Posted on 01/04/2013 1:37:22 PM PST by NYer
JERUSALEM, January 3, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) - Israel’s two chief rabbis have again issued a letter to all synagogue and community rabbis urging them to condemn abortion and to support the work of Efrat, the country’s pro-life organization.
In stronger language than they have used in their previous messages, Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger and Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar called the killing of the child in the womb “murder.”
“As in past,” the letter reads, “we call on all rabbis in Israel” to “raise in their words and sermons in synagogues…the severe prohibition of abortion.”
The chief rabbis called for an increased effort in “making the wider public aware of the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”
The chief rabbis time their letters condemning abortion to coincide with the reading of a portion of the Torah (Parashat) known as Shemot, which describes the genocidal attack on Hebrew newborn boys by the Egyptian pharaoh, and the efforts of the Hebrew midwives to save them.
Last year the rabbis wrote they were working to “encourage births among the Jewish people and to prevent unnecessary abortions.”
In previous years, the chief rabbis focused their letter on a passage of the Talmud, which states, “The redemption does not take place until all the souls are brought out of their storing place.” This, they say, means that widespread abortion in Israel is delaying the coming of the messiah.
Abortion in Israel is “a real epidemic, as tens of thousands of Jewish souls are being lost each year,” they wrote. “In addition to the enormity of the transgression, it is also delaying redemption.”
Abortions in Israel are authorized by hospital committees, but their approval criteria is quite broad: Abortions are allowed in cases of rape, incest, adultery, if the woman is under 17 years of age or over 40, if the woman’s health is at risk, or if the baby is suspected to have a physical or mental handicap. Such broad parameters have essentially established abortion on demand.
Such a view is possible, because most Jewish teachers do not teach that the inviolable right to life begins at conception but varies according to development and circumstance.
Dr. Eli Schussheim, director of Efrat, has pointed out that the demographic implications of abortion in Israel make it one of the nation’s greatest dangers.
“Israel has lost more than one and a half million Jewish children to abortion since 1948. In a country of about 5.5 million Jews, this number has great demographic significance. Imagine how much stronger Israel would have been today with one million more Jews,” a statement from Efrat says.
Rabbis Metzger and Amar praised the efforts of Efrat to help women contemplating abortion by providing emotional and material support.
“We see great importance in the work of the Efrat association to save the lives of Jewish children,” the rabbis wrote. “Over its 30 years of activity, tens of thousands of fetuses were saved, and in the past year alone, the lives of 4,000 children were saved.”
They also urged that, “every rabbi who holds a conference on abortion or birth, or acts on this issue in any forum, should invite Efrat chairman Dr. Eli Schussheim to participate in the event, or consult with him as the country’s leading expert in this field, since it has been proved that [Efrat] actually saves lives.”
Ping!
FYI ping!
Ah, the lefties have another reason to help the muzzlems wipe Israel off the face of the earth. This may be the last straw. Now they have to be seething.
Agreed—Those liberal self-hating Jews are going to have an absolute fit about this.
Integrity, priceless...
Now if Israel were to stick to this and the rest of the world didn’t, in time the world would become more rightious as the leftus eliminated their family lines.
The price of foolishness can be steep.
They are right, ever abortion is first degree premeditated murder. If ever babies in the womb are considered human from the moment of conception, then anyone could use deadly force to protect them.
They are indeed orthodox rabbis, commanding varying degrees of respect in different subsets of orthodoxy, as they are actually political appointees. There is nothing novel or surprising or previously unknown about their stand on abortion.
Integrity? Given that as recently as a year ago, these gentlemen were only against "unnecessary" abortions, this looks more like practical demographics. With 1.5 million Jewish babies dead at the hands of their own mothers (in Israel alone), "never again" rings rather hollow.
I wonder what song the tone is ringing in the “Land of the Free” with 60,000,000 dead?
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Evey Jew on this forum that I know believes that abortion is murder. I might go even farther than some because I hold to the old belief that murder is the ONE thing there can never be redemption from. Never. You abort your child and you forfeit your own eternal soul. Period.
God bless them.
Well, I agree that abortion is murder but with regards to your other point, there actually is a scripture that talks about what is forgiven and what is not. Praise God that even murder can be forgiven but there is something that cannot…… Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
I am a strict Old Testament Believer. The New Testament does not hold the same meaning for me as it does Christian Believers. Only I am responsible for my sins and no man or blood sacrifice can lift or absolve that sin from me.
My deeply held religious belief is that premeditated or coldblooded murder can never be forgiven in all of eternity. Your soul is already forfeit. That’s it. A murderer’s death is eternal death. That is the justification for the death penalty.
Suicide is premeditated murder as well. So if you murder yourself, there is no forgiveness. That is a paradox in Christianity to me.
Not only did he forfeit his soul and condemned himself to eternal death, but Gpdpinished him on earthfor the rest of his days. His firstborn child with Bathsheba was stillborn, his daughter was raped and was never right again, and Absalom, his favorite, was also killed by David’s own soldiers. He was never permitted to build the Temple and Solomon ended up a lecher who caused the downfall of Israel.
Excuse the typos. Did not mean to post that.
Not only did he forfeit his soul and condemned himself to eternal death, but G-d punished him on earth for the rest of his days. His firstborn child with Bathsheba was stillborn, his daughter was raped and was never right again, and Absalom, his favorite, was also killed by David’s own soldiers. He was never permitted to build the Temple and Solomon ended up a lecher who caused the downfall of Israel.
Great news! Not that it will change a single JINO here in the USA. As if they care about what rabbis actually say.
The moral of the story. The Jews are no longer have a understanding of Torah (Gods law). Thank the Babylonian captivity for the Talmud. Sarc....
How telling!
I can think of several important scriptures that militate against your conclusions.
Hebrews 11
32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted,[f] were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
Matthew 1
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David...
Did you not read my posts? The NT is not my Book. What you believe and I believe is vastly different.
Explain to me why Christians are damned for suicide but not for murder when they are one and the same.
When you say that you are responsible for your own sins, do you mean all of them? Or is murder the only one that falls under that penalty of ‘never being forgiven in all of eternity and thus your soul is forfeited’? What Old Testament scripture are you pointing to support that? And if you are responsible for your own sins, what does that mean after you die? Are you trying to live a perfectly sinless life that you can get to heaven on your own? If so, I got news for you…. No one can live a sinless life. What about Moses….he was a murderer, no? Exodus2: 11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. …. And yet God called Moses a ‘treasure’……Exodus 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Fortunately for Moses, his sin was forgiven… and yours can be forgiven too because otherwise, there is no hope.
No. Moses committed manslaughter. He killed accidently and without premeditation. There is a difference. G-d named the differences and there are rules which govern manslaughter and justifiable homicide and accidental killing as opposed to premeditated or coldblooded murder.
We have way more than 10 Commandments/Laws. That is why Moses is called The Lawgiver.
Better to TRY and live sinless life than to sin purposefully and continually and accept the premise that you are absolved from sin by a priest who is ONLY a man, than show up at the Gates of Heaven only to be turned away to wander endlessly through eternity because your sins have vastly outnumbered anything you could have done to redeem yourself.
I know. Politics certainly does make strange bedfellows. Muzzlems are against abortion. These rabbis are against abortion.
Therefore, the muzzlems are perfectly happy to want to kill these Jews.
Only God damns, and only God saves.
Both are way above my pay-grade.
” Evey Jew on this forum that I know believes that abortion is murder.”
Well, something’s wrong, because those babies are dying all the same. Statistically speaking, Israeli women pose a far greater threat to Jews in Israel than any Palestinian terrorist. Still, it’s handy to have a convenient enemy who can be blamed for one’s existential anxiety, isn’t it?
Really? I obviously didn’t include enough of the Bible passage for you. Check the verses that immediately follow verse 11 and you tell me how on earth it was possible for the Egyptian's death to be ‘accidental and without premeditation’…..Exodus 2:12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
Thanks Yehuda. Interesting how the individual gratifications so many seek preclude the satisfactions of family for which it was to substitute.
Thanks for the ping!
Been there, do that. One of the absolute best in the world.
“...The Jews are no longer have a understanding of Torah (Gods law)....”
Christians ain’t doing so hot either...how many babies were wiped out since Roe v Wade?
“....Explain to me why Christians are damned for suicide but not for murder...”
They are. One and the same. Murder of self, and murder of others, are the same.
“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.”
Intervening to save an innocent life is justifiable. It was NOT premeditated murder as he had no idea that was going to happen. He stumbled upon the scene accidently. He didn’t wake up that morning and say to himself, “I think I’ll kill me an Egyptian today.”
Then why are some arguing that even murderers can receive forgiveness and/or absolution?
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“..Then why are some arguing...”
Because some folks just like to argue, basically. It’s what they do.
It is true that the Jewish teaching on abortion is not identical to that of the Catholic Church. But neither is that of Fundamentalist Protestants. There's no surprise here. The teachings of the three are very similar, but of course there's going to be some difference in details, just as there is with regard to Catholics and Eastern Orthodox on divorce.
Do right wing Catholics like yourself really believe that all the problems of the world would be solved by the disappearance of Israel? If so, shouldn't you be in favor of Jewish abortions?
Agreed! It’s very sad that so many people of faith, that can read, do not follow or understand there Bibles, or Tanachs.
I pray for people to seek and understand our creator, his laws and the love he has for his people.
The world would be a better place.
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