Sunday, October 03, 2004

The Power of a word: Rabbi Arthur Green calling for the death of Child Victim Advocates

Rabbi Arthur Green (AKA: Heschel Green)
Rabbi Arthur Green - Dean, Rabbinical School of Hebrew College Newton MA
Hebrew College, 160 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459
Phone: 617-559-8626



The following information was recently forward to The Awareness Center. The message provided below is posted on a blog (something like a bulletin board).  Due to my lack of knowledge of Hebrew and Torah I had to ask one of our volunteers for the definition of a rodef.  Below is the response:

"din rodef" - the Jewish law of rodef, which literally means one who chases and refers to a license to kill someone who intends to kill someone else.

Basically, a rodef can be killed on sight. You can't break the Sabbath to save the life of a rodef.


People publicly called Rabin a rodef. Many feel this contributed to the atmosphere in which Rabin was murdered. Din rodef was used as a justification for his murder.

Rabbi Arthur Green has put members of The Awareness Center, Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Heshie Billet, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the women who have been "allegedly" sexually assaulted and attempted sexually assaulted by Rabbi Gafni and all of the child victim advocates who have supported the "alleged victim/survivors" at risk of harm.  The Awareness Center is demanding that Rabbi Arthur Green make a public appology for making such a dangerous of statement. 

If anything harm should come to any of the survivors, Rabbi Blau, Rabbi Billet, Rabbi Riskin, the board members of The Awareness Center, or any of the victim advocates connected to making the case of Rabbi Mordechai/Marc Gafni/Winarz public -- Rabbi Arthur Green should be held responsible.

Sincerely,
Vicki Polin
Executive Director - The Awareness Center
www.theawarenesscenter.org


-----------------------------
Rabbi Arthur Green writes The Jewish Week
New York Jewish Week 
 http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/letters.php3

Protocols
http://protocols.blogspot.com/
me @ 11:40PM | 2004-10-02|

Rabbi Arthur Green, the Ayatollah from the left has apparently launched a fatwa against: the Awareness Center, Rabbi Yosef Blau, Rabbi Heshie Billet, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, victims raped/sexually molested by Rabbi Gafni and supporters of Gafni's victims and apparently Me too.

Using the language of the late Prime Minister Rabin's murderer (and advocates of Rabin's murder), Rabbi Green has invoked Din Rodef. Calling the above rodfim.

Is this a sign of times? Will Jewish Renewal now resort to the language and advocacy of murder against fellow Jews?

Jewish Renewal, no boundaries, no standards, a place where an abuser and exploiter of children and women can feel at home.

Now advocating murder.

Irresponsible and disgusting language.

Shame.

It's time for the Rabbi Arthur Green to apologize and remove himself from any position he holds as a Rabbi. From his use of the word rodef in reference to community figures in a public letter he shows himself unfit to be called a rabbi. He has gone beyond the bounds of civilized discourse.

--------------------------

Abhorrent Column 
New York Jewish Week - October 1, 2004
http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/letters.php3


Although I am not a regular reader of The Jewish Week, a New York colleague sent me your column regarding Rabbi Mordechai Gafni ("The Re-Invented Rabbi", Sept. 24). It makes me wonder whether journalistic honors and awards are as rescindable as rabbinic smicha seems to be.

I have known Rabbi Gafni for several years and think highly of his abilities as a creative teacher of Torah. As a trusted friend, I also know how he struggles with a personal history that includes some genuinely bad deeds done when he was quite young, some 20 years ago.
He has been relentlessly persecuted for those deeds by a small band of fanatically committed rodfim, in whom proper disapproval of those misdeeds combines with jealously, anger at his swerving from Orthodoxy, and a range of other emotions.

Perhaps this rabbi should be made to confront his past more fully. A bet din before a mutually accepted rabbi would be the right setting for that. But the public press? Who set you up as ruler and judge over us? Is this responsible journalism?

Rabbi Gafni has more or less been assassinated in the Jewish community. None of his explanations will mean much against the whispering that will accompany him forever, thanks to your article, within the confines of our extended gossipy shtetl. You have taken it upon yourself, on erev Yom Kippur, to drive a man away from Jewish life. In the absence of anything like a "smoking gun" evidenced in present or recent conduct, I find this journalistically and Jewishly abhorrent.

Rabbi Arthur Green

Newton, Mass.


No comments: