How They Do It–'Elor Azaria’s Act of Murder and the Rabbis Who Justify It Defile Judaism'

Jewish notions of the horror of murder are being dumped into the sewer of messianic madness, abetted by a prime minister who comforts the perpetrator’s family, implicitly justifying Azaria’s act.

ed note–People of various stripes–religious, secular and even outright atheist–are and have been for some time in constant ‘marvel-mode’ over Jewish success in various arenas. The religious of whatever stripe–Christan-Zionist, Jewish, etc, attribute it to ‘GAAAWD’ simply making good on his ‘for I have chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth’ bs that functions as one of the several beating hearts of the beast known as Judaism. The non-religious types rack it up to an issue of ‘DNA’, parroting the Jews’ self-proclaimed status of possessing ‘superior intelligence’.

But what it really all boils down to is being organized and having a plan, and part of that ‘planning’ and ‘organization’ lies in the Judaic penchant for dishonesty–sometimes blatant and sometimes subtle–in throwing smoke onto the battlefield of ideas, leaving people confused and consternated, and of all the manners by which they accomplish this, one of the most successful is their method of portraying Judaism as something good, benign, or at the very least, harmless.

The essay below is prime efface evidence as to ‘how they do it’. Note the ‘good’ Rabbi’s words concerning Azaria’s murder of the Palestinian and the manner by which it is being applauded by Jews as ‘contempt for Torah’ and a ‘mocking’ of the ‘greatness of the Torah’s teaching’, finally ending his circular, nonsensical soliloquy by ascribing it all as ‘not the Torah’s path’ and then pleading for ‘restoring’ the Torah’s ‘real glory’.

Absolute lies, every word, every letter, every syllable, as clearly demonstrated in hundreds of biblical (Torah) passages explicitly calling for exactly what Azaria did as well as the wholesale mass murder of non-Hebrews/non-Israelites/non-Jews/non-Khazars/non-Shmayzars–whatever word people want to use in describing them–within that Nile-to-the-Euphrates-rivers piece of ‘holy’ real estate which Jews refer to as ‘Eretz y’Israel’. By pouring this hallucinogenic dissertation into the discussion of what took place, what the Rabbi hopes to achieve is to render the reader dazed, fazed, suffering from double-vision and incapable of focusing his/her sites on the target, leaving the monster untouched. unhindered, and unharmed.    

And yet, despite this, there will continue the obligatory idiotic march of defenders, ‘explainers’, liars and ‘experts’ of all stripes, be they religious, secular, atheist or whatever, parroting the lies spewed forth from this Judaic religious authority that Azaria’s actions are not ‘consistent’ with Judaism and its ‘holy, humanitarian’ teachings, despite the glaring truth to the contrary notwithstanding. And despite the fact that it–religiously mandated murder–will indeed take place all over again in the very near future, and with the supporters of that in-the-near-future-religiously-mandated murder citing chapter and verse of their holy books in justifying it, the Idiocracy will drink the poison, again and again, as Palestinians and other Gentiles continue being served up as the main meal in the Judaic religious festival known as Apocalypto.

Rabbi Daniel Landes for Haaretz

The conviction of Elor Azaria for killing a Palestinian assailant is itself an Israeli tragedy. But it also reveals a rabbinic and Jewish ethical travesty.

Tragedy is when an event that occurs didn’t have to happen but inevitably did. The prosecution convincingly demonstrated that Azaria did not need to shoot Abdel Fattah al-Sharif to save his or any other life. Indeed, IDF training and procedures were overridden by Azaria’s determination to kill, indeed to murder, al-Sharif.

In all this, Israel Defense Forces’ ethics emulates, and in some important ways are derived from, rabbinic teaching, which often commands action, but also prizes, even privileges, restraint. Thus, shooting a terrorist is an obligation that is necessary if it can prevent bodily injury or during the act before more damage is committed. That is without question.

But after the terrorist act has finished and the perpetrator contained, to harm him is itself murder.

Both IDF and rabbinic ethics concur on this. The meta-assumption is that no matter how detestable the terrorist’s intent, and no matter our rage, we are not allowed to take his life, and become through that act, murderers ourselves. The Halakha on this is absolute and, not being God, man is bound by restraint. And only through his restraint does man demonstrate his spark of Divinity. This law is so absolute that in the case of the goses (someone who is dying) to hasten that end is itself murder. Any young talmud Torah child knows that law. And any honest rabbi should admit that the court’s decision is absolutely just, and in full accordance with Halakhah.

Those rabbis who say otherwise or who remain silent are accomplices in this tragedy/travesty. They share in what Azaria did, overcoming and ignoring the restraint mandated both by the IDF’s own combat ethics, and to what the Halakha’s dinei rodef (laws of the pursuer) actually teach.

Those rabbis are part of a not so hidden, indeed blatant, racism that pervades our yeshivot’s batei midrash (study halls) and common conversation. Young religious men who enter their service hear these messages on a constant basis. The shouts in the court of Mavet le’Aravim (death to Arabs) is not foreign to their ears. Fueled by messianic imagery of this being an apocalyptic moment in Jewish history, restraint is shoved aside. And with it, Jewish notions of the horror of murder are dumped into the sewer of messianic madness, abetted by a Prime Minister who comforts the family of the perpetrator and implicitly justifies Azaria’s act.

We can only thank the secular judge Maya Heller whose clear thinking brought her to a just ruling, the brave testimony of company commander Tom Na’aman, and the persecuted organization B’Tselem whose cameras caught the uncomfortable truth. If not for all of them, where would just have to hide?

The pathetic calls for unity by Israel’s political leaders and some spiritual guides demonstrate their tin ear to the moral moment. “Unity” can easily be, and often is, a justification for the standards of the mob and their toleration of ethically outrageous behavior. Support for the court ruling must come out of a sense of our demand and need for justice as our core value. Nowhere does it state in the Bible, “Unity, unity, thou shalt pursue,” but it does command and implore us, “Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue.”

It is not for me to mourn the death of a terrorist – I am not that much of a saint. But I can mourn the death of morality countenanced and urged on by religious leaders who planted the seeds of unthinking hatred in Azaria. I tear kriah for the Hillul HaShem (profanation of God’s name) of those supposed Torah leaders who never allow a word of tolerance leave their lips, except in some obscure and limited formulation meant only to include (some) Jews. The calls for an immediate pardon by rightist leaders, including Israel’s Prime Minister himself, shows their contempt for justice and for Torah.

Azaria’s actions and the defense of them by supposedly Orthodox, halakhic Jews will no doubt trigger copycat Jewish terrorism by others, and great admiration by more still. Other young people who have glimmered the greatness of the Torah’s teaching of the human created in God’s image will wonder why they remain within the parameters of halakha when their own teachers so clearly mock this central principle.

To those who admire Azaria and seek to emulate or defend him, we can only say: This is not the Torah’s path. To those who think of giving up on Torah, I can only plead that we need you to restore the Torah’s real glory. You and we deserve better.