Re: klezmer experience

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

On Tue, 9 Sep 2003, david lowther wrote:

> The Messianics, like all Christians, honestly believe
> that they are duty bound...

And so did Bin Laden when he sent his agents to destroy
the WTC and the Pentagon, and so did the woman who blew
herself up at a bus stop near Tel Aviv, today.

Just because these monsters believe they are right,
does not make their horrific acts morally justified.

> While that may be arrogant, presumptuous and
> tasteless,

Not only that, it is criminal! These messianics want to
totally destroy Judaism, don't you understand that? To
add insult to injury, they use deceit to further their
goals.

> from their perspective our danger of eternal
> damnation is more than adequate moral justification.

Jesus had an excellent point: look at your own sins
before telling other people what to do.

> I think I am going to stick with Voltaire on this
> one:  however obnoxious their personal beliefs, I
> must defend their right to live them within the laws
> of men.  This is the only protection for my own
> spiritual freedom.

That is exactly the point: these messianics (like all
other fundamentalists) do not respect the spiritual
freedom of people who disagree with them. As such,
there is no room for fundamentalists within a
democratic society.

> but I would not damn anybody to the lowest pits of
> Hell because they are boneheads

All I ask those "boneheads" is to get out of our way
and to leave us alone. Am I too exacting?

> Now with regard to how one defines a jew:  I suspect
> we will not agree on this one.  You seem to believe a
> jew is only one who believes in and follows the
> Mosaic Law and Talmud.

No, a Jew is someone who belongs to the Jewish people,
either by being born to a Jewish mother or by
conversion. Once you are a Jew, it is impossible to
loose your Jewish status. This is a basic principle of
Judaism.

> Let us get back to the issue of how we would then
> address the Messianics.  I would say that education
> of a lapsed jew is not proselytation,

These Messianics are not lapsed Jews, but evangelistic
Christians who dress up as Jews, in an effort to
attract (and ultimately) convert Jews.


 Groeten,
 Irwin Oppenheim
 i(dot)oppenheim (at) xs4all(dot)nl
 ~~~*

 Chazzanut Online:
 http://www.joods.nl/~chazzanut/

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+