Sunday 9 June 2013

Rabbi Freilich - the denouement June 9

 
 
From: g87
Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2013 11:47 AM

No line like David’s for Rabbi and Priest 9 May 2012

http://www.therecord.com.au/news/in-depth/no-line-like-davids-for-rabbi-and-priest/
Subject: Rabbi Freilich - the denouement
 

Dear Rabbi Freilich
 
This will surely be the final email to you.
 
In earlier emails I ‘’beseeched you’’ to understand what I had written to you and pasted on my blog.
I wanted to ensure you finally understood that I was not sympathetic to what you had done. And failed to do. And by extension – continue to do!
Finally methinks you understand: it is all extant on Socialist Dystopia – where this email will also be posted. It is implied that you finally understand what you had done et al – by the absence of any response from you.
 
I expected that this would eventually happen.
 
My reason for this denouement is to ensure that there is no chance that either you or Manny Wachs will even dream of contemplating that I somehow misled you. ANY reading of the above will confirm to the contrary.
 
Here is the reason for this email: I want to ask you – if you deign to respond – what did you think you were doing when you gave an interview to a Christian Journal? See this link!

No line like David’s for Rabbi and Priest 9 May 2012

http://www.therecord.com.au/news/in-depth/no-line-like-davids-for-rabbi-and-priest/
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Throughout the night, both Fr Deeter and Rabbi Freilich placed great emphasis on the common ground between Judaism and Catholicism, a passion shared and studied by both men.
“Jesus was raised in a synagogue,” Rabbi Freilich said, referencing the Jewish heritage of Jesus, his family and disciples.
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Many of Christ’s teachings are ones Jews shared, the Rabbi said; “love thy neighbour”, for example, can also be found in Leviticus in the Old Testament.
The Star of David has no official religious significance to Judaism, despite the Menora synagogue’s entire ceiling being dominated by a giant Star of David representation.
“The architect wasn’t Jewish,” beamed the Rabbi.
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Rabbi Freilich responded that the realities of human life came before all else, noting that Jesus had said “Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” [Mark, 2: 27].
He also noted that simply observing the rules of the Sabbath does not make one a good Jew. “If you’re not a good human, forget it!” he said.
The Rabbi said synagogues were only secondarily places of prayer and that their primary role was as places of learning where Jews are taught culture and law so as to know how to behave outside Temple.
“The main synagogue is the world,” Rabbi Freilich said. Synagogues are not quiet places, but instead are full of chatter and discussion like any classroom.
It’s not uncommon for debates to become quite spirited. “I certainly wouldn’t say it’s tranquil,” he said.
The Rabbi spoke openly about the role of some Jews in Jesus’ death, but emphasised that Christ had been killed by fanaticscorrupted by greed – who had turned the Holy Temple in Jerusalem into a market.
Many Jews of Christ’s own time had supported Jesus. Fr Deeter concurred, noting that present day Jews could not possibly be blamed for something that happened so long ago.
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Noting that Pope John Paul II had called Jews “our dearly beloved older brothers”, Rabbi Freilich expressed his great affinity with Christianity and Jesus’ teachings. “If I was alive back then, I’d be a
 
Christian!” he said. “No,” replied Fr Deeter, “you’d be dead.”
 
 
So I ask you Rabbi – what sort of humbug did you allow yourself to writ when speaking to a Christian audience?
 
Are you not ashamed to have contemplated repeating this when you were head of the RRabbinic Council?
On Shabbat in your own Shul in Perth?
 
DID YOU THINK IT WOULD NOT CATCH UP WITH YOU?
 
Shame on you Rabbi F.
Geoff Seidner
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2 comments:

  1. As in most areas, there are 2 schools of thought as to the appropriateness of rabbis giving these sorts of interviews to Christians. You need to agree to disagree.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In due course I will advise as to how /why I disagree with your open - ended stated position about the ''need to agree to disagree.''

      Regards
      Geoff Seiner

      Delete