by Sean Jobst
18 April 2019
While the world was watching the historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris burning in real time, some of the reactions from Israel amounted to celebration. Purveyors of a Haredi Jewish website and a leading rabbi of the Religious Zionist movement cited Jewish scriptures to justify gloating over this tragedy, citing both divine vengeance and laws against "idolatry".
Under the headline "Paris: Notre-Dame church which serves as a house of idol worship, goes up in flames," the Haredi website JDN on Monday night (15th April) greeted the burning as a divine retribution, citing a phrase from the Jewish liturgy "and evil in its entirety will go up like smoke", since "The fire that is raging in the Notre-Dame Cathedral reminds us of the burning of the Talmud which took place in front of the church in 1244."
This incident, which actually occurred in 1242, was culmination of the Disputation of Paris two years earlier, in which there was a public debate between Christian scholars led by the Franciscan Jewish convert Nicholas Donin, and leading Jewish scholars. The subject of debate were the specific anti-Christian and general anti-Gentile passages in the Talmud, especially those deemed blasphemous against Jesus and Mary. Rather than massacre Jews, the Christians reacted in a public burning of well over a thousand volumes of the Talmud - not realizing it was committed to memory by many Jewish sages and contained within other Jewish religious works.
The bonfire occurred in the Place de Grève (now called the Place de l'Hotel de Ville), within sight of the majestic Notre Dame cathedral, whose construction began in 1160 and completed by 1260. This 13th-century event has been cited by a French-born Orthodox Rabbi named Shlomo Aviner, who is considered one of the spiritual leaders of the Religious Zionist movement. Far from being merely a "radical rabbi", he holds influence as rabbi of the Bet El settlement on the West Bank and "Rosh Yeshiva" of the Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. His words are routinely printed in Israeli newspapers as worthy of consideration in religious matters.
He made the relevant comments on Wednesday (17th April) in a Q&A column on the website Srugim, in response to the question: "The great Christian Church in Paris is on fire. Should we feel sorry for that, or should we rejoice, as it is idolatry, which is a mitzvah to burn?" He first weighed the question of it being a divine vengeance by concluding it was "possible to say so" because: "Indeed, Christianity is a goddess disguised in the belief in unity [monotheism]. But working the father and his son together is idolatry. Christianity is our number one enemy throughout history. [They] tried to convert us by arguments and by force, carried out an inquisition against us, burned the Talmud, expulsions, pogroms. Western anti-Semitism draws from Christianity's hatred of the 'murderers of God.' It also had a role in the Holocaust."
These are all standard talking-points of various Jewish leaders, academics and rabbis, who see "anti-Semitism" as innate within European heritage and history, failing to introspectively ask themselves why Jews were expelled from 109 various countries of different ethnicities, languages and religions, if not perhaps the supremacist mentality and actions bred from the very Talmud whose burning he lamented. Rabbi Avineri continued his answer:
"The first great Talmud burning happened in Paris, right there at the Notre Dame Cathedral square. It was the result of the Paris trial in which Jewish sages were forced to debate Christian sages, and the result was the burning of the Talmud. Volumes of Talmud were brought in 20 carts and burned there, 1,200 Talmud volumes. So 'there is justice and there is a judge'.
"This isn't our job for now. There is no mitzvah to seek out churches abroad and burn them down. In our holy land, however, the issue is more complicated. Indeed, the Satmar Rebbe, in one of is arguments against returning to the land of Israel, wrote that there is a commandment here to burn churches, and the failure to do so is a transgression. Yet Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher, in his book 'The Great Period', rejected the Satmar Rebbe's words, citing a midrash, forbidding burning [churches] since if we burn, we'll have to rebuild, and it's a greater sin to rebuild [a church] than leave it standing. That church in Paris, too, will surely be rebuilt."
This last statement is especially significant, first because "this isn't our job, for now" is a nod to the messianic impulse, where its believed it will be achieved by their "moshiach" so that its now merely a question of timing. Second, that in lieu of this "moshiach" the State of Israel itself is regarded as the staging ground for such actions which might not be acceptable elsewhere, if for nothing else in the realm of Public Relations so as to not provoke outrage against Jews. Aviner only opposes burning a church or other Gentile religious site, although stressing its a different case within Israel, for fear it would then be rebuilt. But simply allowing those sites to fall into disrepair would absolve Jews from the possible "sin".
The Satmar Rebbe he cited as scion of an anti-Zionist branch of Haredi Judaism, but his words affirm something I have long believed: That far from being the "Torah-true" Jews they are passed off as, the ultra-Orthodox "anti-Zionist" Jews are just as Talmudic and their objections to Israel are a matter of timing. But if it was a matter of their "moshiach", they would completely accept all the actions and more of what Israel is doing. The specific words cited by Aviner suggest that Jews in the "Holy Land" would have more responsibility to eradicate all traces of the "idolatrous" Gentile places, so that rather than "sin" by not fulfilling such a responsibility they regarded it as better to simply wait until their "moshiach" appears to lead the way.
Aviner has deep connections in various segments of the Israeli state, as we can see from this section on his yeshiva's website: "Over the course of the Yeshiva's thirty years existence, the Yeshiva's approximately 2000 graduates have established themselves in a wide variety of professions fields. Dispersed throughout the country, these men now serve as heads of educational institutions, pre-military and other yeshivot, as senior IDF officers and in key security positions. Others are active in law, media, hi-tech, management and business."
These obviously include political and academic leaders; their including of "senior officers" learning under the teachings of this faithful servant of the Talmud who holds "idolatrous" Gentiles in such contempt, are worrying on so many levels. Also significant is the mention of business and hi-tech, given the growth of Israel as a primary factor in global cyber-security and other hi-tech firms, tied to their central role in the Chinese-inspired Silk Road/Belt Road Initiative and the push for a "multi-polar world" (a mere rhetorical buzzword to adding another dialectic pole to the Globalist order).
Clearly, the opinions of Aviner carry at least some weight and this is more so when we consider that in 2013, he confirmed that he had been sent to Iran on a mission for Mossad in 1979. He confirmed this in an interview for a religious website called "Kippah": "I received a phone call. 'Shlomo, we need you.'" According to the newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Mossad sent Aviner on a French passport using his aunt's "international chandelier business in France" as the cover to send information back to Israel. The cover was as a representative of the French Rabbinate to provide Iranian Jews with matzos for Passport. But what was the rabbi really up to? "By Way of Deception"....
Primary Sources:
1. "Radical rabbi says Notre Dame fire retribution for 13th-century Talmud burning"
2. "Haredi Media Highlights Medieval Burning of Talmud After Notre-Dame Fire"
3. "After Notre Dame fire, leading Israeli rabbi says ‘There is no mitzvah to [burn down] churches abroad. In our holy land, however, the issue is more complicated’"
18 April 2019
While the world was watching the historic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris burning in real time, some of the reactions from Israel amounted to celebration. Purveyors of a Haredi Jewish website and a leading rabbi of the Religious Zionist movement cited Jewish scriptures to justify gloating over this tragedy, citing both divine vengeance and laws against "idolatry".
Under the headline "Paris: Notre-Dame church which serves as a house of idol worship, goes up in flames," the Haredi website JDN on Monday night (15th April) greeted the burning as a divine retribution, citing a phrase from the Jewish liturgy "and evil in its entirety will go up like smoke", since "The fire that is raging in the Notre-Dame Cathedral reminds us of the burning of the Talmud which took place in front of the church in 1244."
 |
| Even to this day, many Jews lament this 13th-century event |
This incident, which actually occurred in 1242, was culmination of the Disputation of Paris two years earlier, in which there was a public debate between Christian scholars led by the Franciscan Jewish convert Nicholas Donin, and leading Jewish scholars. The subject of debate were the specific anti-Christian and general anti-Gentile passages in the Talmud, especially those deemed blasphemous against Jesus and Mary. Rather than massacre Jews, the Christians reacted in a public burning of well over a thousand volumes of the Talmud - not realizing it was committed to memory by many Jewish sages and contained within other Jewish religious works.
The bonfire occurred in the Place de Grève (now called the Place de l'Hotel de Ville), within sight of the majestic Notre Dame cathedral, whose construction began in 1160 and completed by 1260. This 13th-century event has been cited by a French-born Orthodox Rabbi named Shlomo Aviner, who is considered one of the spiritual leaders of the Religious Zionist movement. Far from being merely a "radical rabbi", he holds influence as rabbi of the Bet El settlement on the West Bank and "Rosh Yeshiva" of the Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. His words are routinely printed in Israeli newspapers as worthy of consideration in religious matters.
He made the relevant comments on Wednesday (17th April) in a Q&A column on the website Srugim, in response to the question: "The great Christian Church in Paris is on fire. Should we feel sorry for that, or should we rejoice, as it is idolatry, which is a mitzvah to burn?" He first weighed the question of it being a divine vengeance by concluding it was "possible to say so" because: "Indeed, Christianity is a goddess disguised in the belief in unity [monotheism]. But working the father and his son together is idolatry. Christianity is our number one enemy throughout history. [They] tried to convert us by arguments and by force, carried out an inquisition against us, burned the Talmud, expulsions, pogroms. Western anti-Semitism draws from Christianity's hatred of the 'murderers of God.' It also had a role in the Holocaust."
 |
| Screenshot of Aviner's statements, reproduced by Mondoweiss |
These are all standard talking-points of various Jewish leaders, academics and rabbis, who see "anti-Semitism" as innate within European heritage and history, failing to introspectively ask themselves why Jews were expelled from 109 various countries of different ethnicities, languages and religions, if not perhaps the supremacist mentality and actions bred from the very Talmud whose burning he lamented. Rabbi Avineri continued his answer:
"The first great Talmud burning happened in Paris, right there at the Notre Dame Cathedral square. It was the result of the Paris trial in which Jewish sages were forced to debate Christian sages, and the result was the burning of the Talmud. Volumes of Talmud were brought in 20 carts and burned there, 1,200 Talmud volumes. So 'there is justice and there is a judge'.
"This isn't our job for now. There is no mitzvah to seek out churches abroad and burn them down. In our holy land, however, the issue is more complicated. Indeed, the Satmar Rebbe, in one of is arguments against returning to the land of Israel, wrote that there is a commandment here to burn churches, and the failure to do so is a transgression. Yet Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher, in his book 'The Great Period', rejected the Satmar Rebbe's words, citing a midrash, forbidding burning [churches] since if we burn, we'll have to rebuild, and it's a greater sin to rebuild [a church] than leave it standing. That church in Paris, too, will surely be rebuilt."
 |
| Aviner |
This last statement is especially significant, first because "this isn't our job, for now" is a nod to the messianic impulse, where its believed it will be achieved by their "moshiach" so that its now merely a question of timing. Second, that in lieu of this "moshiach" the State of Israel itself is regarded as the staging ground for such actions which might not be acceptable elsewhere, if for nothing else in the realm of Public Relations so as to not provoke outrage against Jews. Aviner only opposes burning a church or other Gentile religious site, although stressing its a different case within Israel, for fear it would then be rebuilt. But simply allowing those sites to fall into disrepair would absolve Jews from the possible "sin".
The Satmar Rebbe he cited as scion of an anti-Zionist branch of Haredi Judaism, but his words affirm something I have long believed: That far from being the "Torah-true" Jews they are passed off as, the ultra-Orthodox "anti-Zionist" Jews are just as Talmudic and their objections to Israel are a matter of timing. But if it was a matter of their "moshiach", they would completely accept all the actions and more of what Israel is doing. The specific words cited by Aviner suggest that Jews in the "Holy Land" would have more responsibility to eradicate all traces of the "idolatrous" Gentile places, so that rather than "sin" by not fulfilling such a responsibility they regarded it as better to simply wait until their "moshiach" appears to lead the way.
Aviner has deep connections in various segments of the Israeli state, as we can see from this section on his yeshiva's website: "Over the course of the Yeshiva's thirty years existence, the Yeshiva's approximately 2000 graduates have established themselves in a wide variety of professions fields. Dispersed throughout the country, these men now serve as heads of educational institutions, pre-military and other yeshivot, as senior IDF officers and in key security positions. Others are active in law, media, hi-tech, management and business."
 |
| With Jerusalem as symbolic center of three continents, this image is much-displayed on many Zionist websites |
These obviously include political and academic leaders; their including of "senior officers" learning under the teachings of this faithful servant of the Talmud who holds "idolatrous" Gentiles in such contempt, are worrying on so many levels. Also significant is the mention of business and hi-tech, given the growth of Israel as a primary factor in global cyber-security and other hi-tech firms, tied to their central role in the Chinese-inspired Silk Road/Belt Road Initiative and the push for a "multi-polar world" (a mere rhetorical buzzword to adding another dialectic pole to the Globalist order).
Clearly, the opinions of Aviner carry at least some weight and this is more so when we consider that in 2013, he confirmed that he had been sent to Iran on a mission for Mossad in 1979. He confirmed this in an interview for a religious website called "Kippah": "I received a phone call. 'Shlomo, we need you.'" According to the newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Mossad sent Aviner on a French passport using his aunt's "international chandelier business in France" as the cover to send information back to Israel. The cover was as a representative of the French Rabbinate to provide Iranian Jews with matzos for Passport. But what was the rabbi really up to? "By Way of Deception"....
Primary Sources:
1. "Radical rabbi says Notre Dame fire retribution for 13th-century Talmud burning"
2. "Haredi Media Highlights Medieval Burning of Talmud After Notre-Dame Fire"
3. "After Notre Dame fire, leading Israeli rabbi says ‘There is no mitzvah to [burn down] churches abroad. In our holy land, however, the issue is more complicated’"
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