Haaretz had another good but disturbing story that bothered me enough to take to the keyboard. It seems the Chief Rabbinate has prepared a new bill that will close the Law of Return to those who convert to Judaism. Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar wants to cut down on a problem he believes exists: people converting in order to gain Israeli citizenship.
There may indeed be cases of conversion for citizenship (not unlike marriage for citizenship in America ), but this isn't about cutting down on Jewish conversions, it's about keeping undesirables out of Israel . This may appear to be something small, but an avalanche also starts with a single snowflake. Israel has a problem with racism, and it is growing, judging by the number of stories that keep popping up on the subject in its various forms.
America also has a racism problem and at times it's hard to say how much progress or regression we are truly making in this category, but we at least admit we have a problem. Israel seems to be content to sweep most of their secret under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist in their utopia, which is denial.
The discrimination and in some extreme cases, the hate, is quite obvious and borders on being fanatical and frightening. Take for instance the issue with the gay pride parade in Jerusalem . Most people who honestly follow the Bible, Torah, and the Koran all believe in the same thing: homosexuality is wrong. It's not sexist to state what is within the pages of a book. In Christianity, it is often taught that one should love the sinner but hate the sin and help the person overcome it. “Sin” in this case includes all sin, not just homosexual behavior.
"The Rabbinical Court has held a special session and discussed placing a pulsa danura on those who have a hand in organizing the march," Rabbi Shmuel Papenheim, editor of the Eida Haredit's weekly magazine "Ha'eidah" told Army Radio on Tuesday.
A pulsa danura is also known as a death curse. Its roots come from the Babylonian Talmud and is tied to modern day Kabbala; depending on who you ask, it's black magic, voodoo, or Jewish mysticism and some believe it to be quite effective. The believers routinely point to the July 2005 pull out from occupied territories, at which time a pulsa danura was placed on Ariel Sharon . It is well-known he has been on life support for nearly a year after suffering initially from a stroke.
In the beginning of November, a synagogue had its windows smashed out and was sprayed with grafitti: " If we can't march in Jerusalem you won't walk in Tel Aviv ". There were violent clashes in Jerusalem in response to this destruction. Anger and violence always begets more of the same, but in this case, worshippers have to pay the price. In the end, the gay pride parade turned into a gay pride stadium rally that generally took place without incident.
Speaking of the pulsa danura, it seems some are using it against their Palestinian neighbors, which I don't think is allowed under the rules of the Torah. However, the racism is quite well known between Jews and Palestinians.
"There are two kinds of racism, there's the bad Hitleristic racism and then there's the fine, chosen, Godly racism," Shurin explained before his performance.
"God chose, he chose the Jews and that's his right. That's healthy racism. The unhealthy racism is all the attacks against the Jews just for being the chosen people."
There is no such thing as “healthy racism”, despite the claim – this is nothing more than an oxymoron as the two cannot co-exist. There's also been a flier campaign in Pardes Katz to encourage people not to sell or rent housing to Arabs.
"Our homes have become non-Jewish. In Pardes Katz, there are hostile Arabs, not of our people, who have brought to our streets intermarriage, destruction and fear," read the flier.
"We must not agree to an atmosphere so dangerous to our souls and bodies! We cannot allow them to destroy the education of the youth in our neighborhood!"
Such overt racism does nothing to preserve a culture; on the contrary, it destroys it. No one with a reasonable mindset would want to live in such an area or patronize the business community in it. Many have tried in the past to isolate themselves, and history teaches thriving communities that do, have died out and gone the way of dust. It is nothing more than a slow death.
Such hate should have no place in the modern day world, but unfortunately seems to find minds in which to thrive. It is not the only case of discrimination that I found regarding the state of Israel .
