Judaism discovered

BETWEEN REBBI ANDTALMID

Rav Kahanow often spoke to his tamidim about the importance of establishing a bond of closeness between rebbi and talmid. In every matter, in every circumstance, it is necessary that the image of one% rebbi be engraved before one's eyes. In every question that arose and in every issue, Rav Kahanow would ask himself, "What would my rebbi, the gaon, Rav Shlomo Heiman, say about this, or my father, my teacher? What would Rav Aharon Kotier have said, or Rav Moshe Feinstein, or my masters, the gaonim of Eretz Yisroel - Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank or Rav Velvet Minzberg, the Rov of Brisk or the Rov of Tchebin?" He took refuge in the shadow of these gedolim, and their Torah was always on his tongue.

The Cult of the Guru In religions derived from ancient paganism, such as Hinduism and Judaism, the relationship between teacher (rebbi) and student (talmid) is one of slavish idolatry: an adored guru, whose "image" is "engraved before one's eyes," is adored

by an awed and cowed follower.

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We see this degraded relationship touted in the article above, "Between Rebbi and Talmid" ³⁰⁴ The "Torah" of the rabbis and not the Torah of God is to be "always on" the "tongue." God is not mentioned because the rabbis are god. Could the avodah zora ^idolatry) be any clearer? Much is made of Judaism's disdain of Catholic saints' "images" which rabbis, together with many Protestants have condemned as outlandish idolatry. But here above we have reprinted the detestable, soul-killing, rabbinic idolatry which has existed for centuries right under the noses of these Pharisaical rabbinic and Protestant ideologues, and they are absolutely and completely indifferent to it, even as they call Catholics to account for it.

According to BT Berakhot 6a-b, God wears phylacteries on which are inscribed praise for the Jewish people. In BT Berakhot 7a God asks a rabbi for a rabbi's blessing. Johann Andreas Eisenmenger recounts how rabbinic students, in their fervor to copy the guru-like rabbis in all things, sneak into the toilet ("Necessary House") to spy upon the "sacred" rabbinic activities in that place, and even crawl under the conjugal bed of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin the better to learn how to emulate every move that takes place there. Eisenmenger reports: "The Jews are so infatuated in their Esteem of the Sanctity and Wisdom of the Rabbins, that they think there is Divinity in every thing they say and do; and that consequently every Action they perform and every Word they utter, is worthy of all Memory and Imitation. They therefore frequently watch the Rabbins into their Retirements, in order to Discover, study and copy into their own Lives, their most secret Ways and Manners; their Infirmities and Maggotries, as well as their most reasonable Actions; looking upon all as divine; and admiring and aping them in every (even) the most trivial or nonessential Matter."

Eisenmenger, in his appraisal of Judaic infatuation with the divinity of the rabbis as manifested at its basest level, is exact and correct. The attitude of the talmidei chachomim toward the ha-rau ha-ga'on is one of extreme idolatry. They adore them as infallible, supernatural, prophet-like figures. There is a substantial literature in Hebrew concerning this idolization. For example, Dov Eliakh's three volume Sefer ha-Ga'on and in particular, volume three.

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The Koliner rebbe states:

"Our Zaddikim's words are more important than the Torah of Moses" (Midot miMoharan). As our Sages teach: A Zaddik decrees, and God obeys."

Grand Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz (the "Bostoner rebbe") says that a Hassidic Rabbi is in many respects like a plumber. "Hashem" wants only to bestow goodness upon us, and all a person needs to do is make himself into a vessel to receive the good. But our bad deeds "jam up" the pipes through which Divine goodness flows. A Hassidic rabbi "unclogs" these pipes for the Judaic person. A rabbi has a power of prayer more than most of us. Talmud scholars (Hassidic or not) who have "virtually perfected their character," are known to have such powers.³⁰⁵ Until his passing several years ago, tens of thousands flocked to Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ("the Steipler") for his blessing. It's known that prior to their highly dangerous but successful air strike on the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1980, the Israeli pilots appeared before "the Steipler" and asked for his blessing. He told them "go in peace and return in peace."

"Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky is a Moldova-born Chabad rabbi in Portland, Oregon...Sokolovsky refers to (Rabbi Menachem Mendel) Schneerson as "Rebbe-Almighty" among other adulatory sobriquets. ...At the front of the main room at Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights (district of New York) sits the Rebbe's empty chair — its cushions unruffled for more than 12 years. The chair is kept as it was during his lifetime. Before the daily afternoon prayers, a number of the men perform the ritual of unfurling a Persian rug, moving the Rebbe's chair out from under a desk, fiddling with his prayer shawls and books as if he were about to walk in and take his seat. The prayers conclude as normal, but the service is followed by singing and chanting with Hora dancing around the central podium. 'Long live our Master, our Rebbe, King Messiah,' sing the dancing men and boys as they form conga lines — a routine part of this thrice-daily ritual...The service terminated, the men stand at ease. Many are wearing yellow lapel-pins...Members of the congregation were happy to explain: What do the pins signify? 'It symbolizes our dedication to the Rebbe above all else. As far as we

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are concerned, we can pray to the Rebbe and he can deal with God for us. The Rebbe was not created; the Rebbe has always been around and always will be...Look, what you need to do is start with God and work your way up to the Rebbe." ³⁰⁶
The image of a god: "The Rebbe" Grand Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

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While it may seem bizarre to describe electrician-cum-rabbi M. M. Schneerson in this way, (according to research by Professor Menachem Friedman, after he married a distant cousin, Schneersonn resided with her sister and brother-in-law in a suburb of Paris, where he acquired his only formal education: a two year vocational course in electrical engineering at a Montpamase Vocational College, where he received mediocre grades), many of the Lubavitcher Judaics view Schneerson as a demigod. They are loathe to state this explicitly, but they will assign him characteristics of God, pray to him and, when pressed, suggest that there is really no difference between him and God, except that Schneerson is higher. "Since the Rebbe was perfection personified, he is greater than any man that ever lived; ergo he is godly— omnipotent, omniscient and unlimited...None have a problem with praying to Schneerson, using his books for divination in place of the Bible. Even amongst those viewed as moderates, 'the Rebbe' is often substituted for God in normal conversation...Does this not 'idolize' Schneerson, in the literal sense? *We cannot connect to God directly — we need the Rebbe to take our prayers from here to there and to help us in this world. We are told by our rabbis that a great man is like God and the Rebbe was the greatest man ever. That is how we know he is the messiah, because how could life continue without him? No existence is possible without the Rebbe." ³⁰⁷

Note the description of the "chanting." Vain repetition (Matt. 6:7) of words is a form of magical pagan incantation in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, as it is in Judaism. For example, the rabbis decree, "One who recites Parshas Hamon ('Shneyim Mikroh VEchod Targum') every day is assured that his food will not be lacking."³⁰⁸

Judaism's False Messiah Syndrome

"In 1951, during the Rebbe's (Schneerson's) first discourse, he said that our present generation was the seventh from the Alter Rebbe — the first Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe explained that Moses, the leader of the seventh generation after Abraham, was the catalyst in bringing the divine presence into the world. In a similar way, the Rebbe outlined, our generation — the seventh, is tasked with, and will succeed in bringing the divine

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presence into the world permanently, with the full redemption. Strikingly, almost every week in 1991 and 1992, the Rebbe reiterated, verbally and in writing, that this generation is the last of exile and the first of geula, or salvation. In 1990, during the First Gulf War, the Rebbe explicitly announced: 'The time of our redemption has arrived.' And in 1991, the Rebbe stated that the 'service of spiritual refinement' of the exile had been completed. Also that year, characterizing the statement as divine prophecy, the Rebbe issued the projection: 'Behold, Moshiach is about to come/ The Rebbe directed all Chabad Hasidim to publicize this prophecy, and to add that we have merited that God has chosen an individual beyond all others to serve as the leader and prophet of this generation. In 1992, the Rebbe told Chabad emissaries that their mission had been completed and that all efforts should now concentrate on preparing to greet the messiah, who would be arriving imminently.

"That year the Rebbe wrote: 'At the present time, all obstacles and hindrances have been nullified. As such, Moshiach (not only exists, but in fact) is also already revealed. All we have to do now is welcome Moshiach tzidkeinu in actual reality.' Rabbis from within and beyond Chabad then enacted, in 1991, a psak din (rabbinical judgment) which asserted that the Rebbe was the presumed Messiah according to the qualifications outlined by Maimonides.

"The Rebbe later spoke of this psak din as part of the revelation of the Messiah and the unfolding of redemption. We are still working toward and praying for the complete fulfillment of the confirmed Messiah. In each generation there is only one spiritual leader of Jewry — and if a generation merits redemption — this individual becomes the messiah. This redemption will soon materialize, and the Rebbe is the Messiah. Our task now is to provoke the full revelation, in order to see the Rebbe's transition from presumed to confirmed Moshiach.

"As far as the passing (death of Rabbi Schneerson) is concerned, the Rebbe gave us guidance. In a talk given in 1992 on the occasion of the passing of the Rebbetzin (Schneerson's wife), the Rebbe stated: 'And specifically since this generation is the last generation of exile and the first of redemption... we have finished everything and now we only have to accept Moshiach tzidkeinu in actuality — therefore it's understood that if, in between, there is the concept of passing, as it was in the 22nd of Shevat four

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years ago, (the day the Rebbetzin died), this is only to effect the last elevation that is necessary — the elevation of the full and complete redemption.'

Chabad-Lubavitch Grand Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (at left) hosts

the former Irgnn leader and Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin (seated at

right). Begin bombed schools, hospitals and apartment buildings in Beirut

throughout the summer of 1982, culminating in a frenzy of bombings of civilians in

August. In September, Israeli proxies —the fascist Phalangists — murdered

approximately 800 Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila. Mr. Begin reflected

responsibility for the massacre away from his regime with a witty Tahnudic riposte:

"Goyim kill goyim, and they come to hang the Jews."

"In terms of 'normative Judaism,' there are in fact references to a resurrected Messiah in sources such as the Talmud, Kabbalah, and later commentaries. For example, Ohr Hachaim on Numbers 24:17 says, 'If the redemption will take place because of the merit of the Jewish people it will be incredibly wondrous, and the redeemer of the Jewish people will be revealed from the heaven through a miracle and sign as it says in Sefer Zohar... that is why it says a star shall shoot out (from Jacob) that the redeemer will sprout forth from heaven....' These sources require careful study...In his book Why the Jews Rejected Jesus, David Klinghoffer concludes that a resurrected

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Messiah is a possibility within Orthodox Judaism. The true and unbridgeable rift between Judaism and Christianity resulted from Christian rejection of rabbinic 'Oral Torah.' On the issue of divinity, the Rebbe explained that the leader of each generation contains an all-encompassing soul...Each Jew actually has a spark of the soul of the Messiah within his own. This is one's deepest, essential Jewish identity. Revealing one's own spark as the Messiah, the Rebbe directed, is the catalyst for the revelation of Moshiach Ben David, who in turn is the catalyst for the revelation of the complete unity of God in the world. This is partially based on the Zohar, which states: 'The Jewish people and God are wholly one." ³⁰⁹

Notice the huge chasm between Christian and rabbinic theology. The Christian believes himself to be absolutely worthless and irredeemable without Christ; a sinner sentenced to eternal death, were it not for the belief in saving grace through the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah of Israel. In contrast, Judaism is replete with racial conceit. "The Jewish people and God are wholly one...the redemption will take place because of the merit of the Jewish people."

Note the reliance in the preceding report in the Jerusalem Post, on the Kabbalah in the form of the Zohar for determining much of Judaism's theology of the Moshiach, in spite of pretended disclaimers about the Kabbalah being an optional or marginalized text in Orthodox Judaism.

"The Rebbe," Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is a false Messiah who will never rise from his grave except to be judged by God. In the Aug. 22, 1991 issue of the New York Times, a full page ad produced by Chabad-Lubavitch was published, which hinted that Schneerson was the Messiah who was responsible for "miracles" like the fall of Communism, lightning victory in the first Gulf War, Israelis "unscathed" by Scud missile attacks, the mass exodus of Russian Judaiscs and, most laughable of all, "unity among people, domestic harmony and cessation of hostilities between the races." The advertisement went on to state, "The times are changing — not just for the better, but truly for the best....The Era of Moshiach is upon us."

We term it laughable because on the day the advertisement was published in the Times (these ads must be scheduled long in advance of publication), riots by Black Americans were exploding in front of Grand

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Rabbi Schneerson's world headquarters, after a Judaic driver in Schneerson's police-protected caravan, Yosef Lifseh, allegedly ran down a Black child, seven-year-old Gavin Cato. Yankel Rosenbaum, a Talmudic man from Australia, was subsequently stabbed by the rioters. He was taken to the nearest hospital, which turned out to be the same one frequented by poor Blacks. Physicians allegedly failed to spot one of the stab wounds and Rosenbaum bled to death. The New York Times gave this everyday occurrence in the Black ghetto front page coverage now that it had occurred to a "Jewish scholar," and even provided a sidebar noting his medical chart, which covered nearly half a page. Contrary to Chabad-Lubavitch's messianic delusions of grandeur, the year 5751 ended for them and their false 'Moshiach' in confusion, sadness and dashed dreams. ³¹°

The people who believe Schneerson is the Messiah have been, as previously noted, close to every American president since Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. In spite of the obvious fact that their dead god was a charlatan, Chabad-Lubavitchers continue to instruct the President of the United States in the White House (as recently as April 15, 2008). America's "top cop" in 2008, "Homeland Security" commissar Michael Chertoff is a close associate of Schneerson's Chabad-Lubvitch adherents. We are not writing about some obscure sect. These rabbis are near the pinnacle of power of the U.S. government.

Another false messiah in Judaism was Simon Bar Kokhba, leader in Palestine of a violent Jewish revolt against the Romans (132-135 A.D.). He was declared Messiah by the founding rabbinic "sage," Rabbi Akiva. Ta'anit 58d: "When Rabbi Akiva would see Bar Kokhba he would proclaim, This is he, the King-Messiah."

In spite of a theatrical display of gravitas and renown for worldly cleverness and wisdom on the part of the rabbis, the egotistical nature of Judaism renders its adherents prone to enormous misjudgments, blunders and delusional thinking, of which the "false messiah" syndrome is but one hallucinatory component. Judaism teaches the ultimate delusion, the supremacy of the rabbi above God.

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The Rabbis are Greater than God to whom they attribute the following words regarding themselves: "My sons have defeated Me, My sons have defeated Me!"

This Talmudic passage is one of the more explicit illustrations of Judaism's teaching that the rabbis are greater than God. BT Bava Metzia 59B reads as follows: "Rabbi Eliezer then said to the Sages: 'If the Halakhah is in accordance with me, let it be proved directly from heaven.' Suddenly a heavenly voice went forth and said to the Sages: 'Why are you disputing with Rabbi Eliezer? The Halakhah is in accordance with him in all circumstances!' Rabbi Yehoshua rose to his feet and quoted a portion of a verse (Deuteronomy 30:12), saying: 'The Torah is not in heaven!'

"The Gemara interrupts the Baraita and asks for a clarification: What did Rabbi Yehoshua mean when he quoted the Scriptural verse that 'the Torah is not in heaven'?

"Rabbi Yirmeyah said in reply: Since God already gave the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai, we no longer pay attention to heavenly voices that attempt to intervene in matters of Halakhah. For You, God already wrote in the Torah at Mount Sinai (Exodus 23:2), 'After the majority to incline.' ^3U

From this text we learn that Halakhic disputes must be resolved by majority vote of the Rabbis. God could not contradict His own decision to allow Torah questions to be decided by free debate and majority vote. The Gemara relates that generations later Rabbi Natan met the (Old Testament) Prophet Elijah. Rabbi Natan asked Elijah about the debate between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua. He said to him: 'What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do at that time when Rabbi Yehoshua refused to heed the heavenly voice?' In reply, Elijah said to Rabbi Natan: 'God smiled and said: 'My sons have defeated Me, My sons have defeated Me!'

"Acharei rabim le-hatos."

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Anyone who expects to receive an ounce of mercy, compassion, empathy or understanding from a religion that teaches that it has defeated God, is out of their minds. True, Judaism will indeed, depending on the Zeitgeist, bargain with the gentile powers, adopt seemingly conciliatory gestures and pose as sympathetic, as did Rabbi Boteach when he seemed to have something good to say about Jesus. In the past, Judaism has adopted a similar affirmative action pose in its dealings with Islam, when the rabbis regarded Muslims as their vehicle of choice for suppression of faithful believers in Jesus. Today they regard the followers of Churchianity, whether of the modern papal or the fundamentalist Protestant strain, as the mainstay of perpetual warfare for Israeli dominion and the simultaneous marginalization of faithful believers in Jesus. For the faithful Christian, these worldly churches with their blood-drenched militarism and affinity for Judaism's doctrine of saved-by-race, are an abomination in the sight of God.

But not to worry. God's sons —the rabbis— "defeated Him" with their arguments. Judaism states that Rabbi Yehoshua was correct in his contention that a view confirmed by majority vote must be accepted, even where God Himself holds the opposite view.³¹²

Knowing these facts, who but the boldest and most shameless liar, would dare to proclaim Judaism to be an Abrahamic faith whose enemies are cursed by God and whose friends are blessed by Him? Judaism is the religion of the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:1-6) and is beloved on that basis by the legions of hireling priests, bishops and preachers of Churchianity, who hope to gain materially in return for their allegiance to the power of the rabbis (Mark 8:36).

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The rulings of the rabbis on earth become a permanent part of God's Torah. Even Heaven obeys the rulings of the supreme sages (gedolei) of Judaism:

How" do the halachk renderings of a gadoi become transformed into a permanent part of the Torah? Horav Yehudah Ades explains that this is pan of the dictum, "Lo haShomayim hee" *The Torah is not Heaven.’Once it has beer; handed down to man, the rulings,

"rendered' by the gedolei Torah become a permanent part or loran itself. Indeed, even m Htaven ifie nitin^s foUowlhose ffidereQ-iff

' the gedolei ha "Torah,

"How do the halachic renderings of a gadol³¹³ become transformed into a permanent part of the of the Torah? Horav Yehudah Ades explains that this is part of the dictum, ^tLo baShomayin hee.' The Torah is not in Heaven.' Once it has been handed down to man, the rulings rendered by the gedolei Torah³¹⁴ become a permanent part of Torah itself. Indeed, even in Heaven the rulings follow those rendered by the gedolei ha' Torah." ³¹⁵

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The Talmud in BT Mo'ed Katan 17a states that when a rabbi sins, the court should not punish him in public because that would serve as a denigration of Torah. Rather, they should "hide it (his sin) like the night."

How does one reconcile all of this abominable pride and rabbinic idolatry with the relentless public relations hype that Judaism is the original Biblical creed out of which Christianity came forth? Since the founding sacred text of Judaism's Torah SheBeal Peh, the Mishnah, stands alone as an authority, without justification Biblically, it fell to the later rabbinical writings of the Talmud, such as the Sifra, which do comment at length upon Scripture, to attempt to correlate Mishnaic teachings with those of the Torah. References to the Torah in Judaism are invariably misleading. By dictionary definition, Torah denotes the books of the Old Testament (Tanakh). But in Judaism, as we have seen, the word Torah can signify the Oral traditions alone (Torah SheBeal Peh) or both the Talmud and the Torah SheBichtav (Tanakh).

In considering all of this, we may call to mind the situation of the Christian ecclesia today, which is occupied by incumbents who are so completely smitten, from the pope and the ministers of the major Protestant denominations, on down to the lowliest street-corner, fundamentalist preacher, with the presumed divine racial prestige, Biblical knowledge and Old Testament wisdom of the rabbis of Judaism. Cast off to the sidelines are those evangelical Christians who refuse any doctrine or authority that contradicts the Bible, and are castigated as "extremists" and "haters" by their erstwhile pastors. Their attendance at almost any modern church is a source of scandal and embarrassment to the churchmen. This Christian remnant exists largely in house-churches and other small gatherings. If they persist within the organized churches it is often as the most marginal and despised of congregants.

By the same token, protesting Catholics see in the pronouncements and symbolic actions of the popes since John XXIII and particularly in the pontificate of the late John Paul II, a radical departure from nearly 2,000 years of Christian teaching and practice. In March, 2000, John Paul II turned his coat in verbo and facto, resorting to making obeisance in Jerusalem to the religious heirs of the Pharisees who ordered Jesus' execution. The Pope apologized to them for "displays of antisemitism directed against the Jews by

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Christians at any time in any place." ³¹⁶ This apology would seem to encompass the deeds of thousands of saints and luminaries of the Church, from John Chrysostom onward to St. Vincent Ferrer to most of the literary canon of the West, including Dante's Paradisio, which hails the Roman destruction of the Temple as "living justice," and Chaucer's "The Prioress' Tale." The disapprobatory shadow presumably also falls on Rome's own canonized pontiff, Pius X who, when asked in 1904 to recognize Palestine as the rightful Judaic homeland, told Zionist Theodore Herzl, "As the head of the Church, I cannot answer you otherwise: the Jews have not recognized the Lord; therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people." ³¹⁷ Christianity has, to a large extent, been taken over by the religion of Judaism and become a fossil more properly distinguished as Judeo-Churchianity. It is interesting to compare the situation in our churches with a passage from the Talmud: "There was a certain gentile who came before Rabbi Shammai. The gentile said to him, 'How many Torahs do you have?'

"The rabbi replied, 'Two, one in writing, one memorized.' "The gentile then said to him, 'As to the one in writing, I believe you. As to the memorized one, I do not believe you. Convert me on condition that you will teach me only the Torah that is in writing.'

"The rabbi rebuked the gentile and threw him out." ³¹⁸ The gentile in the preceding Talmud citation trusted only the Bible and was expelled by the rabbi because he refused the teaching which was based on the oral traditions of the elders. In precisely the same manner, true Christians today are cast out of their churches because they are faithful to the Gospel and reject the influence of and the respect paid to Judaism, the religion which makes a mockery of God and His law and which puts into

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practice the traditions of Babylon.³¹⁹ "But though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed...For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:8-10).

As for the loopholes, Shmuel Safrai points out that in the Talmud's Gittin Tractate, the Talmud nullifies the Biblical teaching concerning money-lending: "Hillel decreed the prozbul for the betterment of the world. The prozhul is a legal fiction which allows debts to be collected after the Sabbatical year and it was Hillel's intention thereby to overcome the fear that money-lenders had of losing their money." ³²⁰In BT Baba Kama 83b-84a, Talmudic logic intricately weaves and falsifies portions of the Books of Numbers and Leviticus, ripping them out of their context to demonstrate that the oft-cited passage from Exodus 21:24 ("An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"), does not actually denote the obvious, literal meaning, but is really a command to make monetary restitution. Rabbinic nullification of scripture also extends to evolutionary theory, as detailed in a report in the Wall Street Journal by Evan R. Goldstein, "A Tradition's Evolution: Is Darwin Kosher?" Mr. Goldstein, reporting on Orthodox Judaism, answers in the affirmative.

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A Tradition's Evolution: Is Darwin Koaher?

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WaU Street Journal, June 29, 2007

"...Carl Feit.-.is an ordained rabbi and Talmudic scholar as well as chairman of the science division at Yeshiva College...Yeshiva (is) the intellectual epicenter of Modern Orthodox Jewish life in America...Prof. Feit says that in nearly a quarter-century of teaching introductory biology, he has always taught evolution — supported by traditional Jewish source material...His assessment echoes the official line of the Modern Orthodox rabbinical association, which states that evolution is entirely consistent with Judaism....The seeming ease with which this branch of Judaism has embraced...(evolution)...can in large part be credited to the towering intellectual legacy of Moses Maimonides. In his 12th-century masterpiece, Guide to the Perplexed, Maimonides opened the door to a Judaism unfettered by a literal reading of religious texts. For many Jews the persuasive case for evolution does indeed amount to a crisis of faith, but the Maimonidean precedent of figurative interpretation...provides a framework within which

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conflicts...can be argued away...Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, chief rabbi of pre-state Palestine, assured his followers that evolution, 'more so than all other philosophical theories, conforms to the kabbalistic secrets of the world...Rabbi Natan Slifkin (is)...(a) boyish-looking ultra-Orthodox Israeli scholar and science writer...Rabbi Slifkin's work has been publicly denounced by 23 prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis who attacked his beliefs as 'nonsense' and ordered that Rabbi Slifkin himself'burn all his writings.'

"The basis for the rabbinical protest differs from that of most Christian fundamentalists who oppose Darwin. Whereas Christian creationism is based on a literal reading of the Bible, most Orthodox Jews who reject evolution tend to do so because they find it incompatible...with...centuries of rabbinic commentary...Rabbi Slifkin does not consider Darwin a threat to his faith. Relying heavily on Maimonides he argues...that there is no incompatibility between traditional Jewish faith and the laws of nature...To Rabbi Slifkin... 'Man's physical ancestry in the animal kingdom has no bearing on his unique spiritual nature. Whether our physical bodies originate from mud or monkey, our fundamental identity does not relate to either'...The animating idea that runs through all of Rabbi Slifkin's work is his insistence that 'science and monotheism go hand-in-hand."³²¹

Maimonides and the other paradigmatic rabbis of Judaism represent an approach to the Bible that is anthropomorphic, based on their fabrication of the Divine Word. The secularists and the rabbis have the same enemy: those who take God at His Word, as it is written. Those who do so are "wicked": "...the wicked are Christian exegetes who are viewed as literalists in the sense that they look at and accept only the narrative of Hebrew Scripture...They however, do not consider the body underneath the external garment, for they explicitly reject the biblical laws as interpreted in the Rabbinic tradition." ³²²

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