockhart, mitigates the offense. "I think it shows that it's sometimes good to have second thoughts, and to recognize that we can all make mistakes in the way we make a response off the cuff without really thinking through all the implications."

You have a culture of Middle Eastern bazaar traders, LOL! I've known quite a few Jewish "refugees", like yourself. You are called "Russian" in Israel and America.

Right. Because we are russian speakers.

Yeah, right, with Arab-looking semitic faces.

Oh, wonderful. Finally! An anti semite who admits that Jews is an ethnicity and not just a religion. We are getting somewhere.

A Jew complaining to a newspaper because they used a Christian reference in an article is not putting gun to someone's head, it's complaining and trying to force others not to use what Jews find offensive.

He merely suggested it. He didn't threaten boycott did he?

I also note, your total inability to use any logic in an argument, but rather stubbornly deny everything like a donkey. You have a different culture alright :-)

Great. Accusing me of what you have been doing all along. Through out the argument you went on a bunch of irrelevant tangents.. Everything from brighton beach to atheist Jews somehow pushing for a certain Jewish religious agenda? You can put 2 and 2 together, but somewhow you don't get 4.

Another example of your incorrect generalizations. Muslim republics were the first ones from where the Jews ran away. Let alone Chechnya, for example.

That's the last decade. I am talking about even before that. Through the last decade the region is going through turmoil because of the saudi money that are coming in to spread wahhabism. As for Chechnya.. Interestingly, you have Jewish human rights people trying to protect Chechens (which angers many russians, and myself as well). Then you have Maskhadov and Basayev spewing all kinds of anti semitic material. And then you have some russian spewing anti semitic material while claiming that Jews are the ones causing the Chechen conflict "making" muslims and christians fight each other. As for Jews running from Chechnya, they ran with the russians, when Chechens began to conduct their genocide against non chechens. You know this. Or are you going to claim that Chechens have legitimate beef with Jews and that's why the ran, while Russians were left alone to live in peace? Is this your claim?

I thought about replying to all your "points", but then changed my mind after realization that you aren't able to respond in any logical way or acknowledge anything even totally obvious. I do respond to all the points. You don't.. I already asked you twice if you believed the protocols of Zion to be true or not. This is the third time. You are too ignorant for someone from the Soviet Union, but then "refugees" didn't need any brain to emigrate.

So how did you get to live in USA? Piggybacked on a Jewish relative?

This is nothing more than a bunch of arrogant Jews who are sure Jesus is not the Messiah.

*SHRUG* As opposed to arrogant Christians who are sure that Jesus IS the Messiah? :)

There is no way for me to become a Jew. At the essential heart of the matter, then, there is no way for me ever truly to be equal in the eyes of God.

How can that be true? Its not. The opposite is true. According to Christianity, non Christians are not equals in the eyes of God. One absolutely has to become a Christians in order to achieve salvation. Judaism how ever doesn't emphasize the afterlife, etc. What we do here on earch is what's really important. As for "chosen", you have a common misconception.

"Chosen" doesn't mean "privileged" or "entitled." It refers to a unique covenant that you have with G-d. This is responsibility. For example. Gentiles have to follow the 10 commandments, while Jews had to follow something like 600+ (half of which had to do with the Temple that was destroyed and therefore can't be excersised any longer).

He merely suggested it.

You are dense. He COMPLAINED. He acted to enforce his view of how it should be done. And in the polically-correct atmosphere of today, they will feel compelled to accomodate the reader.

I suggest that you drop the Odessa habit of playing dumb. It may have worked there.

He merely suggested it.

You are dense. He COMPLAINED. He acted to enforce his view of how it should be done. And in the polically-correct atmosphere of today, they will feel compelled to accomodate the reader.

I am not going to speculate as to how long you are in USA. But obviously you are still not used to democracy. When people have suggestions they make their voice heard. If you want to term it "complaining" that's fine. I guess the usage would be like this (according to you) the majority of electorate votes "complained" against Gore, and Bush was elected.

I suggest that you drop the Odessa habit of playing dumb. It may have worked there.

Actually, I thought you were the one playing dumb. But the fact that you have insulted me a number of times on this thread proves that facts are actually getting to you.

That's the last decade. I am talking about even before that... Then you have Maskhadov and Basayev spewing all kinds of anti semitic material

Of course, in your mind they came out of nowhere. Muslims magically transformed from Jew-loving to Jew-hating. Because someone told you so.

I doubt the objectivity of all your statements, that's all. He said, she said kind of statements.

So how did you get to live in USA? Piggybacked on a Jewish relative?

Unlike you, I immigrated here on my merits.

Right. Didn't one of your merited relatives kill Cosby's son? You work in a russian food store for $3 an hour, or what?

Of course, in your mind they came out of nowhere. Muslims magically transformed from Jew-loving to Jew-hating. Because someone told you so.

You know pretty well that the whole conflit there if fueled by foreign muslim money. Please explain the hate Chechens have for your fellow russians, or did that come of nowhere?

I doubt the objectivity of all your statements, that's all. He said, she said kind of statements.

Not at all. I give you facts, you are the one dancing around about brighton beach, kolbasa, adidas pants + leather jackets.

Finally!

I don't remember ever wondering about definition what's a Jew, or whether "Elders of Zion" is a forgery. Those are just irrelevant questions to me. My opinion on those questions is pretty much the common one.

You are just acting out your prejudices asking those dumb questions. I simply don't care.

I think that question is very relavant. And the fact that you won't answer it, makes it even more relevant.

You are just acting out your prejudices asking those dumb questions. I simply don't care.

Hey, bud, you cared enough to mention kolbasa, brighton beach, leather jackets, etc.

I give you facts

If you do, then only in your mind. That is Odessa-conditioned mind.

Have the nerve accusing me of going on tangentials, while engaging in a typical Odessa bazaar conversation.

You have tried to distort and misrepresent the events in the article, and then have been playing dumb on the subject of a letter where a Jew in no uncertain terms compares using Christian references to a "smack in the face", representing it as an innocent "suggestion".

Hey, maybe in the "Russian" mafia gang you are running with, it's just a suggestion, with a gun to the head coming much later. LOL!

I think that question is very relavant. And the fact that you won't answer it, makes it even more relevant.

Stoopid, I already answered it. My opinion on those questions is pretty much the common one.

Hey, bud, you cared enough to mention kolbasa, brighton beach, leather jackets, etc.

Kolbasa, brighton beach and leather jackets are very relevant, because that's the typical environment of an Odessa Jewish "refugee".

You know pretty well that the whole conflit there if fueled by foreign muslim money. Please explain the hate Chechens have for your fellow russians, or did that come of nowhere?

It existed BEFORE. Just like their anti-semitism did. And from reading their web sites, I hope you get an idea of the extent of their dislike for the Jews.

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