1/23/07

Chief Rabbi's Son Embarrasses Worldwide Rabbinate With Moronic Pronouncements

YNET has reported that Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, son of Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, says that Jews resettling of Gush Katif is the cure for the rampant corruption of the government.

In a new pamphlet he absurdly accuses Israeli PM Olmert of taking bribes from antiSemites and Arabs. In the most inane rabbinic free associative and non-sequiteurial thinking of the year, Eliyahu says the remedy for this is to "restore the truth" - yes - by Jews moving back to Gaza.

Rabbis, your Israeli colleague is mocking you and devaluing your profession. Won't you raise a voice? The story:

Safed rabbi calls for return to Gush Katif

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu publishes opinion on Gaza disengagement, its instigators, how to turn back time; 'we must save Israel from Sharon's corrupt followers,' he says

by Efrat Weiss

Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the northern city of Safed, called for the re-settlement of Gush Katif, a bloc of Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip evacuated as part of the disengagement plan.

"We must save the State of Israel from the corrupt, (former Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon's followers… We must return to Gush Katif; we need 100 brave men to come with equipment and sleeping bags… It is ours; we were expelled under false pretenses, and we must restore the truth," the rabbi said in an article published over the weekend.

The article, titled "Return to Katif," was published in "Salvation Springs," a pamphlet distributed over the weekend in synagogues throughout Israel.

Rabbi Eliyahu, son of Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, is very popular in the community, especially amongst the youth.

In the article, the rabbi wrote: "If you were told tomorrow that behind (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert's decision to back the 'disengagement' stood money – lots of money which he received under the table – would you fall off your seats? Probably not. And if you were told that this money was European, coming from anti-Semitic or Arab organizations, it would not be surprising."

Eliyahu continued to criticize "Sharon's followers," calling them corrupt and blinded by greed.

"We must take initiative, we must return to Gush Katif. What could happen? We'll be kicked out? We will return again and another seven times… The media may present us as delusional, but eventually they will understand that we have no other way. Eventually the truth will lead the way," he added.

Rabbi Eliyahu ended his letter calling for recruits for the re-settlement, saying they would come armed with weapons and "restore the truth," adding that this idea should be expanded throughout Israel.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Can you link to R' Eliyahu's original essay, so that your readers can see for themselves whether Weiss has taken him out of context or not?