Posted on 10/23/2010 7:00:47 PM PDT by BlackVeil
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli Sephardic leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in his weekly Saturday night sermon said that non-Jews exist to serve Jews.
“Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world; only to serve the People of Israel,” he said during a public discussion of what kind of work non-Jews are allowed to perform on Shabbat.
"Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat," he said to some laughter.
Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas Party and the former chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel, also said that the lives of non-Jews are protected in order to prevent financial loss to Jews.
"With gentiles, it will be like any person: They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant. That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew,” said the rabbi, who recently turned 90.
An audio recording of some of the rabbi's remarks was broadcast on Israel's Channel 10.
The American Jewish Committee condemned the rabbi's remarks in a statement issued Monday.
"Rabbi Yosef’s remarks -- suggesting outrageously that Jewish scripture asserts non-Jews exist to serve Jews -- are abhorrent and an offense to human dignity and human equality,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "Judaism first taught the world that all individuals are created in the divine image, which helped form the basis of our moral code. A rabbi should be the first, not the last, to reflect that bedrock teaching of our tradition."
“With rabbis like this who needs imams?”
The rabbi is not chopping off heads, or calling for it to be done. This is the difference between having a fly in the house, and a scorpion.
I find your post somewhat incoherent.
THe man has been out in the desert too long. AS we say in Yiddish, “Shvigh” (loud “i” sound). Means “quiet”.
My Hebrew school teachers told that to me many times.
According to wiki here is the reason:
‘In modern Romance languages, urinals are still named after him (for example, vespasiano in Italian, and vespasienne in French[34]) probably in reference to a tax he placed on urine collection (useful due to its ammoniac content; see Pay toilet).’
This rabbi is also 90 years old. You ever have an uncle who went crazy in his old age?
That’s basically right. In his old age, you have to distinguish between his rulings and his rants. His rulings are enlightened, moderate, and brilliant. He’s probably the greatest rabbi of the past 300 years. His rants I think are largely a product of his old age. But they really don’t affect his rulings or his policy preferences. He might, for instance, say bad things about gentiles. But he would strenuously rule that Jews should treat gentiles with the same respect, honesty, and charity they would treat Jews.
“This rabbi is also 90 years old. You ever have an uncle who went crazy in his old age?”
No. In my family, the men tend to become increasingly dour and reclusive, until one day a massive stroke or heart attack carries them away. Not a bad overall protocol, given that we must leave one way or another.
In truth, I don’t find his view to be much different than that of any other prideful elitist, religious or secular. The definitions for who are the chosen few and who are the unwashed many change incessantly, but the gnawing desire to establish and cling to the apex of a social pyramid is as timeless and common as mud brick.
Someone who loves you should be helping you right now.
Truly.
You are not well.
Doean’t matter what anyone here writes tonight, fairly soon the money will be worth next to nothing and people will ask “why?” A life’s work gone...
Then folks will ask how it happened.
‘Wow, a dictator who taxed urine. (shhh, lets not give Ø any ideas...)’
Urine was an important raw ingredient for fullers as seen in answers.com about weaving:
‘Once the woolen cloth was woven, it passed into the hands of fullers who cleaned and softened it by dunking it in water that contained various kinds of detergents and soaps that dissolved or absorbed the fat that had been added to the wool before it was carded or combed. Lye, stale human urine, ashes, and fuller’s earth were commonly used. Fullers placed the folded cloth in a vat and trod on it with their feet, periodically removing and refolding the cloth so it would be evenly fulled.’
St. Paul was a tentmaker, which meant that he certainly worked with fullers, if he didn’t do this work himself,
‘Lets not forget saltpeter for gunpowder.’
Excellent reason to collect urine, not so much in the first century AD.
Rabbi Yosef may imagine our existence to be simply to serve Jews. Or he may be entertaining his friends humorously. One way or the other, we are still who we actually are we are committed to being your friends. If Rabbi Yosef were here with me and spoke English, I would say to him: We will always work with you as allies but not as superiors nor as subordinates.
I say this on a day when my Catholic religion has been embarrassed by its Middle Eastern bishops' Synod making impertinent demands upon Israel to demagogue to their vanishing flocks in the Middle East. Those bishops would do well to mind the business of the Church and to avoid kowtowing to Islamofascist radicalism and calling on Israel to commit national suicide.
Most of those bishops did not wait until they became 90 years old to lose it. May Rabbi Yosef be blessed and our Jewish FRiends here as well and you too Lucius!
Well, now, isn’t that nice.
“Ah, finally you resort to personal insults.”
No, I expressed the opinion that you are not well. That opinion is sincere. You seem choleric, overwrought and irrational. I hope someone is caring for you.
“Simple question for someone even so complex as you
Are you glad the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and sacked the Holy Temple?”
Compound question.
Regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple built by Herod, I am ambivalent. If there is a God, and if that God is sovereign, the destruction was either 1) of no unique significance or 2) was a necessary stage or signal or 3) was permitted under His sovereign will, or 4) was a combination of 2 and 3. I confess I do not understand mere calculus, far less the whole sweep of God’s design and shaping. Accordingly, I most certainly will not say that God was negligent or incompetent when He allowed Vespasianus to capture the city, succeed to the Imperium and to establish a dynasty. I will say that I would rejoice to see the Al Aqsa Mosque razed, and the Third Temple raised on that ground instead.
Regarding sacking generally, I admit that the loss of records and destruction of art treasures is painful to contemplate. I feel this way with regard to Persepolis, Constantinople and Tenochtitlan as well. This is logically inconsistent with my previous points, but there it is. Yurts and tabernacles probably are more honest reflections of the human condition, which is faint and ephemeral in the scope of time, although we seem to have an instinctive craving for permanence.
Dittos!
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