On the Amaleks and their values

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-amalekites

http://www.breslov.org/who-and-where-is-amalek-today/

Was it a condition of the Chief Rabbi's appointment that he attends Limmud?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03f87b0
Matters rabbinical start from the 20th minute

I wonder if I was a rabbi in a former life for this inordinate interest I am taking in Jewish affairs, to the extent that I find myself exhorting rabbis to be more Orthodox.  I am very concerned that they will end up like the lost souls of the Church of England, and then where will they be?

What is most interesting is that it is now rumoured that it was a condition of the Chief Rabbi's appointment that he attend Limmud.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/.premium-1.553075

My advice to the Chief Rabbi at http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/should-new-chief-rabbi-continue-to.html remains unchanged.

If it is indeed true that attending Limmud was a condition of your appointment then of course you must attend Limmud and tell them the following:

1. You cannot be a liberal and an observant Jew, which is a contradiction in terms.  If you think you can you can only be someone who invests more importance in form than substance. 
2. You could carry on thinking you can enjoy your rituals without practising the morality of your religion, but all you will do is end up like the lost souls of Anglicanism who are now infested by liberals, feminists and Commie Pinko homos, and the angels will weep for you.  
3. Judaism is more than the rituals Jews practise, it is the moral values they hold as Jews. Judaism is both a race and a state of mind that holds certain moral values. 
4. There is a world of difference between saying sodomy is an abomination and gay marriage should be legal.  Jews who say they are cool with gay marriage should be stoned to death for blasphemy. 

If I were you I would keep attending Limmud for the purposes of railing at the perniciousness of feminism as a cancer to the cohesiveness of any people and society until the female and liberal and reform rabbis start to boycott Limmud in protest at my views. 

Should the new Chief Rabbi continue to boycott Limmud because it is full of Liberal Jews?

http://jewishnews.co.uk/community-leaders-accuse-strictly-orthodox-rabbis-of-shocking-failure-of-leadership/

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/matchmaker-matchmaker-dont-make-me-a-match-with-limmud-the-anti-limmud-letter-and-the-rabbis/

http://limmud.org/conference/All-you-need-to-know/What-it-costs/

Is it possible to be a Liberal and a Jew that follows the commandments of God?

If God existed would he approve of Liberal Jews, or would He regard them as an abomination?

I would say a Liberal Jew is a contradiction in terms. Isn't a Liberal Jew someone who does not observe the Sabbath? I seem to remember that the punishment for that is death by stoning.

The extremist liberalism and militant atheism we have these days now goes so far as to deny not only of God's existence, but also of His prophets.  21st century liberalism consists of flouting every commandment of God and flaunting it to all and sundry.

In our troubled and disordered times, Jews, Christians and Muslims are not only fighting each other, Jews are fighting Jews, Christians other Christians, and Muslims other Muslims.

The reason for this, I suggest, is because they have mostly thrown away their own rule books and are making it up as they go along.  Ask them who is their leader and they will all start fighting each other.

Anyway, the long and short of it was that the previous Chief Rabbi, the most inspirational Lord Sacks, refused to go to Limmud because it was full of the most frightful liberals whom he thought had no business calling themselves Jews.

Dayan Ehrentreu http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/comment/112495/the-jc-profile-dayan-chanoch-ehrentreu himself said:

“Participation in [Limmud’s] conferences, events and educational endeavours blurs the distinction between authentic Judaism and pseudo-Judaism and would bring about tragic consequences for Anglo-Jewry”. 

He also said that “any Jew whose heart has been touched by the fear of God and who wishes to walk upon paths which will be viewed favourably” to stay clear of December’s annual cross-communal educational event.

This made the Liberal Jew Danny Finkelstein huff and puff indignantly at http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/columnists/112492/its-courage-versus-arrogance-mirvis-limmud-row  and say that he has never got Orthodox Judaism, it is now the 21st century and the Orthodox Rabbis should start getting more with it, or words to that effect.

Clearly, Rabbis Sacks and Ehrentrou believe that a line has to be drawn between Jews who practise the morals values that their God commands, and those who go around calling themselves Jews just because mum was one.  It is after all the greatest injustice to treat unequal things equally.

I suppose the new Chief Rabbi feels he has to suck up all the lost people of Israel residing in Britain, especially those who think they can be both gay marriage-endorsing and also a Jew, and I do hope he gives them a good talking to and tell them that if they don't mend their ways that will be the first and last time he will ever attend Limmud.

Let us hope, for the sake of the Anglo-Jewry, that Rabbi Mirvis will not turn out to be the Jewish version of Justin Welby.

What do you think Moses would do to Liberal Jews?  It is very probable that he would do the same to them the same thing he did to those unobservant Jews who started worshiping the Golden Calf the moment his back was turned, and quite right too, in my opinion.

It would be excellent if the Chief Rabbi declared at Limmud that Jews should be divided between those who support gay marriage and those who think it is an abomination.  The ones who do can be stoned to death at Limmud and the problem will be swiftly solved. I am sure this is the solution Moses would propose if he were alive today.  It cannot be denied that Moses can seem to be a bit of fascist, but in the nicest possible way.

Listen to what the excellent Dayan Ethrentrou says about how Jews should show a bit of moral leadership, being the Chosen People and all.

Quite right too, for if Jews left that sort of thing entirely to the Muslims, they will soon take over if you don't all watch out.  

Rabbi Ehrentrou: a charming and principled Rabbi.  

At 1:00 he has a rather telling story about gay marriage.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aphr0NkYYAg

Questions and Answers about Me, Myself and I

When were you happiest?

When I was last deeply in love.

What is your greatest fear?

My own cowardice.

What is your earliest memory?

Of deciding whether or not to cut myself with a sharp object, expecting it to hurt, doing it anyway, and crying when it hurt. I was an Empiricist then at 5 or 6. Now I am a Rationalist.

Which living person do you most admire?

Mishal Husain - who is as clever as she is beautful.

http://img245.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=64931_mishalh190507007_122_111lo.JPG

Barach Obama for his audacity.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Sloth

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Irrational cowardice, preferring to remain ignorant because they would rather not upset themselves.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

There have been so many I have lost count and repressed those memories.

Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?

A camera.

What is your most treasured possession?

My tools of communication, memory and reference – computer, TV, camera, mobile, books

Where would you like to live?

Anywhere that feels like home.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

She probably hasn’t been born yet.

What is your most unappealing habit?

Untidiness.

What is your favourite smell?

Curry cooking, the best kind

What is your favourite word?

Pleasure

What is your favourite book?

Flatland by Edwin Abbott

What would you most like to wear to a fancy dress party?

A beard or perhaps a burqa.

Cat or dog?

Cat

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Admiring myself

To whom would you like to say sorry, and why?

To my parents for being a worry to them and being less than they had hoped.

Which living person do you most despise, and why?

David Cameron, for his smarmy convictionlessness.

Which words or phrase do you most overuse?

“Crikey”

What has been your biggest disappointment?

Myself

If you could go back in time, when would you go?

When Moses parted the Red Sea.

How do you relax?

TV, talking, reading, writing, thinking, which is also “work”.

What song you would you liked played at your funeral?

Je ne regrette rien

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

That we are our own worst enemy, and that the enemy within is more intractable than the visible enemy. The Muslims talk about “the greater jihad”, ie the greater struggle (with onesef).

Tell us a joke

A couple and their 11 year old daughter with her friend are sitting down to dinner. Daughter asks mother what it is. Mother says it is venison. Daughter asks what venison is. Mother coyly says it is something Daddy occasionally calls her. Daughter thinks for a moment, turns to her friend and says: “I wouldn’t eat it if I were you. It’s a f*cking c*nt.”

An Atheist's Theory of Prophets and Religion

JUDAISM TRIBAL AND RACE-BASED
Jews regard themselves as the Chosen People of God and Judaism is basically tribal. Jesus, a Rabbi, saw that it would benefit mankind to spread the benefits of monotheism to gentiles. Understandably, many Jews objected to this, probably because they felt it diluted or cheapened their religion.

"MY DAD IS GOD SO YOU BETTER LISTEN TO ME!"
To make his message more persuasive, Jesus claimed divinity. For this blasphemy he was crucified. But it was not that unusual to claim divinity. After all, Roman and Chinese emperors were worshipped as deities and so were Egyptian Pharoahs. A modified form of this was the divine right of kings, practised in more recent history by European monarchs.

THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY SOLVED
[It has been said that if you can explain it you are a heretic.]

Christians have never convincingly explained the mystery of Holy Trinity. The only way it could be convincingly explained is through a non-religious context of psychology, mythology and propaganda. It is the device through which Christ's message is made more appealing and more powerful. It also serves as his vehicle to divinity. (You see, it is not enough to portray Christ as a man who just died for his principles. People need more than this to want to accept his message. A man who died for all our sins is infinitely more appealing than one who has died for just his own principles.)

The mystery of the Holy Trinity is this: it "explains" and "proves" that Christ is divine. To enquire further is to commit heresy. In the olden days, you could be burnt at the stake for this.

A LIGHTER BUT MORE POWERFUL FORM OF MONOTHEISM - ISLAM
Muhammad's lighter and more powerful version of monotheism consisted of claiming divinity only for the Koran which Muhammad "revealed" or "recited" in his liftime when his followers needed the guidance of God in difficult and confusing times.

MUHAMMAD THE TECHNOCRAT?
The fact that it was taken down from one source and later standardised would at least make lawyers of those who could read and had to interpret the Koran. In the meantime it encouraged literacy, for that was necessary to receive the full benefit of the Koran - to read it for oneself. Islam does not require you to believe in the impossible and improbable, ie that Jesus is Son of God.

LOWER ENTRY REQUIREMENTS OF ISLAM
Through the Koran, fairly common-sensical teachings had the stamp of divinity. Conversion to Islam was easier, because it has lower "entry requirements" than Judaism and is not caught up in incoherent and mysterious trinitarianism - a theoretical device which "explains" the divnity of Christ. Disputes on interpretation could be resolved by referring to a form of words in a particular chapter and verse that is at least undisputed.

Not perfect, but better than before. Not perfect, but still progress!

FAITH AND REASON
While Jesus emphasised Faith (as he must necessarily have done to move it away from the then wholly ethnic basis of Judaism), Muhammad emphasised Reason, and the Tools of Reason: reading, writing, reference, authority and jurisprudence.

PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF MONOTHEIST RELIGIONS
Muhammad could not have developed Islam without first examining the life of Jesus and the form Christianity was taking in Muhammaden times.

Schism was and is the most noticeable characteristic of Christianity. Muhammad must have seen the effect of the disputes amongst Christians over the Holy Trinity - an incoherent theory that would have us accept that One is Three and Three is One (or "one for all, and all for one", like the Three Musketeers!). He cut the Gordian knot by denying its validity in the Koran, saying that Christ was just another mortal prophet with no divine attributes, just like Abraham, Moses, and himself of course!

AN OMNIPOTENT AND MORAL GOD
Christ certainly would not have been able to spread the benefits of a monotheist God, if Abraham had not conceived of it first. If not for Abraham, Moses would have had no single god to which to ascribe moral attributes with his Ten Commandments.

A SCIENCE OF RELIGION?
It can be seen therefore that there is a progressive nature to the monotheist religions. Islam was built on the foundations of Christianity and Christianity built on that of Judaism.

Subsequent prophets sought to improve and add to the teachings of previous ones, and this theory can only be grasped in a non-religious context. The same analogy applies to Hinduism and Buddhism.

THE PROBABLE ATHEISM OF ALL THE PROPHETS
Indeed, I would go so far as to claim that none of the prophets in fact believed in God. They merely had the wisdom to use this innate desire of all those who wished to believe in a loving and omnipotent God to make the world a better place. Ascribing to it moral attributes to the most powerful entity Man could imagine and describe - All-Powerful and All-Wise, Benovelent and Merciful - could perhaps indirectly encourage some of us to understand and indeed take on the attributes of God, ie to become stronger, wiser, kinder and be more forgiving.

To love God is to know God, to know God is to become one with Him.

The supreme irony of this is of course that most of what humanity worships was and is in fact man-made!

PYGMALION
The story of Pygmalion illustrates this beautifully. Pgymalion was a sculptor of extraordinary talent. He sculpted a woman so beautiful he fell in love with her/it. He loved it/her so much that it/she became real, for when he behaved as if she was real, she was real. That is precisely what Man has done with God throughout the ages.

The power of imagination, eh?