www.PeaceMakersNOW.com ~ Box 88, London, AR 72847

Professor Israel Shahak

“Dishonoring Christian religious symbols is an old religious duty in Judaism. Spitting on the cross, and especially on the Crucifix, and spitting when a Jew passes a church, have been obligatory from around AD 200 for pious Jews. In the past, when the danger of anti-Semitic hostility was a real one, the pious Jews were commanded by their rabbis either to spit so that the reason for doing so would be unknown, or to spit onto their chests, not actually on the cross or openly before the church. The increasing strength of the Jewish state has caused these customs to become more open again.”

—The late Professor Israel Shahak was a holocaust survivor and fulfilled his lifetime dream when he became an Israeli citizen. But he was dismayed by the vicious anti-Christian hatred of too many of his fellow Jews. He became an authority on the Talmud, the Jewish Bible, and wrote many books about it and how this ancient teaching of the Pharisees was poisoning too many Jews, both religious extremists–and the majority of secular, agnostic and atheist Israeli Jews. One of his most prominent books is Jewish History: Jewish Religion.

“I still remember old Jews spitting while passing by a church, and cursing the dead while passing by a Christian cemetery. Last year in Jerusalem, a Jew decided to refresh the tradition. He spat at the Holy Cross carried in the procession along the city. Even today, Jews in Israel refer to Jesus by the demeaning word Yeshu (instead of Yeshua), meaning “Perish his name.”

In a similar pun, the New Testament Gospel is called “Avon Gilaion,” the booklet of Sin.

These are the endearing feelings that the friends of Christian Zionists maintain towards Christ.”

—Israel Shamir, Israeli Jew turned courageous Christian writer and anti-Zionist.

There are many Good Fig Jews in Israel–and the world–who tell the truth and try to save the Jewish people from the Leaven of the Pharisees. These pages are dedicated to exposing the many blasphemies that infect too many Jews with the many blasphemies in the Talmud against Jesus (e.g., The Five Deaths of Jesus) and His Mother (calling her a “harlot,” etc.– and murderous hatred against Christians –

"The Talmud is, then, the written form of that which in the time of Jesus, was called the Traditions of the Elders." — Rabbi Michael L. Rodkinson

To awaken Christians to support the Good Fig Jews instead of the Bad Figs – who persecute the Good Fig Jews and all “goyim,” especially Christians – and Muslims who honor Jesus, Mary and the biblical prophets. {See Jeremiah 24:1-18; Matthew 21:19-21; 24:32; Mark 11:13, 20, 21; 13:28-37; Luke 13:6-9; 21:29-36; James 3:12-18; 4:1-17; 5:1-8; John 8:39-59; et seq.

Ideally, we Jews should counter idolatry by using our intellect to [keep] Jewish tradition. But with Western democracies cramming the mantras of tolerance, political correctness and freedom of religious expression down our Israeli gullets . . . What's a Jew to do?

Well, there's always humor - and it's been a funny month.

Headlines reported that the results of a survey on Israeli attitudes toward Christianity . . . ranging from missionary activity, to accepting funds from evangelical sources, to visiting churches. . . . only 50% of Israeli Jews agreed that Jerusalem was central to the Christian faith; and 75% believe the state should not allow Christian groups to buy land to build new churches in Jerusalem.

. . . But by far the most bizarre interfaith clash of this past month was over a skit broadcast on Israeli Channel 10, which the Vatican claimed had "ridiculed - with blasphemous words and images - the Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary."

C'mon, Mr. Pope. Lior Shlein is just a secular Jewish entertainer, it's not like he is one of your devout and disciplined Catholic bishops. Israel should be the place where Jews can express themselves fully as Jews; and a late night Hebrew program televised on a private channel in Israel should surely be a safe haven for satirists - and out of the sights and clutches of the "Holy See".

A virgin birthing a deity who can walk on water is - for the Jew - absurd to the point of being hysterically funny. For the Jew, there is simply nothing reverent about it.

Besides, satire by nature is irreverent, and it's a given that unconventional artists and entertainers are prone to going over the top and dabbling in the tactless, tasteless and insulting. Monty Python, Mel Brooks and Rowan Atkinson have all pushed the religious humor envelope to the outer limits. . . Jackie Mason [sued] Jews for Jesus [for putting] out a broadside entitled: "Jackie Mason… A Jew for Jesus?!").

Were Shlein's antics heresy? Were they tanamount [sic] to "denying Christianity", as Palestinian-Arab-Catholics [claim]?

[W]e have a dilemma, because to acknowledge Christian belief is to deny Judaism. What is sacred for the devout Christian is oft-times blasphemous for the Jew. Even the currently in-vogue fascination many Christians are having with "messianic Hebraic roots" movements and Jewish rituals cannot mask, nor bridge, the very fundamental differences between faiths.

If we adhere to the philosophy of the late and very great Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, then it seems the secular Mr. Shlein did us all a favor with his "blasphemy". Rabbi Kook found a holy spark in Jewish heretics and atheists. In their denial of a Creator, they refuse to ascribe form to G-d or define His attributes and

for his Jewish humor blaspheming Jesus, His mother & Christianity on his late night TV show on Israeli channel 10 – just a “fun way” of taking care of serious business . . .

Because Jesus is an “Idol” that “must be smashed” and to “acknowledge Christian belief is to deny Judaism,” so allowing Christians any rights is a threat to Israel that cannot be tolerated.

Excerpts from The Right to Smash Idols by Ellen W. Horowitz

"Do not bow down to their gods . . ." (Parashat Mishpatim 23:24)

G-d, with His infinite sense of humor, handed that one down to a people who don't have much of a hankering for violently pulverizing pagan ideas, altars and places of worship. How does one reduce idols to mere dust in a civil society, in a modern Jewish state?

I Don’t Care Who Your Dad is, Your Spooking the Fish!